UNIT 1: PROSODIC SYSTEMS

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Approximately only 10% percent of communication takes place verbally. The other 90%
percent is non-verbal.

“Non-verbal communication, is, basically, sending and receiving messages in a variety of

ways without the use of verbal codes. It is both intentional and unintentional.”

Gesture and touch, body language or posture, facial expression and eye contact are
considered types of non-verbal communication. Speech also contains nonverbal elements
known as paralanguage, including: voice quality, pitch, volume, speaking style and prosodic
features such as rhythm, intonation and stress.

Non-verbal communication is important because of its multiple functions:

➔​ Repeating the verbal message

➔​ Accentong a vebal message
➔​ Complementing a verbal message but also may contradict
➔​ Regulating interactions
➔​ Susbtituing the verbal message

TYPES OF N.V.C

Scientific research on non-verbal communication and behaviour began with the 1872
publication of Charles Darwin´s “The Expression of the Emotions in man and animals”.

We communicate information in nonverbal ways using groups of behaviours. For example,

we might combine a frown with crossed arms and unblinking eye gaze to indicate
disapproval.

1.​ Kinesics

Body language and posture

Every move we make can unconsciously communicate to others details about our
personality, mood or state of mind. Howwe hold ourselves (posture) suggests many things
about our emotional state. The simple act of locomotion, or moving from one place to
another, can non-verbally communicate our state of mind as well.

Facial expression
It might be the only one form of non verbal communicationthat could be considered
universal. There are 8 universal facial expressions:

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 ​ Anger
​ Disgust
​ Fear
​ Happiness
​ Sadness
​ Surprise
​ Contempt
​ Embarrasment

Gestics
Deliberte movements and signals are an important way to communicate meaning without
words. Common gestures: waving, pointing, using fingers to indicate numeric amounts. They
are related to culture.

Oculesics: Eye contact - Gaze

It provides conversation cues and feedback. Both of which regulate the flow of verbal
communication. It has cultural impact.

Haptics: touch
Touch, and sometimes the lack of touch between two people, can provide information about
their relationship. Touch can be used to communicate affection, familiarity, sympathy and
other emotions.It´s culturally determined.

2.​ Proxemics: proximity

People often refer to their need for “personal space”, which is also an important type of
non-verbal communication largely influenced by culture.
The distances that define our personal space also vary depending on how well we know
someone. People we are comfortable with, such as a family member, tend to stand much
closer to us than those we do not know very well, such as a co worker or a stranger.

3.​ Adornment or appearance

Our shoice of clothing, jewelry, hairstyles and other factors affecting appearance are also
considered as meaning of nonverbal communication. Different colors can evoke different
moods. Appearance can also alter physiological reactions, judgements and interpretations.

4.​ Olfatics: smell

Our body associates certan smells with different feelings and emotions. Smells are also
powerful at triggering our memory.

5.​ Chronemics

Is the study of the use in non-verbal communication. The way that an individual would
perceive and value time, structure our time and react to time is a powerful communication
tool, and helps set the stage for the communication process.

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The perceptions include punctuality, willingness to wait and interactions.

6.​ Pacing

Is the speed with which communication takes place. Those who speak quickly re thought to
be of lower confidence, while those that speak too slowly - of lower intelligence. Having
“good pace” is when there is proper balance between quickness and slowness where
confidence is conveyed. Pace covers appropriate pausing and rhythm.

7.​ Paralinguistics

It refers to vocal communication that is separate from actual language This includes factors
like: tone of voice, loudness, pitch and rhythm.

Paralinguistic is divided in 2 (two) types:

​ Voice qualities: Are due to different modes of phonation, and ar: normal voice,
falsetto, whisper, creak, huskiness, and breathiness.
​ Voice qualifications: are non-linguistics vocal effects running through or interrupting
speech and include: laughing, giggling, tremulousness, sobbing, and crying.

Body language, eye contact, proximity and posture and probably those which learners most
need to be aware of in terms of conveying meaning, avoiding misunderstandings and fitting
in with the target culture.

