Phonology Final Test Flashcards
What is a thought group?
Refers to a discreet stretch that forms a semantically and grammatically coherent segment of discourse. (In spoken discourse it refers to pauses at points where punctuation doesn’t always occur.)
What is an intonation unit?
Describes the same segment of speech but refers also to the fact that this unit of speech has its own intonation or pitch pattern.
Characteristics of and Intonation Unit (4)
- set off by pauses before and after
- contains only one prominent element
- has its own intonation
- has a grammatically coherent structure
How an utterance is divided…
An utterance division will depend on the individual speaker
How many circumstances govern the placement of prominence? (3)
- New information
- Emphatic stress
- Contrastive stress
New Information
X: I’ve lost an umBRELla
Y: A LAdy’s umbrella?
X: Yes, a lady’s umbrella with STARS on it. GREEN stars.
Emphatic Stress
When the speaker wishes to place special emphasis on a particular element usually new information differentiated from normal prominence by the greater degree of emphasis (I an NEVer eating clams again)
What is this an example of?
A: How do you like that new computer you bought?
B: I’m REALly enjoying it.
Emphatic Stress
Contrastive Stress
Two parallel elements can receive prominence either explicitly or by implication (you do have cases where it occurs without prominence on both elements)
What is this an example of?
Ex: Is this a LOW or HIGH impact aerobic class?
-
A: Is this the low impact aeRObics class?
B: No, it’s the HIGH impact class.
Contrastive Stress
When you have an unmarked utterance where do you place prominence?
Prominence tends to come towards the end if the utterance is unmarked.
Can a function word receive prominence?
Yes. This flexibility allows you to use prominence rather than additional verbiage. (It is THE movie of the year)
Stress vs Prominence
Placement of stress is dictated by the word etymology where as prominence is sensitive to meaning, discourse, and syntactic boundaries.
What is pitch (tone)?
The relative highness or lowness of the speaker’s voice.
Intonation vs pitch
Pitch the same syllabic unit signifies differences in the word.
Intonation uses pitch variation over the length of an entire variation.
what is intonation?
- involves the rising and falling of the voice to various pitch levels during the articulation of an utterance.
what is intonation contour?
is the movement of pitch within an intonation unit.
what are the functions of intonation?
- Gramatical
2. convey actitud or emotion
Mention the pitch levels
4= extra high
3= high
2= middle
1=low
what does the asterisk (*) in prominence refer to?
Example: 2-3*-1
we denote the prominence tone (or nuclear stress) in an intonational contour with an asterisk on an specific tone in that contour.
what is falling intonation?
signals certainty or finality
2-3*-1 –> (arrow down)
how is the falling intonation in a declarative statement?
2-3-1 –> (arrow down)
the default unmarked prominent tone for expressing facts is a high tone (3) on the most prominent syllable in the thought group.
What is the intonation in WH-questions? (finality)
questions words in english generally do not receive prominence
2-3*-1 –> (arrow down)
how to use WH-uninverted questions to express finality?
sorry we had no idea how to paraphrase
they do not ask about the subject or part of the subject, they have an auxiliary or copula be before the subject in the question, and the subject comes before the verb phrase.
how to use commands (finality intonation)
2-3*-1 –> {arrow down)
how to use tag questions (in finality intonation)?
tag questions confirming facts or eliciting agreement
*since tag questions end in an unstressed pronoun, all tags have a longer glide contour that is the glide over more than one syllable
when will intonation pattern shift?
prominent element shifts according to discourse context.
what does “uncertainty” in intonation refer to?
a final rise indicates uncertainty
how is the tone for expressing uncertainty?
to express uncertainty we use a low tone (1*) in the most prominent syllable of the thought group.
in the case of uncertainty, the contour becomes more pronounced if ___________?
if the prominent syllable is the last syllable in the thought group because the 1-3 is compressed into the final syllable.
2-1-3
Why in Spanish do we need both question marks symbols?
Because we need to distinguish
Why in Spanish do we need both question marks symbols?
Because in eNGLISH MARKED SITUATIONS IN WHICH INVERT THE QUestion “ meaning that you are not following the format of the Wh question.
Ex. The plane left already?
Uncertainty in Open choice alternative
question ( how to use it?)
2-1-1-3 –> (arrow up)
There is more than one prominent word.
What is nonfinality?
Utterances that are longer or syntactically more complex that are broken up into more manageable groups
For what do we use low tone on the final syllable of an utterance?
to express disinterest or boredome
In an aural-oral communication, what type of communication you use?
Only intonation and linguistic context.
Why is punctuation not a reliable guide to intonation?
Because in certain cases the punctuation in written English reflects the intonation units of spoken English.
