8. Prosody Flashcards
(14 cards)
What does ‘prosody’ refer to in speech science?
Suprasegmental features such as pitch, intonation, and rhythm
Prosody refers to features that go beyond the segmental level.
How can punctuation relate to prosody?
Punctuation can signal prosody but lacks precision
Punctuation provides some clues to prosody but cannot capture all of its nuances.
Which of the following does not typically signal a prosodic phrase boundary?
A sudden increase in tempo
Sudden tempo increase is not typical at phrase boundaries; instead, the rate tends to slow.
What is a key function of prosodic phrasing?
To chunk speech into meaningful units
Prosodic phrasing helps listeners interpret speech by chunking it into meaningful units.
Which example shows how phrasing can change meaning?
My sister who lives in Edinburgh just had twins vs. My sister, who lives in Edinburgh, just had twins
Phrasing boundaries can change the meaning by altering which parts of a sentence are grouped.
What is the typical phonetic feature of a word under focus?
Pitch change and louder, more modal voice
Focus is usually marked by greater loudness, clearer articulation, and pitch change.
In default cases, where is focus most commonly located?
Last lexical item
Focus tends to default to the last lexical item in a phrase.
What does a falling nuclear tone usually signal?
A definite or complete statement
A falling nuclear tone signals completeness or definitiveness.
Which pitch contour typically signals a binary question?
Low rising
Binary questions (yes/no) are usually associated with a low rising contour.
What is the nucleus in the structure of a sentence, according to O’Connor and Arnold?
The main accented syllable
The nucleus is the main accented syllable and carries the nuclear tone.
What is ‘declination’ in the context of prosody?
A gradual decline in pitch over the course of speech
Declination is the natural downward trend of pitch across an utterance.
What does lexical tone refer to?
The use of pitch to distinguish between word meanings
Lexical tone uses pitch to change the meaning of individual words (e.g., Mandarin).
What is needed before conducting speech analysis using pitch tracking?
Segmenting and annotating the speech
Speech must be segmented and annotated to locate the time points of interest.
What are some experimental methods used to analyze prosody?
Annotation and pitch tracking
Segmentation/annotation and pitch estimation are common methods to study prosody.
