# prosodic emphasis



## faro_kc

Hello everyone,

I'm writing a MA thesis about implicit meaning and I have trouble translating the term *prosodic emphasis*.
To illustrate this term , let's consider the following sentences. In uttering the sentences [1], [2] and [3], the speaker puts emphasis on only one word each time:
[1] *George* kissed Naomi; presupposes that there is someone who kissed Naomi and that was George.
[2] George *kissed* Naomi; presupposes that George did something to Naomi and that is the act of kissing.
[3] George kissed *Naomi*; presupposes that George kissed someone and that was Naomi not someone else.
Although the lexical and syntactic structure of the above sentences is the same, the meaning intended by the speaker differs from one to the other according to the emphasized word.

So, how would the term *prosodic emphasis* be translated into Arabic?

Thanks


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## آمين

تشديد العروض / اللحن

التشديد العروضي

Although only according to Wiki the word for 'linguistic prosody' is اللحن

- - 

Ilm al-Arud - on the other hand - does not appear to be linguistic prosody but a distinct science. Although more commonly understood and from dictionary.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_prosody


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## Bakr

قد يكون لهذا المقال حول "التنغيم" علاقة بالمصطلح الذي تبحث عنه
التَّنْغيم ودلالته في العربيَّة​


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## إسكندراني

If you're doing an MA thesis i would advise you to consult specialist dictionaries. I'll try to have a flick through mine for you.


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## آمين

Bakr said:


> قد يكون لهذا المقال حول "التنغيم" علاقة بالمصطلح الذي تبحث عنه
> التَّنْغيم ودلالته في العربيَّة​



Intonation (Tangheem) is a good answer - but it is one aspect of prosody and not prosody itself! As this wiki page says:

اللحن في علم أصوات اللغة هو النبر والإيقاع والتنغيم في الكلام.


http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/لحن_(لغة)

'Ordinary' dictionaries give the meaning of Prosody to be العروض - however that is just:

ʿArūḍ is the study of poetic meters, which identifies the meter of a poem and determines whether the meter is sound or broken in lines of the poem.

- - -

Hence "اللحن" seems to be the best answer!


- - -

Forgot to add - Prosody in English too can be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_(poetry) and Ilm al- Arood is this and not the 'linguistic prosody'.


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## إسكندراني

Wikipedia is no source in itself on technical terms.


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## barkoosh

You probably won't find an English-Arabic reference that translates "prosodic emphasis". So you need to do it yourself; after all, this is what specialized dictionaries would do, had they included the term.

"Emphasis" is definitely تشديد. "Prosodic" in linguistics (not in poetry where it can be rendered عروضيّ), is variably translated in specialized dictionaries (two of the renderings are mentioned in the footnote of that Arabic Wikipedia article): تطريزي - تطويحي - فوقطعي etc.

Personally, I'm inclined to choose تطريزي, although the other terms can't be considered incorrect. Check the occurrences of تطريزي in these search results, some of them can be considered good references.

It's up to you if you want to use التشديد التطريزي. By the way, is "prosodic emphasis" a fancy term for "sense/sentence stress", rendered in Arabic نبر الجملة?


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## إسكندراني

Absurdly, 'Prosodic' in my glossary is فوقطعي - what on Earth is that?!
Emphasis is either توكيد - quote: 


> أن نكرر الكلمة في سياق لغرض بلاغي أو لبيان أهميتها أو لتوكيد معنى الجملة كما يتم ذلك بواسطة رفع الصوت في نطق هذه الكلمة


or إطباق، تفخيم - quote:


> صفة للصوت الذي يُنطق مع ارتفاع مؤخر اللسان نحو الطبق مما يجعل الصوت مفخما مثل الطاء الظاء، الصاد والضاد


Emphatic is 'all of the above' and also مستعْل
Maybe there is something useful there?

I like the suggestion by barkoosh.


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## آمين

إسكندراني said:


> Absurdly, 'Prosodic' in my glossary is فوقطعي - what on Earth is that?!
> Emphasis is either توكيد - quote:
> 
> or إطباق، تفخيم - quote:
> 
> Emphatic is 'all of the above' and also مستعْل
> Maybe there is something useful there?
> 
> I like the suggestion by barkoosh.




Yes - the Arab brotherhood closing in . . . might I remind - non-Arabs have ALWAYS been better at Arabic than . . . . ! 

I used the word Tashdeed because it is commonly used in classical Grammar to mean emphasis. 

And I stick by what the the article said Lahn - with reference from Lisan Al-Arab. 


= = =

The word فوقطعي seems to be more used in Medical Terminology - to refer to Prosodic Disorder. I have found some references in medical terms . . .


