CHAPTER VI

Suprasegmentals: Stress, Pitch, and Intonation

INTRODUCTION
A suprasegmental, or prosodic feature, is a vocal effect that extends over more than
one sound segment (vowel or consonant) in an utterance, such as stress, pitch, intonation, or
juncture pattern.
Stress is the emphasis or loudness with which syllables are produced and pitch is the
high or low quality of the voice caused by the rate of vibration of the vocal cords. The pitch of
the voice rises and falls during an utterance, creating a melody or intonation contour. Juncture
is the transition or mode of transition from one sound to another in speech. In phonetics, juncture
is the set of features in speech that enable a hearer to detect a word or phrase boundary (e.g.
distinguishing I scream from ice cream).

STRESS: BASIC PATTERNS

Stress. In English or Spanish words of more than one syllable said in isolation, the
vowels (nuclei of syllables) vary in prominence; one syllable is more noticeable than the others.
Others are less prominent and, in English, some are very weak and difficult to hear. These
differences in prominence are due to differences in the stress with which syllables are spoken.
Stress is produced by pushing more air out of the lungs. In addition, a stressed syllable is usually
louder than an unstressed one. It is also often accompanied by a higher pitch.
Fixed and Free Stress Languages. Traditionally, languages have been classified on the
basis of whether they have fixed or free stress. In fixed-stress languages, like French, strongest
stress always falls on a predictable syllable in polysyllabic words. In free-stress languages, like
English or Spanish, the primary stress may appear on any syllable of a word, the first syllable, a
medial syllable, or the last syllable.
Syllable-timed and Stress-timed Languages. When we speak normally in complete
utterances, our speech has rhythm. The rhythm of speech, as with music, is created by the regular
recurrence of something. The rhythm of language is determined primarily by the regular
recurrence of syllables or of stress. The rhythm of French and Italian is created largely by the
regular recurrence of syllables, and they are often called syllable timed languages; the rhythm
of English, German and Russian is determined primarily by the regular recurrence of stress; they
are called stress-timed languages.
In a syllable-timed language, every syllable is perceived as taking up roughly the same
amount of time, though the absolute length of time depends on the prosody. Syllable-timed
languages tend to give syllables approximately equal stress and generally lack reduced vowels.
French, Italian and Spanish are commonly quoted as examples of syllable-timed
languages. This type of rhythm was originally metaphorically referred to as “machine-gun
rhythm” because each underlying rhythmical unit is of the same duration, similar to the transient
bullet noise of a machine-gun.
In a stress-timed language, syllables may last different amounts of time, but there is
perceived to be a fairly constant amount of time (on average) between consecutive stressed
syllables. Stress-timing is sometimes called Morse-code rhythm. Stress-timing is strongly
related to vowel reduction processes. English, German, and Portuguese are typical stress-timed
languages, as are some southern dialects of Italian.
 The duration of an English utterance depends on the number of stressed syllables it has; it
takes approximately the same length of time to say each of the following sentences because each
has three stressed syllables.
/ / /
1. John bought milk.
/ / /
2. John has to buy milk.
/ / /
3. John has to buy a little milk.

Stress Patterns in English Words

Stress Diacritics. Three different levels of stress are heard in English words when they
are said in citation form. A complete phonetic transcription of a word, whether broad or narrow,
will include the stress given to each syllable. The three levels of stress are marked with the
following diacritics:

Stress Diacritics
Primary stress (strongest): /’/
Secondary stress (next strongest): /ʽ/
Unstressed/Weak stress (least /ᵕ/ or not marked
strong):

The most prominent syllable in an English word is called the primary (or tonic) syllable
and is marked with the diacritic [’]. In citation form, all monosyllabic words have primary
stress. Therefore, linguists do not mark primary stress on monosyllabic words. In words of more
than one syllable, the next strongest syllables are called secondary syllables and are marked
with the [ʽ]. Syllables with primary or secondary stress are stressed syllables. All other
syllables are unstressed syllables; they can be marked with [ᵕ] or left unmarked. Stressed
syllables (those with primary and secondary stress) contain all the vowels and diphthongs except
[ǝ]. Unstressed syllables commonly contain the vowels [ǝ], [I], and [U] and [ᵻ] a high, central,
lax, unrounded vowel represented by [ᵻ], called barred I. Barred I is heard when speakers say
“Just a minute” very informally [ʤᵻst´mInIt].Vowel reduction occurs in unstressed syllables,
which may also contain syllabic consonants.
Stress Patterns for Two-syllable Words. Two syllable words have one primary stressed
syllable combined with either a secondary stressed syllable or an unstressed syllable. Two
stressed syllables, almost always primary – secondary [’ ʽ] is the stress pattern of the vast
majority of English compound words. A few compound words follow the pattern secondary –
primary [ʽ ’].
Stress Patterns for Words of More than Two Syllables. There are numerous different
stress patterns for English words of three or more syllables. Although adjacent stressed syllables
do occur in two-syllable words, in words of three or more syllables the preference in English is
to alternate stressed and unstressed syllables or to pronounce two unstressed syllables in a row.
In three-syllable words), it is common for all syllables to be unstressed except for the
required primary syllable. However, three-syllable words can have a secondary stress.

