SLP 330 Ch. 9 Study Questions

1. Which statement comes closest to what prosody is doing in connected speech?

A. It identifies which consonant or vowel category is present, apart from any larger speech pattern.

B. It organizes pitch, loudness, and timing across an utterance so that meaning can shift without changing the words.

C. It serves mainly to add emotion after the linguistic message has already been fully specified by segmental content alone.

D. It reflects speech rate only, because rate is the one prosodic property that consistently reshapes meaning.

E. It marks only sentence type, whereas emphasis and boundary perception are handled by segmental contrasts.

B. It organizes pitch, loudness, and timing across an utterance so that meaning can shift without changing the words.

2. Another term for the prosodic level of speech is the ________________________ level.

suprasegmental

3. True/False: Because prosody is described as suprasegmental, it should be analyzed as operating apart from the actual vowels and consonants that realize it.

False

(Prosody is functionally suprasegmental, but it is still realized through actual segmental speech events such as changes in pitch, loudness, and timing across vowels and consonants.)

4. (Short answer) Explain why it is useful to distinguish segmental from prosodic aspects of speech, but inaccurate to treat them as fully separate systems. Your answer must address both functional level and physical realization.

The distinction is useful because segmentals help identify phonemes and words, whereas prosody organizes meaning across larger stretches of speech. It is inaccurate to treat them as fully separate because prosodic patterns are physically carried by segmental events such as duration, intensity, and fundamental-frequency changes.

5. In a nontonal language, what most sharply distinguishes utterance-level intonation from lexical tone?

A. Intonation relies on intensity, whereas lexical tone relies on pitch alone.

B. Intonation helps organize pitch over larger units of speech, whereas lexical tone helps distinguish lexical meaning at the word level.

C. Intonation occurs only at phrase endings, whereas lexical tone occurs only on stressed syllables.

D. Intonation is optional in casual speech, whereas lexical tone is restricted to careful speech.

E. Intonation changes word class, whereas lexical tone changes only speaker attitude.

B. Intonation helps organize pitch over larger units of speech, whereas lexical tone helps distinguish lexical meaning at the word level.

6. The perceptual label for utterance-level pitch contour is ________________________.

intonation

7. True/False: Declination can be fully explained as a simple consequence of steadily falling lung pressure over the course of an utterance.

False

(Declination is not explained by falling lung pressure alone. Respiratory, laryngeal, and linguistic factors all contribute to the downward trend in fundamental frequency across an utterance.)

8. In the spectrogram item contrasting two productions that differ in the occlusion of a voiced plosive, the most defensible classification of that difference is which of the following?

A. A change in lexical stress because the more prolonged occlusion increases prominence.

B. A change in duration that contributes to timing and may alter perceived boundary structure.

C. A change in vowel identity because the occlusion affects the surrounding formants.

D. A change in intonation because the utterance-level contour must shift when occlusion changes.

E. A change in sonority because the plosive becomes relatively louder than adjacent sounds.

B. A change in duration that contributes to timing and may alter perceived boundary structure.

9. (Short answer) In the spectrogram item built around the voiced plosive contrast, explain why the pattern is better interpreted as a prosodic timing difference than as a change in phonemic identity. Your answer must connect the acoustic difference to what a listener is likely to hear.

The contrast is better interpreted as a prosodic timing difference because the main acoustic change is the length of the occlusion, which changes timing and may affect boundary perception without creating a new phonemic category. A listener is more likely to hear a difference in timing than a different consonant identity.

10. The perceptual feature of timing is composed of ________________________ and ________________________.

rate and rhythm

11. Which definition best captures sonority as it is used in this chapter?

A. The absolute acoustic amplitude of any sound measured independently of context.

B. The loudness level of a sound judged relative to other sounds of similar length, pitch, and stress.

C. The degree to which a syllable carries lexical stress in citation form.

D. The amount of phrase-final pitch lowering that occurs across an utterance.

E. The average duration of vowels when phrase prominence is absent.

B. The loudness level of a sound judged relative to other sounds of similar length, pitch, and stress.

12. True/False: At the prosodic level, intensity contour and fundamental frequency contour often covary rather than behaving as wholly unrelated patterns.

True

13. (Short answer) Give a causal account of the relationship among increased depth of inhalation, increased mouth opening, and increased intensity. Do not list three facts. Show how the chain works.

Deeper inhalation supports greater respiratory drive and subglottal pressure. That added energy, together with increased mouth opening that helps radiate sound outward, produces greater intensity.