Linguistic and Paralinguistic features

The fundamental function of every language is to link meaning to expression to provide

verbal expression for thought and feeling.

Language has a third face: context. It is only in a particular context that the meaning of an
expression can convey a speaker´s intended message and be correctly interpreted by their
listener/adresee.

Expression encompases words, phrases, clauses, sentences, as well as phonemes tied up

in syllables and clauses, and tone groups, including intonation and stress.

Meaning refers to the senses and references used by the speaker to build up their message.

Context refers to the social situation in which the expression is uttered, it includes what the
speaker has already mentioned in their linguistic context, and it relies on generally hared
knowledge between speaker and listener.

The most common vehicle of linguistic communication is the voice, and speech is thus a
primary mode of human language.

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Speaking has advantages: it has variable volume, pitch, rhythm and speed. It is capable of
wide-ranging modulation as well.

Writing has certain advantages over speech. For one thing, although writing takes generally
longer to produce than speech, it can be read more quickly.

When we think of communication, we tend to isolate the “linguistic” phenomena as being the
only relevant phenomena for the expression of a message, including speech and writing. But
all human behaviour is relevant to understanding human communication.

Paralinguistic represent something else, an “extra” that is used to reinforce the meaning that
is intended to be conveyed.

Professor David Crystal says that “like any other events in nature, no body movement or
expression is without meaning in the context in which it appears”.

When an act of huan communication takes place, the total personal and environmental
physical setting, apart from the linguistic data, has to be analyzed.

The spoken message is enriched by the different channels the voice makes use of to convey
meaning. Those channels are the Prosodic Features, which are those features of linguistic
structure that have been integrated with other linguistic structures, and which function as
expressive devices of such.

Professor David Crystal has defined them as the sets of mutually defining phonological
features which have an essentially variable relationship to the segmental (phonemes) aspect
of a message as opposed to those features (vowels, consonants, syllables, etc) which have
a direct and identifying relationship.

The Prosodic Systems that are recognized are: pitch direction, pitch range, loudness, tempo,
rhythmicality, paue and intonation and they comprises the non-segmental component of a
phonological analysis.

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Linguistic Features Paralinguistic Features

Definition Definition

Speech is divided into linguistic information. Paralinguistic features are those used intentionally
by the speaker.
I.E: The arbitrary language code used
intentionally by the speaker for communication Paralinguistic features are vocal but independent o
on one hand and all other information on the pitch, loudness and duration for their identification.
other. They are unstable features used to accompany and
emphasize the meaning conveyed by linguistic
elements - segments and prosodies.

Characteristics Characteristics

➔​ They imply every aspect of ➔​ They contain other information besides

communication that can be studied by linguistic. Such information varies as a
linguistic sciences, so it´s systematic. function of speaker, listener(s) and the
➔​ It´s always present communicative situation
➔​ Organized into systems of choices and ➔​ They can´t be studied systematically because
capable of being summarized in terms they depend mainly on the speaker´s
of rules personality and personal experience.
➔​ They are features that go with the production
of speech, they do not affect meaning or
structure, but they help give more
emphasis/meaning to what it´s said: body
posture, movements, gestures and facial
expressions, eye contact, proximity, etc.
➔​ They are essential to the spoken language
➔​ They always have meaning in the context in
which they appear
➔​ They are recurrent or regular in
communicative situations and so they can be
analyzed
➔​ Visible body activity has an influence on
behaviour just like spoken language

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UNIT 2: COMBINATORY POSSIBILITIES OF SOUNDS

THE ENGLISH SYLLABLE

The syllable is a unit at a higher level than that of the phoneme or sound segment yet
distinct from that of the word morpheme. Every English word consists of one or more
complete syllables.

A word that consist of a single syllable is called monosyllable, and is said to be

monosyllabic. Disyllabe and disyllabic is used for a word of two syllables; trisyllable and
trisyllabic is used for a word of more than three syllables or to any word of more than one
syllable.