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 Words of four or more syllables usually have a secondary stress on at least one syllable.
A common place for the secondary stress is on a meaningful prefix, as in underachievement and
uninhabited, which can also be pronounced with two secondary stresses in careful speech.
Stress is Phonemic in English and Spanish. A difference in the stress pattern on words
can change meaning (and/or grammatical function) in both English and Spanish. Therefore,
stress is phonemic in these languages, just as the contrast between /p/ and /b/ is phonemic. Take
for example, certain English noun and verb pairs and English phrasal verbs with their related
compound nouns (digest, insult, conduct, progress, address).
English: Noun/Verb Pairs. There are pairs of words with the same sounds where
primary stress on the first syllable marks the noun and primary stress on the second syllable
marks the verb. These pairs are minimal pairs for stress. Examples 3) and 4), however, show that
sometimes the shift in stress is accompanied by a change in the pronunciation of a vowel when it
is no longer stressed.
Similar changes occur in English when two-word verb phrases like print out form a
compound noun, printout. (see also: left over/leftover, check in/check-in, break
down/breakdown)
Distinguishing Phrases from Compounds. The stress pattern for most compound nouns
such as baseball, pitfall, and sailboat is primary - secondary or the stronger stress (primary)
followed by a somewhat weaker stress (secondary). This difference in stress pattern for
compound words (stronger / weaker) and phrases (weaker / stronger) is the primary
distinguishing feature between the compound words and phrases.

Word Stress (compound noun) Phrase Stress

stronger/ weaker weaker/stronger
modifier + noun head (NP)
1. a hotdog 1. a hot dog
2. a greenhouse 2. a green house
verb + noun object (VP)
3. Did you feel the earthquake? 3. Did you feel the earth quake?
4. They’re washing machines. 4. They’re washing machines.
occupational modifier (compound word stress) nationality/descriptive modifier (phrase stress)
5. a flying instructor (teaches flying) 5. a flying instructor (one who is flying)
6. a Spanish teacher (teaches Spanish) 6. a Spanish teacher (nationality)

Pitch and Intonation

In analyzing English, linguists find four relative pitch levels. Pitch level /4/ is commonly
used for shouting or screaming. Only pitches /3/, /2/, and /1/ are used in normal speech.
Extra high (screaming) /4/
High /3/
Normal /2/
Low /1/

Whether we are saying one or many words, the pitch of the voice rises and falls. Words in
isolation are not common in normal speech, but they are useful to practice listening to and
marking pitch changes. Two systems of recording pitch are illustrated below, one using numbers

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and the other a line, called a pitch or intonation contour. When words are said in isolation, the
pitch rises on the strongest syllable and then falls.

Pitch Variation in Phrases and Sentences

The intonation patterns for phrases and sentences are recorded in the same way as for
words in isolation, using either numbers or an intonation contour. Falling [231], rising [233], and
sustained patterns that end [22] or [33] are heard. In a simplified form of notation, falling, rising,
and sustained intonation patterns can be indicated by an arrow at the end of a sentence or part of
as sentence: falling intonation /  / , rising intonation /  / , and sustained intonation /  /.

Falling Intonation /2, 3, 1/ or /  /

An intonation pattern that begins at /2/, rises to /3/ at the primary sentence stress, and
falls at the end of the utterance to /1/, a falling intonation pattern, conveys the meaning of
completeness. English speakers use it for statements and information questions beginning with
question words such as what, where, when, how, and how long.

Rising Intonation /2, 3/ or 

An intonation pattern that begins at /2/, rises to /3/ at the primary sentence stress, and
stays there to the end of the utterance is a rising intonation pattern. English speakers use it for
yes-no questions beginning with auxiliary or helping verbs (for example Does, Did, Can, Will,
Should, Are, Was, Have and Has) where a yes or no answer is expected. In English rising
intonation also converts declarative statements to questions expressing surprise or doubt. In
Spanish it is used for all yes-no questions; no surprise or doubt is implied.

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Sustained Intonation / 2, 2/ or 
The rising and falling intonation patterns go up and down across the utterance and end
either higher or lower than they began. A third ending for an intonation pattern is heard in which
the pitch is sustained, or continued, at the end; it neither rises nor falls. Sustained intonation
conveys incompleteness. It is heard when speakers have not finished speaking; perhaps they have
stopped to think before continuing. If one speaker has been monopolizing a conversation, others
may listen for the sustained intonation accompanied by a slight pause to take their turn in the
conversation. It is also used when people want to indicate they have more to say but prefer not to
comment. In this case, it is like an unspoken but. Sustained intonation can also be used to
distinguish between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses,

Intonation Pattern for a Series. The two common intonation patterns given to a series
of items illustrate that there can be more than one possible intonation pattern for a sentence.
Perhaps the basic pattern is one that rises on all elements in the series and then falls on the final
item. For example,

Phonemic Status of Intonation. Intonation, like stress, is phonemic. Changing the intonation
pattern on an utterance can change the meaning, but doesn’t have to as illustrated with the series
above. For example, rising intonation can change a statement to a question of doubt or surprise.
1) 2John won the e3lection1.
2) 2John won the election3?

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Juncture
The transition or mode of transition from one sound to another in speech.
Phonetics the set of features in speech that enable a hearer to detect a word or phrase boundary
(e.g. distinguishing I scream from ice cream).

It is often necessary in describing pronunciation to specify how closely attached one sound is to its
neighbors: for example, k and t are more closely linked in the word ‘acting’ than in ‘black tie’, and t
and r are more closely linked in ‘nitrate’ than in ‘night rate’. Sometimes there are clearly observable
phonetic differences in such examples: in comparing ‘cart rack’ with ‘car track’ we notice that the
vowel in ‘cart’ is short (being shortened by the t that follows it) while the same phoneme in ‘car’ is
longer, and the r in ‘track’ is devoiced (because it closely follows t) while r in ‘rack’ is voiced.
Since the position of juncture (or word boundary) can cause a perceptual difference, and therefore
potential misunderstanding, it is usually recommended that learners of English should practice
making and recognizing such differences, using pairs like ‘pea stalks/peace talks’ and ‘great ape/grey
tape’.

Juncture errors can be classified into three main types:

a. transfer of segment from word1 to word2
b. transfer of segment from word2 to word1
c. transfer of segment between syllables

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