Phonetics
Chapter 6: Suprasegmentals and Prosody
Suprasegmentals- A phonetic effect that extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance.
These can involve variations in pitch, loudness, and timing. These effects in speech go beyond the
segmental level of representation and may apply to syllables, words, phrases, and sentences.
Prosody- All of the linguistic properties that exceed the segment level.
Prosody is all of the linguistic properties that exceed the segment level whereas suprasegmentals is the
overarching category that encompasses both linguistic prosody and paralinguistic influences.
Acoustic-perceptual properties:
Pitch- Which varies along a perceptual dimension from low to high.
Loudness- The perceived magnitude or strength of the speech signal (weak/soft, strong/loud).
Duration- Length of units of speech.
The components of suprasegmentals
Syllable- Phonological constituent composed of zero or more consonants, followed by a vowel or a sonorant
consonant serving as a syllabic nucleus, and ending with a string of zero or more consonants. They are also
peaks of energy or prominence in the speech pattern.
Necessary to describe stress patterns and the phonetic characteristics of larger units, such as phrases or
clauses.
Sonority- The auditory force of a speech sound.
The determination of degree of sonority depends on a sound’s phonetic environment.
, The structure of the syllable consists of:
Onset- Occurs at the beginning of syllables, is either null or is realized as a consonant or consonant
cluster.
Rhyme- The part of a syllable that consists of the nucleus and (optional) coda.
Nucleus- Vowel or vowel-like element.
Coda- Consonant or consonant cluster.
Sonority sequencing principle- Principle whereby segments with
different manners of articulation are arranged into syllables so that
each syllable has a single peak of sonority.
Phonotactics- Phonological rules that dictate what position in the syllable a particular phonetic segment is
permitted to occupy and how sounds can combine.
A commonly accepted rank ordering of sound classes by sonority from highest to lowest is: vowels, glide,
liquid, nasal, voiced fricative, voiceless fricative, affricate, voiced stop, and voiceless stop.
Maximal onset principle- Consonants are
assigned to the onset of a syllable unless a
phonotactically illegal sequence of
consonants would result.
Ex: The word “helicopter” would be
syllabified as /hɛ lə kɔp tɚ/ because /l/ can
plausibly serve as the onset of the second
syllable and /k/ can serve as the onset of the
third syllable. In the final syllable, /t/ can
plausibly serve as the onset, but a
combination /p t/ is not allowable as an
onset in English. Therefore, only the /t/
serves as the onset of the final syllable and
the /p/ is assigned to the coda of the third
syllable.
Relative terms that are used to describe
syllables as comparatively less stressed
(weaker) or more stressed (stronger).
Foot- A group of syllables that contains one stressed syllable with optional weak syllables.
Trochee- A foot that consists of a strong syllable followed by a weak syllable (Sw).
Iamb- A foot that consists of a weak syllable followed by a strong syllable (wS).
In a trochaic language, words with multiple stressed syllables are subdivided into sequences of Sw feet, and in
an iambic language, such words are broken down into sequences of Sw feet.
English is considered a trochaic language.
Chapter 6: Suprasegmentals and Prosody
Suprasegmentals- A phonetic effect that extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance.
These can involve variations in pitch, loudness, and timing. These effects in speech go beyond the
segmental level of representation and may apply to syllables, words, phrases, and sentences.
Prosody- All of the linguistic properties that exceed the segment level.
Prosody is all of the linguistic properties that exceed the segment level whereas suprasegmentals is the
overarching category that encompasses both linguistic prosody and paralinguistic influences.
Acoustic-perceptual properties:
Pitch- Which varies along a perceptual dimension from low to high.
Loudness- The perceived magnitude or strength of the speech signal (weak/soft, strong/loud).
Duration- Length of units of speech.
The components of suprasegmentals
Syllable- Phonological constituent composed of zero or more consonants, followed by a vowel or a sonorant
consonant serving as a syllabic nucleus, and ending with a string of zero or more consonants. They are also
peaks of energy or prominence in the speech pattern.
Necessary to describe stress patterns and the phonetic characteristics of larger units, such as phrases or
clauses.
Sonority- The auditory force of a speech sound.
The determination of degree of sonority depends on a sound’s phonetic environment.
, The structure of the syllable consists of:
Onset- Occurs at the beginning of syllables, is either null or is realized as a consonant or consonant
cluster.
Rhyme- The part of a syllable that consists of the nucleus and (optional) coda.
Nucleus- Vowel or vowel-like element.
Coda- Consonant or consonant cluster.
Sonority sequencing principle- Principle whereby segments with
different manners of articulation are arranged into syllables so that
each syllable has a single peak of sonority.
Phonotactics- Phonological rules that dictate what position in the syllable a particular phonetic segment is
permitted to occupy and how sounds can combine.
A commonly accepted rank ordering of sound classes by sonority from highest to lowest is: vowels, glide,
liquid, nasal, voiced fricative, voiceless fricative, affricate, voiced stop, and voiceless stop.
Maximal onset principle- Consonants are
assigned to the onset of a syllable unless a
phonotactically illegal sequence of
consonants would result.
Ex: The word “helicopter” would be
syllabified as /hɛ lə kɔp tɚ/ because /l/ can
plausibly serve as the onset of the second
syllable and /k/ can serve as the onset of the
third syllable. In the final syllable, /t/ can
plausibly serve as the onset, but a
combination /p t/ is not allowable as an
onset in English. Therefore, only the /t/
serves as the onset of the final syllable and
the /p/ is assigned to the coda of the third
syllable.
Relative terms that are used to describe
syllables as comparatively less stressed
(weaker) or more stressed (stronger).
Foot- A group of syllables that contains one stressed syllable with optional weak syllables.
Trochee- A foot that consists of a strong syllable followed by a weak syllable (Sw).
Iamb- A foot that consists of a weak syllable followed by a strong syllable (wS).
In a trochaic language, words with multiple stressed syllables are subdivided into sequences of Sw feet, and in
an iambic language, such words are broken down into sequences of Sw feet.
English is considered a trochaic language.
