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Prosody(linguistics)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Prosody(linguistics)
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inlinguistics,prosody(fromAncientGreekprosida[pros(i)da],"songsungtomusic
toneoraccentofasyllable")isconcernedwiththoseelementsofspeechthatarenotindividualphonetic
segments(vowelsandconsonants)butarepropertiesofsyllablesandlargerunitsofspeech.These
contributetolinguisticfunctionssuchasintonation,tone,stress,andrhythm.Prosodymayreflect
variousfeaturesofthespeakerortheutterance:theemotionalstateofthespeakertheformofthe
utterance(statement,question,orcommand)thepresenceofironyorsarcasmemphasis,contrast,and
focusorotherelementsoflanguagethatmaynotbeencodedbygrammarorbychoiceofvocabulary.

Contents
1 Attributesofprosody
2 Phonology
2.1 Intonation
2.2 Stress
2.3 Tempo
2.4 Rhythm
2.5 Pause
3 Cognitiveaspects
3.1 Grammar
3.2 Focus
3.3 Discourse
3.4 Emotion
3.5 Childlanguage
3.6 Aprosodia
3.7 Brainregionsinvolved
4 Seealso
5 References
6 Furtherreading
7 Externallinks

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7 Externallinks

Attributesofprosody
Inthestudyofprosodicaspectsofspeechitisusualtodistinguishbetweenauditorymeasures
(subjectiveimpressionsproducedinthemindofthelistener)andacousticmeasures(physicalproperties
ofthesoundwavethatmaybemeasuredobjectively).Auditoryandacousticmeasuresofprosodydonot
correspondinalinearway.[1]Themajorityofstudiesofprosodyhavebeenbasedonauditoryanalysis
usingauditoryscales.
Thereisnoagreednumberofprosodicvariables.Inauditoryterms,themajorvariablesare
thepitchofthevoice(varyingbetweenlowandhigh)
lengthofsounds(varyingbetweenshortandlong)
loudness,orprominence(varyingbetweensoftandloud)
timbre(qualityofsound)
inacousticterms,thesecorrespondreasonablycloselyto
fundamentalfrequency(measuredinhertz,orcyclespersecond)
duration(measuredintimeunitssuchasmillisecondsorseconds)
intensity,orsoundpressurelevel(measuredindecibels)
spectralcharacteristics(distributionofenergyatdifferentpartsoftheaudiblefrequencyrange)
Differentcombinationsofthesevariablesareexploitedinthelinguisticfunctionsofintonationand
stress,aswellasotherprosodicfeaturessuchasrhythm,tempoandloudness.[1]Additionalprosodic
variableshavebeenstudied,includingvoicequalityandpausing.

Phonology
Prosodicfeaturesaresaidtobesuprasegmental,sincetheyarepropertiesofunitsofspeechlargerthan
theindividualsegment(thoughexceptionallyitmayhappenthatasinglesegmentmayconstitutea
syllable,andthusevenawholeutterance,e.g."Ah!").Itisnecessarytodistinguishbetweenthe
personal,backgroundcharacteristicsthatbelongtoanindividualsvoice(forexampletheirhabitual
pitchrange)andtheindependentlyvariableprosodicfeaturesthatareusedcontrastivelytocommunicate
meaning(forexample,theuseofchangesinpitchtoindicatethedifferencebetweenstatementsand
questions).[2]Personalcharacteristicsarenotlinguisticallysignificant.Itisnotpossibletosaywithany
accuracywhichaspectsofprosodyarefoundinalllanguagesandwhicharespecifictoaparticular
languageordialect.

Intonation
Somewritershavedescribedintonationentirelyintermsofpitch,whileothersproposethatwhatwecall
intonationisinfactanamalgamofseveralprosodicvariables.TheformofEnglishintonationisoften
saidtobebasedonthreeaspects:
Thedivisionofspeechintounits
Thehighlightingofparticularwordsandsyllables
Thechoiceofpitchmovement(e.g.fallorrise)
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ThesearesometimesknownasTonality,TonicityandTone(andcollectivelyas"thethreeT's")(ref
Halliday,Wells).
Anadditionalpitchrelatedvariationispitchrange:speakersarecapableofspeakingsometimeswitha
widerangeofpitch(thisisusuallyassociatedwithexcitement),atothertimeswithanarrowrange.
Englishhasbeensaidtomakeuseofchangesinkey:shiftingone'sintonationintothehigherorlower
partofone'spitchrangeisbelievedtobemeaningfulincertaincontexts.

