Friday, March 25, 2011 ASPIRATION Posted by lieni at 6:24 PM

Module: 9

Posted by: Lieni Immarie R. Monteron

Sources: 1. Speech and Oral Communication for College Students 

                      by Rafaela H. Diaz       

                2. http://www.latvianstuff.com/Aspirated_Unaspirated.html 
                3. htt//www.chumashlanguage.com/pronun/pronun-07-tx.html

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At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:

• Describe aspiration;
• Enumerate the three aspirated consonants;
• Produce the sound of the words with the aspirated consonants correctly.

             Refers to an explosive sound of breath brought about by a sudden release of air after the contact of parts of the speech mechanism. This puff of the air accompanies the utterance of a sound.

               /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated when they are found in initial position as in the following examples. Don’t forget /p/ is bilabial, /t/ is alveolar and /k/ is a velar.

                        Till                     pick             power

                        Keep                tree              table

                        Pool                 cook            car

                 /p/, /t/, /k/ are not aspirated when found in medial or in final position within the stream of speech. Observe the following:

Medial

                                               Apart                        city                      broker

                                                Opal                        party                   market

                                               Open                       water                   basket

                                              Apple                        matter                 bakery

                                             Company                   writing                 cycle

Final

                                               Dip                          tilt                   look

                                               Top                        not                   ask

                                             Stop                         bat                   pink

          
                 They are not aspirated in words: spill, skill, still. Neither /b/, /d/, /g/, the voiced counterpart of /p/, /t/, /k/, aspirated.

Example:

            Tick – dick                     trip – dip

             Palm – balm                 tuck – duck

            Come – gun                  post – boast

             The /t/ or /d/ in English is made by striking the tip of the tongue on the upper teeth ridge. Do not put the tongue between the teeth as you do in the vernacular. Let us practice.

                    Tell the teacher                        do a dance step

                    Trick or treat                            grade his work

                    Take a test                              good old days

Tongue Twister:

Good, better, best

Never let it rest

Till your good is better

And your better best

             Although most of the time English [p], [t], and [k] sounds are aspirated (i.e. have the puff of air), there are certain situations in which English speakers produced them without this puff of air. In English, these unaspirated consonants typically occur after an [s] which starts the same syllable. Here are some examples of each type:

Aspirated consonants		Unaspirated consonants
pin		spin
tall		stall
can		scan

                    You can clearly see the aspiration if you hold a lighted candle, or—and this is much safer—a thin strip of paper vertically in front of your mouth. Hold it fairly close to your lips and say pin. You should see the candle flame flicker or the strip of paper bend away from your lips.

                      If you don't see it either (a) you're holding it too far away from your mouth, or (b) you're not a native speaker of English. In the first case, adjust the distance so that the paper (candle) is closer to your lips, and try again. The air which exits from you mouth and bends the paper (or candle) is the puff of air linguists call aspiration.

                       Try this a few times until you have the paper (or candle) responding with a bend (or flicker) every time. Now, keeping the paper (or candle) at exactly the same distance from your lips, say the word spin. Either the paper won't move at all, or else it will bend much less than it did for pin. This absence of air movement indicates that the sound is unaspirated.

                       To practise producing an unaspirated [p], [t], or [k] sound, say a word like spin, stem, or skin very slowly. Say it more and more slowly until you consciously register how it feels to say an unaspirated consonant sound. Now say it slowly, but just "think" the [s] and don't actually say it out loud. Constantly check your pronunciation with the strip of paper (or candle) to make sure that you haven't reverted and are still saying an unaspirated sound.

Here are the conditions for aspiration in English:
	English p t ch and k are aspirated when they come at the beginning of a syllable that has the accent:  pin, tin, chin, kin.
	There's no aspiration if an S comes before the consonant in the same word:  pan : span, tan : Stan, can : scan
	There's no aspiration before unaccented syllables:  backup, dipper, master, thicker.
	Aspiration is optional when an accented syllable ends the word:  dump, thick, wait, watch, but setup, bucket, logic.
	Theres no aspiration when an unaccented syllable ends the word:  setup, bucket, logic.

