In linguistics, a prosodic unit is a segment of speech that occurs with specific prosodic properties. These properties can be those of stress, intonation (a single pitch and rhythm contour), or tonal patterns.
Prosodic units occur at a hierarchy of levels, from the syllable, the metrical foot and phonological word to the intonational unit (IU) and to a complete utterance.[1] However, the term is often restricted to intermediate levels which do not have a dedicated terminology. Prosodic units do not generally correspond to syntactic units, such as phrases and clauses; it is thought that they reflect different aspects of how the brain processes speech, with prosodic units being generated through on-line[definition needed] interaction and processing, and with morphosyntactic units being more automated.
Prosodic units are characterized by several phonetic cues, such as a coherent pitch contour. Breathing, both inhalation and exhalation, only occurs at the boundaries (pausa) between higher units. Several short contours may carry an additional overall gradual decline in pitch and slowing of tempo; this larger unit is termed a declination unit (DU). At the boundaries (pauses) between declination units, the pitch and tempo reset; for this reason the final one of the shorter internal contours is said to have final prosody, whereas the others are said to have continuing prosody.
These two levels of the hierarchy may be schematized as follows:
Declination unit
continuing IU,
continuing IU,
continuing IU,
final IU.
Transcription
In English orthography, a continuing prosodic boundary may be marked with a comma (assuming the writer is using commas to represent prosody rather than grammatical structure), while final prosodic boundaries may be marked with a full stop (period).
The International Phonetic Alphabet has symbols (single and double pipes) for "minor" and "major" prosodic breaks. Since there are more than two levels of prosodic units, the use of these symbols depends on the structure of the language and which information the transcriber is attempting to capture. Very often, each prosodic unit will be placed in a separate line of the transcription. Using the single and double pipes to mark continuing and final prosodic boundaries, we might have American English,
Jack,
preparing the way,
went on.
[ˈdʒæk | pɹəˌpɛəɹɪŋ ðə ˈweɪ | wɛnt ˈɒn ‖ ]
or French,
Jacques,
préparant le sol,
tomba.
[ˈʒak | pʁepaʁɑ̃ lɵ ˈsɔl | tɔ̃ˈba ‖ ]
The last syllable with a full vowel in a French prosodic unit is stressed, and that the last stressed syllable in an English prosodic unit has primary stress. This shows that stress is not phonemic in French, and that the difference between primary and secondary stress is not phonemic in English; they are both elements of prosody rather than inherent in the words.
The pipe symbols – the vertical bars| and ‖ – used above are phonetic, and so will often disagree with English punctuation, which only partially correlates with prosody.
However, the pipes may also be used for metrical breaks – a single pipe being used to mark metrical feet, and a double pipe to mark both continuing and final prosody, as their alternate IPA descriptions "foot group" and "intonation group" suggest. In such usage, each foot group would include one and only one heavy syllable. In English, this would mean one and only one stressed syllable:
Jack,
preparing the way,
went on.
[ˈdʒæk ‖ pɹəˌpɛəɹɪŋ | ðə ˈweɪ ‖ wɛnt ˈɒn ‖ ]
In many tone languages with downdrift, such as Hausa, the single pipe ⟨|⟩ may be used to represent a minor prosodic break that does not interrupt the overall decline in pitch of the utterance, while ⟨‖⟩ marks either continuing or final prosody that creates a pitch reset. In such cases, some linguists use only the single pipe, with continuing and final prosody marked by a comma and period, respectively.
In transcriptions of non-tonal languages, the three symbols – pipe, comma, and period – may also be used, with the pipe representing a break more minor than the comma, the so-called list prosody often used to separate items when reading lists, spelling words, or giving out telephone numbers.
Cognitive implications
While each prosodic unit may carry a large information load in rehearsed speech, in extemporaneous conversation the amount of information is much more limited. There is seldom more than a single lexical noun in any one IU, and it is uncommon to have both a lexical noun and a lexical verb in the same IU. Indeed, many IUs are semantically empty, taken up by filler words such as um, well, or y'know. Chafe (1994) believes that this reflects the constraints of information processing by the brain during speech production, with chunks of speech (IUs) corresponding to chunks of cognitive output. It is also a possibility that the distribution of information across IUs is designed to maximize language comprehension by the other party.
Chafe, Wallace. 1994. Discourse, Consciousness, and Time: The flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing. University of Chicago Press.
Dubois, John W., Susanna Cumming, Stephan Schuetze-Coburn, Danae Paolino eds. 1992. Discourse Transcription. Volume 4 of the Santa Barbara Papers in Linguistics.
