The functions of prosody are many and fascinating. Where
speech-sounds such as vowels and consonants function
mainly to provide an indication of the identity of words
and the regional variety of the speaker, prosody can indicate syntax,
turn-taking in
conversational interactions, types of utterance such as
questions and statements, and people's attitudes and
feelings. They can also indicate word-identity (although
only occasionally, in English). We will treat a few
well-defined prosodic functions such as chunking and
focus.
The forms (or elements) of prosody are derived from the
acoustic characteristics of speech. They include the
pitch or frequency, the length or duration, and the
loudness or intensity. All these forms are present in
varying quantities in every spoken utterance. The varying
quantities help determine the function to which listeners
orient themselves in interpreting the utterance. The
screens in the tutorials on prosodic forms are designed
to attune your ear to these varying degrees of presence.
Amy Sonntag on 18 Dec 12I decided to develop this list to guide other educators and caregivers towards the apps that I have found to be most beneficial, not only at home with my typically developing 7 year old, but also at work with the elementary students on my speech-language caseload. The ranking is in no particular order of preference and some of these were released this year, while others are a couple years old. Please use the comment section below to add any fabulous apps that I missed in my favorite list!
