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.
Has on-line tutorials about different aspects of prosody, such as chunking, focus, and pitch. Each tutorial has examples presented orthographically and auditorily for a better understanding of conversational interactions.