Segmental features include consonants,

vowels and diphthongs.

Suprasegmental features deals with

features of pronunciation beyond the
phoneme level. They determine the
prosody of spoken language: stress,
intonation, rhythm, pitch and connected
speech.

1
Prosody
Features of pronunciation beyond the
phoneme level are called suprasegmental
features or prosody.
Each language has phonotactic constraints:
i.e. restrictions to which sounds can occur
together (number of consonant sounds in
a cluster, number of vowels, etc.).
Phonotactic constraints very from language
to language.

2
Connected speech 05

In spoken language there is no pause

corresponding to the gap between written
words.

3
Connected speech
 In spoken language, phonetic variability is
caused by the influence of the phonetic
environment, rhythm and the speed of the
utterance.

5 types of phonetic variation:

 Similitude
 Linking or catenation
 Elision
 Assimilation
4
Connected speech
 Linking (or catenation)
 Ending consonant sound carried
over to initial vowel sound
Ex. Leave early, black cat.

5
Connected speech
 Linking (or catenation)
 Ending consonant sound carried over to initial
vowel sound
 Assimilation (one sound similar to the
following one)
 Can be regressive or progressive

6
Connected speech
 Catenation (or linking)
 Ending consonant sound carried over to initial
vowel sound
 Assimilation (one sound similar to the
following one)
 It may involve:
 Place of articulation (previous examples)
 Manner of articulation (progressive and only
in casual speech)
 Energy of articulation (voicing)

7
Assimilation
 The most common assimilation form involves the movement
of place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and /n/ to
a position closer to that of the following sound. For instance,
in the phrase ten cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a
velar position, /ˈteŋ ˈkɑ:z/ so that the organs of speech are
ready to produce the following velar sound /k/. Similarly, in
ten boys the /n/ will be produced in a bilabial position, /ˈtem
ˈbɔɪz/ to prepare for the articulation of the bilabial /b/.
 Progressive: the precedent sound modifies the successive.
Ex. read these /rɪ:d’dɪ:z/ invece di /rɪ:d/ /ðɪ:z/ (/ð/ disappears)
 Regressive: the opposite. Ex. move to /mu:ftə/ instead of
/mu:vtə/ la consonante /v/ è rimasta sia spirante che
labiodentale; per assimilazione con la plosiva alveolare
sorda /t/ è solo passata da sorda a sonora.

8
examples
/t/ > /p/ before /b/ or /p/
mixed bag, cigarette paper
/d/ > /b/ before /b/
blood bank
/n/ changes to /m/ before /m/ /b/ or /p/
iron man, American plan, brown bear
/t/ > /k/ before /k/ /g/
short cut, credit card, that cake
/d/ > /g/ before /g/
bad girl, closed game
/s/ > /ʃ/ before /ʃ/ /j/
bus shelter, nice shoes, nice yacht
9
Connected speech
 Catenation (or linking)
 Ending consonant sound carried over to initial vowel
sound
 Assimilation (one sound similar to the following one)
 Can be regressive or progressive

10
Coalescence
Transformation of two sounds into a different one

Examples: /t/ and /d/ + /j/.

Results are /ʧ/ and /ʤ/.

/t+j/ = /ʧ/ what you will /waʧu’wil/

/d+j/ = /ʤ/ would you mind /wʊʤ u’maind/

(It’s called “yod coalescence” too)

11
Connected speech
 Catenation (or linking)
 Assimilation (one sound similar to the
following one)
 Elision
 Total elision of one or more sounds (in
adjusting to the next sound) either within
words or word boundaries
 correct /krekt/ – just before /ʤʌsbɪfɔːr/

12
Elision
 MAX reduction of non strssed syllables (the
sound disappears).

 Plosives /t/ and /d/ in ending position.

