MODULE WEEK NO.

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College of Education
EL 100: Introduction to Linguistics
1st Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021

Introduction

Human language is made up of distinctive sounds produced with the

passage of air through the human vocal apparatus.

Sounds in themselves convey no meaning but in combination with other

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sounds in a stream of speech, they come up with meaningful units in the form
of words or affixes.

Differences in sounds are said to be phonetic or not significant if a change

in these sounds does not effect a change in the meaning of the word or affix
produced.

Differences in sounds are said to be phonemic or distinctive and

significant if interchanging one sound with another will result in or change
Rationale
in the word or affix.
In addition to sound segments or segmentals, these are other sound patterns
that canThe
alsosounds
effectofchanges in grouped
English are meaning andtwo
under arecategories:
also phonemic. These
vowels and sound
consonants.
patterns These
that can also
vowels phonemic.
and consonantsThese sound patterns
are combined which
to form words orare referredunits.
meaningful to by
Since these sound segments come one after another in a given word, they are
some linguists as the prosodic features of the language, do not come in segments.
called segmentals.
Charles Fries, an applied linguist refers to them as “cover pattern” because they
are over and beyond the segmentals. They are, in fact, superimposed on the
segmentals. As such, they are called suprasegmentals.

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Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, students are expected to:

A. Distinguish between segmentals and suprasegmentals,

B. Point out changes in meaning effected of suprasegmentals,
C. Define and give examples of suprasegmental phonemes: stress, intonation
and juncture,
D. Describe the different stress, intonation and juncture patterns,
E. Explain vowel changes due to distressing, and,
F. Mark sentences for stress, intonation and juncture.

Activity
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Word Stress Patterns

1. Words shifts in primary stress with the addition of affixes

2. Contractive stress patterns

A. Words that may be used as nouns and as verbs

Used as nouns Used as Verbs
[iu] [ui]

B. Constructs that can act as nouns and as verbs

Noun Constructs Verb constructs
[ ∕ ∖] [∖ ∕ ]

C. Constructs that can act as compound nouns and as adjectives + nouns

combinations
Compound Nouns Adjective + Noun Combinations

[ ∕ ∖] [^ i]

D. Constructs made up of [ ing verb form + noun ] acting as compound nouns or

adjectives + noun combinations .
[ ∕ ∖] [^i]

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Show in three ways the intonation patterns of these sentences by drawing

lines and by describing the sequence of the pitch levels using words and
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Discussion

The Suprasegmentals or Prosodic Features of a Language

- A song is more than just the words of the song writers. It also has a melody on tune
and rhythm or beat. Without those two features, it would not be a song. All three put
together, convey the thoughts and feelings of the song writer.
In like manner, language is more than just a string of distinctive speech sounds
on segmentals put together to come up with meaningful units. Some other features
are added. These are intonation, between stress coupled with pauses or junctures
to produce rhythm. All three, intonation, stress and juncture are phonemic because
changing any of them would result in a change in meaning of a word or utterance.
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This might be seen in the examples that follow.

Concerning intonation, do you recall the expression “Excuse me” which was cited
earlier? Saying it in three ways would result in three different functions expressing
three different messages as shown below. The liner show the rise and fall of the voice.
Utterance Function Message

Ex cuse me Apologizing I’m sorry.

Ex cuse me Attracting attention Please pay attention to me.

Ex cuse me Expressing displeasure How dare you!

*Note that the same utterance made up of the same segmental phonemes was
said. They only differed in the rise and fall of the voice which is referred to as
intonation. This example, therefore shows that intonation is phonemic.
Concerning stress the following expression said in two different ways,
expresses two different functions resulting in two different message. Here, the word
or syllable, that is, in capital letters is to be given the loudest sound.

Utterance Function Message

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Apologizing Pardon me.

I beg your PARdon
Expressing displeasure How dare you!
I BEG your pardon

Pausing or juncture, If I made a short pause where the slant line/,) is in these would
there be a change in meaning?
What would utterance A mean?
What about utterance B?

How much is that red wine/jug?

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How much is that red/ wine jug?

