Anthropology 1027A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Vowel Length, Syllable, Phonetics
Document Summary
Suprasegmentals: suprasegmentals refers to the aspects or features of sounds which are riding on top of" the segments/sounds. These are often associated with a group of sounds rather than an individual segment. Stress: the relative prominence of one syllable with respect to another. This is accomplished by an increase in pitch and/or loudness and/or length: the usual distinction is between stressed (i. e. the most prominent syllable, usually marked with a raised vertical line * +) and unstressed syllables. Example: phonetics *fo. "ne. tiks+ . indicates a new syllable: stress is used to differentiate words in english. Protest the verb stresses the second syllable, protest the noun stresses the first. Length syllable: some languages differentiate words on the basis of the length of a consonant or vowel. It is a tense/lax distinction rather than length. Tone: some languages differentiate words on the basis of pitch variation, i. e. tone, example mandarin chinese.