A. Theory # Organs of speech

one more [ ]  [ ]

Elision is the missing out of the consonant or vowel or both in informal spoken or rapid speech, whereas liaision is the linking of a sound to another in informal speech.

Eg. today [] - // is disappeared (elision)

Eg. come in [] set up [] (liaision)

Liaision is the phenomenon in which a sound is linked to another in informal speech.

Eg. come in [] (final consonant + initial vowel)

my turn [:] (final vowel + initial consonant)

Eg. good morning [ ]  [ ];

one more [ ]  [ ]

- Progressive assimilation: C^f  Cⁱ

Eg. in the [ ]  [ ]

 Assimilation of place of articulation:

Alveolar (/t, d, n/) + bilabial (/p, b, m/)  bilabial

/t/ + /p, b, m/  /p/ right place [ ]  [ ]

/d/ + /p, b, m/  /b/ good boy [ ]  [ ]

/n/ + /p, b, m/  /m/ ten men [ ]  [ ]

Alveolar (/t, d, n/) + velar (/, /)  velar

/t/ + /, /  // white coat [ ]  [ ]

/d/ + /, /  // bad guy [ ]  [ ]

/n/ + /, /  // one cup [ ]  [ ]

Alveolar (/s, z/) + palato-alveolar (//) / palatal (//)  palato-alveolar

/s/ + /, /   this year [ ]  [ ];

nice shoes [ :]  [ :]

/z/ + /, /   those shops [ ]  [ ]

 Assimilation of manner of articulation:

Plosive (/t, d/) + fricative (/s, z/) / nasal (/n/)  fricative / nasal

/t, d/ + /s/  /s/ that side [ ]  [ ]

good song [ ]  [ ]

/t, d/ + /z/  /z/ that zoo [ ]  [ ]

bad zone [ ]  [ ]

/t, d/ + /n/  /n/ hot night [ ]  [ ]

good night [ ]  [ ]

Plosive / nasal (/t, d, n/) + fricative (//)  plosive / nasal

/t, d, n/ + //  /t, d, n/ get them [ ]  [ ]

read these [ ]  [ ]

in the [ ]  [ ]

 Assimilation of voicing in consonant:

Lenis (voiced) /, , /  fortis (voiceless) /, , /  +   ;  +   ;  +   

tomb place [ ]  [ ]

bad toy [ ]  [ ]

big car [ :]  [ :]

Note: fortis + lenis  no assimilation.

Elision is the missing out of a consonant or vowel or both in informal spoken English or in rapid speech in English.

 Consonant:

Plosive + plosive + plosive / fricative  the middle plosive will disapprear

Eg. looked back [ ]; acts []

// + plosive / nasal / fricative  //

Eg. last time [: ] last night [: ] last song [: ]

// + plosive / nasal / fricative  //

Eg. left door [ ] left mountain [ ] laft shoe [ :]

// + nasal / lenis (voiced) plosive  //

Eg. kind nurse [ :] canned bacon [ ]

// + nasal / lenis (voiced) plosive  //

Eg. skimmed milk [ ] seemed good [: ]

Loss of // in ‘of’ + consonant

Eg. lots of them

 Vowel:

Fortis plosive aspirated + weak vowel /, /  /, / will disappear

Eg. today [] potato []

Weak vowel (/, /) + /, , /  /, , / become syllabic consonant

Eg. tonight [] delight []

8. Types of liaision:

Liaision: is the a phenomemon in which a sound is linked to another in informal speech

 Final consonant + initial vowel:

Eg. come in []

 Final vowel + initial vowel:

Eg. my turn [:]

 Final vowel + initial vowel:

Eg. the end []

 Final // + initial vowel:

Eg. her own [:]

 Intrusive //: letter ‘a’ + vowel:

Eg. media event [:]

r
B. Practice:

Good girl [ :]  [ :]

[] is chosen for the substitution for [] because they have the same place of articulation; there for the articulation is simplified.

Principle: alveolar + velar  velar

a. this sharp pen is mine, and that pen is your

[ :   ,     ]

 [ :  ,    ]

- [ :]  [ :]: // is assimlated into // as: alveolar + palato-alveolar  palato-alveolar

- []: the linking between final consonant and initial vowel

- [ ]  [ ]: // is assimilated into //as: plosive + fricative  plosive

- [  ]  [ ]: the linking between final consonant // and initial vowel //; the assimilation between // and //: alveolar + palatal  palatal alveolar

b. ten boys meet and said good morning

[  :    ]

 [  :   ]

- [ ]  [ ]: // is assimilated into //: alveolar + bilabial  bilabial

- [:]: the linking between final consonant and initial vowel

- [ ]  [ ]: // is assimilated into //: plosive + fricative  fricative

- [ ]  [ ]: // is assimilated into //: alveolar + velar  velar

- [ ]  [ ]: // is assimilated into //: alveolar + bilabial  bilabial

c. she acts particularly well in the first scene

[:      : :]

 [:    : :]

- [:]: the linking between final vowel and initial vowel; the elision of /t/: plosive + plosive + fricative

- []: // is missed out as standing after a fortis (voiceless) aspirated plosive

- []: linking between final consonant and initial vowel

- [ ]  [ ]: nasal + fricative  nasal

- [: :]  [: :]: //  // as it stands before fricative sound.

