Elision

I. Practise saying the following examples:

friends just now

Westminster next day

sounds last chance

exactly just one

mostly cold lunch

kindness first light

friendship cold smile

last night old man

next stop

II. Drop [t], [d] in consonant clusters and [h] from unstressed pronouns and auxiliaries within an utterance:

1. He looks too old for his age.

2. Did he lift his handbag by himself?

3. When I just saw him he was a handsome man.

4. What did he take for breakfast?

5. I’ll cut some sandwiches for us.

6. How long did it take him to reach the station?

7. What did his wife do when he entered the kitchen?

8. His wife gave him his breakfast.

9. Is he going with us?

10. Don’t you think she might have gone home?

11. Both her father and mother are teachers.

12. The landscape doesn’t change much in winter.

13. I saw her grandmother last night.

14. The old man is keen on gardening.

15. I rang him up last night but there wasn’t anyone in.

4. Intonation

Every language has melody in it; no language is spoken on the same musical note all the time. The voice goes up and down and the different notes of the voice combine to make tunes. In English the tune belongs to the word group. We can say a word group definitely or we can say it hesitantly, we can say it angrily or kindly, we can say it with interest or without interest, and these differences are largely made by the tunes we use: the words do not change their meaning but the tune we use adds something to the words, and what it adds is the speaker’s feelings at that moment; this way of using tunes is called intonation.

Intonation is a complex unity of speech melody, sentence-stress, voice quality (timbre), speech tempo, rhythm.

These features vary in their relevance. Speech melody remains the most central component of intonation but all the other components are included into the definition of intonation too.

English intonation is English; it is not the same as the intonation of any other language. Some people imagine that intonation is the same for all languages, but this is not true. You must learn the shapes of the English tunes, and these may be quite different from the normal tunes of your own language; and you must learn the meanings of the English tunes too, because they are important.

4.1. Graphical Representation of Intonation and Basic Notions

The information conveyed by a sentence is expressed not only by its lexical and grammatical structure but also by intonation.

The term ‘intonation’ implies:

1) variations in pitch;

2) utterance stress;

3) tempo;

4) rhythm;

5) pausation;

6) timbre.

Intonation may be shown in the line of text and on the scales (staves).

a) To mark the intonation in the line of text we use Roger Kingdon’s stress-mark system, which consists of vertical stress marks to indicate stressed syllables and slant marks (\ /) above and below the line of print to show the final tones.

b) We use Lily Armstrong’s system of dots for unstressed syllables, dashes for stressed syllables and slant marks (curves) for final tones to indicate intonation on the scales. A downward curve represents the final fall and an upward curve represents the final rise.

Each tone group has its own pitch-and-stress pattern. Generally three pitch levels are distinguished: low, medium, high.

The pitch range is the interval between two pitch levels. Pitch ranges may be normal, wide and narrow.

We distinguish certain elements in the pitch-and-stress pattern of every intonation group.

A pre-head. It is initial unstressed syllables. It may be low and high. A low pre-head consists of unstressed syllables pronounced at a low pitch. It is used frequently and considered neutral. A high pre-head is pronounced at a high pitch and makes the utterance sound emotional.

A head. It is the first stressed syllable in the utterance. It may be low and high. A low head introduces ascending scale and a high head introduces descending scale.

A scale. It is a series of stressed and unstressed syllables beginning with the first stressed syllable up to the last stressed syllable.

Scales may be a) according to their general pitch direction level, descending (the stressed syllables are gradually descending) and ascending (the stressed syllables are gradually ascending);

b) according to the direction of pitch movement within and between syllables descending scales may be falling, stepping, gliding (sliding) and scandent.

Study the diagram.

1. falling scale

2. stepping scale

3. gliding (sliding) scale

4. scandent scale

Look at the examples:

1. Falling scale:

The year is di'vided into 'four seasons.

2. Stepping scale:

Pity 'Peter 'couldn’t come.

3. Sliding (gliding) scale.

Don’t 'speak 'too soon.

4. Scandent scale.

What a 'pretty 'little house.

Ascending scales may be stepping, sliding and scandent.

Study the diagram.

1. stepping scale

2. sliding scale

3. scandent scale

Look at the examples:

1 . Stepping scale.

I could hardly be'lieve my eyes.

2. Sliding scale.

It’s such a 'pity that you 'can’t come.

3. Scandent scale.

Why 'haven’t you ar'rived in time?

Level scales may be high, mid, low.

Study the diagram.

Look at the example:

H igh level scale.

What 'fine weather !

Descending scales. Utterances pronounced with the descending scale express interest, they sound friendly. The descending scale is the commonest scale used with all the English tones.

Look at the example :

How do you pro'nounce this word ?

The ascending scale is regarded as a feature of emotional speech. It is used in many cases to express a negative attitude, irritation, indignation and anger. It is also used to express surprise, interest, protest.

Look at the examples:

Don’t 'stand by 'that window .

I could hardly be'lieve my eyes .

Why 'haven’t you ar'rived in time .

The nucleus. It is the last stressed syllable in the pattern pronounced with a tone. At present we operate with nine tones in the system of O’Connor and Arnold.

Study the diagram.

L-F H-F R-F L-R H-R F-R

All falling tones sound complete, categoric, laconic. Rise-Fall makes the utterance rather expressive. It exists in a kind of mocking or envious remarks. High Fall expresses liveliness, polite and friendly interest, personal involvement and sometimes mild surprise. Rising tones sound non-final and incomplete. Something is left unsaid. These tones mean continuation. The Low Rise is used in ordinary speech. The Low Rise and Fall Rise are synonymous, but Fall Rise is more emotional and it shows contrast and contradiction.

Look at the examples:

As far as I know

As far as I know

The High Rise is used in echoing questions.

What ?

Level tones are presented by Low Level, Mid Level and High Level tones.