INTRODUCTION

In phonetics, suprasegmental is also called Prosodic Feature, a speech feature such as

stress, tone, or word juncture that is added over consonants and vowels; these features are not
limited to single sounds but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases.

The following chart is about the supragmental features and the differences that has in Spanish
and in English. Hence, this chart includes the more important aspects of pronunciation that are stress,
rhythm and intonation. Each of them comes with their concept and their comparation between English
and Spanish.

As future Middle School Teachers we must know how to teach our students properly by
learning every aspect of the English language.

SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES AND PROSODIC ASPECTS

Definition:
Supra- + segmental Beyond segments. A suprasegmental is a vocal effect that extends over more
than one sound segment in an utterance, such as pitch, stress, or juncture pattern.
In SIL contexts, suprasegmental is often used for tone, vowel length, rhythm, intonation and features
like nasalization and aspiration.

Segmental features are (generally) easy to determine in isolation.

Suprasegmental features are relative and determined across segments.
Single suprasegmental features may occur over a single segment or a sequence of
segments.

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.
Suprasegmental features operate over longer stretches of speech, such as rhythm and voice quality
as opposed to segmental features, which are the individual sounds.

Here we are going to analyze the three most important features: Stress, rhythm and intonation
comparing English and Spanish:

Spanish STRESS English

Emphasis or prominence given to

a certain syllable in a word, or to a
certain word in a phrase or
sentence.

Is longer than the unstressed. Stressed syllable Is longer than the unstressed.
Stressed placement may have The part of a word you give Stressed placement may have
a grammatical function. more emphasis. Stressed a grammatical function.
syllables are pronounced
strongly.
 The vowel is pronounced
distinctly retaining its quality.
Vowels are pronounced as
distinctly as stressed vowels;
the stress placement is the
only difference.
Ex. motor
Changes the meaning of
words.
Ex. hablo - habl
Express your emotions by
lengthening certain sounds in
sentences.
Is longer than the unstressed.
No vowel reduction.
Vowels are pronounced as
distinctly as stressed vowels.
It cannot occur on adjacent
syllables or adjacent to the
syllable bearing primary stress.
Strongest stress on last
element.
Written as single or separate
words words.
Could be a single noun or or
noun+adjective phrase.
Ex. tocadiscos
pasatiempo
Palabras llanas are stressed
on the next to the last syllable
(la penltima).
Palabras agudas are stressed
on the last syllable (la ltima).
Palabras esdrjulas are
stressed on the third to the last
syllable (la antepenltima).
Palabras sobresdrjulas are
stressed on the fourth to the
last syllable.
Contrasting elements not
empathized.
Unstressed syllable
Is the part of the word that you
don't emphasize or accent.
Unstressed syllables are
pronounced weakly.
Length
The amount of time it takes to
produce a sound.
Secondary stress:
Type of intermediate syllable
that is neither as loud nor as
long as the main stressed one.
Compound nouns: consist of
more than one word. They can
be formed in different ways.
The most common way is to
put two nouns together (noun +
noun); other common types are
adjective + noun and verb +
noun.
Multisyllabic words: a word of
many syllables.
Ex. reQUIRE, deCIDE
*Words that end in -ic
Parallel contrast
THe vowel is pronounced
indistinctly, all unstressed
vowels sound alike.
The most frequently
unstressed vowel is the schwa.
Ex. motor
Changes the meaning of words.
Ex. desert - desert
Express your emotions by
lengthening certain sounds in
sentences.
Is longer than the unstressed.
Vowel reduction. It changes the
position of the stress within a word
and the vowel quality. Vowel
reduction affects only the syllables
completely without stress.
Ex. blackboard
Is neither as loud nor as long
as the main stressed one.
Strongest stress on first
element.
Written as single or separate
words.
Vowel reduction does not
affect the root.
Distinguished from phrases
adjective, verb, adverb+noun.
Ex. record player
pastime
English: Stress the first syllable of:
*Most two-syllable nouns
Ex: CLImate, KNOWledge
*Most two-syllable adjectives
Ex. FLIPpant, SPAcious
Stress the last syllable of:
Most two-syllable verbs
Stress the second-to-last syllable
of:
Ex. ecSTATic, geoGRAPHic
*Words ending in -sion and -tion
Ex. exTENsion, retriBUtion
Stress the third-from-last syllable
of:
*Words that end in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy
Ex. deMOCracy, unCERtainty, geOGraphy,
radiOLogy
* Words that end in -al
Ex. exCEPtional, CRItical
The elements used in English
in a sentence have the same
 The elements used in Spanish sentences: function or express similar
in a sentence have the same ideas should be grammatically
function or express similar Using the same pattern of parallel, or grammatically
ideas should be grammatically words to show that two or more matched.
parallel, or grammatically words or ideas are of equal
matched. importance and to help the In sentences refers to
In sentences refers to reader comprehend what is matching grammatical
matching grammatical being written. structures.
structures.
Ex. Ex.
(1) Hay ventajas y desventajas. Parallelism is used as a (1) There are adVANTages and
(2) No es mi problema, es tu rhetorical and stylistic device in DIsadvantages.
problema. literature, speeches, (2) It's not MY problem, it's YOUR
(3) Lo quiere son lechuga o sin advertising, and popular songs. problem.
lechuga. (3) Do you want it WITH lettuce or
(4) Lo veo a l, pero no la veo a withOUT lettuce?
ella. (4) I see HIM, but not HER.
(5) Dije veinte y cuatro, no treinta (5) I said TWENTy-four, not
y cuatro. THIRTy-four.