Guide Questions:

Identify the following whether it is aspirated or not. Put A when it is aspirated and AU when it’s not.

1. talk                                         11. patient
2. put                                         12. ink
3. output                                   13. parent
4. came                                    14. book
5. income                                 15. care
6. walk                                     16. people
7. feet                                       17. person
8. pet                                        18. key
9. think                                     19. thanks
10. take                                      20. look

PHRASING Posted by lieni at 6:03 PM

Module: 8

Posted by: Lieni Immarie R. Monteron

Sources: 1. Functional Oral Communication by Perla C. Villamarzo, ET AL

                 2.

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 At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:

• Explain what phrasing is;
• Enumerate the purpose of the pauses;
• Discuss the classifications and sound of juncture.

                   Another means to achieve the rhythm in your speech is breaking or dividing an utterance into breath units or thought groups. This is called phrasing.

                   Utterances may be broken into phrases or thought units. Each unit contains words that belong together because they are closely related and are set off from the rest by a pause. Words and syllables in such phrases are blended into one another. This blending usually takes place when a word that ends with a consonant or vowel is followed by one that begins with a vowel.

This may be done for three purposes:

1. to catch one’s breath
2. to make meaning clear, and
3. to emphasized an idea

               Once learned, proper phrasing improves one’s rhythm of speech. Observe how words and syllables are blended into one another with in the following groups of words.

Has its own music cup of tea

And if an adult think it over

It is as if work it out

Not as well trial and error

              The following practice selection is marked with single and double diagonal lines to indicate pauses. The rhythm pause (/) is a short pause. The thought pause (//) is a longer pause making the end of a thought unit.

Examples:

              Each language / has its own music / with characteristic cadence / rhythm / and inflection// and if an adult is to learn to speak a new language correctly / he must give full value too these peculiar qualities.// It is as if he were learning to play/ a musical instrument.//

Guide Questions:

              Put a diagonal line with in each sentence below. Single diagonal (/) when it indicates short pauses, double (//) when it indicates long pauses.

1. When we communicate, we must focus on our message.
2. Effective body language contributes to clarity and impasses in communication.
3. An effective speech stimulates the mind, tickles the funny bone and touches the heart.

JUNCTURE OR PAUSES Posted by lieni at 5:38 PM

Module: 7

Posted by: Lieni Immarie R. Monteron

Sources: 1. Speech and Oral Communication for College 

                     Students by Rafaela H. Diaz

                 2. efcom by Milagros Castillo-Espina

                 3. http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id

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             At the end of the module, the learners are expected to:

• Identify what juncture is;
• Differentiate juncture and pauses;
•  Discuss the commonly used tunes in intonation pattern.

      People can usually distinguish the word juncture in contrastive twins of word pairs such as play nice and plain ice. We can see many features which differ between the twins in spectrograms, but observation alone cannot tell us which features ate important to the perception of juncture. The contributions of pitch, amplitude, timing, and segmental features to juncture perception were studied as follows. Parametric representations of twins XY were obtained by analyzing natural speech, and the above features were exchanged between the twins in a complete factorial design. A feature f was considered important for juncture perception if exchanging fX and Y also caused perception to be exchanged; that is, listeners heard Y when presented with X possessing feature f of Y, and vice versa. Listeners' responses indicated that all the features were important, but the importance of any particular feature or set of features depended on the juncture consonant. Features also interacted prominently for some consonants  and between

Junctures and pauses are just the same they are both the stop of speaking.

Juncture – is a pause or slightly delay in a continuous flow of speech

Pauses – are intervals of silence between or with in words, phrases or sentences.

This silence is an effective communicative tool if used sparingly. For better effect, pausing to breathe must be done at natural breaks in the sentences where commas and full stops would be in written prose. This provides a further benefits since relaxed breathing regulates the oxygen supply to the brain and aids clear thinking.

A.Classification:

1.Close juncture – is movement from sound to sound which has no intervening pauses or delay.

2.Open juncture – is movement which is not continuous. There is a slight stoppage of the last sound till it blends with the next.