The syllable is the minimal pattern of phoneme combination with a vowel as a nucleus,
preceded and followed by a consonant or a permitted consonant combination.

Phonetically, syllables according to Peter Roach “are usually described as consisting of a

centre which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud;
before and after that centre. There will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud
sound”.

Phonologically, syllable according to John Laver is a complex unit made up of nuclear and
marginal elements. Nuclear elements are the vowels or syllabic segments; marginal
elements are the consonants or non-syllabic segments.

SYLLABLE CONSTITUENCY

The syllable has two immediate constituents: The Onset (O), which includes any consonants
that precede the nuclear element (the vowel), and The Rhyme ( R ), which subsumes the
nuclear element (the vowel) as well as any marginal elements.

The Rhyme is subdivide into:

​ Peak: also known as nucleus because represents the nuclear or most sonorous
element in a syllable.
​ Coda: includes all consonants that follow the peak in a syllable

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Each syllable contains exactly one vowel. The vowel itself may be a short vowel, a long
vowel, or a diphthong. In certain circumstances in English, a consonant can constitute the
centre (or peak) of a syllable instead of a voel. In this cae, either /l/ , /r/ or a nasal /m, n, ŋ/ .
Stand as the centre of the syllable instead of a vowel, this is called Syllabic Consonant.

​ /l/ syllabic consonants are usually found after:

➔​ /t/
➔​ /d/
➔​ /p/
➔​ /b/
➔​ /s/
➔​ /z/
➔​ /k/
➔​ /n/

​ /n/ syllabic consonants are usually found after:

➔​ /t/
➔​ /d/
➔​ /s/
➔​ /z/
➔​ /f/
➔​ /v/
➔​ /θ/
➔​ /ʃ/
➔​ /ʒ/

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 ​ When -ing is added to a verb ending with a syllabic consonant, the consonant + -ing
is usually said as one syllable. The syllabic consonant is the first consonant of the
last syllable.

​ In some words, most vowels lose a syllable before /r/, /l/, or /n/.
➔​ In few two- syllable words with stress on the second syllable, the first vowel is often
left out in rapid speech so that the word is said with only one syllable.

AMBISYLLABICITY

Ambisyllabicity happens because there is a shared between the preceding and following
syllables. Most commonly, a single consonant between vowels is grouped witsplit between
syllable ih the following syllable /CV.CV/, while two consonants between vowels are split
between syllables /CVC.CV/.

J.C.Wells agues that this is not a useful analysis, and that English syllabification is simply
/CVC (C) .V/.

PHONOTACTICS

Is a branch of phonology that studies the restrictions in a language on the permissible

combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permissible syllable structure, consonant
clusters and vowel sequences by means of phonotactical constrains. Phonotactics
constrains are language specific.

THE SONORITY HIERARCHY

In general, the rules of Phonotactics operate around the sonority hierarchy, stipulating that
the nucleus has maximal sonority and that sonority decreases as you move away from the
nucleus.

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UNIT 3: STRESS IN ENGLISH WORDS

STRES IN ENGLISH WORDS

Stress is a property of syllables which makes them stand out as more noticeable than
others. Stressed syllables are produced with greater efftort than unstressed ones.

Stress is a composite, deriving from measurable intensity, duration and frequency and can
be detected by making comparisons.

A word cannot have two stresses. There can be a “secondary” stress in some words but it is
weaker than the main primary stress, and is only used in complex words.

Stress placement may distinguish certain nouns and adjectives, and verbs, most of which
are two-syllable words with identical spellings and identical or similar phonemic patterns. In
the majority of cases, the unstressed syllable of the verb contains a weak vowel, but this
tenancy is not so strong with nouns and adjectives, since the unstressed syllables of these
words are prominent.

