Phonetics & Phonology

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Phonology

The way language organizes sounds

Prosodic Features

How things sound, study of acoustic elements of our voices

5 Prosodic Elements

Pitch, intonation, stress, tempo, volume

Pitch

Refers to relative height, ranging from high to low, of auditory sound.

Types of pitch

High, Low, Rising, Falling

Rising pitch

Starts low and gets high - signals jovial mood, lighthearted mood, and playful

Falling pitch

Signals authoritative tone, and enforcement

Intonation

Pitch variation across phrases, clauses and sentences (peaks and drops of pitch)

Intonation Units

Units of speech within a sentence/phrase that have alike intonation

Intonation’s uses

To signal, question, absoluteness, surety

Types of intonation

Continuing intonation, final intonation, rising intonation, falling intonation, uprising intonation or high rising terminal (HRT)

Continuing intonation’s notation

comma (,)

Final intonation’s notation

full stop (.)

Falling intonation’s notation

question mark (?)

Uprising intonation’s notation

Declarative sentences ending with a rising intonation

Stress between syllables

Intensity placed upon a syllable within a word, or a word within a sentence

Purpose of stress between syllables

To create emphasis (pitch, intonation), and to indicate word class

Purpose of stress within words

To alter meaning within the sentence

“I love your mom’s cooking.”

Someone doubts that I like your mom’s cooking.

“I love your mom’s cooking.”

I as an individual like your mom’s cooking, where perhaps other might not.

“I love your mom’s cooking.”

I adore your mother’s cooking and perhaps not your father’s or any other family members.

“I love your mom’s cooking.”

I like your mother’s cooking, but perhaps not anything else that your mother does.

Tempo

Pace or speed within an intonation unit is delivered.

What Is Tempo linked to?

Emotion, intent, and is based on situational context

Forms and Notations of Tempo (Fast)

Fast - Allegro - <A ,A>

Forms and Notations of Tempo (Slow)

Slow - lento, slow - <L, L>

Volume

How loud or soft a sound is, and can create a crescendo effect.

International Phonetic Alphabet

A universal system of sounds that has 107 sound symbols and 52 diacritics

Phoneme

A single unit of distinct speech sound within a word, (eg. “cat” - “cot” - where ‘a’ changes to ‘o’)

Diacritics

Symbols placed above, below or next to a phoneme to indicate variations (eg. c~at, indicates a creaky voice under ‘a’)

Pragmatics

How certain language is used within a context, and how that context conveys meaning.

Paralinguistic features

Features that distinguish speech from writing

Types of paralinguistic features

Vocal effects, non-verbal communication

Types of vocal effects (some)

Laughter (intending humor), coughs (can be sarcastic), whispering (talking about something secret)

Types of Non-Verbal Communication (some)

Body movement, gestures, gaze

Shrugging of shoulders

Gesture - Uncertainty, or indecisiveness

Rolling of eyes

Indicating annoyance or irritation

Use of open hands

Gestures - Indicate openess