Conversation with Stress, Intonation & Pronunciation

CONVERSATION WITH STRESS, INTONATION & PRONUNCIATION

Energy Control

There are 4 basic ways that energy can be controlled when speaking a language.

1 Stress

We change the direction, pressure, and volume of air in our vocal tracts to make letter and word sounds. Stress is the amount of energy or effort that we use to make these changes. American English is a stress language. More stress, or more energy, is used to pronounce words that are more important in a sentence.

2 Rhythm

Have you ever tapped your foot when listening to music? You tap your foot to the rhythm or beat of the musical sounds. Sometimes the rhythm of the music is fast and sometimes it is slow. Spoken language also has rhythm. The rhythm of spoken words and sentences change as the amount of energy used to pronounce them changes.

3 Intonation

We change the pitch, or music, of our voice, to put emotion and meaning into our words and sentences. The intonation or pitch of our voice can go up or down or stay flat. Often, we change the intonation of our voice before (intonation goes up) and after (intonation goes down) we pronounce stressed words. More pronunciation energy is used when intonation is going up an less is used when intonation is going down.

4 Pause

We can add a pause, or a moment of silence, between words to add meaning and emotion to what we say. Pause = No pronunciation energy. There is a relationship; there is a connection, between stress, rhythm, intonation, and pause. Basic prosody is the study of these relationships and how they are used to add emotion and meaning to words and sentences.

CONVERSATION EXPRESSING FEELING

I'm beat!!!

Bradley:      That was one dozy of a trip.

Leroy:         I'm beat. Let's get a room and put our bikes away for good.

Bradley:      I'll rent a scooter so we can go exploring tomorrow.

Leroy:         Good. Because I wouldn't get on that bike again if my life depended on it. Bradley:

Come on, Le. It was fun.

Leroy:         No. Going to the beach tomorrow will be fun. That bike ride was torture. Bradley: All

right. Let's go get some rest. Leroy: I second that notion.

Explanation:

Beat - worn out, very tired

Example: I worked a 12 hour shift today. I'm beat so I'm going to just stay home tonight

Keep up with!!!

Glenn: Guys, you've been doing great. There are just a couple of more areas I'd like to show you.

Randall:       Are we going to look at paintings?

Glenn:         To tell the truth, that's one area I don't keep up with as much. Randall:

Why? Do they bore you?

Glenn:         Oh, not at all. It's just that the museum changes the exhibits every few months.

Randall:      I bet keeping up can be quite difficult.

Glenn:         Yeah, I never feel like I know enough about them.

Explanation: Keep up with - staying informed

Example:

The pace of change is so fast that we find it hard to keep up with the latest developments.