B.Sound:

1.with in a syllable:

          man                 ear                clear                    bed

2.from syllable to syllable with in a word:

                        lady                 shadow                    faith-full

                        man-ly            plen-ty                       live-ly

3.from word to word:

              a)From one consonant to another: plosive to plosive: hot day (First plosive is held briefly, then exploded as part of the second).

              b)From plosive to continuant: plosive is not exploded before the continuant but becomes part of the latter.

Hot water without money

            c)From t to th /&/: th th /or/ should be sounded more prominently.

Ex. At the store, them, through thick and thin.

            d)From consonant to a vowel: the plosive is exploded blending with the vowel.

Ex. Stop it.

             It is continuous with some continuants.

Ex. Pull out.

            e)From vowel to vowel: a momentary glide consonant is likely to link them together.

Ex. Do it                    trying                    see us                    know it

          w                         y                             y                                w

            f) The linking “r”- transition: when a syllable ends with a vowel (followed by “r”) the /r/ sound s links them together.

Ex. Star of the show moreover,

Activity:

Say the following:

1.Plosive to plosive:

A good team, the black table, on a dark day, blood bank, the sick baby, hard times.

2. Plosive – Continuant;

With a big smile, to keep late hours, old land lord, picnic supper, next month.

3. From t or d to the /or/:

Right there, about that time, tasted the pie, third theme.

4. Vowel to vowel:

My own book, every actor, flew away, with a cry of joy, the creation.

5. Consonant – Vowel:

Made it up, a cup of tea, slept an hour, some of us, an orange, in a minute, keep it up, broke a leg, a bag of apples.

6. Linking “r” transition:

Forever and ever, where and when, faster and faster, our uncle, poor orphan.

Guide Questions:

Read the following pairs. Tell the difference in meaning between each pair.

1.The president, said the secretary, is busy.

The president said, the secretary is busy.

2.Who is calling, Jingky?

Who is calling Jingky?

3.Are you leaving my child?

Are you leaving, my child?

Increase your “tonal vocabulary” through these exercises.

1.Imagine yourself in each of these situations.

Say “what’s the matter” using changing in pitch, tempo, force, pauses, and voice quality.

a)A friend is found crying.

b)There is commotion in the classroom.

c)A colleague stubbornly insists on a proposal you strongly dislike.

d)Somebody finds faults with you

2.Say ‘yes” to the following:

a)You’re happy about it.

b)You’re excited about it

c)You’re not sure of it

d)You’re forced into it

e)You’re afraid of it

f)You’re angry at it

Thursday, March 24, 2011 INTONATION Posted by lieni at 3:16 AM

Module: 6
Posted by: Lieni Immarie R. Monteron
Sources: 1. EFCOM by Milagros Castillo-Espina
                 2. Speech for Effective Communication by 
                         by Mely M. Padilla and ET AL

                 3. Effective Speech Communication in Various Situation

                            by Judy Imelda Igoy and Apolinario S. Saymo

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At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:

• Describe intonation;
• Identify the basic intonation patters;
• Determine the commonly used tunes in intonation pattern.

ntonation refers to the tune or melodic flow of pattern of what we say. There is a notable rise and fall of the pitch level. This is determined by the mind and attitude of the speaker, and partly by the grammatical structure of his speech. The low, normal and high are most commonly used tunes in intonation patterns of Standard American English. Extra high tune is used only when expressing extreme fear, anger, surprise or excitement.

            A shifting occurs when there is a movement from one tune to another that takes place between syllables. Sometime the voice slides from one tune to another while a syllable are spoken. This movement is called a glide.

The Basic Intonation Patterns

1. Rising – Falling Intonation or 2-3-1
2. Rising Intonation or 2-3-3
3. Non-final Intonation or 2-3-2

Rising – Falling Intonation or 2-3-1

            The tone of the rising-falling intonation moves from normal to high and then moves down to low as in the following patterns:

                                                            high

                                    normal

                                                                        low

            There are two types of rising-falling intonation:

a)     shift – the movement from one tone to another;

-         indicated by a straight vertical line

-         it is shift when the stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable or syllables.

