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Lecture 5 (last, but not least)

Lecture 5 (last, but not least). English "Prosody" or Phrasing (Putting It All Together). So far, we have talked about the SOUNDS of English (individual vowels, consonants); We have also talked a little bit about WORDS (syllables and word stress).

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Lecture 5 (last, but not least)

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  1. Lecture 5(last, but not least) English "Prosody" or Phrasing (Putting It All Together) Hilton

  2. So far, we have talked about the SOUNDS of English (individual vowels, consonants); We have also talked a little bit about WORDS (syllables and word stress). Hilton

  3. Before we end these lecture sessions, we must also talk about what happens in connected speech – that is, when you put the sounds and words together in sentences, or utterances. (an utterance = a spoken phrase) Hilton

  4. Course booklet, pages 29-40: • WORD STRESS (30-34) • SENTENCE STRESS (35-36) • NEUTRALIZATION (or WEAK FORMS) (37-38) • INTONATION & PAUSE UNITS (39-40) Hilton

  5. Prosody(phrasing) Course booklet, pages 29-40: • SENTENCE STRESS (35-36) • NEUTRALIZATION (WEAK FORMS) (37-38) • INTONATION & PAUSE UNITS (39-40) The non-phonological aspects of pronunciation Hilton

  6. WORD STRESS: stressed vowels As you know, in every English word of more than one syllable, one syllable is stressed... The vowel sound in the stressed syllable is: • longer • louder • higher in pitch Hilton

  7. WORD STRESS: unstressed vowels • The other vowels in the word are (by definition) unstressed. • Unstressed vowels in an English word are often neutralized – their pronunciation is reduced. What is the name of the IPA symbol that's highlighted in yellow here? Hilton

  8. Unstressed Vowels • Most of the time, an unstressed vowel in English is pronounced as a "schwa" • As you saw in the lesson this week, many English suffixes also contain the /I/ sound. -ing -ain -est -ace, etc. (booklet, p. 12) Hilton

  9. banana • breakfast • another • necessity • occur • syllable Hilton

  10. banana • breakfast • another • necessity • occur • syllable Hilton

  11. banana • breakfast • another • necessity • occur • syllable Hilton

  12. banana • breakfast • another • necessity • occur • syllable Hilton

  13. banana • breakfast • another • necessity • occur • syllable Hilton

  14. banana • breakfast • another • necessity • occur • syllable Hilton

  15. IMPORTANT!! • Schwa is NEVER the sound of a stressed English vowel! • You will never find schwa in a stressed syllable. Hilton

  16. Frequently the sound of unstressed English vowels. • But NOT ALWAYS! • hotel • maintain • dictate Hilton

  17. Now, let's look at... sentences individual words A group of words, organized according to syntactic rules, that expresses (at least one) idea. Hilton

  18. SENTENCE STRESS: In normal spoken sentences, certain words stand out from the others. Listen – which ones stand out? In normalsentences, certainwordsstand out from the others. These are the KEY CONTENT WORDS. Hilton

  19. SENTENCE STRESS: CONTENT WORDS are stressed in normal speech: • nouns • verbs • adjectives • adverbs • wh- words (interrogatives) meaning Where could he have put that book he was talking about? Hilton

  20. SENTENCE STRESS: Unstressed words in sentences tend to be words that fulfill a GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION: • articles • prepositions • pronouns • auxiliary verbs • conjunctions Wherecould he have put thatbookhe wastalkingabout? Hilton

  21. SENTENCE STRESS: These unstressed FUNCTION WORDS (grammatical words) are frequently "neutralized": • the vowel sound is reduced to schwa • occasionally a consonant sound may even disappear... booklet, pp. 37-38 Hilton

  22. SENTENCE STRESS: It takes MUCH LESS TIME to say a neutralized word than a stressed word. Many function words can take the same amount of time to say as a single key word: TIMEWISE, Sal might have forgotten it. = Salforgot. Booklet, p. 36. Hilton

  23. SENTENCE STRESS: The alternance between stressed and "neutralized" words gives English its rhythm. English is called a "stress-timed" language: word stress is the basic unit of rhythm (for poetry, music, etc.). French is a "syllable-timed" language: the syllable is the basic unit of rhythm (what is the definition of an alexandrain…?) Hilton

  24. SENTENCE STRESS: Stress-timed rhythm: how many stressed syllables in each line? (the number of words or syllables doesn't necessarily matter) I was 'angry with my 'friend; (7 syllables)I told my 'wrath, my wrath did 'end. (8 syllables)I was 'angry with my 'foe;I told it 'not, my wrath did 'grow. William Blake Hilton

  25. PAUSE UNITS: In spoken language, we don't have punctuation. We have pauses, sentence stress, and intonation, to tell us what the speaker considers most important. The chunk of language between two pauses is called a pause unit. These are the basic units of spoken language. Hilton

  26. PAUSE UNITS: Most pause units contain only one or two stressed words. Sentence stress usually falls towards the END of an English pause unit. Intonation usually drops at the end of the pause unit, as well. Hilton

  27. English Phrasing (Prosody) • We will not have much time to work on this. • To be practiced in semester 2, LEA 2, etc. Hilton

  28. RETURN TO CONSONANTS: -final consonants are (almost) always pronounced, in English. [Very different from French!] (booklet, p. 27) - silent consonants: booklet, p. 28 (you mmust learn all of these words) Hilton

  29. FINAL WORDS: Pronunciation is a "motor skill" (involving muscles + brain) Expertise in making the sounds of English properly requires: practice practice practice ! Hilton

  30. We are VERY SORRY about all the technical problems in room 13-114... they may finally be solved!! Hilton

  31. Thank you. Hilton

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