Suprasegmental Features Research Articles

THE EFFECT OF INTRODUCING SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES TOWARDS STUDENTS’ LISTENING ABILITY

This research aimed to address the difficulties faced by students in listening comprehension, particularly in understanding spoken vocabulary and grasping the overall meaning of audio materials. The study focused on investigating the effect of introducing suprasegmental features on students' listening ability. The significance of this research lies in its potential to enhance students' comprehension of auditory content. The research followed a pre-experimental design, specifically utilizing a pre-test and post-test approach. The participants consisted of 16 students from XII IPA at SMA N 2 Bukik Barisan. Data collection involved assessing the students' performance through pre-test and post-test scores. The intervention involved providing materials on suprasegmental features supported by audio and video. Data analysis was conducted using the t-test formula, with the obtained t-value compared to the critical t-value at a 5% significance level (α=0.05) and 15 degrees of freedom. The results revealed a significant effect of introducing suprasegmental features on students' listening ability, as the obtained t-value (2.827) exceeded the critical t-value (1.753). Moreover, the post-test scores (68.75) exhibited improvement compared to the pre-test scores (55.31). In conclusion, the findings demonstrate that the introduction of suprasegmental features positively impacted students' listening ability. The results imply that integrating suprasegmental features in teaching practices can assist students in enhancing their listening comprehension skills. Therefore, educators are encouraged to incorporate suprasegmental features to foster improved listening abilities among students.

Patterns of Intonation in Central Kurdish A Study in Cognitive Phonology

The present study attempts to analyze intonation in Central Kurdish, the Sorani variety spoken in Slemani in Iraqi Kurdistan. Intonation refers to pitch fluctuations used by a speaker to express meanings. To carry out the analysis, the study embraces the theory of Cognitive Phonology. The study attempts to claim that there is a relationship between the pitch of a linguistic expression and its meaning. Accordingly, it is hypothesized that the meaning of an utterance is shaped by the particular intonation used by the speaker. The study has two aims. The first is to show that intonation, as a suprasegmental feature, is meaningful in Central Kurdish. The second is to show that using one pattern of intonation instead of another is the result of the construal dimension of perspective. As native Kurdish speakers, the researchers are being used as sources of data. One important finding is that Kurdish intonation is meaningful because using one pattern of intonation instead of another is consequential. A change in tone adds a specific tint of meaning to the utterance in spoken language.

Noises and Colors: Two Untraditional Methods of Teaching ESL/ EFL Pronunciation

This article is based on a professional development session or presentation that the author gave in a regional TESOL affiliate conference, and it discusses the importance of teaching, why ESL/ EFL teachers should teach pronunciation, the reasons they generally give for avoiding it and how we can integrate it into our curriculum. The author sheds light on SLA, Second Language Acquisition, research especially studies that are related to connectionism or the noticeability hypothesis and their connection to teaching and practicing pronunciation in the ESL/EFL classroom. The article focuses on not only teaching segmental aspects of English pronunciation such as vowel phonemes but underscores suprasegmental features such as thought groups/chunking and word/phrase stress because they shape rhythm in English, which is key to intelligibility. The author also suggests using two effective and tested techniques in teaching pronunciation to a variety of ESL/EFL learners and provides samples of classroom activities that could be easily implemented in teaching pronunciation together with vocabulary. The article concludes with reviewing some studies conducted quite recently about one of these two suggested approaches to see how effective this approach is.

Supremacy of suprasegmentals in Arabic phonology: Evidence from malapropisms

Speech errors are an important source of information to understand language processing and production. Earlier research focused on different types of errors including semantic and phonological errors while malapropisms, which refer to slips of the tongue involving whole word substitutions that share phonological similarities but are not related semantically, have not received adequate attention in the Arabic language. Drawing on malapropisms in Jordanian Arabic, we bring evidence on the supremacy of suprasegmental phonological aspects in Arabic phonology. This is unexpected as stress in Arabic is non-phonemic and fully predictable, besides Arabic rhythm is much less stress-timed than that of Germanic languages. Data was collected from spontaneous speech over a period of three years. Results showed that malapropisms share the primary stress position, the number of syllables and the word rhythmic pattern with the target words. To a lesser degree, the target and the error share the same rime and initial segments. Findings suggest that suprasegmental features are very crucial in Arabic phonology, like in Indo-European languages. Evidence suggests that formal similarity that is based on the syllabic and metrical structure of words plays a significant role in language processing and the organization of the mental lexicon in Arabic, which suggests that this is a language universal. Furthermore, our findings do not agree with earlier claims that Arabic has a flat syllabic structure. Rather, evidence suggests that Arabic, like English, has a hierarchical syllable structure, which seems to represent another language universal. More research on other Arabic dialects is recommended to corroborate these findings. Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. * Corresponding author: Mohammed Nour Abu Guba, 0000-0002-5007-6439 mabu-gub@sharjah.ac.ae

The Impact of Bimodal Hearing on Speech Acoustics of Vowel Production in Adult Cochlear Implant Users.

