Phonetics: Supersegmentals

  • supersegmentals: phonetic properties of sequences of sounds
  1. Contrastive Length
    • long vowels contrast with short vowels in several languages, changing the meaning of the word
    • same for consonants
  2. Stress
    • one or more syllables are more prominent
      • pitch (higher)
      • duration
      • loudness
      • vowel variation
    • not uniform across languages
    • stress is part of the general rhythm of speech
    • Fixed Stress
      • one syllable will always be stressed
      • ex: Polish - stress is on second to last syllable
    • Unpredictable Stress / Lexical Stress
      • one strong stress per word - unpredictable
      • if you change the stress pattern, you change the word to a non-word or a different word (noun to verb, etc.)
  3. Tone
    • some languages employ tone or pitch-accent
    • vocal cords produce a syllable with a pitch at a certain frequency
    • tones are level or contour
      • bit of a simplification
      • may come out differently during articulation
    • tones are a contrasting system
      • if your five is different from your three they’ll get it
    • tone languages vary in terms of complexity
    • common in se asia and parts of Africa
    • tone sandhi: tones are properties of syllables and tend to change when placed with a syllable with a different tone
    • pitch accent / emerging-tone languages
      • use a limited number of patterns of pitch over the articulation of an entire
  • all languages do something at the larynx
    • stress - raised pitch, increased duration, vowel quality
    • tone - manipulation of pitch over syllable
    • pitch accent - manipulation of pitch over a word