Suprasegmental Features Features in Phonology Vowels and consonants can be thought of as the segments of which speech is composed. Together they form the syllables, which go to make up utterances. Related to the syllables, there are other features known as supra supraseg segmen mental tals. s. In other other word words, s, su supra praseg segmen mental tal featur features es are are the aspects of speech that involve more than single consonants or vowels. These features are independent of the categories required required for describing segmental features (vowels and consonants, which involve, for e!amples, air stream mechanism, mechanism, states of the glottis, and so on. The components of suprasegmental features features consist of" stress, stress, pitch, pitch, intonation, intonation, tone, tone, tempo, and cluster . 1. Stress #tress #tress is the rhyth rhythm m of a langua language. ge. In pronu pronunci nciati ation, on, stress stress can refers to words, part of words, or even one word in a group of words that receives the most emphasis. #tr #tress ess is one one of the the su supr pras aseg egme ment ntal al feat featur ures es of utte uttera ranc nces es.. It applies not to individual vowels and consonants but to whole syllables. In the level of word, a stressed syllable is pronounced with a greater amount of energy than an unstressed unstressed syllable. 2. Pitch $ased on the aspect of articulator, pitch is in%uenced by the tension of the vocal cords. If the vocal cords are stretched, the pitch of the sound will go up. &itch refers to the normal melodic height of an individual's speech. It is like a degree of highness or lowness of one's speech. e make make use of pitch pitch as a part part of our sig signal naling ing system system.. )lt )lthou hough gh we employ many degrees of pitch in speaking, we use only four levels of relative pitch as phonemes. They are" * ++ e!trahigh
- ++ high ++ normal / ++ low This is to say, the normal pitch of speaking voice, whatever its actual height, is called level 0 and from this, we make various upward and downward. These variations of pitch we make in speaking will a1ect the intonation of our speech. 3. Intonation Intonation shows how the 2music' of a language rises and falls over a speech. In other words, it can be also described as a %uctuation of one's voice, which is characteri3ed as a downward or upward movement of a voice or sound in an utterance as a result of the pitch variations. Thus, the intonation of a sentence is the pattern of pitch changes that occurs. 4. Tone &itch
variations
that
a1ect
the
meaning
of a
word
are
called tone. The meaning of the word depends on its tone. Tone is shown or heard in how something is being said. It is more like an attitude rather than being a voice pattern. 4motion has also a great deal of in%uence to one's tone. $y using di1erent tones, the words in a sentence can have di1erent meanings.
5. Tempo Tempo of speech is the relative speed or slowness of utterance which is measured by the rate of syllable succession5movement, the number, and duration of pauses in a sentence. In 4nglish, speakers try to make the amount of time to say something the same between the stressed syllables. If there are three or
four unstressed syllable between the stressed syllables, for e!ample, the unstressed syllables will be spoken faster, so that the speaker can keep the rhythm. 6or this reason, 4nglish is a said as a 7stressed time language8. 6. Cluster ) cluster is when two consonants of di1erent places of articulation are produced together in the same syllable. 9ote" clusters are determined based on the sounds, not the letters of the words. Cluster can appear in the initial , medial , or fnal positions o !or"s# Initial clusters are usually formed by combining various consonants with the 5s5, 5r5, or 5l5 phonemes. 4!amples" sleep :;sli"p<, green :;gri"n<, $lue :;$lu"< =edial clusters usually appear at the beginning of a second or third syllable in a multisyllabic word. 4!amples" regret :r>;gret<, apply :ə;pla><, approve :ə;pru"v< 6inal clusters are usually composed of a variety of phonemes including 5sk5, 5mp5, 5ns5, 5st5, and 5?k5. 4!amples" desk :;des% <, camp :;k@mp<, mince :;m>ns<, fast :;fA"st<, bank :;b@&% <.