Stress
Fromtheperceptualpointofview,stressfunctionsasthemeansofmakingasyllableprominentstress
maybestudiedinrelationtoindividualwords(named"wordstress"orlexicalstress)orinrelationto
largerunitsofspeech(traditionallyreferredtoas"sentencestress"butmoreappropriatelynamed
"prosodicstress").Stressedsyllablesaremadeprominentbyseveralvariables,singlyorincombination.
Stressistypicallyassociatedwiththefollowing:
pitchprominence,thatis,apitchlevelthatisdifferentfromthatofneighbouringsyllables,ora
pitchmovement
increasedlength
increasedloudness
differencesintimbre:inEnglishandsomeotherlanguages,stressisassociatedwithaspectsof
vowelquality(whoseacousticcorrelateistheformantfrequenciesorspectrumofthevowel).
Unstressedvowelstendtobecentralizedrelativetostressedvowels,whicharenormallymore
peripheralinquality[3]
Thesecuestostressarenotequallypowerful.Cruttenden,forexample,writes"Perceptualexperiments
haveclearlyshownthat,inEnglishatanyrate,thethreefeatures(pitch,lengthandloudness)forma
scaleofimportanceinbringingsyllablesintoprominence,pitchbeingthemostefficacious,andloudness
theleastso".[4]
Whenpitchprominenceisthemajorfactor,theresultingprominenceisoftencalledaccentratherthan
stress.[5]
Thereisconsiderablevariationfromlanguagetolanguageconcerningtheroleofstressinidentifying
wordsorininterpretinggrammarandsyntax.[6]

Tempo
Althoughindividualspeakersdifferfromothersintheirpersonalspeakingrate(tempo),allspeakers
appeartousechangesinspeakingrateinameaningfulway.SeeTempoofspeech.

Rhythm
Althoughrhythmisnotaprosodicvariableinthewaythatpitchorloudnessare,itisusualtotreata
language'scharacteristicrhythmasapartofitsprosodicphonology.Ithasoftenbeenassertedthat
languagesexhibitregularityinthetimingofsuccessiveunitsofspeech,aregularityreferredtoas
isochrony,andthateverylanguagemaybeassignedoneofthreerhythmicaltypes:stresstimed(where
thedurationsoftheintervalsbetweenstressedsyllablesisrelativelyconstant),syllabletimed(wherethe
durationsofsuccessivesyllablesarerelativelyconstant)andmoratimed(wherethedurationsof
successivemoraearerelativelyconstant).Asexplainedintheisochronyarticle,thisclaimhasnotbeen
supportedbyscientificevidence.
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Pause
Althoughpausingisanaturalphenomenonrelatedtobreathing,itisclaimedthatpausesmayalsocarry
somecontrastivelinguisticinformation.InEnglish,pausingismorelikelybeforeawordcarryingahigh
informationcontent.Definingpauseisnoteasy:itisnecessarytodistinguishbetweensilentpausesand
"filled"pauseswhereahesitationisperceivedbutthespeakercontinuestoemitsound.Inthestudyof
conversationalinteractionitisnormaltonotedifferentlengthsofpause.
Pausingoritslackisafactorincreatingtheperceptionofwordsbeinggroupedtogetherintoaphrase,
phraseme,constituentorothermultiwordgrouping,oftenhighlightinglexicalitemsorfixedexpression
idioms.Forexample,pausingbeforeandafteramultiwordgrouping,butnotwithin,groupswords
togetherandseparatesthemfromnearbywords.Also,withinamultiwordgrouping,blendingthesound
ofadjacentwordstogetherorspeakingthemfasterthanwordsoutsidethegroupingcontributestothe
perceptionofthewordsaspartofagroup.AwellknownexampleinEnglishis"KnowwhatImean?"
beingsaidrapidlyasifitisasingleword("Nowhutameen?")

