Phonetics and Speech Science

Suprasegmentals are phonetic elements that are not restricted to individual segments, but whose influence extends across a number of segments. What is phonetically the same type of suprasegmental may play a role at a very different place in the grammatical structure of a given language. One type is prominence, involving extra loudness and duration of the segments that are affected. In English, prominence is primarily grammatical stress playing a role in word pronunciation, but also emphasis, playing a role in the structure of a phrase or sentence. In English, an unstressed syllable contains a reduced vowel, normally realized as schwa. Another type of suprasegment involves variation in fundamental frequency. If this occurs at the level of the word (especially where words are restricted to a single syllable), the phenomenon is tone. Where F0 variation plays a role in the grammatical structure of the phrase or sentence, the phenomenon is intonation. Articulatory set (setting) is considered as a suprasegmental.