 Grammatical / syntactic function:

• 
  Stress is used to change the word class without changing in the writing of the word. (noun has stress on the first syllable and verb has stress on the second syllable)
  

transport [] (n) – transport [] (v)

• 
  Stress is used to distinguish compound words from a free combination of words (if the stress is on the first element – compound; if stress is on both elements – free combination)
  

• 
  Stress is used to indicate grammatical structure of the words
  

diplomacy [] (n) – skill in dealing with people

diplomatic [] (adj) – concerning diplomacy

 Emphasis function: stress is employed to give emphasis to word to to contrast word with another.

 Stress helps to form the intonation.

2. What is meant by “prominence of a stressed syllable” in English?

All stressed syllable have the one characteristic in common which is called prominence, means that this characteristic helps to distinguish stressed syllable from unstressed one.

The nature of English word stress includes four factors:

• 
  Loudness: stressed syllable is louder than unstressed one.
  
• 
  Length: stressed syllable is pronounced longer than unstressed one.
  
• 
  Pitch: stressed syllable has higher pitch than unstressed one.
  
• 
  Quality of neighbouring vowel: the vowel of stressed syllable is different from the others
  

 Two-syllable words:

• 
  Verbs:
  

• 
  Stress is marked on the second syllable if it contain a long vowel or diphthong or ends with more than one consonants.
  

• 
  Stress is on the first syllable if final syllable contains short vowel and one (or no) consonant.
  

• 
  Stress is placed on the first syllable if the final syllable contain diphthong “”.
  

• 
  Adjective, adv, preposition: same rule to verbs
  

• 
  Nouns:
  
  • 
    Stress is on the first syllable if second syllable contains a short vowel
    

• 
  Stress is marked on second syllable if it contain long vowel or diphthong
  

• 
  Noun and verb with identical spelling: stress is on the first syllable if it is noun and stress is on the second syllable if it is verb
  

export [] (n) - [] (v)

 Three-syllable words:

• 
  Verbs:
  
  • 
    Stress is placed on the middle (second) syllable if final syllable contains a short vowel or ends with not more than one consonant.
    

• 
  Stress is on the final syllable if it contains a long vowel or diphthong or ends with more than one consonant.
  

• 
  Nouns and Adjectives:
  

Eg. disaster [:] potato [] discover []

convenient [:]

+ Stress is on the first syllable if: final syllable contains a short vowel and the middle syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant.

Eg. quantity [] cinema [] custody []

opportune [:] generous []

+ If final syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong or end with more than one consonant, stress is usually on the first syllable and the final syllable is said to have secondary stress.

Eg. entellect [] alkali [] marigold []

 Verbs ending in “-ate”:

- Two-syllable verb: stress is on the second syllable

Eg. donate [] relate []

- Three-syllable verbs: stress is on the first syllable

Eg. dominate [] calculate []

- More than three syllables: stress is on the sencond one

Eg. investigate [] anticipate [] communicate

 Adjective ending in “-ative”:

- Two and three-syllable adj: stress is on the first syllable

Eg. attractive []

- More than three syllable: stress is on the original place

Eg. communicative [:]

 Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves (secondary stress is on the first syllable):

- ‘-ee’: employee [:] transferee [::]

- ‘-eer’: engineer [] volunteer []

- ‘-ese’: vietnamese [::] japanese [:]

- ‘-ette’: cigarette []

- ‘-esque’: picturesque []

 Suffixes that do not affect stress placement:

- ‘-able’: comfort [] comfortable []

- ‘-age’: marry [] marriage []

- ‘-al’: approve [:] approval [:]

- ‘-en’: dark [:] darken [:]

- ‘-ful’: wonder [] wonderful []

- ‘-ing’: amaze [] amazing []

- ‘-ish’: book [] bookish [] (for Adjs or Vs with more than one syllable: stress is always on the syllable preceding ‘-ish’ eg. demolish []

- ‘-like’: bird [:] birdlike [:]

- ‘-less’: power [] powerless []

- ‘-ly’: careful [] carefully []

- ‘-ment’: punish [] punishment []

- ‘-ness’: homeless [] homelessness []

- ‘-ous’: poison [] poisonous []

- ‘-fy’: glory [] glorify []

