,The Beat of Stress a tune,Part A Introduction,Pronunciation has two main aspects (parts): The individual sounds of vowels and consonants (the smaller pieces of a word) Vowels a e i o u Consonants b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z The melody and tone of phrases, sentences and longer pieces of language,Introduction,1. Pronunciation of vowels and consonants c a t 2. Melody or tone of the phrase or sentence The woman was incredibly beautiful. There is emphasis (focus) on specific words within the sentence showing the emotions or intent of the speaker this emphasis is the “melody” or “tone”,Examples,Vowels and consonants combine to form syllables. apple = a + p p + l + e Syllables combine to make words. apple Words combine to make phrases and sentences. The apple is delicious.,Syllables,The process of producing connected speech (putting syllables and words together to form phrases and sentences) affects the pronunciation of several of these combinations (or combined parts / sections) in many different interesting ways producing a meaningful “melody”. In other words, the way (the tone you use and the emphasis you put on words) greatly effects how people understand the meaning of what you are saying.,Syllables (continued),1. “A car is coming.” “A car is coming!” 2. “The view from the top of the mountain is beautiful.” “The view from the top of the mountain is BEAUtiful. 3. “The cat is very cute.” “The cat is VERY cute.”,Examples,This semester, we will focus on how to produce a meaningful melody of English. The beat of stressing and reducing syllables and/or words The rhythm of differing time given to sounds The rising and falling of tones applied to words, phrases and sentences,Melody of English,Fable a fictional (not real, fake) short story that is usually about animals and that is intended to teach a lesson (also known as a moral) Moral a lesson that can be derived (taken from) from a story or experience Aesop said to be a slave and famous story teller in ancient Greece c. 620-564 B.C. He is known for writing approximately 655 fables.,Part B Listening to a Story,Read the fable ,The Grasshopper & the Ants,Are there any words that you do not know? Starving suffer or die from hunger Principles a truth that serves as the basis for a system of beliefs The reason why you think, believe, or act the way you do is based on your principles, your principles are often a result of influences, such as Confucius. Chuckled laugh quietly,Vocabulary of the Fable,Why is the grasshopper so hungry? What does the grasshopper value most? What do the ants value most? How does this fable demonstrate (show) the moral “Prepare today for the needs of tomorrow”? Is there a Chinese story or saying that illustrates the same moral?,Discussion Questions,Reading the Story with Melody,We are now going to look at the structure of the syllables so that you can begin to speak English to the appropriate tune or melody. Vowels and consonants do not usually act by themselves they are typically with other vowels or consonants. There are very few words that consist of only one sound.,Part C Syllable Structure,Vowels will be represented by (V) Consonants will be represented by (C) Examples C V (g0) CVC (cat) CCVCC(stops) CCCVC (screw),Combining Vowels & Consonants,The combined units or parts of vowels and consonants make syllables. People can count the number of syllables in a word by beating out its rhythm. The rule to what makes a syllable is simple each syllable must contains one vowel or vowel like center/core In other words, each syllable must contain a vowel or vowel like sound,Syllables,Syllable Counting,Get into groups of 2 or 3. Do this activity with your group. You may clap or tap the desk in order to help you figure out how many syllables each word has. There is a list of words on the next slide. What I want you to do is make a column of words based on how many syllables it has (just like the picture below).,Pair / Group Activity,One Last Summer Busy Tomorrow Grain Day Rather Drying Collect,Syllable Practice,Winter Yesterday Consistent Industrious Mismanage Repeatedly Consequent Presently Grasshopper,Moment Do Why Fine Principles During,Every content word (words that are nouns, verbs, or adjectives/adverbs) has one syllable with more stress than the other syllables. The vowel in that syllable is said clearer, louder, and longer.,Part D Stress Patterns,The other syllables vowels are UNSTRESSED vowels they are spoken quickly and not clearly. Examples,Stress Patterns (Part II),Most English words have the stress on the first syllable of the word, but there are many words that the stress is not on the first syllable. Examples: again | tomorrow I am going to read two words out loud. I would like you to decide whether the stress is DIFFERENT (D) or the SAME (S). Please number 1 15 on your paper.,Part E Listening: Activity Setup,I am going to give you the first one. 1.again | listen Is the stress on the same syllable or different syllables?