JUNCTURE (Suprasegmental Phonemes)

JUNCTURE

DEFINITION

Juncture, in linguistics, is the manner of moving (transition) or mode of relationship between two consecutive sounds. It is the relationship between two successive syllables in speech. A juncture is formally, a supra segmental phonemic cue, a means by which a listener can distinguish between two otherwise identical sequences of sounds that have different meanings. So, we can get summary that Juncture is a pause or slight delay in a continuous flow of speech.

CLASSIFICATION OF JUNCTURE

Right, juncture get classification into two, there are :

v  CLOSE JUNCTURE – is movement from sound to sound which has no intervening pauses or delay.

v  OPEN JUNCTURE – is movement which is not continuous.  There is a slight stoppage of the last sound till it blends with the next. We also called this juncture as plus juncture.

Examples

CLOSE JUNCTURE

Close juncture also is the normal transition from one phoneme to the next within an utterance.

For example, in the word TR AIN, the close juncture is determined by the manner of transition / t/ to / r /.

OPEN JUNCTURE

It is a manner of transition which contrasts with close juncture. It keeps meanings apart. This is a manner of transition from one phoneme to the next in two utterances. Let's analyze the following pairs of phrases:

Ø  A NAME

Ø  AN AIM

Ø  NIGHT RATE

Ø  SHORE TRAIN

Ø  FOUR MET

Ø  IT SWINGS

Ø  MIGHT RAIN

Ø  ICE CREAM

Ø  NITRATE

Ø  SHORT RAIN

Ø  FORM ATE

Ø  ITS WINGS

Ø  MY TRAIN

Ø  I SCREAM

SYMBOLS OF JUNCTURES

1. SINGLE BAR JUNCTURE ( / )

Indicates the need for a slight pause between two thought groups in a sentence.

This is a terminal juncture that is marked by a sustention of the voice. This pause determines a change in the sense or meaning of the expression. Let's see these two questions:

EXAMPLE:

I CAN TELL MARY I CAN TELL, MARY

a ɪ +kæn + telmeri: # a ɪ +kæn + tel | meri:/

More Example :

*My teacher said / the doctor is pregnant.

(Who is pregnant?)

(Answer: The doctor)

*My teacher / said the doctor / is pregnant.

(Who is pregnant?)

(Answer : My Teacher)

2. DOUBLE BAR JUNCTURE ( // )

Indicates the need for a longer pause between two, thought groups in a sentence.

Examples :

*The first gentleman // Miguel Arroyo // is also known as Jose Smith.

*After eating, // the dogs all appeared satisfied.

3. DOUBLE CROSS JUNCTURE ( # )

Indicates a fading away into silence.

Example :

- Let’s go ! #

IN PAUSE BETWEEN CLAUSES

- To err is human; # to forgive is divine.

REFERENCES

·         http://www.slideshare.net/videoconferencias/english-pholonogy-ii-bimestre?related=1

·         http://neoenglishsystem.blogspot.com/2010/12/supra-segmental-phonemes-and-phonetics.html?m=1

·         Trask, R. L. (1996). A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology. Routledge. ISBN 9781134831005

·         Rajimwale, Sharad (2006). “Juncture”. Handbook Of Linguistic Terms. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 9788176256483

·         Kelly, Gerald. (2000. )How to Teach Pronountiation. PEARSON LONGMAN

INTONATION (Suprasegmental Phonemes)

a.      Definition :

Intonation is the refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch. Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Without intonation, it’s impossible to understand the expression and thoughts that go with words.

                                

b.       The pattern of intonation:

1.      Fall

 Falling intonation describes how the voice falls on the final stressed syllable of a phrase or a group of words. It means that the pitch decreases with time.

a.       Statement : 

ExampIe:  She got a dog.

Introgative She got a dog?

b.      Question (5W+1H)

Example : How are you?

                  Where are you?

2.      Rise

Rising intonation describes how the voice rises at the end of a sentence. It mean that the pitch of the voice increase over time.

 Example :

a.       To express surprise

Example: your dog speaks English?

b.      Need clarification/repetition

Example: who got a dog?

3.      Partial fall/ rise-fall

Fall-rise intonation describes how the voice falls and then rises. We use fall-rise intonation at the end of statements when we want to say that we are not sure, or when we may have more to add.

a.       Rise-fall 

Example: my dog is smart, preety and sweet.

b.      Unfinished-partial fall+no change

Example : I want a dog, but...

c.        Functions of intonation

1.      attitudinal function (for expressing emotions and attitudes)

example: a fall from a high pitch on the 'mor' syllable of "good morning" suggests more excitement than a fall from a low pitch

2.      grammatical function (to identify grammatical structure)

example: it is claimed that in English a falling pitch movement is associated with statements, but a rising pitch turns a statement into a yes–no question, as in He's going ↗home?. This use of intonation is more typical of American English than of British. It is claimed that some languages, like Chickasaw and Kalaallisut, have the opposite pattern from English: rising for statements and falling with questions.

3.      focusing (to show what information in the utterance is new and what is already known)

example: in English I saw a ↘man in the garden answers "Whom did you see?" or "What happened?", while I ↘saw a man in the garden answers "Did you hear a man in the garden?"