WORD STRESS

FIXED STRESS AND FREE STRESS

Fixed stress means that stress almost invariably turns up in exactly the same syllable in
every word, regardless of word length. In such cases, the position of the stress is
predictable. In the opposite situation, stress is completely unpredictable. Unless we know
huge amounts about etymology and morphology of the language, we cannot for the most
part predict which syllable will carry the stress because the stress is quite free to occur on
any syllable at all.

In fixed stress languages, stress fulfils a demarcative function

In free stress languages you cannot predict the position of stress. Stress is part of the
phonetic make-up of the word and along with the segments must be learnt as part of the
package.

PRIMARY STRESS AND SECONDARY STRESS

We need to distinguish between what are called double stress words and words which have
a secondary stress as well as the identifiable main stress, called the primary stress. In words
with only one stress, this is the main or primary stress. But in longer words there often
seems to be more than one prominent syllable.

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We have 3 (three) degrees of stress:

1.​ Primary stress

2.​ Secondary stress
3.​ Unstressed

These stresses fulfil 2 (two) main roles:

1.​ They are a defining characteristic of the word itself

2.​ They identify the points in the word that can or may carry a rhythmic beat when the
word is used in a longer utterance as part of an intonational phase.

WORD STRESS AND MEANING

Some languages use word stress to make changes of meaning. This is part of the role of
word stress (sometimes called lexical stress).

English has some pairs in hich vowel length alternates as a corollary of stress movement.
While the main noun vs. phrasal verb pairs retain identical segmental sequences regardless
of stress position further comparable pairs in English will be seen usually to incorporate
strong/weak vowel alternations.

WORD CLASS PAIRS

They are 2 (two) syllable words, which are exactly alike in spelling and pronunciation,
although some changes can occur, but that we identify their function (nounadjective-verb)
according to their stress pattern.

➔​ Most two-syllable verbs have dress on the second syllable.

➔​ Most two-syllable nouns and adjectives have their stress on the first syllable.

STRESS ON COMPLEX WORDS

The occurrence of higher vocal fold vibration (pitch), greater muscular effort in the expelling
of air from the lungs (loudness), consequent lengthening of this stretch of sounds (lenght),
and the presence of a strong vowel sound (quality) are aspects that help perceive some
syllables as more noticeable than others (stress).

Stress is a property of syllables, which are the smallest of these stretches of sounds.

Stress in English words is highly unpredictable. Yet, there are some aspects that can help us
decide on the placement if stress is on an unfamiliar word:

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 ➔​ The morphological composition of the word (simple or complex)
➔​ The grammatical category (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, etc.)
➔​ The number of syllables it contains
➔​ The phonological structure of those syllables (strong or weak vowel sounds)

We are now dealing with the morphological composition of the word. Complex words, are
words that have been added an affix or bound morpheme, and this depends on the free
morpheme to acquire meaning.

These additions are the result of the infinite capacity of the language to recycle, reuse words
and be able to make reference to a wider range of meanings.

Affixes that are added to simple words can be of 2 (two) kinds:

➔​ Prefixes: they are added before the stem

➔​ Suffixes: they are added after the stem

WHY DO WE NEED TO ADD PREFIXES OR SUFFIXES TO SIMPLE WORDS?

A prefix generally conveys the opposite meaning of the stem word. For example:

Adjective New Adjective

Tolerant Intolerant

Loyal Disloyal

Here the location of the stress in either the simple or the complex word is just the same. The
prefix does NOT usually change the original stress pattern.

But it can also convey concepts of time, kind, quantity, size, or the number of times an action
takes place, etc. For example:

Wife Ex-wife

Marital Premarital

Ground Underground

All these words have been added a onesyllable prefix, and all the simple words started with
a stressed syllable. When there is a non-prominent syllable between the prefix and the stem,
we need to add a secondary stress. Even though there is no syllable in between the prefix
and the stem, the prefix does take a secondary stress.

