Segmental and Supra-Segmental

Phonemes
Vowel and Consonant Phonemes are
called Segmental Phonemes
Supra-Segmental Phonemes (Stress,
Pitch, and Juncture) accompany
segmental Phonemes
They provide an extra layer of structure
imposed upon the segmental
phonemes.
Three Classes of Supra-
Segmental Phonemes in English
Stress- Refers to the relative force of
articulation of a given syllable
Pitch- Refers to the relative lowness or
highness of a tone
Juncture- a perceived space or
boundary marker of a sound
Stress
Refers to the relative force of
articulation of a given syllable
Stressed syllables are always more
prominent than unstressed syllables
Stressed syllables are always louder
than unstressed syllables
Four Degrees of Stress in English
/ / represents primary stress
/ ^ / represents secondary stress
/` / represents tertiary stress
/ / represents weak(minimal) stress
Four Levels of Stress can be
demonstrated in the following
sentence
Hows the baby?
^
/hawz c bcbi/
The first syllable has secondary stress
The second word has weak stress
First syllable of baby has primary stress
Last syllable of baby has tertiary stress
Most Frequent Patterns
If the word coffee /k5 Ii/ is spoken in
isolation, the first syllable receives
primary stress / / and second syllable
receives weak / / stress.
In an utterance of two syllables, only
two degrees of stress can be present:
/ / and / /
Coffee /k5 Ii / Blackboard /bIkbord
Stress
Stress is a relative term. That is to
say, a given syllable is more or
less loud, relative to the
loudness of the other syllables
(stresses) in the utterance.
Four Degrees of Stress in the
Phrase Simple Simon
/simpcI say mcn/
The loudest syllable is #3
The second loudest syllable is #1
The third loudest syllable is #4
The weakest syllable of all is #2
Meaning changes when stress
shifts from one syllable to another
but I dont want to
answer to who can
go?
I didnt think I
could, but
I can go/ay kn go /
I can go / ay kacn
go /
I can go / ay kacn
go/
Minimal Pairs involving stress
supra-segmental phonemes
/c waythaws /
/c wayt haws /
/c wayt haws /
The Whitehouse
(Presidents house)
The white house (a
house painted
white)
The White
house(Mr. Whites
house)
Minimal Pairs for Stress
/c grin haws /
/ c grin haws /
/ c grin haws /
The Green house
(Mr. Greens house)
The green house (a
house which is
green)
The greenhouse ( a
place where plants
are grown)
Stress Levels Not Absolute
Stress levels are relative. A
syllable which is marked as
having primary stress is heard
as the loudest syllable relative to
all the other syllables in the
utterance