                                                            high

                                    normal              3

                                    2                                  low

                                                                        1

Ex.                   Where is your son’s office?            

                                     2                      3   1        

Glide – movement within a syllable is marked by a diagonally- curbed line called   inflection. When the stressed syllable is the last words in the sentence, inflection is used. The vowel is prolonged in an inflection in order that the pitch change may be distinctly heard.

He’s in town

      2    3   1

This type of intonation patter is normally used at the end of the following sentences:

1. Declarative sentences

This is my sister.

                              2           3   1

2. Imperative sentences or commands

Close the window.

                               2          3   1

3. Special questions that begin with interrogative words such as what, who, why, etc. are used in questions that can’t be answered by yes or no.

Who is coming?

                           2          3     1

Rising Intonation or 2-3-3

            The tone of voice moves from normal to high.

1. This is used at the end of questions which do not begin with interrogatives, but which may be answered by yes or no.

Are you ill?                             Will you come?

                              2      3                                      2         3

2. Slow and deliberate counting

  One                 two                   three                       

             2   3                 2  3                   2    3

3. enumeration

   Amy                                       Lady

                        2    3                                   2     3

Falling Intonation or 3-1

            Begins with a high a tune (3) and ends on a low one (1). This pattern is used in one word and short command and in counting off numbers.

Example:       

                        Dive                run                   get it

                        3   1                3   1                  3      1

Nonfinal Intonation or 2-3-2

                    Nonfinal intonation varies from speaker to speaker with little corresponding variation in meaning. In normal speech, intonation is heard not only at the end of the sentence but also in the sentence itself.

               The nonfinal pattern may be used in the situation below in the combination with the rising-falling (2-3-1) or rising (2-3-3) intonation patterns.

1. In a function or content words which are specially stressed that precede the last stressed word.

 Example:                 

                                    Are they ready to sing?

                                      2      3          2         3

2. In comparison and contrast

Example:

                                   I’m looking for a blue book not a red book.

                                               2               3           2         3       1

3. On sentences where two or more thought groups are divided by short pauses.

Example:

                                   If she leaves now, you have to go with her.

                                              2        3                   2              3       1

Guide Questions:

            Mark the intonation of each sentence. First put the high note in proper place; then fill in next the rising-falling pattern.

1. The lady smiles enigmatically.
2. Let us meet at the canteen.
3. What shall we order?
4. Where is the waiter?
5. Do you know what you want?
6. May I see the menu?
7. Will you have an appetizer?
8. I’ll take the regular dinner.
9. We have enough time to finish.
10. Bring us the bill later.

PITCH Posted by lieni at 3:10 AM

Module: 5

Posted by: Lieni Immarie R. Monteron

Sources: 1. EFCOM by Milagros Casitllo-Espina

                 2. Speech and Oral Communication for College Student 

                       by Rafaela H. Diaz

 

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At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:

• Describe pitch;
• Identify the different pitch level;
• Determine the length and thickness of speech

Pitch- is the relative position of a tone in a scale.

-         Refers to the highness or lowness of the voice when speaking.

-         Is a complex, variable and interrelated phenomenon which combines with consonants and vowels to produce the stream of sound that is language.

-         Refers the size and shape of the resonators and the tension of the vocal cords.

Pitch is determined by the length and thickness of the vocal cords. It depends on the frequency at which your vocal cords vibrate. When it is stretched, it vibrates with a higher frequency and voice becomes shriller. When they contract, they vibrate with a lower frequency, and the voice goes deeper.

Different pitch level:

                                                                        4          Extra high

                                                3             High

                        2          normal

1                 low        

            Some exercises to correct your pitch range:

1. Practice changing pitch.

Say and do the following:

I can make my voice go higher and higher.

I can make my voice go lower and lower.

2. Practice changing pitch up and down with in the space of a few words. The word made bold has a raised pitch.

I will help you.

            I will help you.

                        I will help you.

                                    I will help you.

Guide Questions:

            Say the sentence in different pitch level.

                                    I love you.

1. Raise your voice high in I.

2. Raise your voice high in Love.

3. Raise your voice high in You.