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There is a limited group of words in which the prefixes attract the primary stress to
themselves:

➔​ Co - star /ˈkəʊstɑ:/
➔​ Subway /ˈsʌbweɪ/
➔​ Underwear /ˈʌndəweə/
➔​ Supermarket /ˈsu:pəmɑ:kɪt/
➔​ Hyperlink /ˈhaɪpəlɪnk/
➔​ Counterpart /ˈkaʊntəpɑ:t/

Sometimes, words that add a prefix become double-stressed. When this happens, and the
word is used in the context of a phrase, or in a tone group, then one of the two stresses can
be diminished due to the rhythmical pressure ofneighbouring stresses. This eventually helps
to keep the flow of rhythm.

Prefixes may affect the original stress pattern of the stem, but they usually do not. Suffixes
are different from prefixes, not only in the location regarding the stem, but also regarding the
function and effect on the stress pattern of the stem.

Suffixes are added after the stem. Their function is not to change the meaning of the word,
but to add some information regarding the grammatical category of the word.

Suffixes are classified into two categories:

➔​ According to the structural information they convey

➔​ According to the effect on the stress pattern of the stem

If we think of the grammatical (structural) information they add to the stem, they can be
subdivided into:

1.​ Inflectional suffixes: Change neither the meaning of the word, nor the stress pattern.
They are used to provide information about person (1°, 2°, 3°), number (singular or
plural), tense (presen or past), and aspet (perfect or progressive).
2.​ Derivational suffixes: Are more interesting from both, structural and prosodic point of
view. Derivational suffixes help speakers change the grammatical category of a word.

From the prosodic point of view, that is, their effect on stress placement, derivational suffixes
can be subdivided into 3 (three) subgroups:

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 ​ Suffixes that do not change the stress pattern of the stem:

➔​ ful
➔​ ness
➔​ ment
➔​ ship
➔​ less
➔​ ist
➔​ er/or
➔​ ly
➔​ ance
➔​ ence
➔​ able
➔​ ous
➔​ ive
➔​ sion
➔​ among others

​ Suffixes that attract the primary stress to the syllable preceding them:

➔​ ation
➔​ ity
➔​ ic
➔​ al
➔​ among others

​ Stress that attract the primary stress to themselves:

➔​ ese
➔​ ee
➔​ eer

In all the cases in which through the addition of suffixes, the words become double-stressed,
any of the two stresses can be diminished for rhythmical purposes, as with prefixes. This
process is known as stress shift, and it allows speakers to omit some prominences in order
to keep the musicality of English more easily.

DOUBLE STRESSED WORDS AND STRESS SHIFT

A sub-group of English words with multiple stresses are known as double stress words. In
these words, stress is grammatical rather than lexical. It changes word class rather than
meaning.

In connected speech, it is normally the case that only one of the two stresses is actually
realized. The context (in terms of the syntax) determines which one it is.

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First of all, not every stress that is found in the make - up of individual words gets used in
longer utterances. The rhythm of a longer stretch of speech, the intonational phrase, may
suppress one or more individual word stresses.

The second fact is that in connected speech, English spaces the stresses out, having where
possible a small number of unstressed syllables in between of each of the stressed ones.

The third point of interest here is that, other things being equal, English places the main
stress of a phrase on the final stress position (usually carried in the final lexical item) in an
intonational phrase, which can be regarded as the norm, the unmarked position.

COMPOUND NOUNS IN ENGLISH

Compound nouns in English usually have initial stress, left stress - that is stress on the first
item of the compound structure. So, if you put together “water” and “bottle” to form a new
word, the compound “water-bottle”, is stressed on the first element and the second element
loses its stress all together.

Some of these compounds, however, consist of ambiguous strings of segments. Take

/blu:bel/, for example. Without the stress, we cannot say whether the segments represent
the name of a flower, a bluebell, or the noun phrase, a bell that is blue coloured, a blue bell.
In such instances, it is the position of the main stress that distinguishes compound nouns, in
this case a “bluebell”, from noun phrases.

The primary stress in the compound nouns would also be the main stress is the intonational
phrase if the item was spoken in isolation.

