Prosodic Features of Speech

Pause - A temporary stop Why Pause? •Give the listener time to

understand your words. Emphasize one main word in a group of words.

•Excuse me. / Where is the bathroom?”

• “Now that I see it, / I think I prefer it in red.”
•“She hasn’t told me, / but I think / she’ll get married soon.”

Categories of Content words Content words are those words that carry
the meaning of a sentence.
These include:
• nouns
• main verbs
• adjectives
• adverbs
• negatives (“not”) • wh-words (“what”) • interjections (“wow!”)
Where is my dog?

Pitch - The degree of highness or lowness of a tone.

Say Hi

Stress - To pronounce (a syllable or word) in a louder or more forceful way

than other syllables or words.

Noun and Adjective Verb and Preposition stress is on the first syllable stress is
on the second syllable SAMples aMONG INsult inSULT

Remember: Only vowels are stressed, not consonants.

Volume - used to show emotions such as fear or anger

Tempo - The rate or speed of motion or activity; pace.