 didn’t /didn/
 next question /nekskwestʃən/

13
Connected speech
 Catenation (or linking)
 Assimilation (one sound similar to the
following one)
 Elision
 Total elision of one or more sounds (in
adjusting to the next sound) either within
words or ad word boundaries
 correct /krekt/ – just before /ʤʌsbɪfɔːr/
 Liaison
 Linking r
14
Linking -r

 BrE is a r-less variety, but sometimes [r] is

pronounced between vowels ...

my car is new

15
The syllable
 Phonological unit made up of one or more
phonemes. Minimum syllable is made up of one
vowel. Ex. The verb are [ɑː] or the conjunction or [ɔː]

 Open syllables: tea [ti:], zoo [zu:]

 Closed syllables: all [ɔːl], arm [ɑːm]

Most common syllable in English: CVC. Ex. Did, bag,

look.
Stress
 It’s the relative prominence given to a syllable.
In phonetic transcription indicated by a small vertical
line (stress mark) preceding the stressed syllable.

Money [ˈmʌni]
Word stress
 Words with more than one syllable carry
an accent or stress on one syllable.
 Diacritic indicate suprasegmantal features
 [ˈ] indicates main stress
 Protest (n) /ˈprəʊtest/ to protest (v) /prə
ˈtest/
 Photography /fəˈtɒɡrəfi/
 photographer /fəˈtɒɡrəfər/
 photographic /ˌfəʊtəˈɡræfɪk/
 [ˌ] secondary stress
18
Main types of stress patterns
 2-syllable words with primary stress on the first
syllable – Type strong + weak
money [ˈmʌni], river [ˈrɪvə]
 2-syllable words with primary stress on the first
syllable and a full vowel on the second –Type
strong+strong
background [ˈbækɡraʊnd], pillow [ˈpɪləʊ]
 2-syllable words with primary stress on the second
syllable – Type weak+strong
result [rɪˈzʌlt], connect [kəˈnekt]
Main types of stress patterns

 2-syllable words with a full vowel on the first syllable

and primary stress on the second syllable – Type
strong+strong.
although [ɔːlˈðəʊ], myself [maɪˈself]
 3-syllable words with primary stress on the first syllable
– Type strong+weak+weak.
family [ˈfæməli], manager [ˈmænɪdʒə]
 3-syllable words with primary stress on the first
syllable, and a full vowel on the third syllable – Type
strong+weak+strong.
telephone [ˈtelɪfəʊn], summertime [ˈsʌmətaɪm]
Main types of stress patterns
 3-syllable words with primary stress on the first syllable, and a
full vowel on the second – Type strong+strong+weak.
newspaper [ˈnjuːzpeɪpə], grandmother [ˈɡrænmʌðə]
 3-syllable words with primary stress on the second syllable –
type weak+strong+weak.
remember [rɪˈmembə], agreement [əˈɡriːmənt]
 3-syllable words with full vowel on the first syllable and
primary stress on the second syllable – Type
strong+strong+weak
sensation [senˈseɪʃn], transparent [trænsˈpærənt]
 3-syllable words with a full vowel on the first syllable and
primary stress on the third syllable – Type
strong+weak+strong.
afternoon [ˌɑːftəˈnuːn], understand [ˌʌndəˈstænd]
Vocalic length
 Vowel length is a characteristic of
stressed syllables
 Unstressed syllables have shorter vowels
(often reduced to /ə/)
 In connected speech we focus on stressed
syllables rushing the less important ones
 In polysyllabic words with /r/ in
unstressed the syllable preceding /r/
disappears /ˈdɪkʃənəri/  /ˈdɪkʃənri/

22
Stress patterns
 Italian is a syllable-timed language
(syllables with similar length, articulated
at regular intervals, basic unit of rhythm)
 English is a stress-timed language (the
time of an utterance depends on the
number of stressed syllables, rather than
the total number)

23
Stress patterns 10

 1, 2 and 4 are single tone groups (single

rhythm)

