Module 8: Prosody

Define suprasegmental

• Intent of utterance

• prosody

  • Defined by the relative values to one another

What are the acoustic features of prosody and their perceptual correlates?

Intonation → F0 Contour

Timing → Duration and Juncture

Loudness → Intensity contour

What is intonation?

= reference utterance – length pitch contour

What is intonation used for?

• Signal a question (raise pitch)

• Emotional intent

• End of utterance or conversational turn

• Placeholder during the conversational turn

Intonation countour can signal a ______ when the syntax is a _____

1. question

2. statement

What is the intonation contour of a statement?

Intonation is flat to falling

What is the intonation contour of a question?

Rising contour

Questions have different pitch contours depending on what?

Depending on question type

Pitch contour of a closed question

Ends with rising pitch

Pitch contour of an open question

It has a rise then falling pitch

Timing

• Duration of a phoneme (vowels)

• Perceptual cue for manner of articulation

• Perceptual cue for tense or lax vowels

  • Help determine if it’s a consonant, vowel, or diphthong.

• Duration of the syllable

  • Pre boundary lengthening

Juncture

Pause time or separation of syllables/influenced meaning.

• Word boundaries

• Pre-boundary lengthening duration that is used to signal semantic boundaries.

  • Lengthened in the final position.

What do junctures help establish?

Help to establish boundaries

• for compound words, the juncture is bigger when it wants to be 2 words

Loudness

(Intensity contour)

• Loudness contour is used with F0 contour and timing to define syllabic stress and prominence.

• Loudness and F0 co-vary

• Intensity, F0, and timing change to create syllabic stress and prominence

Varying F0 Contours: Rising contour (min, max, range)

Closed question (Yes/no).

• Max = 400 Hz

• Min = ab 180 Hz

• Range = 145 Hz

Varying F0 Contours: Rise-fall contour (min, max, range)

Open questions (wh- questions)

• Max = ab 330 Hz

• Min = ab 180 Hz

• Range = 220 Hz

Varying F0 Contours: Fall contour (min, max, range)

An unemotional statement

• Max = ab 220 Hz

• Min = ab 180 Hz

• Range = 40 Hz

What is F0 declination?

The tendency of F0 to decrease gradually over the course of an utterance

What happens to lung pressure when an utterance is longer?

Lung pressure dec when utterance is longer and becomes less steep

• Short utterance = steeper

What can happen to individual syllables during F0 declination?

Individual syllables may receive a slight upward inflection.

What is sonority?

Loudness level of a sound relative to other sounds of similar length, pitch and stress

How does loudness very over the course of sentences and by emotion?

It declines over the course of an utterance like F0 but not to the same extent

What is syllabic stress?

Rules of the language, not the speaker’s choice

How is stressed marked regarding pitch?

Pitch is higher

How is stressed marked regarding loudness?

Intensity is greater

How is stressed marked regarding duration?

Duration is longer

How do pitch and loudness contribute to the perception of stress? (verbs and nouns)

Verbs = stress on 2^nd half

Noun = 1^st half is stressed

What is prominence?

Emphasis is placed on one or more syllables with an intonation unity (phrase) to convey meaning.

How are the three acoustic features in prominence?

• The pitch is usually greater.

• Intensity is usually greater.

• Duration is usually longer.

Three major features that attribute to accentedness

1. Syllabic stress

2. Extent of vowel reduction

3. Uniqure application of intonation, timing and loudness

Define Stress

Amount of emphasis placed upon a syllabic segment within a word