THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PROSODY IN PHONOLOGY COMPARING ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES
Abstract
Prosody, encompassing stress, intonation, and rhythm, plays a crucial role in distinguishing meaning and structure in language. English, a stress-timed language, uses variable lexical stress and pitch modulation to signal questions or emphasis. In contrast, Uzbek, a syllable-timed language, exhibits fixed final-syllable stress and relies less on intonation, instead using grammatical particles. English prosody contributes to syntactic distinctions (e.g., rising pitch for interrogatives), while Uzbek depends more on morphological markers. These differences highlight broader typological contrasts: English’s Germanic stress-based rhythm versus Uzbek’s Turkic syllable-based regularity. Understanding these prosodic variations is essential for second language acquisition, as Uzbek learners may struggle with English stress patterns, and English speakers may overemphasize pitch in Uzbek. Additionally, prosody influences speech perception and discourse structure, making it a key area in phonological research. This comparison underscores how prosodic systems reflect deeper linguistic traits, shaping communication strategies across languages.
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