juncture (n.)

A term used in PHONOLOGY to refer to the PHONETIC boundary features which may demarcate GRAMMATICAL UNITS such as MORPHEME, WORD or CLAUSE. The most obvious junctural feature is silence, but in CONNECTED SPEECH this feature is not as common as the use of various MODIFICATIONS to the beginnings and endings of grammatical units. Word division, for example, can be signalled by a complex of PITCH, STRESS, LENGTH and other features, as in the potential contrast between that stuff and that’s tough. In a SEGMENTAL phonological TRANSCRIPTION, these appear identical, , but there are several phonetic modifications which can differentiate them in speech. In that stuff the /s/ is strongly ARTICULATED and the /t/ is unaspirated, whereas in that’s tough the /s/ is relatively weak and the /t/ is ASPIRATED. In rapid speech such distinctions may disappear: they are only potentially CONTRASTIVE.

There have been several attempts to establish a typology of junctures. A commonly used distinction is between open or plus juncture (the features used at a word boundary, before silence), as illustrated in the above example (usually transcribed with a plus sign <+>), and close juncture (referring to the normal transitions between sounds within a word). To handle the special cases of an open transition within a word, as in co-opt, the notion of internal open juncture may be used. A more general distinction sometimes used to handle these possibilities is that between ‘open’ and ‘close’ transition.

In some American analyses of the INTONATION patterns of larger grammatical units than the word, several types of juncture are distinguished: single-bar or sustained juncture is recognized when the pitch pattern stays level within an UTTERANCE (transcribed with a single forward slash </> or a level arrow <→> ); double-bar or rising juncture is recognized when the pitch pattern rises before a silence (transcribed with a double slash <//> or a rising arrow <↗>); a terminal, double-cross, falling or fading juncture is recognized when the pitch pattern falls before a silence (transcribed with a double cross <#> or a falling arrow <↘>).

Juncture is used in ROLE AND REFERENCE GRAMMAR to describe that part of the grammar which deals with how sub-CLAUSAL units combine. It is seen in association with a theory of NEXUS – the type of SYNTACTIC relationship which obtains between the units in the juncture.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

ملتقى الكوثر الثالث يشهد عرض مشهد حواري بعنوان شريك العمر أم شريك الفكر؟

إقامة مسابقة (مرفأ النور) العلمية للمشاركات في فعاليات ملتقى الكوثر بنسخته الثالثة

ضمن ملتقى الكوثر الثالث.. ورشة تسلط الضوء على بناء الوعي القرآني لدى النساء

شعبة فاطمة بنت أسد (عليها السلام): ملتقى الكوثر منصةً لتحقيق وعي أسري مستند للقرآن الكريم

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

نظام غذائي شائع قد يؤدي إلى ارتفاع الكوليسترول الضار

تحذيرات هامة من عواقب تناول "أيبوبروفين" مع أدوية شائعة

علامات مبكرة للإيبولا يمكن الخلط بينها وبين الإنفلونزا

خبراء: الفيروسات مثل هانتا وإيبولا أصبحت أكثر شيوعا وفتكاً

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

الليلة.. هلال القمر يلتقي كوكبي الزهرة والمشتري

إيلون ماسك يخسر دعواه القضائية أمام أوبن إيه.آي

مهمة فضائية "أوروبية صينية" لكشف أسرار الرياح الشمسية

انتهاء رحلة "السفينة الموبوءة".. وهذا مصير من بقي على متنها

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Phonological constraints

Phonotactic constraints

Words and Lexemes Summary

Phonological words

Phrasal affixes

Simple clitics Bound words

Types of clitics

What is a “word?”

Metathesis

Modifications of phonological features Mutation

Spelling and Pronunciation SUMMARY

American English vs. British English