14. When a syllable becomes longer near the end of a phrase, what is the strongest interpretation?

A. The word has acquired a new lexical stress pattern specific to phrase-final position.

B. The speaker is signaling a semantic or prosodic boundary through preboundary lengthening.

C. The syllable has become contrastively stressed because phrase endings demand emphasis.

D. The utterance-level intonation contour has been neutralized and replaced by timing.

E. The segment has reverted to its intrinsic duration, which had been suppressed earlier in the phrase.

B. The speaker is signaling a semantic or prosodic boundary through preboundary lengthening.

15. The gradual tendency for fundamental frequency to decrease across an utterance is called ________________________.

declination

16. True/False: A prosodic feature can be interpreted adequately from a single isolated value without reference to the relative pattern formed by neighboring values of that same feature. If false, provide a rationale.

False

(A prosodic feature is interpreted from its relation to surrounding values and the larger pattern, not from a single isolated measurement.)

17. Which statement most accurately separates syllabic stress from phrase prominence?

A. Syllabic stress is determined by speaker intent, whereas phrase prominence is fixed by the lexical rules of the language.

B. Syllabic stress is a word-internal pattern shaped by language-based constraints, whereas phrase prominence reflects speaker-selected focus within an intonation unit.

C. Syllabic stress is cued mainly by duration, whereas phrase prominence is cued mainly by intensity, with little overlap.

D. Syllabic stress applies only to content words, whereas phrase prominence can apply only to function words.

E. Syllabic stress is perceptual, whereas phrase prominence is strictly acoustic.

B. Syllabic stress is a word-internal pattern shaped by language-based constraints, whereas phrase prominence reflects speaker-selected focus within an intonation unit.

18. (Short answer) Compare a within-word stress contrast, such as a noun-verb shift created by changing the strong syllable, with a phrase-level focus contrast created by making a different word stand out. Explain why these are not the same kind of prosodic event even though both involve relative prominence.

A within-word stress contrast is a language-based pattern inside the word itself, whereas a phrase-level focus contrast is speaker-chosen prominence used to highlight meaning across an intonation unit. Both involve relative prominence, but they operate at different levels and serve different functions.

19. Speaker-chosen emphasis placed on one or more syllables within an intonation unit for purposes of conveying meaning is called phrase ________________________.

prominence

20. Which cue bundle most plausibly marks a stressed syllable?

A. Lower relative pitch, lower relative intensity, and shorter relative duration than neighboring syllables.

B. Higher relative pitch, greater relative intensity, and longer relative duration, although the exact weighting of cues may vary by context.

C. Greater relative intensity alone, because duration and pitch are not reliable contributors to stress perception.

D. Longer duration alone, because stress must be measurable even when pitch and intensity remain flat.

E. A categorical shift in vowel quality that overrides all suprasegmental patterning.

B. Higher relative pitch, greater relative intensity, and longer relative duration, although the exact weighting of cues may vary by context.

21. True/False: Because syllabic stress is language-defined, a speaker may relocate stress to any other syllable in a word whenever communicative emphasis is needed. If false, provide a rationale.

False

(Because lexical stress is constrained by the language and the word form, speakers cannot freely move it anywhere they want for emphasis. They usually mark emphasis through phrase-level prominence instead.)

22. (Short answer) Using the figure that organizes intonation, timing, and loudness into syllabic stress and phrase prominence, explain how the same basic acoustic resources can support both language-defined and speaker-defined aspects of prosody without making those two levels interchangeable.

The same acoustic resources, including pitch, intensity, and duration, can cue both levels. Even so, syllabic stress remains language-defined within words, whereas phrase prominence reflects speaker-selected focus across an intonation unit, so the two levels are related but not interchangeable.

23. The three cues most commonly associated with syllabic stress are higher ________________________, greater ________________________, and longer ________________________.

pitch, intensity, duration

24. Which claim is most defensible regarding the search for a single defining acoustic cue for syllabic stress and phrase prominence?

A. Fundamental frequency is the defining cue for both across contexts, with duration and intensity serving only as redundant support.

B. Intensity is the defining cue for both across contexts, because listeners attend first to loudness differences.

C. Duration is the defining cue for stress, whereas fundamental frequency is the defining cue for prominence, with no meaningful overlap.

D. No single acoustic dimension has been proven to define either one uniformly across contexts.

E. Juncture is the defining cue for both, because boundaries determine which syllables stand out.

D. No single acoustic dimension has been proven to define either one uniformly across contexts.

25. True/False: Only one syllable or word in an utterance can receive phrase prominence. If false, provide a rationale.

False

(More than one syllable or word can be perceived as prominent within an utterance, even if one stands out as the strongest.)