- ‘-wise’: clock [] clockwise []

- ‘-y’ (Adjs or Ns): fun [] funny []

 Suffixes that influence the stem (attract stress to the syllable preceeding them):

- ‘-enous’: advantage [:] advantageous []

- ‘-graphy’: photo [] photography []

- ‘-ial’: adverb [:] adverbial [:]

- ‘-ic’: diplomat [] diplomatic []

- ‘-ion’: graduate [] graduation []

- ‘-ious’: injure [] injurious [] ambitious []

- ‘-ty’: equal [:] equality [:]

- ‘-ive’: impulse [] impulsive []

 Suffixes: ‘-ance’, ‘-ant’ and ‘-ary’

- Single-syllable words: stress is on the stem

- More than one syllable stem: stress is on one of them (use the rules above)

+ If final syllable is strong (containing long vowel or diphthong): it has stress

Eg. importance []

+ Otherwise (containing short vowel), stress is on the syllable preceding the final one.

Eg. inheritance []

 Prefixes: stress in words with prefixes is governed bu the same rules as those for words without prefixes.

c. Stress on compound words

 Compounds = N + N: stress is on the first element

Eg. typewriter [] suitcase [:] newspaper [:]

 Compound = Adj + N_ed / Compound = Number + N: stress is on the final element

Eg. bad-tempered [] half-timbered [: ]

first-classs [::]

 Compounds functioning as adverbs: stress is on final element

Eg. North-East [:] downstream [:]

 Compounds functioning as verbs and having an adverbial first element (the first element is adv): stress is on final element

Eg. back-pedal [] up-grade []

(Note: “bad-tempered” [] but “a bad-tempered teacher” [ :])

d. Word-class pair

Two words (two-syllable) with identical spelling, one of them is V and the other is either a N or an Adj:

- If stress is on the second syllable: it is V

- If stress is on the first syllable: it is N or Adj

Eg. abstract [] (Adj) abstract [] (V)

contract [] (N) contract [] (V)

- blacksmith []: Compound = N+ N  stress on the first element

- walking-stick []: free combination of words

- non-government []: Stress on words with prefix is based on the rules for those without prefix

- hot-tempered []: Compound = Adj + N_ed  stress is on the final element

UNIT 8 INTONATION

A. Theory

1. English intonation and its function?

a. Definition

When speaking, people generally raise the pitch of their voice forming pitch pattern. They also give syllable in their utterances greater degree of loudness and change their speech rhythm. These phenomena are called intonation. In other words, intonation is the raises and falls in which level or pattern of pitch change.

• 
  Attitudinal function: Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak, and adds special “meaning” to spoken language.
  
• 
  Accentual function: Intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be perceived as stressed.
  
• 
  Grammatical function: The listener is better able to recognise the grammar and syntactic structure of what is being said byusing information contained in the intonation.
  
• 
  Discourse funtions: Intonation can signal to the listener what is to be taken as “new” information and what is already “given”
  

 Falling tune (intonation): 

• 
  Uses:
  

+ In imparative sentence (câu mệnh lệnh không có chủ ngữ)

+ Wh-question

- Rules:

+ The voice decends step-wise on each stressed syllable. Unstressed syllables are on the same level at the preceding stressed syllable.

+ To avoid monotomy, speaker can make his voice used of the convenience of stressed syllable, but not as high as stressed syllable

+ For long statement, break them into different tunes.

Eg. He goes to the cinema with her.

        

• 
  Uses:
  

+ Imparative as request or statement as remark of emotion

(Note: Trợ động từ trong câu hỏi Yes/No vẫn có stress)

Eg. Did you break the vase?

_  _  

Uses:

Eg. When he came, I asked him to wait

         

Eg. You can ask me, if necessary

         

+ Imply answer (agreement): statement: falling tune + tag: falling tune

Eg. It’s a nice day, isn’t it?

     

Eg. It’s a nice day, isn’t it?

     

• 
  Prehead: all stressed syllable before the first stressed syllable
  
• 
  Head: extends from the first stressed syllable up to the TS (not including TS)
  
• 
  Tonic Syllable: main stressed syllable on which pitch movement begins
  
• 
  Tail: the remained part (all unstressed syllable after TS)
  

PH  H  TS

I’m talking to a student now.

PH  H TS Tail

1. 
   Have you been to Mary’s wedding party? (raising tune – Yes/No question)
   

   _  _    -   

2. 
   You must take him home (falling tune – imperative)
   

     -  

3. 
   Get on with your dinner (falling tune – imperative)
   

       

4. 
   Shall I bring some sandwitches for you, too? (raising tune)
   

     -       

5. 
   Please sit down (falling tune – imperative)
   

     

6. 
   If you like, I’ll send the car for you (if-clause: raising tune + main clause: falling tune)
   

          