Well in the case of utterance A; the jug in filled with red wine whereas in utterance
B the jug is colored red, but it is not necessarily filled with red wine.
Once more, we see that the utterances are made up of the same segmental
phonemes. They only differ where the pause is made. This pause is called juncture.
Here we see, therefore, that juncture, just like the other two suprasegmentals: stress
and intonation are phonemic.

*Questions #1
Write sg if the item focuses or segmental phonemes and write sup if it focuses on
the suprasegmentals. If it is a segmental phoneme state if it is a vowel or a
consonant problem. If it is a suprasegmental, mention what type it is: intonation,
stress or juncture.
1. Sow the seeds a sow and her litter
2. First, were, peare, better, journal
3. I said thirty not thirteen
4. A rebel to rebel
5. a. “Fire!” shouted the commander of the firing squad.
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b. We saw a big forest fire.
6. thin - tin then-den
Bath – bat those – dose
7. a. We have lived in the green house for years.
b. Behind our house is a green house for my mother’s plants.
8. not at all
Not a toll
9. active activity activism
10. strip mast masts

*Answers #1
1. The problem here is a segmental phoneme, more specifically, the diphthong or
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vowel /on/ on sow the seeds and /au/ in a sow and her litter
2. The problem is focus is the er sound which can be represented by the
graphemes ir, ur, ear er our. The er sound is a segmental phoneme, specifically, a
vowel and a semi-vowel r.
3. Here, the problem is a suprasegmental namely, stress. Thirty is stressed in the first
syllable and thinker is in the second syllable.
4. The problem here is again the suprasegmental, stress phoneme. A rebel is a
person who goes against established norms or authority whereas to rebel is the act
of going against established norms and authority.
5. Here the problem is another supresegmental but this time intonation. The word
fire is said with a much higher pitch than fire in the second sentence.
6. The problem here is the segmental phoneme, more specifically consonants. In
the first column, the soft th /ϴ/ is contrasted with /t/ and in the second column, the
hard th /ƫ/ is contrasted with /d/. These are likely problems for Filipino learners of
English because we do not have soft and hard th is our language
7. Here, the problem is stress, a suprasegmental. The green house in the first
sentence is a house painted green while the green house in the second sentence
is an for plants where the temperature is regulated. In the former, The word house is

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given the louder stress whereas in the latter it is the green that is given the louder
stress.
8. Here the problem is also a suprasegmental but this time, it is juncture or pausing
and blending. In the first item, not at all you will have to blend all the words and say
the expression in one sweep. In the second item not/ a toll you will have to make a
pause (see the slant line/) between not and a toll.
9. The problem here is again a suprasegmental, this time stress. In the word active,
the stress is on the first syllable. With the additions of the affix, ity the stress moves to
the second syllable. And when the affix ism is used instead of ity the stress is on the
third syllable.
10. The problem now is the segmental phoneme, more specifically consonant
clusters str in word initial position and st and sts in word final position. In the case of
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the former, The Filipino learner of English tends to let the vowel I creep in before the
prophetic s because most Philippine languages do not have consonant clusters.
And so, when the cluster with the prophetic s is found in word initial position the
learner breaks the cluster up by letting the vowel i creep in.
However, if the cluster is found in word final position, then the tendency is to retain
only the first consonant in the cluster and drop the rest. Hence, mast and masts are
rendered mass.

Intonation

Intonation refers to the tune or pitch of the voice. In English, there are four pitch
levels; extra high, high, mid (or normal) and low. Extra high intonation which reflects
surprise, excitement or intense feeling on the part of the speaker is used in
exclamations. It is often used in ordinary conversation.
One pitch level lower than extra-high but a pitch level higher than normal is high. It
is usually found in the stressed syllable of a word or in the word receiving primary
stress in a compound, a phrase or a sentence, The normal tone or pitch level is
referred to as mid while a drop form the normal to fade out as what usually occurs
at the end of a sentence is called low. These last three pitch levels high, mid and

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low are arranged in a sequence to describe the intonation patterns used in a
sentence.
A rising intonation pattern would therefore be described as a mid-high pattern, a
final rising-falling intonation back to normal would be a mid-high mid intonation
pattern.