Changed constructions. Emphatic sentences Emphasized Words.

Is something that is said or
Uses an additional word. done with strong emotion or Used in a much greater
action degree, partly because of
Uses a superlative adjective. A sentence in which the verb grammatical restrictions on
gives special stress on its word order, pronoun,
Changes the normal word action. omissions, etc.
order.
Ex. Simple=He speaks the Unstressed.
Stressed. truth. Emphatic= He does Ex. Simple=He speaks the truth.
Ex. Simple= El dice la verdad. speak the truth. Emphatic= He does speak the truth.
Enftica= l dice la verdad.

Spanish RHYTHM English

Syllable timed Rhythm Stress - timed Rhythm

All the syllables are Is the musicality of the The words could be reduced or
pronounced with the same language. Every language has elongated depending if they
time, all of them are equal in a different rhythm. In English are stressed or not.
duration. as in Spanish, the basic unit of
it is the syllable.
Ex: Me gustara ir a la fiesta. For appropriate rhythm stress Ex: I would like to go to the party.
Ex: Yo- qui-e-ro- ser- tu- me-jor- a-mi- has to be taken into account. Ex: I WANT to BE your BEST FRIEND.
go.

Spanish is a syllable timed English is a stressed timed

Rhythm: the number of Rhythm: the time it takes to
syllables determines the length say something depends on the
of time to say something. number of stressed syllables or
Stress goes on vowels. words, not on the number of
The words are usually stressed syllables.
depending on the vowel Stress always goes on
marked with the accent () syllables.
Ex: Crculo words or sentences can be
Ex: Tringulo stressed.
Ex: important [imprtnt]
Ex: prefer [prifr]
 In an sentence all the words
are stressed the same
because every syllable has the
same time or duration.
There is not emphasis on
Content Words.
Ex: El sol brilla en las maanas.
Spanish
Highest pitch before main
sentence stress.
Neutral statements, the pitch
falls after the main sentence
stress.
The pitch tends to fall to the
main sentence stress.
If the Spanish intonation
pattern for neutral statements
is transferred to an English
statement, the speaker will
give the impression that he is
somewhat bored, disgusted,
annoyed or impatient.
Intonation in Spanish is used
for several purposes:
1. Marking of interrogative and
exclamatory sentences.
2. Marking of the topic (theme) - rheme
and topicalization, etc.
3. Paralinguistic and extralinguistic
information: used to give expression to
the feelings that accompany the
emission of a certain statement. Such
as anger, irony, doubt.
Three kinds of intonation.
1. Enunciative scheme:
The normal tone is reached, from the
first syllable accented; with this tone is
pronounced the whole message, until
the last stressed syllable, where the
pitch falls seriously.
2. Interrogative scheme:
The first accented syllable is raised
something about the normal pitch.
In a sentence, the stress
always goes on the Content
Words. Noun, adjectives, verbs
and adverbs.
But Function Words. Articles,
Pronouns, Possessives,
propositions, auxiliary verbs
and conjunctions.
Ex: I am a student.
Ex: We have to study from Monday to
Friday.
INTONATION English
It is the rising and falling of the Highest pitch at main sentence
voice (pitch) over a stretch of stress.
sentence. It is the melody or Neutral statements, the pitch
music of a language. It refers falls after the main sentence
to the way the voice rises and stress.
falls as we speak. The pitch tends to rise to the
main sentence stress.
Intonation Patterns
The intonation patterns for If the English intonation pattern
neutral statements in English for neutral statements is
and Spanish are different. The transferred to a Spanish
intonation compares the rise statement, the speaker will
and fall of the voice in give the impression that he is
speaking, it is to say, compares surprised, excited or insisting.
the pitch.
Four kinds of intonation
patterns:
1. Falling Intonation:
Falling intonation is when we lower our
voice at the end of a sentence. This
usually happens in statements and in
questions that contain words like
where, when, what, why, how, and
who.
2. Rising Intonation:
Rising intonation is when we raise the
pitch of our voice at the end of a
sentence. We use this kind of
intonation in questions that are
answered with yes or no (these are
called yes/no questions).
3. Non-final intonation:
In non-final intonation sentences, the
pitch rises and falls within the
sentence. This type of intonation is
used with unfinished thoughts,
introductory phrases, series of words
From here the following syllables form and also when we express choices.
a slightly descending scale to the last
syllable where the pitch rises again. 4. Wavering Intonation:
Wavering intonation is used when we
3. Exclamatory scheme: express specific emotions or attitudes
The body starts above the normal pitch within a word. You can express, for
and quickly descends into its final instance, surprise, anger, sarcasm,
branch below the normal pitch. hesitation, fear, amazement, among
others.

Conclusion

The correct use of English when is referred to teaching a second language into a Spanish
spoken environment is fundamental. But one of the thing that English learners never discuss or rarely
discuss is the value and importance of comparing the native language and the foreign one.
Additionally, there is a group of sounds and symbols that the human beings keep in their database
(brain) and so, there is always a variation of them when it is time to produce a language.
Using the rules appropriately is the key to have a successful sense of bilingualism, there will be
always a significant difference between both languages in this case English and Spanish and the
reason of this is because, none of the words have the same pronunciation even though, they have the
same spelling.
The accent is another variant that is very noticeable in this case, both languages have some
similarities but in different sense.

Finally, the analysis of intonation and structures is crucial for making a concrete idea of how to
implement the most Important part of this, which is The production of the language in the most
asserted form.