25
Rhythmic shift in stress
 A shift is stress happens (without
changing meaning, e.g. protest) when a
lexical item acting as adjective precedes a
noun in order to avoid two stressed
syllables occurring in close succession:
 He’s an OVER-paid exECutive
 Most exECutives are over-PAID

 Stress-timed rhythm prevails over

normal rules of word stress
26
Strong and weak forms 14

 Listen to the following sentences and

underline stressed syllables

27
Strong and weak forms 14

 Listen to the following sentences and

underline stressed syllables

 Unstressed words tend to be function words

 Content words contain a stressed syllable
 As weak syllables in words are reduced to
the schwa, vowels in function words are
reduced to a neutral sound (strong 
weak form) 28
Strong and weak forms
 a

29
Sentence stress
 As in polysyllabic words we find primary
and secondary stress, in sentences some
words have stronger stress than others
(usually those providing new or important
information)

30
Sentence stress 19

 As in polysyllabic words we find primary

and secondary stress, in sentences some
words have stronger stress than others
(usually those providing new or important
information)
Mum, are you in the kitchen?
Can I have some crisps, Mum, please?

 Circle the content words

 Underline which of the content word
carries the main stress 31
Contrastive stress
 Sometimes we emphasise one word
rather than another in order to make
intended meaning clear.

32
Contrastive stress 21

 Sometimes we emphasise one word rather than

another in order to make intended meaning clear.
This may be applied to function words too

33
Pitch and intonation
 Intonation is the variation of voice pitch in
connected speech.
 Tonality refers to the segmentation of
longer stretches of connected speech into
shorter meaningful chunks
 An intonation phrase is an utterance with
its intonation pattern (tone) and a nucleus
(punctuation roughly reflects the
segmentation in chunks).
 The nucleus is the syllable receiving the
greatest prominence and carrying intonation
movement (usually the last prominent lexical34
Pitch and intonation
 Intonation plays an important role in
grammar and discourse, influencing the
meaning of large stretches of speech.
 A tone may be rising or falling, or a
combination of these
 ↗ rising  questions and incomplete clauses
 ↘ falling  statements
 ↘↗ fall-rise  uncertainty and doubt
 ↗↘ rise-fall  surprise and admiration, or
strong emotions

35
Pitch and intonation
 Main functions of intonation are:
 Attitudinal (feeling and attitudes; other
prosodic and paralinguistic features)
 Grammatical (segmentation in
meaningful units)
I ↘ ‘fed her / ↗ ‘dog ‘biscuits
I ‘fed her ↗ ‘dog / ↘ ‘biscuits
 Accentual (stress on nucleus indicating
focus of information)
 Discourse (connected to accentual): end-
focus for new information. Foregrounding36
Pitch and intonation
 Pitch and intonation may be difficult to
acquire in a foreign language (Italians
seem to have a narrower pitch range than
British speakers)

37
Recap 1
 Difference between phonetics and phonology;
 Consonants: the way and place they are produced,
+ voiced/voiceless;
 3 plosives (/p/ /b/, /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/);
 5 fricatives (/f/ /v/,/θ/ /ð/, /s/ /z/, /ʃ/ /ʒ/, /h/)
 1 affricate (/ʤ/ /ʧ/)
 3 nasals (/m/ /n/ /ɳ/)
 1 liquid/lateral (/l/)
 1 approximants (/r/)
 Semivowels/approximants: /w/ & /j/
 Vowels: their position open/close
front/central/back
 7 short vowels (/ɪ/ /ʊ/ /ə/ /e/ /æ//ʌ//ɒ/)
 5 long vowels (/i:/ /u:/ /ɜ:/ /ɑ:/ /ɔ:/)
 8 diphtongs
 3 centring /eə/ /ɪə/ /ʊə/
 5 closing /aʊ/ /əʊ/; /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɒɪ/ 38
Recap 2
 Stress-timed language
 Non-rhotic language
 Assimilation
 Coalescence
 Accent
 Minimal pair.

39