A. Sometimes numbers instead of words, (extra high, high, mid, low ) or letters h for
high, m for mid and l for low) are assigned to pitch levels with 4 assigned to extra
high and 1 to low. What numbers would be given to mid? To high? Put the letters
and the numbers to complete the table that follows:
Pitch Level Letter Number

extra high
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high
mid
low

Where intonation patterns are concerned, numbers instead of words are also used
though other would prefer to use arrows, (__ for rising _____ for normal and___ for
falling). If one gets to use arrows. However, the number of the pitch level is also
indicated since a rising pitch could be high or extra high and a falling pitch could
be high to normal or down to fade out.
B. Put in the numbers and arrows to show the intonation patterns gives in the table
that follows. One is done for you.
Intonation Pattern Numbers Arrows
1. Rising Intonation 2-3-3
2. Non-final
Rising-falling
intonation
3. Find rising-falling

C. Still another way of illustrating intonation pattern is to use lines. A horizontal line
drawn immediately under the words in a sentence indicter mid or normal pitch. The
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rise and fall of the pitch level is shown through the use of slant line or a glide going
upwards in the case of rising intonation and moving downwards in the case of
falling intonation. If the drop is down-to-fade out, Then the line goes below the
horizontal line indicating mid or normal pitch.
Expand the table in B to show how the intonation pattern should look like if lines
were used. The first one is done for you. Note that two figures are given to show the
rise of slant lines or glider.
Numbers Arrows Liner
1. Rising Intonation 2-3-3
2. Non- final rising

Falling intonation
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3. Final rising-falling

A slant line is used when the rise or the fall is pitch levels takes place between
syllables or between words.
This slant line is also called a shift. A glide is used when the rise or the fall taken
place within a syllable or word.

Check if your tables look like the ones that follow:

A
Pitch Level Letter Number
Extra high 4
high h 3
mid m 2
low l 1

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Intonation Numbers Arrows
Pattern
1. Rising 2-3-3
Intonation
2. Non-final 2-3-2
rising-
falling
intonation
3. Final rising- 2-3-1
falling

C.
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Numbers Arrows
Lines
1. Rising 2-3-3
Intonation
2. 2. Non-Final 2-3-2
rising-falling
intonation
3. Final rising 2-3-1
falling

A good question to ask in “In what sentences are those intonation patterns likely to
occur?” Study this table that gives you the different intonation patterns and where
they are used. Take note also of the use of the shift or the glide in the examples.
1. Rising intonation
A.
1. At the end of the yes- no questions.
Is he sick?
Is he absent?

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2. at the end of tag questions seeking information

He isn’t here, is he?
B. Non-final
1. All the words in a series, except the last one which is given a rising-falling
intonation.
I’ll have beef , chicken and fish.
2.In nominatives of address
Rosa , come here .
3.In alternatives, except the last option.
Do we have to leave now, or later?
4.Conditionals in sentence
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Initial position may take a non-final rising-falling intonation

II- Rising- falling intonation

A. Final
1. At the end of statements
It’s fine to go.

2. At the end of wh questions

I’ll leave tomorrow.
Who’s to blame?

3. At the end of tag questions, seeking confirmation

You’ll come won’t you?

B. Non-final
At the end of breath groups except the patterns that require the use of
non-final rising intonation.

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He won’t come unless you invite him.

I- Extra-high intonation
To show intense feeling, surprise, excitement, etc.
“Fire!” shouted the captain.

*STRESS

The second suprasegmental is stress or loudness. There are also four stress
phonemes in English. These are primary/∣/, secondary /∕/ testing /∖/ and weak /v/
arranged in decreasing order from the loudest to the weakest in intensity.
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Where word stress is concerned, one syllable in each word is usually given
primary stress. It is said louder than the other syllables in the word and so it attains
prominence. In fact, the other syllables are distressed. In longer words, however,
there may be a secondary and/or a tertiary stress in addition to the primary stress,
More often than not, those two phoneme, the secondary and the tertiary stress
patterns which serve to distinguish noun constructs from verb constructs adjective
and noun combinations from compound nouns, etc.
Although, in many words the primary stress remains in the same syllable even
with the addition of affixes, there are also words where the primary stress shifts to
another syllable with the addition of affixes. These could prove to be problems for
learners. Here are examples of words in Group A whose no shifts in primary stress
occur with the addition of affixes. In group B are examples when affixes are added
to the root word. Can you come up with other words that maybe included in
Group B.

