Stress, Rhythm, and Intonation

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Stress, Rhythm,and Intonation
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The Expression of the Week

• Lets put that on the
• back burner
• for now.
• means . . .

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• Lets ignore that right now
• and come back to it later.
• OR
• Lets make that a low priority.

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• This expression comes from
• putting a pot on the
• back burner of a stove
• to keep the contents warm.

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• Lets put pronunciation
• on the back burner for now
• and move on to
• stress, rhythm, and intonation.

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• Fluent (adj.)
• 1. Flowing, moving smoothly
• 2. Able to speak easily, smoothly, and
  expressively
• ??
• Being fluent in a language involves not only
  understanding grammar and having a big
  vocabulary,
• but also being able to speak smoothly and
  expressively.
• Thats why weve been studying
• Connected Speech, Reduced Forms of Speech
• and now Stress, Rhythm, and Intonation.

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• Stress and Rhythm
• How we stress words
• creates rhythm in English speech.
• This is similar to the regular, patterned
• beat of music.

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• DOGS CHASE CATS.
• The DOGS have CHASED CATS.
• The DOGS will CHASE the CATS.
• The DOGS have been CHASing the CATS.
• The DOGS couldve been CHASing the CATS.

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• Notice that the spoken length of the sentences is
  about the same, even though they differ in the
  number of syllables.
• This is because
• 1. In the first sentence, the stressed syllables
  are pronounced a bit longer.
• 2. In the subsequent sentences, the unstressed
  words are reduced and pronounced quickly, while
  the stressed words are pronounced slightly
  shorter when compared with the first sentence.

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• So, which words in a sentence should be stressed?
• Answer
• The ones that convey the
• most important information.

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• Words that are often Stressed
• (Information Words)
• Nouns
• Main Verbs
• Adjectives
• Possessive Pronouns mine, yours, etc.
• Demonstative Pronouns this, that, these, those
• Interrogatives who, what, when, where
• Not / negative contractions cant, isnt, etc.
• Adverbs always, very, almost, etc.
• Adverbial particles take off do away with
• Note Demonstrative pronouns do not modify a
  head noun.
• They substitute for an entire noun phrase
  Thats a bad idea.

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• Words that are usually Unstressed
• (Function Words)
• Articles a, an, the, etc.
• Auxiliary (Helping) Verbs be, do, have, etc.
• Personal Pronouns I, we, you, he, she, it,
  they.
• Possessive adjectives my, your, his, her, its,
  etc.
• Demonstative adjectives this, that, these,
  those
• Prepositions to, for, with, etc.
• Conjunctions and, or, but, etc.
• Did you notice that many of these short words are
  prime candidates for reduced forms?

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• Prominence
• Prominent (adj) sticking out, noticeable,
  conspicuous
• If someone has a big nose
• or one that looks funny for some reason
• we might say,
• He has a prominent nose.

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• Prominence
• Prominent (adj) sticking out, noticeable,
  conspicuous
• Highlighting a word by stressing it
• means we have given it prominence.

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• Prominence
• 1. Im LIStening.
• 2. IM LIStening.
• 3. I AM LIStening!

What are you doing? Whos listening? Why arent
you listening?
Im LIStening. IM LIStening. I AM LIStening!
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• Michael Im starved! Lets go grab a bite to
  eat.
• Carolyn Good idea. Where do you want to go?
• Michael Well, theres a nice Italian restaurant
  about a block from here.
• Carolyn Do you have your heart set on Italian?
• What about a Chinese place?
• Michael Oh, do you know one?
• Carolyn I sure do! The food is delicious, and
  its
• right around the corner.
• Michael Great! Lets go!

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• Michael Im starved! Lets go grab a bite to
  eat.
• Carolyn Good idea. Where do you want to go?
• Michael Well, theres a nice Italian restaurant
  about a block from here.
• Carolyn Do you have your heart set on Italian?
• What about a Chinese place?
• Michael Oh, do you know one?
• Carolyn I sure do! The food is delicious, and
  its
• right around the corner.
• Michael Great! Lets go!

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• Intonation
• Intonation also highlights information,
• but is a little bit different than prominence.
• It involves changing the pitch of the voice.
• Pitch is the relative highness and lowness
• of the voice, just as in music.