Cognitiveaspects
IntonationissaidtohaveanumberofperceptuallysignificantfunctionsinEnglishandotherlanguages,
contributingtotherecognitionandcomprehensionofspeech.[7]

Grammar
Itisbelievedthatprosodyassistslistenersinparsingcontinuousspeechandintherecognitionofwords,
providingcuestosyntacticstructure,grammaticalboundariesandsentencetype.Boundariesbetween
intonationunitsareoftenassociatedwithgrammaticalorsyntacticboundariesthesearemarkedbysuch
prosodicfeaturesaspausesandslowingoftempo,aswellas"pitchreset"wherethespeaker'spitchlevel
returnstotheleveltypicaloftheonsetofanewintonationunit.Inthiswaypotentialambiguitiesmaybe
resolved.Forexample,thesentenceTheyinvitedBobandBillandAlgotrejectedisambiguouswhen
written,althoughadditionofawrittencommaaftereither"Bob"or"Bill"willremovethesentence's
ambiguity.Butwhenthesentenceisreadaloud,prosodiccueslikepausesandchangesinintonationwill
reduceorremovetheambiguity.[8]Movingtheintonationalboundaryincasessuchastheabove
examplewilltendtochangetheinterpretationofthesentence.Thisresulthasbeenfoundinstudies
performedinbothEnglishandBulgarian.[9]ResearchinEnglishwordrecognitionhasdemonstratedan
importantroleforprosody.[10][11]

Focus
Intonationandstressworktogethertohighlightimportantwordsorsyllablesforcontrastandfocus.[12]
Thisissometimesreferredtoastheaccentualfunctionofprosody.Awellknownexampleisthe
ambiguoussentence"Ihaveplanstoleave",whereiftheprimaryaccentisplacedon"plans"the
meaningofthesentenceisusuallytakentobe"Ihavesomeplans(drawings,diagrams)toleave"butif
themainaccentison"leave"thetypicalinterpretationis"Iamplanningtoleave".[13]

Discourse
Prosodyplaysaroleintheregulationofconversationalinteractionandinsignallingdiscoursestructure.
MuchoftheworkofdevelopingthetheoryofdiscourseintonationwasdonebyDavidBrazilandhis
associates.[14]Inthisworkitisshownhowintonationcanindicatesuchthingsaswhetherinformationis
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neworalreadyestablishedwhetheraspeakerisdominantornotinaconversation,andwhenaspeaker
isinvitingthelistenertomakeacontributiontotheconversation.

Emotion
Prosodyisalsoimportantinsignallingemotionsandattitudes.Whenthisisinvoluntary(aswhenthe
voiceisaffectedbyanxietyorfear),theprosodicinformationisnotlinguisticallysignificant.However,
whenthespeakervariesherspeechintentionally,forexampletoindicatesarcasm,thisusuallyinvolves
theuseofprosodicfeatures.Themostusefulprosodicfeatureindetectingsarcasmisareductioninthe
meanfundamentalfrequencyrelativetootherspeechforhumor,neutrality,orsincerity.Whileprosodic
cuesareimportantinindicatingsarcasm,contextcluesandsharedknowledgearealsoimportant.[15]
EmotionalprosodywasconsideredbyCharlesDarwininTheDescentofMantopredatetheevolutionof
humanlanguage:"Evenmonkeysexpressstrongfeelingsindifferenttonesangerandimpatienceby
low,fearandpainbyhighnotes."[16]Nativespeakerslisteningtoactorsreadingemotionallyneutral
textwhileprojectingemotionscorrectlyrecognizedhappiness62%ofthetime,anger95%,surprise
91%,sadness81%,andneutraltone76%.Whenadatabaseofthisspeechwasprocessedbycomputer,
segmentalfeaturesallowedbetterthan90%recognitionofhappinessandanger,whilesuprasegmental
prosodicfeaturesallowedonly44%49%recognition.Thereversewastrueforsurprise,whichwas
recognizedonly69%ofthetimebysegmentalfeaturesand96%ofthetimebysuprasegmental
prosody.[17]Intypicalconversation(noactorvoiceinvolved),therecognitionofemotionmaybequite
low,oftheorderof50%,hamperingthecomplexinterrelationshipfunctionofspeechadvocatedby
someauthors.[18]However,evenifemotionalexpressionthroughprosodycannotalwaysbeconsciously
recognized,toneofvoicemaycontinuetohavesubconsciouseffectsinconversation.Thissortof
expressionstemsnotfromlinguisticorsemanticeffects,andcanthusbeisolatedfromtraditional
linguisticcontent.Aptitudeoftheaveragepersontodecodeconversationalimplicatureofemotional
prosodyhasbeenfoundtobeslightlylessaccuratethantraditionalfacialexpressiondiscrimination
abilityhowever,specificabilitytodecodevariesbyemotion.Theseemotionalhavebeendeterminedto
beubiquitousacrosscultures,astheyareutilizedandunderstoodacrosscultures.Variousemotions,and
theirgeneralexperimentalidentificationrates,areasfollows:[19]
Angerandsadness:Highrateofaccurateidentification
Fearandhappiness:Mediumrateofaccurateidentification
Disgust:Poorrateofaccurateidentification
Theprosodyofanutteranceisusedbylistenerstoguidedecisionsabouttheemotionalaffectofthe
situation.Whetherapersondecodestheprosodyaspositive,negative,orneutralplaysafactorinthe
wayapersondecodesafacialexpressionaccompanyinganutterance.Asthefacialexpressionbecomes
closertoneutral,theprosodicinterpretationinfluencestheinterpretationofthefacialexpression.A
studybyMarcD.Pellrevealedthat600msofprosodicinformationisnecessaryforlistenerstobeable
toidentifytheaffectivetoneoftheutterance.Atlengthsbelowthis,therewasnotenoughinformation
forlistenerstoprocesstheemotionalcontextoftheutterance.[20]

