Trabajo N°: 4

Nombre del Alumno: Guadalupe Fowler

Nombre del Profesor: Lic. Julieta Nievas
Asignatura: Fonética y fonología Inglesa II
Carrera: Tecnicatura Superior en Traducción de Inglés
Curso: 2° año
Fecha: 11/06/2020

Villa María

2020
 SYLLABLES AND STRESS: Theory

1) What is Prosody?
Prosody is the use of pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm in speech to convey
information about the structure and meaning of an utterance

2) Why is it important to study rhythm and melody?

Because Rhythmic and melodic signals serve as “road signs” to help the listener
follow the intentions of the speaker.

3) What does the term “listener friendly pronunciation” mean? Why it is important to
achieve that?
This term means that signals communicate emphasis and make clear the relationship
between ideas so that listeners can readily identify these relationships and understand
the speaker’s meaning.
Because English learners to think about their listeners and master the rhythmic and
melodic signals essential to “listener friendly” pronunciation.

4) What conversational breakdowns can make a listener just stop listening?

Learners typically do not use or recognize the cues that native listeners count on to
help them follow meaning in a conversation. As a result, conversational breakdowns
occur.

5) What is a syllable and what is its essential part?

A syllable is a group of one or more sounds. The essential part of a syllable is a
vowel sound and it can contain more than one consonant sound.

6) Are letters the same as sounds?

No, they aren’t.
It's important to be clear about the difference between letters and sounds – how we
write words and how we say them. For example: There are 26 letters in the
English alphabet. But in spoken English we use around 44 different sounds.

7) Did you know that there 44 different sounds in English which are written down using
only 26 letters?
Yes, I did.

8) Are words always divided the same way regarding their spelling and pronunciation?
No, they aren’t.
It is important to understand that English is not a phonetic language. So we often do
not say a word the same way it is spelled. Some words can have the same spelling but
different pronunciation.

9) What is Prominence?
Prominence is when we speak and we give more emphasis to some parts of a sentence,
statement or word than others. We can make a syllable stand out with respect to the rest.
10)   What elements produce prominence at syllable level?
The elements are:
 Pitch.
 Quality.
 Quantity.
 Stress.

11) What is pitch?
It’s the tone at the end of a Wh question is not the same as the tone at the end of a
Yes/No question.

12) What is quality?
This feature makes two sounds, similarly presented and having the same loudness,
quantity and pitch, dissimilar.
A syllable will tend to be prominent if it contains a vowel that is different in quality
from neighboring vowels.

13) What is quantity?
It is the property of a sound that enable us to place it on a scale going from long to
short. It is also called length.
If a syllable in a word is made longer than others, there is quite a strong tendency for
that syllable to be heard as stressed.
It sounds can be different according to the duration in time they occupy in their
production

14) What is stress?
It is the property of a sound which enables us, to place it on a scale going from loud to
soft.
Stress is associated with greater loudness, higher pitch, greater duration, and
sometimes with vowel quality.

15) When are syllables more prominent?

When a syllable is perceived as more prominent, that syllable
is said to be stressed.
This prominence is determined by four main factors: loudness, vowel length, vowel
quality and pitch.
16)   What perspectives can stress be studied from?
There are two degrees of stress
 PRIMARY STRESS: involves the principal pitch prominence in the word. We
mark this strong stress with a short raised stroke.
 SECONDARY STRESS: involves a subsidiary pitch prominence. We mark this
middle level with a short lowered stroke.

17) What is an accented syllable?

It is accented when a syllable is a starter of a pitch movement, or has the natural
potential to be one.
18) What is a prominent syllable?
Prominence is determined by a combination of factors: vowel length, amplitude
stress, high pitch accent, vocal quality and degree of vowel articulation. Any
combination of these can cause a syllable to be perceived as prominent.

19) Are all accented syllables prominent?

Yes, they are

20) Are all prominent syllables accented?

No, they aren’t.
 
SYLLABLES AND STRESS: Activities PART 2
1) How are vowels in stressed syllables of a content word usually pronounced?
Vowels in stressed syllables of a content word are usually pronounced in the same
way whether they are made prominent or not.
2) What are Content words?
Content words are words that have meaning. They can be compared to
grammatical words, which are structural. Nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs are
usually content words. Auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, and prepositions are usually
grammatical words.
3) What are Function words?
Function words are words that exist to explain or create grammatical or structural
relationships into which the content words may fit.  
4) Does the vowel in a one-syllable content word change its pronunciation? Provide an
example.
No, they don´t.

5) Does the vowel in a one-syllable function word change its pronunciation? Provide an
example.
Yes, they do.

6) How do vowels of a content word change in unstressed syllables?

The vowels in unstressed syllable of a content word can vary a lot. In slow, careful
speech the vowel may have its full form, but in normal speech these vowels are often
reduced or sometimes.

7) Why is it recommended to reduce vowels in your speech?

Vowel reduction is a prominent feature of American English, as well as other stress-
timed languages. As a phonological process, vowel reduction neutralizes
multiple vowel quality contrasts in unstressed syllables.

8) When may syllables merge into one?

It occurs when an unstressed ending in a vowel is followed by another unstressed
syllable beginning with a vowel, the two syllable may merge into one. This only
happens in normal speech.
9) What is “careful speech” (slow)? How is it different from “rapid speech” (normal)?
In slow, careful speech the vowel may have its full form, both syllables are said.
In rapid speech native speakers of English tend to pronounce ten bucks as though it
were written tembucks, and in anticipation of the voiceless s in son the final consonant
of his in his son is not as fully voiced as the s in his daughter, where it clearly is [z].

10) What are syllabic consonants?
A Syllabic Consonant is a consonant that replaces the vowel [ə] in a syllable. They
make it possible to make some short syllables shorter and simpler.

11) How is the “-ing” added to a verb ending with a syllabic consonant pronounced?
When –ing is added to a verb ending with a syllabic consonant, the consonant + -ing
is usually said as one syllable. The syllabic consonant is the first of the last syllable.