STRESS IN COMPOUND WORDS

WHAT IS A COMPOUND WORD?

➔​ “It is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both
grammatically and semantically as a single word.” - Quick et al.

➔​ “A compound can be analysed into two words, both of which can exist independently
as English words”. - Peter Roach

➔​ “By compound we mean words made up of two and less frequently three roots, and
certain collocations, all of which may or may not be written with a hyphen in the
spelling”. - Finch and Ortiz Lira.

➔​ Carney defines collocation in phonological terms: “Any frequently recurring

two-element structure [...] for which a stress pattern may be predicted”.

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COMPOUNDS

True/Double stress compounds:

When they have an early stress (the main stress is on the 1st element of the compound).

Halliday defines that the “true compound is one in which the relation of the first element with
the second one is abstract, non-qualitative and non-taxonomic (it does not imply a scheme
of classification for the second element), this covers a wide range of different, specific
relations; but these can be grouped together under two general headings:

1.​ The “for” type includes:

➔​ Purpose benefit and other “simple” relations expressible by the preposition “for”:

Paving//stone - Watch/strap - Chewing/gum - Boat/house - Flower/base - Typewriter/ribbon

Passenger/train - Bird/bath

➔​ Various comple relations not so expressible ( e.g. “for protection from”, “for the
prevention of”):

Fire es/cape - Damp/course - Fly/ swat - Airaid/shelter - Price/ticket - Cricket/bat -

Teething/ring - Grapefruit/knife - Sweet/shop - Piano/concerto - Birthday/party

➔​ A special case of ii, institutions “for the study/ imparting/ promoting of”, etc.

Study/group - Liberal/arts/college Phi/losophy so/ciety - Housing as/socia/tion

2.​ The “of” type includes:

➔​ Transitivity

Sun/worshipher - Dope/smuggler - Car/salesman Coffe/grinder - Hair/drier - Dress/designer

Brain/surgeon

➔​ Possession, part-whole, habitat

Cherry/stone - Window/sill - Library/book - Water/snake - House/martin - Table/leg -

Council/house

➔​ Identity

Cricket/match - House/boat - Bright´s/ disease Dinner/dance - Unemployment/problem

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 ➔​ Other relations expressible by the preposition “of”, including “in terms of”, “on the
basis of”, etc.

Exami/nation re/sults - Railroad/station - Colour/bar - Work/study - Road/haulage

Divorce/law - Crime/wave - Drainage/expert

Pseudo/Double stress compounds:

When they have a late stress (the main stress is on the 2nd lexical item). If the main stress is
on the 2nd lexical item, normally, is preceded by a secondary stress on the 1st element.

They are items in which the first in which the first element does not in fact form a compound
with the second but modifies it, and more specifically (since there are different types of
modification) has the function of a classifier, or class - maker. But we can recognize:

​ Location (in, near, from, etc)

➔​ Garden/ shed - Fireside/chair - Sea/breeze - Village/green

​ Material

➔​ Paper/bag - Stone/wall - Lace/curtain - Sheepskin/coat - Apple/pie

​ Other descriptive classifiers

➔​ Prime/minister - Full lenght/skirt - Public/school - Pork/chop - Crazy/paving -

Major/general - White/light - Spin/drier

​ Proper Names

➔​ Persons: Arthur/Brown - Sir/Lawrence O/liver - Queen E/lizabeth

➔​ Places: Claphan/Junction Trent/Bridge - Oxford/Road
➔​ Institutions: London Uni/versity - Grand Ho/tel - Canterbury Ca/thedral
➔​ Initialisms: US/A - BOA/C - AR/IB/A

RHYTHMICAL MODIFICATIONS:: FINCH AND ORTIZ LIRA

English rhythm requires accented syllables to be separated by unaccented ones - a

tendency that functions both at word and at connected speech level.