This study aimed to investigate the acoustic changes in vowel production with different forms of auditory feedback via cochlear implant (CI), hearing aid (HA), and bimodal hearing (CI + HA). Ten post-lingually deaf adult bimodal CI users (aged 50-78 years) produced English vowels /i/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɑ/, /ʊ/, and /u/ in the context of /hVd/ during short-term use of no device (ND), HA, CI, and CI + HA. Segmental features (first formant frequency [F 1], second formant frequency [F 2], and vowel space area) and suprasegmental features (duration, intensity, and fundamental frequency [f o]) of vowel production were analyzed. Participants also categorized a vowel continuum synthesized from their own productions of /ɛ/ and /æ/ using HA, CI, and CI + HA. F 1s of all vowels decreased; F 2s of front vowels but not back vowels increased; vowel space areas increased; and vowel durations, intensities, and f os decreased with statistical significance in the HA, CI, and CI + HA conditions relative to the ND condition. Only f os were lower, and vowel space areas were larger with CI and CI + HA than with HA. Average changes in f o, intensity, and F 1 from the ND condition to the HA, CI, and CI + HA conditions were positively correlated. Most participants did not show a typical psychometric function for vowel categorization, and thus, the relationship between vowel categorization and production was not tested. The results suggest that acoustic, electric, and bimodal hearing have a measurable impact on vowel acoustics of post-lingually deaf adults when their hearing devices are turned on and off temporarily. Also, changes in f o and F 1 with the use of hearing devices may be largely driven by changes in intensity.

Comparing segmental and suprasegmental features in speaker gender perception: An acoustic distance approach

Segmental (e.g., articulation) and suprasegmental (e.g., intonation) speech features provide meaningful perceptual cues to speaker gender. Yet, the relative perceptual importance of these features remains poorly understood. Further, proposed methods for quantifying these features often require labor-intensive measurement by human judges. This study used an acoustic-only method to quantify segmental and suprasegmental features among 60 speakers with varied gender identities (e.g., non-binary, transgender and cisgender men and women) and compared these acoustic measures to human perceptual judgements of speaker gender. Thirty listeners rated confidence in speaker gender and masculinity/femininity for each speaker. To obtain acoustic distance among speakers, three conditions were created that manipulated which acoustic features were present in the speech utterances. Acoustic distance was calculated in each of the three conditions between each speaker and a cisgender man and woman who were perceptually rated as most gender prototypical. Acoustic distances for the three conditions were fit to regression models to determine which was most predictive of listeners’ perceptual judgements. Both segmental and intonation features predicted perceptual measures. However, segmental cues better explained listener’s ratings, suggesting their greater perceptual weighting in listeners’ judgements of speaker gender.

Acoustic characteristics of clear speech and noise-adapted speech in preschoolers

It is well-known that adults can change their speaking styles to make them more intelligible for their listeners. However, we do not know how young children can achieve the ability to alter their speech. The study investigated if preschoolers can modify their speech responding to challenging communicative situations. Children performed “spot the difference” tasks (Baker and Hazan, 2011) with a communication partner to elicit conversational speech (CO), noise-adapted speech (NAS), and listener-oriented clear speech (CL) production. We examined the acoustic features of the three speaking styles in 28 preschoolers. Suprasegmental features of CO, NAS, and CL were analyzed, including F0 (Hz), F0 range (Hz), energy in the 1–3kHz range(dB), and speech rate(syllables per second). Results showed conversation-to-NAS modifications for all four acoustic measures in all age groups. For conversation-to-CL modifications, all age groups decreased their speaking rate. The 5-year-olds increased their energy and pitch for CL. The 4-year-olds also increased the pitch for CL. The 3-year-olds did not change pitch and decreased energy for CL, which displays the opposite tendencies of adults. Preschoolers appear to be aware on some level of the challenging nature of communicative environments. They undergo ongoing development of speech modification for their listeners.

