Suprasegmental Aspects of Speech

Suprasegmental aspects of speech are those that are not restricted to a single segment (or timing slot) but stretch over a syllable or a group of syllables. Both their phonetic and phonological aspects can be described, and as with segmental aspects of speech, they can be investigated from the viewpoint of articulation, acoustics, and perception. Many descriptions are restricted to the contrastive roles that pitch, stress, and length play in language; however, phonetic parameters such as tempo and loudness may also be important, especially in disordered speech. Indeed, all suprasegmental features of speech are subject to disruption in different types of speech disorders, although voice quality is a suprasegmental feature of particular importance to Speech–Language pathologists. This entry provides an overview of suprasegmental aspects of ...