Stress shift: By definition, a syllable bearing primary stress is the one which initiates pitch
contrast; a secondary stress is less likely to be pitch contrast initiator, but it can certainly play
the role when the rhythmic posture of the context (i.e. the neighbouring prominences)
causes the redistribution of stresses called “stress shift”.

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Stress shift in English affects both simple and compound words whose citation patterns
consists of a secondary stress followed by a primary stress in the same word.

➔​ Many double-accnted compounds and some simple words may lose the accent
which is closest to another accent in the utterance.

➔​ When double-accented adjectives are used attributively (i.e. preceding a noun) they
drop their primary accent; when they are used predicatively (i.e. as part of the
predicate) they lose their secondary accent.

Single accented compound words (i.e. true compounds) do NOT undergo rhythmical
modifications

Primary stress on the first component reflects the tight connection between the two parts of
the compound noun. This stress is the main distinguishing mark between a compound noun
(stress on the first component) and a regular/ free Attribute + Noun combination in which
primary stress is on the second word (on the noun).

A compound adjective is usually hyphenated if it stands before the noun it modifies, for
example, a dark-blue dress, a reddish-brown rug, a well-known writer. If such adjectives
follow the noun that they modify and stand after the verb as part of the predicate, they are
usually written as two separate words (i.e., not hyphenated). Examples: Her dress is dark
blue. The rug is reddish brown. This writer is well known.

COMPOUND NUMERALS

All components are stressed, and the strongest stress is on the last component. Compound
numerals from twenty-one to ninety-nine are hyphenated. Fractions in the meaning of nouns
may be written with or without a hyphen.

TYPES OF COMPOUNDS

➔​ Open: Are spelled as two separate words. To form open compound words, we
separate the modifying adjective from the noun with a space. Example: Boy scout

➔​ Closed: Are joined together to form a new word. Example: Starfish

➔​ Hyphenated: Are form when two separate words are joined together by a hyphen.
Example: Seventy-two

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STRESS IN PHRASAL VERBS

Phrasal Verbs are mainly used in spoken English and informal texts. The more formal a
conversation or text, the less phrasal verbs are found. Phrasal verbs consist of a verb plus a
particle (preposition, adverb). The particle can change the meaning of the verb completely.

The aspect of phrasal verb constructions that makes them difficult to learn for non-native
speakers of English, is that their meaning is non-compositional. That is, one cannot know
what a given phrasal verb construction means based upon what the verb alone and/or
preposition and/or particle alone mean.

There are 3 main types of phrasal verbs:

1.​ Verb + Adverbial particle: A phrasal verb consits of a verb plus a particle (may be an
adverb or a preposition that can also function as an adverb). The general rule is that
phrasal verbs are lexically doublestressed, with the primary stress going on the
particle. If the nucleus goes on the phrasal verb, the word in which this nucleus is
located is the particle. Phrasalverbs can be transitive or intransitive, separable or
inseparable.

2.​ Verb + Prepositional particle: A prepositional verb consists of a verb plus a particle,
which is clearly a preposition. These are mostly lexically single-stressed, with the
primary stress going on the verb. The second element, the preposition, being
unstressed, does not get accented (unless for contrastive focus). If the nucleus
comes on the prepositional verb, the word on which this nucleus is located is typically
the verb itself. Prepositional verbs are always transitive and inseparable.

3.​ Verb + Adverbial particle + preposition: A phrasal prepositional vrb consists of a verb
plus an adverbial particle, plus a preposition. They are lexically double-stressed, with
the primary stress going on the adverbial particle. If the nucleus goes on the phrasal
verb, the word in which this nucleus is located is the adverbial particle. They are
always transitive and inseparable.

Phrasal verbs Prepositional verbs Phrasal prep. verbs

They´re lexically They´re lexically They´re lexically

double-stressed single-stressed double-stressed

They can be transitive or They´re always transitive They are always transitive
intransitive and inseparable
They´re always
They can be separable inseparable The 3° element (prep.) is
or inseparable unstressed

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UNIT 4: THE RHYTHM OF ENGLISH SPEECH

RHYTHM & SYLLABLES

Pitch, loudness, and tempo combine to make up a language´s expression of rhythm.