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• There are some similarities between
• intonation in English and
• tones in Chinese.
• However, theres at least one
• huge
• difference between the two
• Change a tone in Chinese ?
• change the meaning of a single word.
• Change a tone in English ?
• have an effect on the meaning of the sentence.

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• Four Tones levels in English
• 4 extra high
• 3 high
• 2 middle
• 1 low
• Normal conversation moves between middle and high
  pitch.
• The extra high level typically expresses a strong
  emotion.
• (surprise, great enthusiasm, disbelief, etc.)

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• English speakers typically make use of
• pitch variation
• over the length of the entire sentence,
• rather than within one word.
• (One exception is 1-word utterances Really?)

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• First, lets take a look at intonation with
• 1-word utterances.
• Remember when I pointed out the following?
• Change a tone in English ?
• have an effect on the meaning of the sentence.
• Changing the intonation of a 1-word utterance
• doesnt change
• the fundamental meaning of the word.

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• Now?
• Spoken with a rising pitch from middle to high
• (similar to a Chinese 2nd tone) means
• Do you want me to do it now?
• Spoken with a dropping, then rising pitch
• (similar to a Chinese 3rd tone) means
• Do you really want me to do it now?

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• Mother Billy, I want you to clean your room
  before
• you go out this evening.
• Billy Now? Cant it wait until tomorrow?
• I need to get ready for my date
  with Lisa.

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• Now!
• Spoken with a falling pitch from high to low
• (similar to a Chinese 4th tone)
• signifies a command
• Do it now!

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• Mother Billy, I want you to clean your room
  before
• you go out this evening.
• Billy Now? Cant it wait until tomorrow?
• I need to get ready for my date
  with Lisa.
• Mother Youve left it in a mess all week long.
• You dont have any more excuses.
• So please do it now.
• Billy But Mom, I . . .
• Mother Now! You heard me. Get to it!

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• Now!
• An interesting side note
• Did you know that when Americans
• hear Chinese people speaking Chinese,
• they often think they are arguing?
• This is because the Chinese 4th tone
• to an American
• sounds like commands and angry comments!

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• Intonation can convey an attitude or an emotion.
• Statement Tone Range
  Attitude/Emotion
• Great Roughly 3 ? 2
  Perfunctory/Routine
• Lets go to the store.
• Great. ? could be interpreted as, OK, lets
  go.
• Thats a great book.
• could be interpreted as, Thats a really good
  book.

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• Intonation can convey an attitude or an emotion.
• Statement Tone Range
  Attitude/Emotion
• Great Roughly 4 ? 2
  Enthusiasm

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• Intonation can convey an attitude or an emotion.
• Statement Tone Range
  Attitude/Emotion
• Great Roughly 4 ? 2
  Enthusiasm
• Note Even though this is a falling tone, it is
  more
• drawn out compared to the Chinese 4th tone.

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• Intonation can convey an attitude or an emotion.
• Statement Tone Range
  Attitude/Emotion
• Great Roughly 4 ? 2
  Enthusiasm
• Lets go to the store.
• Great! ? could be interpreted as, Excellent
  idea!
• Thats a great book!
• could be interpreted as, Thats an excellent
  book!

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• Intonation can convey an attitude or an emotion.
• Statement Tone Range
  Attitude/Emotion
• Great Roughly 2 ? 1
  Sarcasm,
• or just 1 Lack of sincerity

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• Intonation can convey an attitude or an emotion.
• Statement Tone Range
  Attitude/Emotion
• Great Roughly 2 ? 1
  Sarcasm,
• or just 1 Lack of sincerity
• Lets go to the store.
• Great. ? could be interpreted as,
• Thats not exactly
• what I was hoping to do right now.

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• Intonation can convey an attitude or an emotion.
• Statement Tone Range
  Attitude/Emotion
• Great Roughly 2 ? 1
  Sarcasm,
• or just 1 Lack of sincerity
• Thats a great book.
• could be interpreted as, That book stinks!

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• Are there any questions about
• Stress, Rhythm,
• and
• Intonation?
• OK! Great!
• I hope you enjoyed this lesson!