Prosody and Intonation

Prosody (also called suprasegmental phonology) refers to the features of speech that extend over sequences of sounds rather than being properties of individual segments (consonants and vowels). Prosodic features include stress, rhythm, intonation, tempo, loudness, and pausing. They are sometimes called suprasegmental features because they are superimposed "above" the segmental level.

Prosody is essential for AQA A-Level English Language because it carries a huge amount of meaning in spoken language — meaning that is often invisible in written transcriptions. Understanding prosody allows you to analyse how speakers convey attitudes, emotions, emphasis, and pragmatic meanings through the way they say things, not just what they say.

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Stress

Stress is the degree of prominence given to a syllable or word, typically achieved through a combination of greater loudness, higher pitch, longer duration, and fuller vowel quality.

Word Stress

English words of more than one syllable have a fixed stress pattern, with one syllable carrying primary stress (marked /ˈ/ before the syllable). Some longer words also have secondary stress (marked /ˌ/):