26. (Short answer) In the waveform and spectrogram figure for the utterance about finding time to study, identify the most likely location of phrase prominence and justify your answer using both acoustic evidence and message structure.

The most likely location of phrase prominence is on "study." It would be expected to show a stronger cue bundle, such as relatively greater pitch movement, intensity, and duration, and it also fits the likely message focus in the utterance.

27. Which definition comes closest to the chapter's treatment of speech rhythm?

A. The equal spacing of stressed syllables across all utterances in a language.

B. The recurrent patterning of strong and weak prosodic elements, including temporal and spectral organization.

C. The number of pauses inserted between breath groups during connected speech.

D. The alternation of lexical stress and unstress inside single words only.

E. The perceived speed of articulation once segmental identities are held constant.

B. The recurrent patterning of strong and weak prosodic elements, including temporal and spectral organization.

28. Traditionally, languages were described as ________________________ timed, ________________________ timed, and mora timed.

stress timed, syllable timed

29. True/False: Speech rhythm can be explained adequately in temporal terms alone, because spectral patterning does not contribute in any meaningful way to rhythm perception. If false, provide a rationale.

False

(Rhythm is not purely temporal. Spectral and phonological patterning, including vowel reduction and syllable structure, also contribute to rhythm perception.)

30. In the temporal metrics described in the chapter, what is segmented first?

A. Stressed syllables and unstressed syllables

B. Content words and function words

C. Vocalic intervals and consonantal intervals

D. Intonation units and boundary tones

E. Breath groups and silent pauses

C. Vocalic intervals and consonantal intervals

31. (Short answer) Compare the older isochrony-based view of rhythm with the more current account. Your answer must explain not just what changed, but why the newer view better handles cross-language rhythmic differences.

The older isochrony view treated rhythm as if languages were built on literally equal timing units, such as equal stress feet or syllables. The newer view treats rhythm as a continuum shaped by multiple interacting cues, including interval variability, vowel reduction, and syllable structure, which better captures cross-language differences without assuming exact equal timing.

32. The temporal rhythm metric that compares the duration of sequential pairs of vocalic or consonantal intervals is called the ________________________.

pairwise variability index (PVI)

33. Within the rhythm measures discussed in the chapter, what does ΔV refer to?

A. The mean duration of stressed syllables within an intonation unit

B. The standard deviation of vocalic interval durations

C. The mean difference between phrase-final and phrase-medial syllables

D. The variance of prominence placement across repeated productions

E. The ratio of consonantal intervals to vocalic intervals across a phrase

B. The standard deviation of vocalic interval durations

34. True/False: A language described as being toward the syllable-timed end of a continuum must exhibit syllables of literally equal duration in running speech. If false, provide a rationale.

False

(Being closer to the syllable-timed end of a continuum does not mean syllables are literally equal in duration. It means timing patterns are relatively more even compared with languages at the other end.)

35. (Short answer) Explain why vowel reduction and the range of available syllable structures can shape how rhythm is heard. A strong answer will connect phonological structure to the listener's rhythmic impression rather than merely naming the two factors.

Greater vowel reduction and more complex syllable structures create more variability across intervals, and listeners hear that variability as a different rhythmic pattern. Less reduction and simpler syllable structures tend to sound more even.

36. Which option best captures the prosodic side of accentedness highlighted in the chapter?

A. Accentedness is determined mainly by consonant and vowel substitution, with prosody contributing only when intelligibility breaks down.

B. Accentedness can reflect stress placement, the extent of vowel reduction, and language-specific use of intonation, timing, and loudness.

C. Accentedness is largely equivalent to faster-than-average speaking rate, because rate compresses prosodic contrast.

D. Accentedness follows directly from reduced lexical knowledge, because unfamiliar words disrupt speech rhythm.

E. Accentedness disappears whenever a speaker maintains correct syllabic stress inside words.

B. Accentedness can reflect stress placement, the extent of vowel reduction, and language-specific use of intonation, timing, and loudness.

37. One major contributor to accentedness discussed in the chapter is the extent of vowel ________________________.

reduction

38. True/False: Languages do not all rely on pitch, duration, and loudness in exactly the same way when marking stress and prominence. If false, provide a rationale.

True

39. (Short answer) A speaker may be easy to understand word by word and still sound clearly nonnative. Explain how that can happen primarily through prosody rather than through obvious consonant or vowel errors.

A speaker can be intelligible word by word yet still sound clearly nonnative if the prosodic system reflects another language, such as different stress placement, vowel reduction patterns, intonation contours, timing, or prominence. In that case the words are understood, but the speech still sounds accented.