May 04, 2023
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This article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations February 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message In linguistics a prosodic unit is a segment of speech that occurs with specific prosodic properties These properties can be those of stress intonation a single pitch and rhythm contour or tonal patterns Minor foot breakMajor intonation break IPA Number507 508EncodingEntity decimal amp 124 amp 8214 Unicode hex U 007C U 2016This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters Prosodic units occur at a hierarchy of levels from the syllable the metrical foot and phonological word to the intonational unit IU and to a complete utterance 1 However the term is often restricted to intermediate levels which do not have a dedicated terminology Prosodic units do not generally correspond to syntactic units such as phrases and clauses it is thought that they reflect different aspects of how the brain processes speech with prosodic units being generated through on line definition needed interaction and processing and with morphosyntactic units being more automated Contents 1 Defining characteristics 2 Transcription 3 Cognitive implications 4 See also 5 Notes 6 ReferencesDefining characteristics EditProsodic units are characterized by several phonetic cues such as a coherent pitch contour Breathing both inhalation and exhalation only occurs at the boundaries pausa between higher units Several short contours may carry an additional overall gradual decline in pitch and slowing of tempo this larger unit is termed a declination unit DU At the boundaries pauses between declination units the pitch and tempo reset for this reason the final one of the shorter internal contours is said to have final prosody whereas the others are said to have continuing prosody These two levels of the hierarchy may be schematized as follows Declination unitcontinuing IU continuing IU continuing IU final IU dd Transcription EditIn English orthography a continuing prosodic boundary may be marked with a comma assuming the writer is using commas to represent prosody rather than grammatical structure while final prosodic boundaries may be marked with a full stop period The International Phonetic Alphabet has symbols single and double pipes for minor and major prosodic breaks Since there are more than two levels of prosodic units the use of these symbols depends on the structure of the language and which information the transcriber is attempting to capture Very often each prosodic unit will be placed in a separate line of the transcription Using the single and double pipes to mark continuing and final prosodic boundaries we might have American English Jack preparing the way went on ˈdʒaek pɹeˌpɛeɹɪŋ de ˈweɪ wɛnt ˈɒn or French Jacques preparant le sol tomba ˈʒak pʁepaʁɑ lɵ ˈsɔl tɔ ˈba The last syllable with a full vowel in a French prosodic unit is stressed and that the last stressed syllable in an English prosodic unit has primary stress This shows that stress is not phonemic in French and that the difference between primary and secondary stress is not phonemic in English they are both elements of prosody rather than inherent in the words The pipe symbols the vertical bars and used above are phonetic and so will often disagree with English punctuation which only partially correlates with prosody However the pipes may also be used for metrical breaks a single pipe being used to mark metrical feet and a double pipe to mark both continuing and final prosody as their alternate IPA descriptions foot group and intonation group suggest In such usage each foot group would include one and only one heavy syllable In English this would mean one and only one stressed syllable Jack preparing the way went on ˈdʒaek pɹeˌpɛeɹɪŋ de ˈweɪ wɛnt ˈɒn In many tone languages with downdrift such as Hausa the single pipe may be used to represent a minor prosodic break that does not interrupt the overall decline in pitch of the utterance while marks either continuing or final prosody that creates a pitch reset In such cases some linguists use only the single pipe with continuing and final prosody marked by a comma and period respectively In transcriptions of non tonal languages the three symbols pipe comma and period may also be used with the pipe representing a break more minor than the comma the so called list prosody often used to separate items when reading lists spelling words or giving out telephone numbers Cognitive implications EditWhile each prosodic unit may carry a large information load in rehearsed speech in extemporaneous conversation the amount of information is much more limited There is seldom more than a single lexical noun in any one IU and it is uncommon to have both a lexical noun and a lexical verb in the same IU Indeed many IUs are semantically empty taken up by filler words such as um well or y know Chafe 1994 believes that this reflects the constraints of information processing by the brain during speech production with chunks of speech IUs corresponding to chunks of cognitive output It is also a possibility that the distribution of information across IUs is designed to maximize language comprehension by the other party See also EditPhonological hierarchy Tone terracing UpstepNotes Edit Nespor Marina Vogel Irene 2012 Prosodic Phonology Berlin de Gruyter Mouton References EditChafe Wallace 1994 Discourse Consciousness and Time The flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing University of Chicago Press Dubois John W Susanna Cumming Stephan Schuetze Coburn Danae Paolino eds 1992 Discourse Transcription Volume 4 of the Santa Barbara Papers in Linguistics Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Prosodic unit amp oldid 1138011438, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