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## Bakr

I didn't find any translation of this term in Arabic even if it's used in linguistics,
for example: 

Prosodic emphasis is understood as some unusually strong word onset (this is
unusual since French normally carries primary stress on the
last syllable of the word and nuclear stress falls on the last
syllable of the intonation group) that may be accompanied by
a step up in pitch.

Thematisation and Prosodic Emphasis in Spoken French A Preliminary Analysis


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## barkoosh

We have nothing against the word لحن. It's obvious that it does convey the idea of "Prosody", according to Lisan. The problem is that لحن is usually reserved for "melody". For example, see this page (Although it's in Arabic, it's all Greek to me ).

We'd better wait for faro_kc's reply. He's writing a thesis about it. He knows better.


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## إسكندراني

Exactly. Often it's about finding the least ridiculous terms not already used for something else. For me تشديد is gemination, and I'd prefer emphasis to have its own word. Also I must reiterate my shock at this word فوقطعي - it's appeared in several places and I have no idea where they got it from.


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## Bakr

إسكندراني said:


> For me تشديد is gemination, and I'd prefer emphasis to have its own word. Also I must reiterate my shock at this word فوقطعي - it's appeared in several places and I have no idea where they got it from.



Gemination ٢. التضعيف .٤

Prosody ٤. الفوقطعي .٤
suprasegmental هذا المصطلح يستخدم أحيانًا مرادفًا لكلمة إنجليزية أخرى هي
والأول أشمل من الآخر . وكلاهما يدل على الخصائص الصوتية التي تتجاوز الصوت
. tempo وسرعة الكلام stress والنبر pitch / intonation نفسه مثل التنغيم


cf.http://www.mghamdi.com/C4.pdf


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## Eternal student

> By the way, is "prosodic emphasis" a fancy term for "sense/sentence stress", rendered in Arabic نبر الجملة



This suggestion by Barkoosh is 100% correct. The others are off the mark. See the wikipedia article on focus (linguistics) for more info. Don't be distracted by the fact that 'prosody' out of context is a rather vague term, encompassing intonation, rhythm, focus, metre in poetry etc. What is meant here is definitely nuclear stress/primary sentence stress.


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## Eternal student

By the way, I've no idea how long the term فوقطعي has been in existence, who invented it and how often it's really actually used (I would guess virtually never) but it's clearly been coined as a direct translation of 'suprasegmental' > فوق قطعي

Phonology can apply to the segmental level (segments are *very* approximately the same as letters) or the suprasegmental level (words, phrases, sentences etc.).


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## Bakr

نبحث ونحاول أن نفهم ونقترح، ولا نحكم على أحد هل هو خارج الموضوع أو داخله، أو هذه صحيحة 100% في مجال الترجمة للعربية ـ فعلى سبيل المثال قد يكون المصطلح صحيحا في المشرق العربي ولا وجود له في المغرب العربي والعكس صحيح ـ ما أساس هذا الحكم، هل هو مراجع عربية في اللسانيات أم وجهة نظر؟ ومع ذلك اقول أن اقتراح بركوش "نبر الجملة" جيد وملائم اعتمادا على نصوص تشرح المصطلح، من بينها :ـ
كما يمكن الحديث من جهة ثانية عن نبر الجملة، وهو" أن يعمد المتكلم إلى كلمة في جملته فيزيد من نبرها ويميزها عن غيرها من كلمات جملة، رغبة منه في تأكيدها أو الإشارة إلى غرض خاص، وقد يختلف الغرض من الجملة تبعا لاختلاف الكلمة المختصة بزيادة نبرها"ـ
حول مصطلح نبر الجملة



​


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## آمين

Eternal student said:


> This suggestion by Barkoosh is 100% correct. The others are off the mark. See the wikipedia article on focus (linguistics) for more info. Don't be distracted by the fact that 'prosody' out of context is a rather vague term, encompassing intonation, rhythm, focus, metre in poetry etc. What is meant here is definitely nuclear stress/primary sentence stress.



How are you able to EMPHATICALLY say:

"This suggestion by Barkoosh is 100% correct."

No it is just your "unqualified" opinion. 

The term prosody covers more than "accent, emphasis on words/sentences" as that is its description. 

- - 

"The others are off the mark."

How?

- - 

"See the wikipedia article on focus (linguistics) for more info."

Link? 

- -

"Don't be distracted by the fact that 'prosody' out of context is a  rather vague term, encompassing intonation, rhythm, focus, metre in  poetry etc. What is meant here is definitely nuclear stress/primary  sentence stress."

WHat expertise do you have?


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