40. Which answer best matches a broad definition of prosody?

A. It conveys linguistic information only, because paralinguistic and nonlinguistic meaning is not part of the speech signal itself.

B. It conveys linguistic and emotional information only, because nonlinguistic information falls outside speech production.

C. It systematically organizes linguistic units into an utterance and can convey linguistic, paralinguistic, and nonlinguistic information.

D. It serves mainly as an overlay added after phoneme selection and therefore is not part of speech production proper.

E. It refers to any feature that improves intelligibility, regardless of whether pitch, loudness, or timing are involved.

C. It systematically organizes linguistic units into an utterance and can convey linguistic, paralinguistic, and nonlinguistic information.

41. A broad account of prosody includes segmental and ________________________ features of speech.

suprasegmental

42. True/False: Prosodic changes may be called suprasegmental even though they are achieved through actual segmental speech events. If false, provide a rationale.

True

43. (Short answer) Explain the claim that prosodic changes, although considered suprasegmental, occur at the segmental level. A weak answer will define terms. A strong answer will explain the logic of the claim.

They are called suprasegmental because they organize patterns across segments, syllables, and larger stretches of speech. Even so, they occur through segmental events such as changing segment duration, shaping fundamental-frequency movement during voiced segments, varying intensity, and inserting pauses.

44. Which clinical statement is the strongest one based on the chapter materials?

A. A child may show pragmatic difficulty while prosody remains intact, because social communication and prosody are unrelated domains.

B. A motor planning problem should spare prosody, because prosody is not dependent on rapid movement coordination.

C. Prosodic difficulty may arise in both pragmatic language problems and movement-based speech disorders, although the underlying reasons differ.

D. Once segmental articulation is accurate, prosodic impairment can be ruled out with reasonable confidence.

E. Prosodic difficulty is best treated as a loudness problem unless clear pitch errors are also present.

C. Prosodic difficulty may arise in both pragmatic language problems and movement-based speech disorders, although the underlying reasons differ.

45. In the chapter's clinical contrast, one language relies on lexical tone, whereas the other relies more centrally on lexical ________________________.

stress

46. True/False: Because two languages both use pitch, prosody treatment should target the same functions of pitch in each language. If false, provide a rationale.

False

(Two languages may both use pitch, but they may use it for different functions. Tonal languages use pitch to distinguish word meanings, whereas nontonal languages rely more on stress, intonation, and phrase prominence.)

47. (Short answer) Explain why prosody treatment would not be expected to target exactly the same things in a tonal language and a nontonal language. Your answer must explicitly compare the roles of fundamental frequency contour, word stress, and phrase prominence.

In a tonal language, treatment must protect and strengthen fundamental-frequency patterns that distinguish word meanings. In a nontonal language, treatment focuses more on how pitch, loudness, duration, and pausing support word stress, phrase prominence, and intonation. The role of F0 therefore overlaps across languages but is not identical.

48. Which explanation best connects acoustic theory of speech production to a prosodic speech-voice deficit?

A. Acoustic theory is largely irrelevant, because prosody is determined by syntax and pragmatics rather than by source and filter events.

B. A speaker who cannot generate or shape sufficient acoustic contrast through respiratory-laryngeal and vocal tract adjustments is likely to show weakened prosodic distinctions.

C. Acoustic theory applies to vowels and consonants but not to loudness, pitch patterning, or boundary marking.

D. Prosodic deficits are best explained as failures of lexical access, because word choice controls most acoustic variation across an utterance.

E. Acoustic theory matters only when intonation is abnormal, not when stress, prominence, or timing are reduced.

B. A speaker who cannot generate or shape sufficient acoustic contrast through respiratory-laryngeal and vocal tract adjustments is likely to show weakened prosodic distinctions.

49. A speech sample that sounds flat may reflect reduced pitch movement, weak ________________________, or poorly timed pausing.

loudness contrast

50. (Short answer) A speaker shows accurate segmentals and acceptable word-level stress, yet in conversation sounds flat, places pauses in odd locations, and fails to guide attention to what matters most. Give the strongest prosodic interpretation of that profile and explain what you would listen for in conversation and then compare in reading before drawing a conclusion.

The strongest interpretation is a phrase-level prosodic problem, especially reduced phrase prominence and weak boundary marking, rather than a segmental problem or a simple word-stress problem. In conversation, I would listen for how pitch movement, loudness change, duration, and pausing guide attention and mark boundaries. I would then compare those same features in reading to see whether the pattern persists in a more controlled context before drawing a conclusion.