Childlanguage
Uniqueprosodicfeatureshavebeennotedininfantdirectedspeech(IDS)alsoknownasbabytalk,
childdirectedspeech(CDS),ormotherese.Adults,especiallycaregivers,speakingtoyoungchildren
tendtoimitatechildlikespeechbyusinghigherandmorevariablepitch,aswellasanexaggerated
stress.Theseprosodiccharacteristicsarethoughttoassistchildreninacquiringphonemes,segmenting
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words,andrecognizingphrasalboundaries.Andthoughthereisnoevidencetoindicatethatinfant
directedspeechisnecessaryforlanguageacquisition,thesespecificprosodicfeatureshavebeen
observedinmanydifferentlanguages.[21]

Aprosodia
Anaprosodiaisanacquiredordevelopmentalimpairmentincomprehendingorgeneratingtheemotion
conveyedinspokenlanguage.Aprosodyisoftenaccompaniedbytheinabilitytoproperlyutilize
variationsinspeech,particularlywithdeficitsinabilitytoaccuratelymodulatepitch,loudness,
intonation,andrhythmofwordformation.[22]ThisisseensometimesinpersonswithAsperger
syndrome.[23]

Brainregionsinvolved
Producingthesenonverbalelementsrequiresintactmotorareasoftheface,mouth,tongue,andthroat.
ThisareaisassociatedwithBrodmannareas44and45(Broca'sarea)oftheleftfrontallobe.Damageto
areas44/45producesmotoraprosodia,withthenonverbalelementsofspeechbeingdisturbed(facial
expression,tone,rhythmofvoice).
Understandingthesenonverbalelementsrequiresanintactandproperlyfunctioningrighthemisphere
perisylvianarea,particularlyBrodmannarea22(nottobeconfusedwiththecorrespondingareainthe
lefthemisphere,whichcontainsWernicke'sarea).[24]Damagetotherightinferiorfrontalgyruscausesa
diminishedabilitytoconveyemotionoremphasisbyvoiceorgesture,anddamagetorightsuperior
temporalgyruscausesproblemscomprehendingemotionoremphasisinthevoiceorgesturesofothers.
TherightBrodmannarea22aidsintheinterpretationofprosody,anddamagecausessensoryaprosodia,
withthepatientunabletocomprehendchangesinvoiceandbodylanguage.

