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Prosodic Features

The document discusses various aspects of voice quality and oral communication. It describes the different dimensions of the human voice that allow for identification. It then defines voice quality or timbre, which results from vocal chord and resonator interaction and can make a voice pleasant or unpleasant. Several common types of voice quality are outlined such as normal, breathy, full, chesty, and thin voices. Prosodic features important for successful communication like intonation, stress, and rhythm are also discussed. Different voice levels involving pitch and basic intonation patterns are covered. Finally, the document touches on voice intensity, stress, volume, and projection.

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Ericho San Ignatius Cuaresma
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485 views3 pages

Prosodic Features

The document discusses various aspects of voice quality and oral communication. It describes the different dimensions of the human voice that allow for identification. It then defines voice quality or timbre, which results from vocal chord and resonator interaction and can make a voice pleasant or unpleasant. Several common types of voice quality are outlined such as normal, breathy, full, chesty, and thin voices. Prosodic features important for successful communication like intonation, stress, and rhythm are also discussed. Different voice levels involving pitch and basic intonation patterns are covered. Finally, the document touches on voice intensity, stress, volume, and projection.

Uploaded by

Ericho San Ignatius Cuaresma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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I.

The Voice and Voice Quality

In oral communication, the voice is the main channel of transmission. Voice is the production of
sound while speech is the combination of sounds that become symbols representing meanings to
both speaker and listener. The human voice is capable of various dimensions making it possible
to identify one person from the other.

The distinctive characteristic of voice that makes it pleasant or unpleasant to hear is its
quality. This is often referred to as “timbre” or “tone color” and it results from the weight
exerted on the vocal chords by the resonators in the process of speaking.

II. Common Types of Voice Quality

The Normal Voice. In conversation, you speak naturally showing little or no emotion. This is the
normal quality of voice.

The Breathy Voice. When you want to create an atmosphere of secrecy and mystery you use a
breathy or a whispery voice. This breathy, whispered type of tone is an “aspirate” quality of the
voice best heard in the “stage whisper” in which the sound of rushing air present in the real
whisper is sustained by a partial vibration of the vocal chords.

The Full Voice. In many forms of public speaking when the voice must be projected to a
greater distance or when an occasion is formal and dignified, you use the full, deep quality of
your voice. Also known as the “orotund” (round mouth) quality, it is produced by opening the
mouth somewhat wider and by increasing the oral and nasal resonance so that the voice acquires
a more ringing tone.

The Chesty Voice. This is a deep hollow voice as if coming from a deep and empty cave. This
voice quality is particularly effective in speaking the part of a spirit or a ghost.

The Thin Voice. This voice quality is thin and high-pitched, the high pitch being its chief
characteristic. This “falsetto” quality occurs only in extreme fatigue, weakening, old age, ill
health or in extreme excitement.

III. Prosodic Features

In speaking/oral communication, there are certain features known as prosodic features

Prosodic features are features that appear when we put sounds together in connected speech.
It is as important to teach learners prosodic features as successful communication depends as
much on intonation, stress and rhythm as on the correct pronunciation of sounds. Linguistic
prosody has traditionally been referred to as “the music of speech.”

Prosodic features are features that appear when we put sounds together in connected speech.
It is as important to teach learners prosodic features as successful communication depends as
much on intonation, stress and rhythm as on the correct pronunciation of sounds.
Prosody conveys various communicative meanings that range from speech act marking (assertion,
question, request, etc.), information status (focus, given vs. new information), belief status (or
epistemic position of the speaker with respect to the information exchange), and politeness and
affective states, to indexical functions such as gender, age, and the sociolectal and dialectal
status of the speaker

IV. Voice Levels

Pitch

Varying the pitch means going up and down the scale so that voices could be described as high,
medium, or low. Just like differences in voice quality, people vary in the normal pitch at which
they speak. When you are frightened, nervous, excited, or simply ecstatic, your voice generally
rises. People who are angry usually lose control not only of their emotion but also of their voice –
it shoots up and becomes higher than the normal level. In sadness, contempt, indifference, or
disappointment, the pitch level is likely to be low. In an ordinary speaking situation when you are
unexcited or unemotional, a medium pitch is heard.

Intonation

Successful communicators speak in a variety of tunes. Their voices rise and fall on certain
syllables. Native speakers of a contemporary language or dialect, pronouncing the same words
under similar circumstances, would make their voices rise and fall at approximately the same
places. There are four tunes used in speaking. The first three are the most commonly used
tunes and the intonation patterns of Standard American English are a combination of these
three tunes. Extra high (4) which is used to express an extreme emotion like extreme fear,
extreme anger, extreme surprise, or extreme excitement is seldom used in normal speaking.

Basic Intonation Patterns

1. 2-3-1 or Rising-Falling Intonation – the voice begins on the normal tune (2) and ends by raising
the voice to high (3) on the last stressed syllable of the sentence, then making it fall to low (1).

2. 2-3-3 or Rising Intonation – the voice begins on the normal tune (2) and ends on a high tune
(3) on the last stressed word of the sentence. The syllables which follow the rise are
pronounced on the high note, too, with the last syllable slightly higher than the rest.

3. 2-3-2 or Non-final Intonation – the voice begins on normal (2) then rises to pitch level 3 on
the stressed word, and returns to normal level or tine (2).

V. Voice intensity

This amplification of tone is caused by the force of the expiratory air stream and the efficient
use of the resonators not by the constriction of throat.
Stress

All spoken language is characterized by a particular rhythm and melody pattern which makes
different individuals speak in a variety of time and tune. An important feature of spoken English
is the prominence given to a syllable in a word or a short span of connected speech. Stress
involves changes in pitch, force, and duration.

Volume and Voice Projection

To project your voice, define your message and identify the target or focus of the message.
Remember that your listeners must share in your speech, they must understand your message
and interact with you throughout your talk/conversation.

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