This document discusses various aspects of suprasegmental phonology including terminology, features, syllables, syllable structure, rhythm, stress, prominence, tone languages, intonation and word accent. Some key points include:
- Suprasegmentals refer to aspects of sound such as intonation that are not properties of individual segments. Features include pitch, loudness, tempo, rhythm and stress.
- A syllable contains a vowel and may contain consonants. Syllables are divided into onset, nucleus and coda.
- Rhythm is a pattern of accented and unaccented syllables. Accented syllables are more prominent due to factors like volume, duration and pitch. Prominence can affect
2. suprasegmental
The term suprasegmental was invented to refer to aspects of sound
such as intonation that did not seem to be properties of individual
segments (i.e. the vowels and consonants of which speech is
composed).
The term has tended to be used predominantly by American writers,
and much British work has preferred to use the term prosodic instead.
There has never been full agreement about how many suprasegmental
features are to be found in speech, but pitch, loudness, tempo,
rhythm and stress are the most commonly mentioned ones.
4. syllable
A unit of sound that contains a vowel and may or may not
contain a consonant
All words are made up of one or more syllables and every
syllable contains a vowel
A unit of pronunciation typically larger than a single sound
and smaller than a word (Crystal, 2008)
Syllabification is the term which refers to the division
of a word into syllables;
6. Activity
Divided into four teams, find out the onset,
nucleus, coda and rhyme in these coming words
after where each team will focus on one element
of the four
1- transcribing them
2- dividing them into syllables
behind, palm, perhaps, rehearse, anyhow
7. Rhythm
a string of words that makes up a
pattern of accented and
unaccented syllables.
8. Accented/stressed syllable
A syllable which is more noticeable than
the others.
It is made more noticeable because of
…what?
12. prominence
Experiments have shown that prominence is associated
with greater length, greater loudness, pitch prominence
(i.e. having a pitch level or movement that makes a
syllable stand out from its context) and with “full” vowels
and diphthongs (whereas the vowels ə “schwa”, i, u and
syllabic consonants are only found in unstressed syllables).
Despite the complexity of this set of interrelated factors,
it seems that the listener simply hears syllables as more
prominent or less prominent.
Why do we use prominence?
(Roach, 2009)
13. Why do we use prominence
To draw attention to some words while we
speak
15. True or false!
All syllables are stressed or accented.
Some of the unstressed syllables are prominent.
All prominent syllables must be stressed in the
first place.
Rhythm is made up of a pattern of accented
syllables.
Stress can never change word category.
16. Discuss the following in your groups
What is tone?
Is there a difference between tone and
intonation?
Can tone affect the meaning of a word?
17. Tone
The upward or downward movement of the voice.
The movement of voice from one pitch to another
Although this word has a very wide range of
meanings and uses in ordinary language, its
meaning in phonetics and phonology is quite
restricted: it refers to an identifiable movement
or level of pitch that is used in a linguistically
contrastive way.
18. Tone languages
In many languages, the tone carried by a word is an
essential feature of the meaning of that word (lexical
tone), e.g. in Beijing Mandarin Chinese the word ma when
pronounced in a level tone means ‘mother’, and in a
falling-rising tone means ‘horse’ – two out of four possible
tone contrasts in that language. Such languages, where
word meanings or grammatical categories (such as tense)
are dependent on pitch level, are known as tone
languages.
19. Tone unit
Can be a whole sentence or part of sentence
A sequence of syllables one or more of which is prominent
,
The last prominent syllable in the tone unit is called the
tonic syllable
WHAT’s the TIME?
20. Intonation
‘intonation’ refers simply to the variations in the
pitch of a speaker’s voice used to convey or alter
meaning,
it is the combination of tones (lower to higher, higer
to lower pitch
It is the music or the tune of the language
The systematic use of patterns of pitch movement to
reinforce and add the grammar and meaning of an
utterance
21. Tone unit
Is a sequence of syllables one or more of
which is prominent, the last prominent
syllable is the tonic syllable
22. Tonic syllable
The prominent syllable where the tone change begins
Falling/rising
Falling-rising/rising-falling
Level
23. Falling tone or informative tone
It draws attention to information typically new or important ,
definite inf.
Ex: The war is over – time is up
Frequently used in wh-questions, which ask for inf.
Ex: where are you going?
Exclamations
Ex: What a nice surprise!
Commands
Ex: Give me your phone number
Confirmatory tag questions ( I am relatively sure o what I am
saying)
Ex: Mona is coming, isn’t she?
24. Rising tone
Yes/no questions – questions in the form of statements –
requests so it indicates incompleteness, expects a
response or some additional utterance
Ex: Employed?
EX: Have you ever travelled ABROAD?
Express surprise
EX: You DON’T?
Listing (one/two…)
Steep rise to show special interest or surprise
…ARE you? To a friend.
Shallow rise to show ordinary polite interest
… ARE you? To a teacher.
25. Falling rising tone (wave intonation)
It begins high at the tonic syllable, then falls then
rises again.
It uses a fall followed by a rise.
