PROSODIC FEATURES

PROSODIC FEATURES

1. Stressed

   • Accentuation in certain syllables of a word. Some languages are not stress-timed language.
     • E.g= Dígest---Digést

2. Pitch

   • How fast the vocal cords vibrate. In children the pitch is higher and in adults it is lower. It differs from languages to language.
     • Intonation= Is not used to distinguish words.
     • Pitch counter= An utterance may affect the meaning of the whole sentence.
   • Tone Language
     • Languages that use the pitch of individuals vowels or syllables to contrast meanings.
       • Counter tone: The pitch change accros the syllable. Register tone: The pitch is level accros the syllable.
         • Lexical fuction: Make a difference between words.
           • Grammatical function: Indicates the time tense. Low tone---Present High tone----Past tense

3. Length

   • Duration of a word, in some languages like Japanese prolonging a word can change the meaning.
     • E.g= (Biru)----Bulding (Biiru)----Beer (Saki)---Ahead (Sakki)---Before
     • Vowels and consonants can be prolonged.

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