Phonetics Study Guide: Suprasegmental Features

Suprasegmental Features

Suprasegmental Features

Features that apply over phonemes and affect the organization and interpretation of sounds in speech.

Stress

Emphasis or prominence placed on a sound, syllable, or word in speech.

Three Components of Stress

Includes increased pitch, increased volume, and longer duration.

Contrastive Stress

At the word level, it alters meaning or intent (e.g., 'affect' vs. 'effect').

Lexical Stress

Inherent stress pattern within a word (e.g., 'project' as noun vs. verb).

Primary Stress

Most prominent stress in a multisyllabic word.

Secondary Stress

Lesser prominence than primary stress, but still noticeable.

Tertiary Stress

Weakest stress, often reduced.

Unstressed Phonemes

Less precision in articulation; vowels often reduced to schwa /ə/.

Falling Intonation

Typically used at the end of statements or questions with who, what, where, when, why.

Rising Intonation

Used in yes/no questions, pauses, and to indicate continuation in speech.

Length/Duration

Refers to how long speech sounds last and is closely tied to rhythm and tempo.

Factors Affecting Duration

Includes rate of speech and pauses, which influence assimilation.

General Duration Rules

Diphthongs > Vowels > Consonants; Stressed syllables > Unstressed syllables.

Tone (not applicable to English)

Use of pitch to distinguish meaning between words in tone languages.

Doubling final consonants

When a root word ends in a consonant and the final syllable is stressed, the final consonant is often doubled before adding a suffix.

Suprasegmental Features

Stress; Intonation; Length/ Duration; Tone

What is the Stress rule for words ending in -er, -or -ar (e.g., author, brother)

the stress typically falls on the first syllable.

What is the Stress rule for words ending in -le, -al (e.g., circle, journal)

the stress typically falls on the first syllable.

What is the Stress rule for words ending in -ion, -ant, -ent, -ance, -able, -ous

usually do not receive primary stress and are pronounced with a schwa /ə/ (e.g., action, mission).

What type of words receive stress in sentences ( Content, Function or Sentence)

Content words, such as nouns, main verbs, and adjectives, typically receive stress in sentences.

What type of words are usually unstressed in sentences ( Content, Function, or Sentence)

Function words, such as prepositions, conjunctions, and articles, are usually unstressed in sentences.

What type of information receives stress in sentences ( Content, Function, or Sentence)

New information is stressed more than old/given information to highlight its importance and relevance. Reveals speaker’s intent

Intonation Definition

the melody of speech, where pitch changes occur across a phrase or sentence.

Prosody Definition

Combination of pitch and intonation

Duration Rule for Diphthongs > Vowels

Diphthongs are longer than monophthongs.

Duration Rule for Vowels > Consonants

Vowels typically last longer than consonants.

Duration Rule for Glides & Liquids > Stops

Glides and liquids (e.g., /j, l, r/) have longer duration than stops (e.g., /p, t, k/).

Duration rule for Stressed Syllables > Unstressed Syllables

Stressed syllables have greater duration.

Duration Rule for Vowels Preceding Voiced Consonants > Voiceless Consonants

Vowels before voiced consonants (e.g., dog) are longer than those before voiceless consonants (e.g., cat).

Duration Rule for Vowels in Open Syllables > Closed Syllables

Vowels in open syllables (e.g., be) tend to last longer than those in closed syllables (e.g., bat).