Group A Group B
(no shift in primary stress) (shifts in primary stress)
Commánd – commandment Coἠcept – conćeptual
Colléct – collective Cὀurage – courágeous
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Compléte- completion Coḿplicate – complicátion
Fúnction – functional Assὀciate – associátion
Prodúce – producer Defíne – definítion
Production Nátion – nationálity
Decéit - deceptive Nationalísm
deception

There are a number of stress pattern in English. Here are some of them with a
few examples for each pattern. Try to come up with other that follow the same
patterns.
Some words that maybe need as norms or as verbs are stressed on the first
syllable [ I u] if they are used as nouns and on the second syllable if they are used
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as verbs /u i/. It might be pointers out however that in English the vowels in
distressed syllables are rendered /i/ or /a/. Hence the segmental of those words
would no longer be the same.

Used as nouns used as verbs

/i u/ / u i/
A récord to recὀrd
A présent to presént
A rébel to rebél

B. Some constructs can act as nouns [ ∕ __∖] and as two-word verbs or verb
constructs [ ∕ ∖]. The stress pattern of the former is primary- tertiary while that of the
latter is tertiary-primary. See if you can give other examples and add them to the
list below.

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Noun Constructs Verb Constructs
A drὀp oùt to dròp oút
A bláck oùt to blàck oút
A wálk oùt to wàlk oút
A stánd oùt to stànd oút

C.Some constructs can act as compound nouns and as adjective + noun

combinations. Compound nouns take the primary-tertiary[ ∕ ∖] stress pattern

whereas adjective + noun combinations take on the secondary – primary [^ i]

stress pattern.
Compound Noun Adjective + Noun Combination

[ ^ i]
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[ ∕ __∖]
A greén hoùse a green hoúse
A blὀckbìrd a block bird

Here are other examples of compound nouns [ ∕ ∖] and adjective + noun [^ i]

combinations. This time the first word in the construct comes in an ing verb form.
How can you tell whether the construct is a compound noun or an adjective +
noun combination? You can do this by using a simple test. It is an adjective + noun
combinations if it can fit into this pattern.
[(a construct ) is a (noun ) that is (ing verb adjective) ]
Otherwise, it is a compound noun. From the first of example given below, we can
say, “barking dogs are dogs that are barking “but we can not say “Swimming pools
are pools that are swimming.” Rather, “Swimming pools are pools used for
swimming “ See if you can add to the constructs below:

Compound Nouns Adjective + Noun

[ ∕ __∖] [ ^ i]
Swimming pools barking dogs

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Serving machines sweet-smelling flowers
Skating rink sparkling diamonds

Dividing a sentence into breath or thought groups is not

arbitrarily done. But sometimes, it is possible to do it in more than one way. Below
are the sentences you worked on. They have been divided into breath groups by
means of slant lines. Where it is possible to divide the sentences in more than one
way both options are shown. The word that would receive primary stress in each
breath group has been encircled.

1. Do you give up when you can’t make sense, of what you read?
a. The verb give up is the east content word in the first breath group. It is
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a verb construct and in a verb construct [ ∖ ∕ ] , the preposition

receives primary stress.
b. The words sense and read are the last content words in the second
and third breath groups.
2. Or do your resort, to other strategies to understand the text ?
a. The words resort / , strategies / and text, are the last content words in
each thought group.

Or do your resort to other strategies to understand the text ?

