Prosody

Prosody

1. the study of stress, rhythm and intonation in units larger than the word

2. the elements of prosody are also called suprasegmentals

The End-Weight Principle

1. If there is a sequence of equal stresses, the last must become the

   strongest = the most prominent (tonic)

2. The prosodic “weight” of an

   utterance must be at the end

3. the tonic is the only primary stress in the word/phrase/sentence, everything else is downgraded to secondary (always before the primary stress!)

4. Tonic Assignment Rule = of several primary stresses, downgrade each to secondary

5. Unstressed syllables = 3ry or zero stress

Rhythm/beat

1. the way stressed syllables follow each other, forming (rhythmic) feet

2. foot = a stressed syllable plus the unstressed syllables that follow it

Intonation

1. the changes in the height of the voice (the pitch)

2. loudness (stress) + pitch (intonation) combine together to create the

   most prominent syllable in a sentence/phrase/word: the tonic

‘nice old lady rule’

when three words with main stresses come closely together, with maximally one unstressed syllable between them, the stressed syllable in the middle may optionally be deleted (=reduced to 3ry: vowel quality does not change, the vowel remains a “full” vowel)

‘afternoon tea’ rule

if a longer word, with two stresses, is immediately (or with just one unstressed syllable between them) followed by a stressed word, the middle stress may optionally be deleted (=reduced to 3ry)

locating phrase/sentence stress

1. in connected speech, the general rule is to stress every content-word, and leave function-words unstressed

2. Content words:

• nouns

• verbs

• adjectives

• adverbs

• phrasal verb particles (get up; sit down)

• negative words

3. Function-words:

• auxiliaries

• pronouns

• articles

• conjunctions

• prepositions

Reduced vowels in unstressed syllables

1. schwa, i, ij, uw

2. unstressed syllables may contain a full vowel, such syllables are sometimes called tertiary stressed (or strong unstressed) = can’t become stressed or take 1ry stress (Rhythm Rule violation)

Compounds

1. it is a lexical unit (a lexeme) made up of two or more free stems

2. Spelling (inconsistent):

• one word: greenhouse, schoolboy

• with a hyphen: word-final, fun-loving

• most are written as two words: car ferry, geography teacher (invisible compounds)

3. Stressing:

• initially-stressed compounds, pattern: [ [ 1 ] [ 3 ] ]: gréenhouse, cár ferry

  1. Obscured compounds: in some compounds the 3ry “stress” has become completely reduced (ex: póstman, wélcome, cúpboard, nécklace, bréakfast, vínyard)

• finally-stressed compounds, pattern: [ [ 2 ] [ 1 ] ]: tráde únion, frúit sálad

  1. names of places (except Street)

  2. initials

  3. adjectives and adverbs

  4. some verbs

  5. 2nd element is past participle = well-deserved, ill-mannered

  6. others: Sócial Démocrat, bláck márket, Cóca-Cóla, wéekénd

4. Compound Stress Rule = once two words have been compounded, the position of the tonic stays fixed (violates Rhythm Rule)

5. Greek compounds:

• Greek-initial components

  mono-, ana-, thermo-, poly-

• Greek-final components

  -graph, -logy, -meter, -phone

• at least three syllables long

• stress is on the antepenult (3rd syllable from the end) of the whole compound

Tone-Unit

Parts:

1. Pre-head

2. Head

3. Tonic

4. Tail

Tonic Placement

Types of placement:

1. Neutral

• has no special communicative value

• Last Content-Word Rule = tonic falls on the last content-word of the tone-unit

• Neutral tonic and auxiliaries = it has a tonic if there is no further stressable word in the sentence

• Neutral tonic and adverbial particles = particle should always be stressed!
  (Prepositional Verbs (unstr) VS Phrasal Verbs (str))

1. Dislocated

• to focus some part of the message, to contrast it with something, or to highlight it as new information

• Lexical Contrast: when the speaker emphasizes a word which is earlier than the tonic

• Verbal Contrast: concerns the mood, tense, or positive/negative value (the “polarity”) of the verb

• Anaphoric destressing (old information)

Types of Tones:

1. Falling Tone

• statements

• commands

• exclamations

• wh-questions

2. The falling-rising Tone

• Implications

• Partial negation

• Softening commands and WH-questions

3. The low-rising Tone:

• Responses

• Additional information

• indifference

• encouragement/greetings

• never used in questions!

4. The high-rising Tone:

• Yes/No questions

• “Please repeat” questions