Delayed Pitch Peak
#3 in the Dialog Prosody series http://www.cs.utep.edu/nigel/patterns/ Nigel Ward, March 2016
Objectives: teach students to recognize delayed pitch peak, make them aware of its use for
various pragmatic functions, teach them how to produce it
Audience: intermediate to advanced
Duration: 20-50 minutes
In a syllable, the pitch peak can be aligned with the energy peak, or delayed.
Aligned:
Delayed:
pitch
pitch
energy
energy
In normal speech most pitch peaks are aligned.
Delayed pitch peak is common when






Suggesting
Offering
Inviting
Agreeing with reservations
Wondering
etc.
Exercises:
 In threes: One student makes suggestions to another on how to “make-over” his or her
appearance; the third observes and then comments on politeness etc. Then they change
roles.
 Split the class. In one half, give each student a half-dozen perler beads of assorted colors,
then have them to go around and trade until they have 4 of the same color. The other half
observes what offers sound polite and/or are effective. Report out and discussion. Then
the two halves switch roles.
File location: http://www.cs.utep.edu/nigel/patterns/dpp-summary.docx
University of Texas at El Paso