3. It’s not I / but my friend / who said that
a. I and friend receive primary stress for two reasons first for contrastive
stress and last in the breath group.
b. The verb said is the last content word in the last breath group.
4. I’m not a loss / for words to say / to comfort my friend are the last content
words in the three breath groups.
5. I don’t know the answers / but I can always find out
a. The word answer is the content word is the first breath group
b. The last content word in the second breath group is find out which is a
verb construct so the stress is on out.
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6. Do you want the book?
There is only one breath group and book is its last content word
7. N, this will not do / I’d rather have that one.
For contractive stress, this and that will have do be given primary stress.
8. How often do you go swimming?
There is only one breath group and its last content word is swimming
9. Once or twice a week
a. For contractive stress, once and twice are given primary stress.
b. Besides that they provide the answer to the specific question word “
how often”
10. Is this all there is?
a. The verb is the last content word if this were said in a matter of fact
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way

Juncture

The third suprasegmental is juncture or pausing. There are also focus juncture
phonemes, namely, plus juncture (+) which is placed between words in a
construct, single bar (/) which mark a short pause between breath groups, double
bar (//) which signals a longer pause accompanied by a rising intonation, and
finally a double cross (#) which marks the end of a sentence where a rising-falling
intonation is used.
An example of the plus juncture is the short pause made between might and rate
in might rate. In contrast, there would be no need for a plus juncture or pause in
the word mitrate since it is not a construct like might rate
The other three juncture phonemes-single bar, double bar and double cross are
closely tied up with sentence stress and intonation since they are used to divide
long sentences into breath groups and to indicate when the sentence is brought to
a close. All three are needed when sentences are transcribed phonemically. In
fact, the first step in transcribing a sentence is to determine how to divide it into

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breath groups by means of single bar juncture or even double bar juncture when
needed.
The double bar juncture is placed at the end of sentences which are given the
rising – falling intonation whereas the double bar is placed where the rising
intonation is used.
Having divided the sentence into breath groups, the next step is to determine
which word in each breath group is to be given the primary stress. And having
done that, the intonation lines may be drawn and the sounds transcribed
phonemically.
Let us go through the process
Step by step.
Step one – Divide the sentence into breath groups using juncture marking
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Meaning does not reside/ in the records per se / but in the context/ of the
situation.
Step Two. Chose the word that should be given primary stress in each breath
group. Put the primary stress mark where it should be.

Meaning does not reside/ in the words per se / but in the context, of the situation
Step three Put in the intonation lines per breath group.

Meaning does not reside/in the words per se

but in the context/of the situation

Step Four : Indicate the segmental phoneme giving fined vowel sounds only to
those in the stressed word or syllable.
Meaning does not reside/in the words per se /
but in the context/of the situation.

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Exercise

A.
Read the following pairs. Tell the difference in meaning between each pair.
1. The president, said the secretary, is busy.
The president said, the secretary is busy.

2. Who is calling, Jingky?

Who is calling Jingky?

3. Are you leaving my child?

Are you leaving, my child?
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B.
Directions: Following the process, Divide the statement into breath or thought
groups, stress the focus word, and put intonation lines in every breath groups.

People can usually distinguish the word juncture in contrastive twins of word pairs
such as play nice and plain ice.

Assessment

Show in three ways the intonation patterns of these sentences by drawing lines and
by describing the sequence of the pitch levels using words and numbers.

1. Look!
2. Is that a great bird as a plane?
3. It could be an eagle, a hawk or a vulture.
4. Can you see it, Jose?
5. It’s not an owl, is it?
6. What could it be?
7. If it comes closer, I’ll be able to tell.

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8. Is it an endangered specie?
9. I really don’t know.
10. It’s carnivorous, isn’t it?

Reflection

The Double-Entry Journal: A Myriad of Options!

On The Left: The Source On The Right: The Response

Notes from the lesson Summaries/Comments

Observations Interpretations
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Facts Questions, Quick Responses

Key words or phrases Observations/Questions

Definitions

Concepts & Ideas Explanations/Questions

Facts, details, statements My Predictions/Questions

Resources and Additional Resources

O’Grady, William et. al. 2001. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction,

4th ed. New York: St. Martin’s.

Radford, Andrew et.al. 1999. Linguistics: An Introduction. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Paz, Consuelo et.al. 2003. Ang Pag-aaral ng Wika. Quezon City:

University of the Philippines Press.

Additional References:

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Crowley, Terry. 1997. Introduction to Historical Linguistics, 3rd ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Salzmann, Zdenek. 2004. Language, Culture, and Society, 3rd ed. Oxford:
Westview Press.
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