Languages vary greatly in the way in which they make rhythmical contrats. English uses
stressed syllables produced at roughly regular intervals of time (in fluent speech) and
separated by unstressed syllable - David Crystal.

When we take a close look at the way in which peaks of prominence are distributed in the
utterance we deal with the rhythmic pattern of English. One of the basic principles governing
English rhythm is the fact that the accented syllables tend to be separated from each other
by unaccented ones.

In actual speech the accented syllables are separated from each other by equal units of
time, or in more technical terms, that the rhythmic beats are isochronous. It will be easier to
detect isochrony in carefully organized, flowing sentences, particularly in reading aloud, but it
will far less evident in a jerky, informal, conversational style full of stammerings, false starts
and interruptions.

Each accented syllable constituted the peak of prominence in a rhythmic group, which may
or may not include other unaccented syllables.

A stricter concept of rhythmic group is the one held by some phoneticians who have taken
the foot as the unit of English Rhythm, each foot always starting with an accented syllable.
We have preferred the more elastic notion of rhythmic indicator of where pauses should be
made.

SPANISH RHYTHM

Spanish rhythm has some characteristics in common with English. As explained before, very
much the same types of words content, as opposed to structural - are liable to be accented
in Spanish. This leads to easily identifiable rhythmic groups, each one containing an
accented syllable with or without the addition of unstressed ones.

One of the differences between English and Spanish rhythm lies in the fact that Spanish
vowel weakening in terms of quality and quantity is very slight compared with English, the
other one is that Spanish polysyllabic words can take an extra stress apart from those that
would normally occur in the citation form.

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STRESS- TIMED AND SYLLABLE-TIMED RHYTHM

In 1945 K.L. Pike coined the terms “stressed-timed” and “syllable-timed” to describe two
different types of rhythm. English has a stresstimed rhythm because the accented syllables
tend to occur at fairly regular intervals. When two accented syllables are separated by
unaccented ones, these tend to be compressed and quickened, so that the time between
each beat will be proportionate to the number of syllables.

Rhythm has traditionally been conceived as the way in which accented and unaccented
syllables follow each other in the utterance. Rhythm cannot only be said to depend on the
occurrence of beats or syllables; from the auditory point of view the rhythm of a language
can be described as the overall impression caused by the prominent and non prominent
parts, and the way in which they succeed each other in an utterance.

The way in which the phonemes of a language combine together also helps to shape the
rhythm of a language. The possible occurrence of fortis stops, alone or in clusters, and their
increasing tendency to be glottally reinforced in syllable final position, thus allowing to end
abruptly, makes English rhythm sound jerky to the Spanish ear.

The non-prominent, compressed prts consists of syllables lacking in one or all four of the
elements described above. It is also in the non-prominent syllables where phonetic and
phonemic modifications (i.e. elisions, assimilations, and compressions) tend to occur:
plosives are articulated so weakly as to become fricatives; fricatives are very easily realized
as approximants, and diphtongs are normally monothongized.

PAUSE

May either be grammatically predictable, and will therefore fit in naturally with the rhythmic
groups, or may break them up in unpredictable places, particularly in spontaneous speech.

Predictable pauses, such as those required for the speaker to takebreath, or for the
separation of grammatical units will coincide with rhythmic groups boundaries. The
unpredictable ones may occur at any place in the utterance.

SUM UP

Rhythm is a pattern of prominent and nonprominent syllables in an utterance. It depends on

the stressed sequenc of syllables. It is the melody of language. Every speaker has a
rhythmic norm, from which he departs the time he wants, to convey a special meaning.

English rhythm is said to be stresstied. The amount of time it takes to say a sentence
depends on the number of syllables that receive stress in the sentence - not the total number
of syllables.

There are basically 2 types of sentences rhythm in languages: “stress-timed rhythm” &
“syllables-timed rhythm”.

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