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Stress, intonation, prosody
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 30 Mar 2023, 20:00.

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This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
Menu 1. What is a syllable? 2. Stress 3. Prosody and interrogative sentences 4. Intonation 5. Prosodic units and pausa

Stress, intonation, syllable structure, and prosody are things I'm still learning about, so - although I like it as it is - more will be added in the future.

[edit] [top]What is a syllable?


In  Nolwynn syllables often end in a vowel. Some consonant clusters are allowed:

- nt
- ntx
- nz
- lt
- nk

These clusters form the start of a new syllable [thus they are found in the middle of words only] and are never found at the end of a syllable.

A single vowel can be a syllable on its own. A general rule of thumb is that when a word starts with a vowel, the vowel is its own syllable.

Some consonants can end a syllable:

- k
- g
- zš
- tš
- r
- n
- l
- s but only in loan words

[edit] [top]Stress


Which syllables are stressed?
- A syllable containing a lengthened vowel or a vowel with tone
- A syllable containing an ejective consonant
- Every third syllable - this pattern continues across the entire phrase, until reaching a pausa [a break such as a comma or a period] or if something resets the pattern [such as a lengthened vowel or an ejective consonant].

These patterns aren't pure, since they interact and interfere with each other.

Stressed syllables are held a beat longer than the rest. Depending on the sentence type, they may also sound like syllables with tone, spoken in a higher pitch than nearby syllables, as well as being a tad louder than surrounding syllables. Additionally, when approaching a pausa, the phrase gets a bit quieter.

In the following examples:
- red letters are stressed.
- blue indicates softening
- grey indicates a quieter sound approaching a pausa
- green indicates the falling-rising intonation associated with questions

Following stressed syllables, some consonants are softened. “Softened” letters have slightly different pronunciations as shown in this table:

letterpronunciationexamplepronunciation
l following a syllable with an ejective consonantlxtxoolasanee ["souls"]"txoolxasanee"
nasal consonants in the syllable following an ejective consonantadd -ytxamareey ["want"]"txamyareey"
final kgšyesak ["axe"]"šyesag"
zorizuzua ["car"]"oritšuzua"


Here is an example with some softened letters:
Txazunó’a zo txoolasanee gibxiik
They are given a consciousness and a soul.

Consonants are not softened after a long vowel, for example above in the word gibxiik, not “gibxiig”. Contrast with gibxak, which is pronounced “gibxag.”

Since Nolwynn's stress patterns are not fixed, which consonants are softened or quietened can change. For example, even though the third syllable of orizuzua would ordinarily be stressed, in the following example, the stress is elsewhere:

azo orizuzua ar?
Which car is hers?

[edit] [top]Prosody and interrogative sentences


For interrogative sentences, the question word resets the pattern. The change can be subtle. For example:

nyona rewa Kxalina txamaraa.
Kxalina wants an apple.

nyona tša rewa Kxalina txamaraa?
Does Kxalina want an apple?

The stress on the interrogative word sounds different than stress on other words. It has a falling-rising sound, then the final word in the question phrase will also have a slight falling-rising intonation, typically the final vowel in the word. This slight rise sounds in-between a vowel with no tone and a vowel with tone.

[edit] [top]Intonation


questions
Imperative sentences have their own prosody: they tend to become louder, ending with a high tone.

Questions start with a rising tone on the first word in the sentence [not on the question word itself], then level out, then rise in tone on the last syllable of the sentence. Polar questions follow this same pattern. Question words will have the falling-rising intonation. If a question word is used, the final syllable in the sentence will also have a falling-rising intonation.

emotion signifiers
[still working on what the exact prosody will look like]
Sentences that contain Emotion Signifiers have unique intonation as well. Intonation always rises on the Emotion Signifier. With the love mark, the last word in a sentence is usually drawn out, as are vowels. [This is common in baby talk]

Learn more about emotion signifiers in this article

rising intonation
Rising intonation occurs in the following situations:

- Conversations where one speaker hopes to have the input of the other.
- Filler words usually have a rising intonation, then followed by a pausa [see below].

loudness
Although certain prosodic units will get louder, it's not like yelling: it's just a very slight increase for the duration of a single syllable.

Imperatives crescendo and are loudest on the -á, which also involves a sharp rising tone.

[edit] [top]Prosodic units and pausa

Where are the breaks [the pauses] in normal speech?

-Before and after clauses
-At the end of sentences and paragraphs
-When emphasizing the topic of a sentence
-After filler words

The prosodic unit slows when it approaches a pausa. It also gets a bit quieter.

If you want to emphasize a specific word in a sentence, the stress patterns change or reset, but they are not the only things to change. For example:

nyona iitxamareeywe.
I don’t want the apple. Nothing is emphasized - this is a straight statement of the facts.

In this example, the word zom is used to emphasize nyona. Zom can be used to emphasize nouns. For example:

zom nyona iitxamareeywe
I don’t want the apple

If you want to emphasize the pronomial element of a verb or the verb itself, instead change the stress patterns by using a falling-rising intonation:

nyona iitxamareeywe
I didn’t want the apple

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