suprasegmental inflection
[/ˌsuːprəsɛɡˈmɛntəl ɪnˈflɛkʃən/]
nounpl: suprasegmental inflections
inflexão suprassegmental
1. A change in the pitch, stress, or duration of a word or utterance that indicates grammatical relationships or meaning distinctions, as opposed to changes in individual sounds (segments)
In English, the suprasegmental inflection that raises pitch at the end of a statement can turn it into a question.
Em inglês, a inflexão suprassegmental que levanta a entonação no final de uma afirmação pode transformá-la em uma pergunta.
2. Prosodic variations such as tone, stress patterns, and intonation used to modify word or sentence meaning without changing the segmental phonemes
Mandarin Chinese relies heavily on suprasegmental inflection to distinguish between homophonous words with different tones.
O mandarim depende muito da inflexão suprassegmental para distinguir entre palavras homófonas com tons diferentes.
This is primarily a linguistic and phonetic term used in academic contexts in both Brazil and the USA. It is essential in linguistic studies, language teaching, and speech pathology. In Brazil, the study of suprasegmental features is particularly relevant when teaching English, as Brazilian Portuguese and English have different intonational patterns that learners must master.
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