Prosody (linguistics)

In linguistics, prosody refers to intonation, rhythm, and vocal stress in speech. The prosodic features of a unit of speech, whether a syllable, word, phrase, or clause, are called suprasegmental features because they affect all the segments of the unit. These suprasegmental features are manifested, among other things, as syllable length, tone, and stress.

Related Topics:
Linguistics - Intonation - Rhythm - Vocal stress - Speech - Syllable - Word - Phrase - Clause - Syllable length - Tone - Stress

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Different schools of linguistics describe somewhat different prosodic units. One common distinction is between continuing prosody, which in English orthography we might mark with a comma, and final prosody, which we might mark with a period (full stop). This is the common usage of the IPA symbols for "minor" and "major" prosodic breaks:

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:Jack, preparing the way, went on.

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:{{IPA|}}

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:Jacques, préparant le sol, tomba.

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:{{IPA|}}

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Note that the last syllable with a full vowel in a {{ll|French}} prosodic unit is stressed, and that the last stressed syllable in an {{ll|English}} prosodic unit has primary stress. This shows that stress is not phonemic in French, and that the difference between primary and secondary stress is not phonemic in English; they are both elements of prosody rather than inherent in the words.

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The pipe symbols are phonetic, and so will often disagree with English punctuation, which only partially correlates with prosody.

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However, the pipes may also be used for metrical breaks, with the pipe being used to mark metrical feet, and the double pipe being used for both continuing and final prosody, as their alternate names "foot group" and "intonation group" suggest. In such usage, each foot group would include one and only one heavy syllable. In English, this would mean one and only one stressed syllable:

Related Topics:
Metrical - Heavy syllable

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:Jack, preparing the way, went on.

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:{{IPA|}}

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In many tone languages with downdrift, such as {{ll|Hausa}}, is often used to represent a minor prosodic break that does not interrupt the overall decline in pitch of the utterance, while marks either continuing or final prosody that creates a pitch reset. In such cases, some linguists use only the single pipe, with continuing and final prosody marked by a comma and period, respectively.

Related Topics:
Downdrift - Pitch reset

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In transcriptions of non-tonal languages, the three symbols pipe, comma, and period may also be used, with the pipe representing a break more minor than the comma, the so-called list prosody often used to separate items when reading lists, spelling words, or giving out telephone numbers.

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