4.      discourse function (to show how clauses and sentences go together in spoken discourse)

example: subordinate clauses often have lower pitch, faster tempo and narrower pitch range than their main clause,^[6] as in the case of the material in brackets in "The Red Planet [as it's known] is fourth from the sun"

5.      psychological function (to organize speech into units that are easy to perceive, memorize and perform)

example: the utterance "You can have it in red blue green yellow or ↘black" is more difficult to understand and remember than the same utterance divided into tone units as in "You can have it in ↗red | ↗blue | ↗green | ↗yellow | or ↘black"

6.      indexical function (to act as a marker of personal or social identity)

example: group membership can be indicated by the use of intonation patterns adopted specifically by that group, such as street vendors or preachers. The so-called high rising terminal, where a statement ends with a high rising pitch movement, is said to be typical of younger speakers of English, and possibly to be more widely found among young female speakers.

STRESSES (Suprasegmental Phonemes)

A.    SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONEMES

A phoneme is the smallest segment of sound that has the power to change the meaning; eg. Consonants, vowels, diphtongs.

1.      STRESSES

Is the degree of loudness given to some syllables in relation to others. Its very important because it differ meaning.

Stress is the force with which a syllable is pronounced.

There are 4 degrees of stress:

1. Primary stress/primary accent/ heavy stress is the heavy extra force used in speaking/heavy accent /’/
2. Secondary stress /’’/

 weaker than primary stress.

3. Tertiary stress /    / weaker than secondary stress

4. Weak stress/ minimal stress /      /

In phonology, there are 2 categories of stress:

1. Word stress

      when the nucleus of the syllable is produced in a reduced form, the syllable is said to be unstressed. Bold syllable in the following words are stressed.

e.g. Riddle, button, melon, manage, happy, zebra

 2. Sentence stress

      the last word in the sentence tends to stand out or have more emphasis.

For examples:

1. I want two return tickets to London.
2. I want two return tickets to London.
3. I want two return tickets to London.

Which words should be stressed?

Usually stressed (Content Words) :

1. Nouns
2. Verb (excluding be, have, do)
3. Adjectives
4. Adverbs (including not)
5. Demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those)
6. Interrogative pronouns (who, when, why, etc.)

Which words should be unstressed?

Usually unstressed (function words):

1. Articles (a, an, the)
2. Simple prepositions (to, of, in, etc. )
3. Personal pronouns (I, me, he, him, it, etc.)
4. Possessive pronouns (my, his, your, etc. )
5. Relative pronouns (who, that, which, etc. )
6. Conjunctions (and, but, that, as, if, etc. )
7. The verbs (be, have)
8. Auxiliary verbs (will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, must, etc. )

The Rules of Stress

Rule #1

With most nouns and adjectives with 2 syllables, the stress is on the first syllable.

For example:

PRE-sent, PRO-gress, IN-crease, JEA-lous,

RE-cord, PLEA-sant.

Rule #2

With most verb with 2 syllables, the stress is on the last syllable.

For example:

pre-SENT, in-CREASE, ad-MIT, be-GIN.

Rule #3

The words ending in : - tion

                                    - sion

                                    - cian

Are usually stressed on the second last syllable.

For example:

E-du-CA-tion, in-tu-I-tion, con-cen-TRA-tion,

per-MIS-sion, ob-SES-sion, mu-SI-cian, ma-GI-cian.

Exception:

TE-le-vi-sion

Rule #4

Word ending in –IC are usually stressed on the second last syllable.

For example:

E-co-NO-mic, rea-LIS-tic, stra-TE-gic,

me-CHA-nic, geo-GRA-phic.

Rule #5

Words ending in –EE and –OO are usually stressed on the last syllable.

For example:

Em-ploy-EE, gua-rant-EE, degr-EE, shamp-OO, tatt-OO, tab-OO.

Exception:

com-MIT-tee

COF-fee

2.      Stress in American English

The most important of suprasegmental features are Stress, and Tone.

In Stress, there are :

1. Lexical stress,

Lexical stress, or word stress, is the stress placed on a given syllable in a word. 

For example :

• Contrast /ˈkɒntrɑːst / /kən’trɑːst/ 
• Object  /ˈɒbdʒekt/ /əb’dʒekt/
• Present /ˈpreznt/ /prɪ’znt/

Notice:

§  Nominal Stress

§  Verbal Stress

2. Shift stress, and

Shift stress is the position of the stress is shifted when the word is followed in a phrase by a more strongly stressed word. Words which are likely to undergo stress shift are marked.

There is two kinds of shift stress:

• Blue-eyed                              
• Thirteen
• Next-door

1.      Yellow color is Predicative use

Predicative use in the second syllable

2.      Red color is Attributive use

Attributive use in the first syllable

3. Weakening.

Weakening is some words without any stress.

For example:

1. There were rather a lot of them.
2. Most of them are new.
3. Why was there nobody there to meet them ?

References:

Desmond, Joseph. O’canar. 1980. Better English Pronunciation. Britain : Athenaeum Press Ltd, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Gate, Edinbergh. Harlow. 2000. Pearson Education Limited. England : Associated Companies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtH_JBiaKkM

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