26. Usage
Suggesting possibilities or contrasts.(i.e expect a but) or
giving uncertain or indefinite information
Ex:
It refers to information already known
When answering a full answer, and mentioning the
repeated part in the question.
Ex: When are you having lunch? I am having lunch at 5
27. Word Accent (1)
Nouns of two or three syllables are usually
accented on the ...........
1st Syllable
e.g. -ˈhɒspɪtl (3 syllables)
- ˈgræmə (2 syllables)
- Excep. -rɪˈvɪʒən
- pəˈliːs
28. Verbs of two syllables are usually
accented on the ...........
2nd Syllable
e.g. əkˈsɛpt
- rɪˈplaɪ
- əˈdæpt
Excep. ˈhɛzɪteɪt
29. Words of three syllables are rarely accented
on the ...........
3rd syllable
30. Nouns ending in
[-ian] phonetician /fəʊnɪˈtɪʃən /
[-ion] discussion /dɪsˈkʌʃən /
[-tion] description /dɪsˈkrɪpʃən /
[-ity] reality /ri(ː)ˈælɪti/
Are accented on the syllable
preceding the suffix
31. Verbs ending in
[-ify] identify /aɪˈdɛntɪfaɪ/
[-ish] relinquish /rɪˈlɪŋkwɪʃ /
Are accented on the syllable
preceding the suffix
32. Adjectives ending in
[-ic] histor ic /hɪsˈtɒrɪk/
[-ical] history ical / hɪsˈtɒrɪkəl /
[[e)ous] courag eous / mysteri ous /kəˈreɪʤəs/ /mɪsˈtɪərɪəs /
[-cious] suspi cious / səsˈpɪʃəs /
Are accented on the syllable
preceding the suffix
33. Adjectives ending in
[-ive] explosive /ɪksˈpləʊsɪv/
[-tive] protective /prəˈtɛktɪv /
[-ible] terrible /ˈtɛrəbl/
[-igible] negligible /`nɛglɪʤəbl/
Are accented on the syllable
preceding the suffix
34. Un i ver si ty /ˌjuː nɪˈ vɜː s ɪ ti
-ity=/ɪ ti/
Ty /ti/ ultimate
Si /si/ penultimate
Ver /vɜː/ antepenultimate
Stress here falls on the syllable ..............the suffix.
perceding
35. Verbs of two syllables ending in [-ate]
Are accented on the final syllable (on the suffix itself),
E.g. translate /trænsˈleɪt/
If there is an antepenultimate syllable (3 syllable words)
Then Accent the antepenultimate one
E.g. dominate /ˈdɒmɪneɪt/
36. Nouns ending in
[-ation] civilization
[ition] composition
Are accented on
the first syllable of the suffix
(i.e. penultimate syllable of the word)
42. Do all suffixes affect word stress??!!
No, actually most suffixes do not affect the original
stress placement, it thus remains the same as on the
word-root.
49. Weak vowels
1-(i)
1- In words ending with /y/ and when these words are
attached to vowel-initial suffix
E.g. hurry /hʌri/ hurrying /hʌri Iŋ/
Happier /hæpiə/
2- Unstressed Vowel-ending prefixes when attached
to vowel initial stems e.g. react /riækt/
50. Weak vowels
(i) cont.
3- in the suffixes spelt as [-iate] and [-ious]
e.g. Appreciate /əˈpriːʃ i eɪt/ - hilarious /hɪˈle r i əs/
4- in he – she – me – we – be
when unstressed
51. Weak vowels
2- /u/
Weak syllables with weak /u/ are not so common
However they could be mostly found in words
such as
You – to - into - do - through - who
When they are unstressed and not
preceding/coming before a consonant
It also occur before another vowel in the same
word such as in
Evacuation /ɪˌvækjʊˈeɪʃən/
53. Syllabic Consonants
1-syllabic l
It occurs .............a consonant.
(after)
The most common places for syllabic l occurrence in a word based on the
spelling
(C)C + le (s) (middle) or C+ el (panel)
The preceding consonant could be ................
alveolar or non-alveolar
Ex. Bottle-middle – cattle ( following alveolar C)
Trouble-struggle - knuckle (following plosives and velars)
The /l/ remains syllabic in such cases even when the word gets attached to
a suffix such as (ing)
Ex. Struggling- bottling
54. 2- Syllabic n
Most common after ....................
alveolar Plosives & alveolar fricatives
E.g. threaten – eaten –
syllabic /n/ .............occur after /l/, /t∫/ or /ʤ/
(does not)
, e.g /piʤən/ /piʤn/
Syllabic and non-syllabic /n/ (i.e. with a schwa) are both acceptable when
the /n/ is preceded by a bilabial e.g. happen or a velar sound, e.g. Thicken
Syllabic /n/ is more common when the preceding consonant is a fricative,
e.g. seven, heaven
55. 3- syllabic /r/
Common in rhotic accents (American)
It is less common in BBC English
56. (Activity)
Listen to the song ( if today was your last day by Nickleback) and find out the
following:
1) specify the polysyllabic words mentioned through the song
2) Transcribe these words and determine the stress placement for each word.