Long-term effects of peer and teacher feedback on L2 pronunciation

Abstract This study investigated the long-term effects of peer and teacher feedback on pronunciation development. Participants included 94 learners of German. They were assigned to a teacher feedback group (TeacherF Group), a peer feedback provider group (PeerF Providers), a peer feedback receiver group (PeerF Receivers), or a control group. After completing general pronunciation training on a segmental and a suprasegmental feature in German, the TeacherF Group received feedback on their pronunciation from a teacher, the PeerF Providers gave feedback to peers, and the PeerF Receivers received feedback from peers. The control group did not complete pronunciation training or receive feedback. Results from native speaker comprehensibility ratings of learners’ productions indicated that while the TeacherF Group and the PeerF Receivers improved in the short term, only the PeerF Providers maintained their gains in pronunciation development over time. Methodological and pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.

Korean EFL Learner’s Suprasegmental Features

This study delves into some aspects of suprasegmental features such as syllable structure, stress, and rhythm and compares them between NS and NNS. It is investigated in spectrograms and sound waveforms that 1. On the aspect of syllable structure in English, the onset and the coda in English syllable structure are characterized to have a maximum of 3 and 4 consonant clusters, respectively. In contrast, Korean allows only 1 single consonant in onset and coda position. This cross-linguistic difference gives rise to the insertion of the neutral vowel /ɨ/ to break up the consonant clusters in English words, in which the inserted vowel forms an independent wave chunk. 2. Refer to stress in English, it is universally recognized as every single English word or sentence consist of its own stress. On the contrary, Korean lacks stress placed at the level of the word. It follows that Korean EFL learners tend to put an approximately equal prominence on every syllable in a word and to exhibit a tendency to put a strong prominence particularly on the first syllable of a word with more than 2 syllables, which is dubbed an ‘initial prominence phenomenon’in this paper. 3. In relation to English rhythm, English is certainly a stress-timed rhythm, but Korean is a syllable-timed rhythm. The core differences between the stress-timed rhythm and the syllable-timed are on the form of ‘foot’, which is established when stressed and unstressed syllables occur in relatively regular alternating patterns in sentences, led to a phenomenon of that the number of feet depends on the timing of articulation within a whole sentence. “This paper finds significance in exhibiting suprasegmental features in visualization between NS and NNS, given that these features play a more important role than segmental ones. It can also serve a milestone for future researchers in the EFL phonetic filed.”

The importance of pitch in conveying meaning in English

Pitch, as a basic property of sounds and an important suprasegmental feature of speech, exerts its effect on many linguistic aspects at different levels. The current study mainly focuses on its pragmatic meaning realized by phonetic forms, namely the accent placement and tune. By observing the pitch curves of various renderings of utterances from the phonetic tool Praat and analyzing these typical instances, it is concluded that pitch is of great importance to listeners’ grasp of various contexts and meanings.

Dealing with the word and sentence stress in English language

Stress is a less focused, but more frequently discussed suprasegmental feature used in our communication. Students take it as one of the most difficult aspects of pronunciation, and often ignore its significance owing to their ignorance about it. This article, which attempts to deal with both the word stress and the sentence stress in a normative way, is based on the qualitative explorative research design. It involves the fundamental rules of word and sentence stress as variables. Such rules are maintained after a comprehensive overviews on stress by going through related English books and journal articles on pronunciation. The rules of the stress are deductively presented to maintain the brevity of time and expression. This article concludes with the expectation of igniting keen desire in the students to use word and sentence stress properly and spontaneously in their communicative activities.

Phonology of Kafi Noonoo ideophones

This paper is the first and original work on the phonology of Kafi Noonoo ideophones. All of the data used in this study are collected through fieldwork. Ideophones are attested word classes with peculiar phonology in that they break some phonological rules of the prosaic language. Kafi Noonoo ideophones also undergo unique phonological features from the regular phonology of the language. Kafi Noonoo ideophones use all the phonemes of the regular language and additional five click-like sounds (ʘ, ǃ, ǁ, ʞ, and tchip). The click-like sounds do not found in the language and the regular phonology of Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic languages in general. Kafi Noonoo ideophones show different suprasegmental features from the regular phonology of the language. Another striking phonological feature in ideophones of the language is that ideophones break the phonotactics and suprasegmental features rules of the prosaic language. Moreover, Kafi Noonoo ideophones exhibit some syllable structures that are specific to ideophones. These are the (C1VC2C2), (CVVV…), (C1VVV…C2) and (C1VC2C2C2…). Furthermore, Kafi Noonoo is a tone language. The language has high and low tones. As the result of the study depicts ideophones of the language constitute both open and closed syllable shapes.

