Attributes of prosody

Attributes of prosody

In the study of prosodic aspects of speech it is usual to distinguish between auditory measures (subjective impressions produced in the mind of the listener) and acoustic measures (physical properties of the sound wave that may be measured objectively). Auditory and acoustic measures of prosody do not correspond in a linear way. The majority of studies of prosody have been based on auditory analysis using auditory scales.

There is no agreed number of prosodic variables. In auditory terms, the major variables are

• the pitch of the voice (varying between low and high)
• length of sounds (varying between short and long)
• loudness, or prominence (varying between soft and loud)
• timbre (quality of sound)

in acoustic terms, these correspond reasonably closely to

• fundamental frequency (measured in hertz, or cycles per second)
• duration (measured in time units such as milliseconds or seconds)
• intensity, or sound pressure level (measured in decibels)
• spectral characteristics (distribution of energy at different parts of the audible frequency range)

Different combinations of these variables are exploited in the linguistic functions of intonation and stress, as well as other prosodic features such as rhythm, tempo and loudness. Additional prosodic variables have been studied, including voice quality and pausing.

Phonology

Prosodic features are said to be suprasegmental, since they are properties of units of speech larger than the individual segment. It is necessary to distinguish between the personal, background characteristics that belong to an individual’s voice. and the independently variable prosodic features that are used contrastively to communicate meaning. Personal characteristics are not linguistically significant. It is not possible to say with any accuracy which aspects of prosody are found in all languages and which are specific to a particular language or dialect.

Intonation

Some writers have described intonation entirely in terms of pitch, while others propose that what we call intonation is in fact an amalgam of several prosodic variables. The form of English intonation is often said to be based on three aspects:

• The division of speech into units
• The highlighting of particular words and syllables
• The choice of pitch movement (e.g. fall or rise)

Stress

From the perceptual point of view, stress functions as the means of making a syllable prominent; stress may be studied in relation to individual words or in relation to larger units of speech (traditionally referred to as "sentence stress" but more appropriately named "prosodic stress"). Stressed syllables are made prominent by several variables, singly or in combination. Stress is typically associated with the following:

• pitch prominence, that is, a pitch level that is different from that of neighbouring syllables, or a pitch movement
• increased length
• increased loudness
• differences in timbre: in English and some other languages, stress is associated with aspects of vowel quality Unstressed vowels tend to be centralized relative to stressed vowels, which are normally more peripheral in quality.

Types of Prosody

There are four distinguishable prosodic metrical patterns which are:

• Syllabic Prosody – Syllabic prosody counts a fixed number of syllables in each line, while accent, tone and quantity play a secondary role.
• Accentual Prosody – It measures only the accents or stresses in a line of verse, while the overall number of syllables may vary in a line. It is very common in Germanic, old English and in modern English verses.
• Accentual-syllabic Prosody – It counts both number of syllables and accents in each line. We commonly find it in English poetry.
• Quantitative Prosody – It does not measure the number of syllables rather depends upon duration of syllables, which we can determine by amount of time used on pronunciation such as a free verse poem that consists of unmeasured lines. We find this type of prosody in Roman and classical Greek poetry while we find very rarely it in English poetry.

Reference:https://en.wikipedia.org