5 - Word Stress and Sentence Stress
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 October 2011
Summary
So far, we have looked at the interplay of various sounds, both consonants and vowels, in English. The description of the sounds of English gives us an idea of what physical features they have. In fact, each phoneme (also called a segment) has some unique features that make it different from all others in the system. Such features are called segmental features. Place and manner of articulation and voicing of consonants, and tongue height, lip-rounding/unrounding of vowels are all segmental features, and therefore a part of segmental phonology. There are some other important aspects of the sound system that we need to consider. These do not relate to individual segments or phonemes but are associated with higher units of sound like words, phrases and sentences. These features can be described as the way something is said. The way here refers to the different pitches, rhythms and tones of voice we use when we speak.
The segmental features can be represented orthographically as consonant and vowel symbols and they refer to a set of phonetic properties of the spoken language, easily identified by reference to their initiation, phonation, articulation and co-articulation. Those features of spoken language which are not easily identified as discrete segments are variously referred to as non-segmental, supra-segmental or prosodic features. ‘The way something is said’ comes within the realm of non-segmental features that is usually called prosody.
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- Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology , pp. 69 - 78Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2007