Phonology Final Test

Question 1

What is a thought group?

Answer 1

Refers to a discreet stretch that forms a semantically and grammatically coherent segment of discourse. (In spoken discourse it refers to pauses at points where punctuation doesn’t always occur.)

Question 2

What is an intonation unit?

Answer 2

Describes the same segment of speech but refers also to the fact that this unit of speech has its own intonation or pitch pattern.

Question 3

Characteristics of and Intonation Unit (4)

Answer 3

• set off by pauses before and after
• contains only one prominent element
• has its own intonation
• has a grammatically coherent structure

Question 4

How an utterance is divided…

Answer 4

An utterance division will depend on the individual speaker

Question 5

How many circumstances govern the placement of prominence? (3)

Answer 5

1. New information
2. Emphatic stress
3. Contrastive stress

Question 6

New Information

Answer 6

X: I’ve lost an umBRELla
Y: A LAdy’s umbrella?
X: Yes, a lady’s umbrella with STARS on it. GREEN stars.

Question 7

Emphatic Stress

Answer 7

When the speaker wishes to place special emphasis on a particular element usually new information differentiated from normal prominence by the greater degree of emphasis (I an NEVer eating clams again)

Question 8

What is this an example of?
A: How do you like that new computer you bought?
B: I’m REALly enjoying it.

Answer 8

Emphatic Stress

Question 9

Contrastive Stress

Answer 9

Two parallel elements can receive prominence either explicitly or by implication (you do have cases where it occurs without prominence on both elements)

Question 10

What is this an example of?
Ex: Is this a LOW or HIGH impact aerobic class?
-
A: Is this the low impact aeRObics class?
B: No, it’s the HIGH impact class.

Answer 10

Contrastive Stress

Question 11

When you have an unmarked utterance where do you place prominence?

Answer 11

Prominence tends to come towards the end if the utterance is unmarked.

Question 12

Can a function word receive prominence?

Answer 12

Yes. This flexibility allows you to use prominence rather than additional verbiage. (It is THE movie of the year)

Question 13

Stress vs Prominence

Answer 13

Placement of stress is dictated by the word etymology where as prominence is sensitive to meaning, discourse, and syntactic boundaries.

Question 14

What is pitch (tone)?

Answer 14

The relative highness or lowness of the speaker’s voice.

Question 15

Intonation vs pitch

Answer 15

Pitch the same syllabic unit signifies differences in the word.
Intonation uses pitch variation over the length of an entire variation.

Question 16

what is intonation?

Answer 16

• involves the rising and falling of the voice to various pitch levels during the articulation of an utterance.

Question 17

what is intonation contour?

Answer 17

is the movement of pitch within an intonation unit.

Question 18

what are the functions of intonation?

Answer 18

1. Gramatical

2. convey actitud or emotion

Question 19

Mention the pitch levels

Answer 19

4= extra high
3= high
2= middle
1=low

Question 20

what does the asterisk (*) in prominence refer to?

Example: 2-3*-1

Answer 20

we denote the prominence tone (or nuclear stress) in an intonational contour with an asterisk on an specific tone in that contour.

Question 21

what is falling intonation?

Answer 21

signals certainty or finality

2-3*-1 –> (arrow down)

Question 22

how is the falling intonation in a declarative statement?

Answer 22

2-3-1 –> (arrow down)
the default unmarked prominent tone for expressing facts is a high tone (3) on the most prominent syllable in the thought group.

Question 23

What is the intonation in WH-questions? (finality)

Answer 23

questions words in english generally do not receive prominence
2-3*-1 –> (arrow down)

Question 24

how to use WH-uninverted questions to express finality?

sorry we had no idea how to paraphrase

Answer 24

they do not ask about the subject or part of the subject, they have an auxiliary or copula be before the subject in the question, and the subject comes before the verb phrase.

Question 25

how to use commands (finality intonation)

Answer 25

2-3*-1 –> {arrow down)

Question 26

how to use tag questions (in finality intonation)?

Answer 26

tag questions confirming facts or eliciting agreement
*since tag questions end in an unstressed pronoun, all tags have a longer glide contour that is the glide over more than one syllable

Question 27

when will intonation pattern shift?

Answer 27

prominent element shifts according to discourse context.

Question 28

what does “uncertainty” in intonation refer to?

Answer 28

a final rise indicates uncertainty

Question 29

how is the tone for expressing uncertainty?

Answer 29

to express uncertainty we use a low tone (1*) in the most prominent syllable of the thought group.

Question 30

in the case of uncertainty, the contour becomes more pronounced if ___________?

Answer 30

if the prominent syllable is the last syllable in the thought group because the 1-3 is compressed into the final syllable.
2-1-3

Question 31

Why in Spanish do we need both question marks symbols?

Answer 31

Because we need to distinguish

Question 32

Why in Spanish do we need both question marks symbols?

Answer 32

Because in eNGLISH MARKED SITUATIONS IN WHICH INVERT THE QUestion “ meaning that you are not following the format of the Wh question.
Ex. The plane left already?

Question 33

Uncertainty in Open choice alternative

question ( how to use it?)

Answer 33

2-1-1-3 –> (arrow up)

There is more than one prominent word.

Question 34

What is nonfinality?

Answer 34

Utterances that are longer or syntactically more complex that are broken up into more manageable groups

Question 35

For what do we use low tone on the final syllable of an utterance?

Answer 35

to express disinterest or boredome

Question 36

In an aural-oral communication, what type of communication you use?

Answer 36

Only intonation and linguistic context.

Question 37

Why is punctuation not a reliable guide to intonation?

Answer 37

Because in certain cases the punctuation in written English reflects the intonation units of spoken English.