U2 - The Function of Prominence Flashcards
(31 cards)
What does Suprasegmental Phonology studies?
(Beyond segments)
It concerns three matters:
1. Tonality
2. Tonicity
3. Tone
What does Tonality concern?
Tonality is the division of utterances into chunks which are called “Tone units” or “Intonational Phrases (IP)”.
Punctuation marks help us organize texts into shorter units.
What does Tone concern?
Tone is the melody of an utterance.
What does Tonicity concern?
Tonicity refers to the location of the most prominent syllable within an intonation phrase (IP), also known as the Nucleus or Tonic Syllable. It essentially marks which syllable receives the main accent and pitch change within a given intonation phrase.
Nucleus / Tonic Syllable
It is the most prominent syllable within an IP which bears the nuclear tone (a pitch movement) and has a rhythmic beat. It also signals the end of the new information in an IP.
What is prominence?
The physical properties that made one syllable stand out from the rest because of a difference in:
• Quality
• Loudness
• Length
• Pitch → Degree of highness or lowness in a tone
What is prominence used for?
Prominence helps to highlight important information, indicate new information, or create contrast by producing the stressed syllable of a word with longer utterance.
What happens when the whole IP is new or relevant?
When there is a broad focus (the whole IP is new or relevant) there is neutral tonicity. This is to say that the item to be highlighted/the nucleus of the IP will be the last lexical item (LLI Rule).
Is always the Last Lexical Item the tonic syllable?
No, there are exceptions to the LLI Rule when the focus is narrow. That is to say that we can focus selectively on one part of the IP, concentrating only on the relevant part and not the old, given, repeated material that surrounds it.
These are cases of contrast, emphasis or where there are intensifiers and adverbs of manner that attract the nucleus
How can we differentiate Broad Nucleus from Narrow Focus?
Focus is ambiguous, so it can only be told through context.
Content Words
They have meaning, can be defined in a dictionary and have straightforward translation equivalents in other languages. So, they have semantic content and are the best candidates to become prominent.
They are:
1. Nouns
2. Main Verbs
3. Adjectives
4. Most adverbs
Function Words
They are generally de-accented as they convey little information.
They are:
1. Articles
2. Auxiliary Verbs
3. Verb be
4. Prepositions
5. Pronouns
6. Conjunctions
When can Function Words receive stress?
Cases of when Function Words receive stress:
1. Negative anomalous finites
2. “Wh-words” when they form questions.
3. Demonstratives and possessive pronouns.
4. “some” and “one” in idiomatic expressions → in some cases, for some reason, the last one, the right one.
5. When we want to add significant information, add emphasis or contrast, either stated or implied.
What is a compound?
It is a word formed by combining two or more stems (words or parts of words). Example: Running shoes - credit card
They can be nested: one of the elements of the compound may itself consist of more than one element. credit card bill
They can be called Open/Two-word Compounds: They are written as two separate words or hyphenated, but still behave as if they were a single word.
What is a Single/front/early-stressed Compound?
They are compounds in which the main lexical stress falls on the first element.
Most compounds are of this category
If an IP ends with a single-stressed compound, the nucleus goes in the first element.
What is a Double/end/late-stressed Compound?
The main lexical stress goes on the second element.
If an IP ends with a double-stressed compound, the nucleus goes in the second element.
What is a PHRASE?
They consist of two or more lexical items and have one lexical stress for each. Example: running water.
If an IP ends with a phrase, the nucleus goes in the LLI.
How can we differentiate a Double-stressed compound from a Phrase as the two of them are accented on the LLI?
Double-stressed compounds are:
1. Proper names of people → Michael Jackson
2. Proper names of roads and public places → Kennedy Avenue
3. Names of institutions such as hotels and schools → Hilton Hotel
4. Compounds in which the first element names the place or time → Christmas Eve
5. Compounds in which the first element names the material or ingredient → Ham Sandwiches
Phrasal Verbs
Verb + particle → Carry on, Broke down, Passed away
They are double-stressed. If an IP ends with a phrasal verb, the nucleus falls on the particle.
The particle can be moved after the object.
Phrasal Verbs with the particle extraposed
When the particle is separated from the verb and moved to the position after the object, is the object that bears the nucleus. → Take your SHOES off.
If the object is a pronoun or already given information, the nucleus falls on the particle. → Take them OFF.
Prepositional Verbs
It requires an object
Verb + particle (preposition) → Count on, Rely on, Send for, Look at
They are single-stressed. If an IP ends with a prepositional verb (as in cases of passivisation, relative clauses and wh-questions), the nucleus falls on the verb.
How many Rhythmic characteristic exists?
- Syllable-Timed Rhythm
- Stress-Timed Rhythm
What is Syllable-Timing?
It is a rhythmic characteristic of a language where syllables (weak and strong) tend to have the SAME duration.
The duration of an utterance depends on the number of SYLLABLES it has.
What languages have Syllable-Timed Rhythm?
Closer to the syllable-time end of the continuum, we would find:
1. Spanish
2. French
3. Italian
4. Greek
5. Turkish
6. Polish
7. Hindi
8. Gujarati.
