|
What is Prosody?
You may have heard of the term prosody before, but
do you know what it means? Prosody is the study of the suprasegmental
features of speech, such as stress, rhythm, intonation, and tone. These
features are not related to the individual sounds or segments of speech,
but rather to how they are combined and produced in larger units, such
as syllables, words, phrases, and sentences.
One of the main functions of prosody is to convey meaning and
information beyond the literal content of speech. For example, prosody
can indicate the speaker’s attitude, emotion, intention, or focus. It
can also signal the structure, organization, or coherence of speech.
Moreover, prosody can help with communication and interaction by
regulating turn-taking, signaling agreement or disagreement, or
expressing politeness or sarcasm.
One of the most common aspects of prosody is stress. Stress is the
relative prominence or emphasis given to certain syllables or words in
speech. For example, in English, stress can change the meaning of a word
or a sentence. For instance, the word “present” can be a noun or a verb
depending on where the stress is placed. Similarly, the sentence “I
never said she stole my money” can have different meanings depending on
which word is stressed.
Another aspect of prosody is rhythm. Rhythm is the pattern of timing and
duration of syllables or words in speech. For example, in English,
rhythm is based on alternating stressed and unstressed syllables in a
regular pattern. This creates a sense of musicality and flow in speech.
However, not all languages have the same rhythm. For instance, some
languages have syllable-timed rhythm, where all syllables have roughly
equal duration regardless of stress. Other languages have mora-timed
rhythm, where each mora or unit of sound has equal duration.
A third aspect of prosody is intonation. Intonation is the variation of
pitch or melody of speech across phrases or sentences. For example, in
English, intonation can indicate the type or function of a sentence. For
instance, rising intonation can mark a question or a request, while
falling intonation can mark a statement or a command. Intonation can
also convey the speaker’s mood or attitude. For example, high intonation
can express surprise or excitement, while low intonation can express
boredom or sadness.
A fourth aspect of prosody is tone. Tone is the use of pitch to
distinguish meaning at the word level. For example, in some languages,
such as Mandarin Chinese or Thai, tone can change the meaning of a word
completely. For instance, in Mandarin Chinese, the word “ma” can mean
mother, hemp, horse, or scold depending on which tone is used.
As you can see, prosody is a very interesting and complex topic that can
help us understand how language works and how we communicate with each
other. However, it is not an easy topic to study and analyze. For
instance, prosody may vary depending on the speaker’s individual style,
regional accent, social context, or cultural background. Moreover,
prosody may interact with other linguistic features such as grammar,
semantics, pragmatics, or discourse. Therefore, prosody requires careful
and systematic observation and description.
Descarga GRATIS nuestra app de Podcast
para aprender Inglés
(para Iphone, Ipad, Ipod y Android).
 *Si
te ha resultado difícil el ejercicio o
quieres practicar más dispones de más
Ejercicios de Listening de nivel Avanzado. |
|
|
