English Pronunciation Worksheet Page 19
ADVERTISEMENT
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28Sentence rhythm
Intonation I
Stress, rhythm and intonation are, if anything,
Stressed syllables are louder and higher and
more important for communication than the
longer than the unstressed ones. e.g. Chinese,
correct pronunciation of individual sounds. The
Tonic is the syllable of greatest stress within an
competition, politics, etc.
utterance. It is also the syllable where most
The rule to remember: Within each phrase,
"movement" occurs. A sentence with the Tonic at
stresses come at regular intervals of time.
the end will look like this, the voice rising on each
Here are three groups of numbers of different
stressed syllable and the falling slightly below the
lengths on the paper, but which should take
pitch it was at before:
the same amount of time to say:
A farmer went trotting upon his grey mare.
two
four
twenty
forty
two hundred
four hundred
The whole sentence seems to be dropping like a
His
new
book's
quite
good
series
of small waterfalls towards the Tonic.
his
latest
novel's a dis-
tinct suc-
cess
This is called the "rise-fall" intonation pattern.
an out- standing
bution to con-
temporary
literature
contri-
If the Tonic is the last syllable in the sentence, the
voice will slide from high to low within that
syllable
.
Elise's hair is green!
I bought some food.
Jane's away.
Chris: I like your hat, Elise.
Elise: That isn't my hat, it's my hair.
Chris: Your hair? You can't have hair
If there are one or more unstressed syllables after
the Tonic, the voice drops on the following
like that. Elise, it's brilliant green!
syllable and there is no further movement until the
Elise: Old women can dye their hair
end of the phrase or sentence.
blue. There are plenty who paint
I thought I saw a burglar.
their nails red.
Chris: That's not the same at all. They
only stress what nature meant.
I thought I saw an alligator.
Green is... green is.... I cannot find
the words.
This pattern is used for statements and for
Elise: Unnatural - is that what you
"wh-"-questions (what, when, where, which,
mean? An appendix operation is,
who, whom, whose, why, and - a bit of a cheat -
too. And as for transplanting a
how)-
heart.....!And I love all my
emerald hair!
There is also a plain "falling" pattern, in which
Chris: What does Peter think?
does not rise on the Tonic but remains flat and
then falls either within the final syllable or on the
Elise: Oh Christopher! Didn't you know?
following one:
Why, his hair is purple and red!
I feel sick
It's snowing.
The difference between this and the first pattern is
that if you use the second you will sound
distinctly bored or, at the very least, lacking in
enthusiasm.
19
ADVERTISEMENT
0 votes
Related Articles
Related forms
Related Categories
Parent category: Education