Seealso
Intonation
Phonologicalhierarchy
Prosodicunit
Prosody(poetry)
Semanticprosody,ordiscourseprosody
Tempoofspeech

References
1.Hirst,D.DiCristo,A.(1998).Intonationsystems.Cambridge.pp.47.
2.Crystal,D.Quirk,R.(1964).SystemsofProsodicandParalinguisticFeaturesinEnglish.Mouton.pp.10
12.
3.Collins,B.Mees,I.(2013).PracticalPhoneticsandPhonology(3rded.).Routledge.p.129.
4.Cruttenden,A.(1997).Intonation(2nded.).Cambridge.p.13.
5.Ashby,M.Maidment,J.(2005).IntroducingPhoneticScience.Cambridge.pp.1678.
6.Hirst,D.DiCristo,A.(1998).Intonationsystems.Cambridge.pp.113.
7.Cruttenden,A.(1997).Intonation(2nded.).Cambridge.pp.68125.ISBN0521598257.
8.Wells,J.(2006).EnglishIntonation.Cambridge.pp.187194.
9.Stoyneshka,I.Fodor,J.Frnandez,E.M.(April7,2010)."Phonemerestorationmethodsforinvestigating
prosodicinfluencesonsyntacticprocessing".LanguageandCognitiveProcesses.
10.Carroll,DavidW.(1994).PsychologyofLanguage.Brooks/Cole.p.87.
11.Aitchison,Jean(1994).WordsintheMind.Blackwell.pp.1369.
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12.Wells,John(2006).EnglishIntonation.Cambridge.pp.116124.
13.Roach,Peter(2009).EnglishPhoneticsandPhonology(4thed.).Cambridge.pp.1534.
14.Brazil,DavidCoulthard,MalcolmJohns,Catherine(1980).DiscourseIntonationandLanguageTeaching.
Longman.
15.Cheang,H.S.Pell(May2008)."M.D.".SpeechCommunication50:36681.
doi:10.1016/j.specom.2007.11.003.
16.CharlesDarwin(1871)."TheDescentofMan".citingJohannRudolphRengger,NaturalHistoryofthe
MammalsofParaguay,s.49
17.R.Barra,J.M.Montero,J.MacasGuarasa,L.F.DHaro,R.SanSegundo,R.Crdoba."Prosodicand
segmentalrubricsinemotionidentification"(PDF).
18.H.N.TeodorescuandSilviaMonicaFeraru.In:LectureNotesinComputerScience,SpringerBerlin,
Heidelberg.ISSN03029743,Volume4629/2007,Text,SpeechandDialogue.Pages254261."AStudyon
SpeechwithManifestEmotions,".
19.J.PitthamandK.R.Scherer(1993)."VocalExpressionandCommunicationofEmotion",Handbookof
Emotions,NewYork,NewYork:GuilfordPress.
20.Pell,M.D.(2005)."ProsodyfaceInteractionsinEmotionalProcessingasRevealedbytheFacialAffect
DecisionTask".JournalofNonverbalBehavior29(4):193215.doi:10.1007/s109190057720z.
21.Gleason,JeanBerko.,andNanBernsteinRatner."TheDevelopmentofLanguage",8thed.Pearson,2013.
22.Elsevier.(2009)."Mosby'sMedicalDictionary"8thedition.
23.McPartlandJ,KlinA(2006)."Asperger'ssyndrome".AdolescMedClin17(3):77188.
doi:10.1016/j.admecli.2006.06.010.PMID17030291.
24.Miller,LisaACollins,RobertLKent,ThomasA(2008)."Languageandthemodulationofimpulsive
aggression.".TheJournalofneuropsychiatryandclinicalneurosciences20(3):26173.
doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.20.3.261.PMID18806230.

Furtherreading
NESPOR,Marina.Prosody:aninterviewwithMarinaNespor
(http://www.revel.inf.br/files/entrevistas/revel_15_interview_marina_nespor.pdf)ReVEL,vol.8,
n.15,2010.
Nolte,John.TheHumanBrain6thEdition

Externallinks
LessonsinProsody(http://web.archive.org/web/20110719103601/http://paul.igl.uni
freiburg.de/lip/index.php)(fromtheUniversityofFreiburg,preservedbytheInternetArchive)
ProsodyontheWeb(http://www.sfs.unituebingen.de/~dm/04/spring/201/pow/powin.htm)(a
tutorialonprosody)
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