7/31/2019 Breaking Speech Into Units 1
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Breaking Speech into Units (1): Breath Groups
Once appreciated the use of identifying content from function
words in a given sentence, it is the
time for recognizing that when speaking, we actually divide our
speech in units due to the fact
that our speech is embedded within our respiratory system. Such
units are known as Breath
Groups. Thus, then, an utterance can be defined easily as the
portion of speech located between
...you guessed it?...pauses. Every breath groups must contain a
Nucleus, meaning there must be
a syllable that stands out from the rest, and therefore, made
more prominent. And it is that
syllable, within a lexical unit, usually of a content-word
nature, that carries the principal melody in
such utterance. Have a look at the following dialogue, and try
to identify the pauses and within
each utterance, identify the main prominent word: the one that
carries the most important and
relevant piece of information. And start practising it out
loud.
A: Have you got much work on just now?B: Dr. Goetz has given us
a very hard essay, but I mustnt get a low mark
this time.A: I had an argument with my tutor last week.B: What
happened?A: Well, I couldnt find my coursework, so I asked for a
couple of days extra.
He got really annoyed with me and complained I was always late
for lectures.Anyway, I told him I thought his course was a waste of
time.
B: Did you? Well, at least Dr. Goetz doesnt shout at us,although
Im not very confident that Ill pass his exam.
Have a look at the following portion of speech and try to divide
it into its major units.
In the morning the sun was up and the tent was starting to get
hot.
Nick crawled out under the mosquito netting stretched across
the
mouth of the tent, to look at the morning. The grass was wet on
his
hands as he came out. He held his trousers and his shoes in
his
hands. The sun was just up over the hill. There was the
meadow,
the river and the swamp. There were birch trees in the green of
the
swamp on the other side of the river.