Prosodic Cues of Narrative Segmentation in Robert Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’: A Phono-Pragmatic Exploration

There is much research on the syntax-semantics and the syntax-phonology interaction. However, the exact relation between prosodic patterns and informational structure (as part of pragmatics) is still to be investigated. In this empirical study, we challenge the view that prosody and pragmatics are two autonomous levels of grammar. This paper is an analysis of the narrative poem ‘Mending Wall’ recited by Robert Frost to explore the prosodic features and the associated pragmatic meanings. It is proposed that a set of intentionally manipulated suprasegmental features form a prosodic grammar that works in line with syntax and lexical choices to build the narrative discourse and achieve pragmatic meanings. The paper shows that the amalgamation of certain prosodic features is manipulated to signal certain sections of the narrative and participate in segmenting the story into sections. Since the narrative structure is thought to be universal, we think that the procedures followed can be easily applied to other languages.

Fossilization Analysis on Segmental and Suprasegmental Features of EFL Learners (Javanese-English): A Comparative Study

EFL learners ( Javanese-English) have the same background in that their mother tongue is Javanese. Although students of the English Education Study Program (hereafter PBI) have experienced English learning for years, their pronunciation remains suboptimal. The aims of the study were to compare the fossilization of the students majoring English Education Study Program and Javanese Education Study Program (hereafter PBSD) in Universitas PGRI Semarang, focusing on segmental and suprasegmental features and to describe their perception of fossilization. Descriptive qualitative methods were employed with percentages to show the comparison clearly. The data from 57 respondents were collected using a test of pronouncing academic vocabulary and a questionnaire. The vowels, diphthongs, and consonants were categorized as Segmental Features data, while the pitch and intensity of typical suprasegmental features were detected through a voice spectrogram software named PRAAT. The results showed that PBSD students have higher fossilization than PBI with the percentage of vowels (73.88% > 46.86%), diphthongs (73.71% > 42.55%), and consonants (87.86% > 39.87%). Meanwhile, EFL learners have typical segmental features in pitch and intensity, which are different from native speakers. The pitch of native speakers was 201.5 Hz, while PBI’s was 208.5 Hz and PBSD’s was 220.3 Hz. The results showed that the native speaker’s intensity obtained 74,35714286, while PBI’s was 66,35714286, and PBSD’s was 66,71428571. The results also showed that PBSD students had more difficulty with pronunciation. Therefore, it can be concluded that PBSD has a higher level of fossilization compared to PBI on segmental and suprasegmental features, even though they got the same mother tongue background since PBI students have been learning English for years and they have already familiar with the words. The findings of the current study will be proceeded by the researchers to design a concept of Javanese fossilization.
 Keywords: fossilization; segmental; suprasegmental; EFL; Javanese-English

Language Interference and Generative Phonology in Speech Production among Hiligaynon Native Speakers

Among the places in Negros, Mambukal Resort is one of the spots where the English Language is the only utilised language between foreign tourists and the Hiligaynon vendors. This descriptive-qualitative study investigated the language interferences in speech production among Hiligaynon native speakers who use English as the second language in every transaction in Mambukal Resort, Negros Occidental. This study used the conceptual analysis technique to describe the content of documents found in the data gathered. Using the self-made guide questions for the interview process, the five recorded responses from 5 different representatives of the Flower shops located in this resort were successfully transcribed, analysed and interpreted. This study is anchored on Language Interference and Generative Phonology theory by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle. With the K-12 program evident in the Philippines, data reveals that 4 out of 5 respondents have graduated at their junior level. Convenient purposive sampling was used in selecting the participants. Findings show that they had difficulty putting correct emphases on the correct syllables, and there is an unprecedented wave of intonation in each word. The pronunciation of the vowel sounds is compromised, and there needs to be more indicative of the content's comprehension. These findings led to the conclusion that respondents' L1 greatly influences not just the adaptation of the suprasegmental features of the target language but also the segmental features. It is recommended that language teachers be fully equipped with the governing standards of the first and second language to impart the use of the right language in the right circumstance. Students must be aware of the unique suprasegmental features of both languages through constant exposure to these languages.

An account of ambiguity as a feature evident in Ekegusii homograph sets

The paper is based on the premise that any set of homographs in Ekegusii can be ambiguous if their contexts are merely considered during an interlocution. In this regard, limited adherence to the variations in meaning and pronunciation in different sets of homographs in Ekegusii can lead to communication breakdown. In a speech, for instance, a speaker can have limited knowledge or deliberately omit supra-segmental features that aid in comprehending the variations that exist between different sets of homographs. Therefore, the investigation aims at determining the extent to which ambiguity can be accounted for in Ekegusii homograph sets. The paper utilizes the Generative Lexicon Theory by Pustejovsky (1995). A descriptive research design was adopted. Data collection involved the use of a focus group discussion where six respondents drawn from Bogiakumu location in Kisii County were used as participants. Purposive sampling was used to identify the participants based on their proficiency and how they articulated Ekegusii expressions by making clear and consistent tonal distinctions. A combined data elicitation method from Ekegusii native speakers and the researcher’s native speaker intuition was used to collect homograph sets for analysis. It is hoped that the investigation will aid in eliminating any prejudices that might render incomprehensibility due to the inability to accurately pronounce or write sets of homographs in the language.

Lithuanian priegaidė: a syllable or a word feature?

The place of priegaidė ‘syllable intonation’ in the phonological system of Lithuanian remains uncertain; so does its typological peculiarity. The article aims to discover the specific nature of this phonological feature taking into consideration the opposition between phonemic (inflectional) and syllabemic (isolating) language types. Phonetically similar prosodic means in these languages show noticeable functional differences determined by the structure of the meaningful units they belong to. Inflectional languages develop a system of suprasegmental phonological features, which integrate parts of their normally composite units, whereas isolating languages usually do with monosyllabic words (naturally, without stress) and monolithic morphemes with tones as distinctive features. Standard Lithuanian has priegaidė only on the stressed syllables, therefore its system can be called polyaccentual (not polytonic), i. e. possessing several types of accent. The dialects, however, show examples of relevant priegaidė besides syllables with primary stress. In this, more general, system priegaidė functions as a suprasegmental feature of a morpheme (exposed to fading in weak positions). The traditional differentiation of syllables according to priegaidė is secondary: a syllable provides conditions for the realization of priegaidė, but being part of the plane of expression, not connected with meaning, the syllable itself does not need differentiation.

Glottalic and pitch features in Chepang and Bhujel

Abstract This paper looks at two closely related Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal, Chepang and Bhujel, in relation to certain supra-segmental features they possess which are involved in the distinction of minimal pairs. Since these features include pitch and glottalisation, the possible phonemic analyses of these in terms of either a supra-segmental solution (tone) or a segmental one (glottal plosive) are discussed. Given the latter, a non-tonal analysis for the present state of these languages, and the possibilities of one or both of these becoming tonal languages in the future, are considered. Also, Chepang is unusual in possessing a whistled form of speech and the relation of this to the spoken language is described. These features are exemplified in the Appendices by waveforms, fundamental frequency (F0) contours and spectrogram illustrations, and also by sound files.

Use of ASR-Equipped Software in the Teaching of Suprasegmental Features of Pronunciation

Technology has paved the way for new modalities in language learning, teaching, and assessment. However, there is still a great deal of work to be done to develop such tools for oral communication, specifically tools that address suprasegmental features in pronunciation instruction. Therefore, this critical literature review examines how researchers have tried to create computer-assisted pronunciation training tools using automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems to aid language learners in the perception and production of suprasegmental features. We used 30 texts from 1990 to 2020 to explore how technologies have been and are currently being used to help learners develop their proficiency with suprasegmental features. Based on our thematic analysis, a persistent gap still exists between ASR-equipped software available to participants in research studies and what is available to university and classroom teachers and students. Additionally, there seems to be more development in the production of speech software for language assessment. In contrast, the translation of these tools into instructional tools for individualized learning seems to be almost non-existent. Moving forward, we recommend that more commercialized pronunciation systems utilizing ASR should be made publicly available using the technologies that are currently developed or are in development for the purposes of oral proficiency judgments.

Importance of Suprasegmental Features in the Structure and Meaning of Pashto Sentence

Suprasegmental phonemes are the linguistic phenomenon which has phonemic value in a language. These features do not have a specific form as segments but have semantic relativity. As the numbers of suprasegmental features are not specified in Pashto Linguistics, but in most of the sources, stress, accent, intonation, syllable, pitch, and juncture are known as suprasegmental features. Rhythm is a type of intonation which has a specific value in the language. While changing intonation causes semantic changes. The accent is a phenomenon that takes place upon the segments, syllables and words and changes its meanings. In Pashto prose and verse, stress has its exact importance, which causes changes in the meaning of the sentence. Juncture is another suprasegmental phenomenon that causes changes in the context while reading it continuously or breaking it up into parts. The syllable is another suprasegmental feature which may be consisted of a single vowel or a vowel and consonant or consonants.