COAL CITY UNIVERSITY,EMENE, ENUGU

FACULTY OF ARTS, SOCIAL, AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

ELS 221: SPOKEN ENGLISH/LAB WORK

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: AKINOLA SAMUEL AKINTAYO

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

This course is aimed at providing the learner with theoretical and practical

knowledge on effective articulation in the English language.

COURSE CONTENT

Organs of Speech

Articulation: Places and Manner

Speech Sounds

The Syllable

Syllabic Consonants

Consonant Clusters

Suprasegmental features: Intonation, Rhythm and Stress

IN-CLASS AND TAKE-HOME PRACTICALS:

Practical pronunciation exercises: Minimal pairs, intonation

Practical exercises on transcription

TOPIC 1: ORGANS OF SPEECH

These are the various organs in the human body which are used in the production

of speech sounds. The process of the production of speech sounds is called

articulation. Hence, organs of speech that are directly involved in the pronunciation

of speech sounds are called articulators. The organs of speech include the tongue,

brain, larynx, teeth, hard palate, soft palate, alveolar ridge, the lungs, and the lips.

Prominent among the organs of speech are the brain, the tongue, the larynx, and

the lungs. The functions of each of these are outlined as follows:

The brain: This brain is a crucial speech organ in that it is the centre of speech

initiation and interpretation. All forms of speech spoken by a person are encoded in

the brain and every form of speech received by that person are interpreted in the

brain. The specific areas of the brain wherein speech is initiated and interpreted are

the Broca’s area (for speech initiation) and the Wernicke’s area (for speech

interpretation). A damage to these areas of the brain could result in speech loss or

inability to recognize and interprete speech sounds.

Figure 1:1: A view of the brain highlighting the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas

(Source: fi.wikipedia.org)

The tongue: This is easily the most important speech organ there is. Hardly would

one find a speech sound which is produced without the involvement of the tongue.

It is a highly flexible organ that makes contact with other parts of the vocal tract

(particularly in the mouth) to produce both consonant and vowel sounds. The

tongue has six parts: tip, blade, front, center, back, and root of the tongue.

Figure 1:2: A side view of the tongue showing its six parts (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated)

Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.4)

The larynx: The larynx is a cartilaginous organ which is made up of three

cartilages: the thyroid, cricoid, and arytenoid cartilages. It is referred to as the

voice box because it houses the two vocal cords. Voiced sounds are produced with

the vibration of the vocal cords while voiceless sounds are produced without the

vibration of the vocal cords. The space between the vocal cords is called the

glottis. This is the space through which air coming from the lungs flow to cause a

transmission of the sound produced by the speech organs.

Figure 1:3: A side view of the larynx showing its cartilages, vocal cords and the glottis

(Source: Lewis, A. (Undated) Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.5)

The lungs: These are the two elastic, membrane-covered organs from which air is

generated to produce speech sounds. These are housed in the rib cage and are

connected to the rest of the vocal tract by the trachea or windpipe. All speech

sounds are produced by a stream of air coming from the lungs. This stream of air is

referred to as the Pulmonic Egressive Airstream. The position of the lungs can be

seen in the diagram of speech organs below.

Figure 1.4: Organs of Speech

(Source: Lewis, A. (Undated) Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.4)

SUMMARY

Organs of speech are the organs used in the production of speech sounds. The

brain, the lungs, the larynx and the tongue are prominent organs of speech.

Notably, all English speech sounds are produced by the pulmonic egressive

airstream mechanism.

Revision questions:

1. What are speech organs?

2. Describe the important functions of the brain in speech production.

3. Why is the tongue an important speech organ? List its parts.

4. Describe the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. What is its function?

TOPIC 2: ARTICULATION

Articulation is the process by which speech sounds are produced. To articulate a

speech sound is to simply pronounce that sound. Speech organs are therefore also

called articulators. For the articulation of every speech sound, there is a place of

articulation and a manner of articulation.

Place of Articulation: This is the point at which two or more articulators meet to

produce a speech sound. There are nine places of articulation for English speech

sounds: Bilabial, Labio-dental, Dental, Alveolar, Palato-alveolar, Palatal, Velar,

Glottal, and Labial-Velar.

Manner of Articulation: This describes the manner in which air is released during

the articulation of a speech sound. It involves details on the source of the airflow,

the rate of the airflow, and the extent of the closeness or farness of articulators

from each other during the production of a speech sound. On the basis of manner

of articulation, English speech sounds are grouped into two: stops and nonstops.

STOPS

These are speech sounds that are produced with an obstruction of airflow. During

the production of stops, articulators make contact at specific places of articulation,

obstructing airflow. There are three phases in the production of stops: the shutting

phase, the closure phase, and the release phase. There are three types of stops in

the English language. These are plosives, nasals, and affricates. These are

described as follows:

PLOSIVES: Plosives are produced with a forceful ejection of air at the release

phase. They are known as also ideal stops. This is because their production feature

a full cycle of the three phases of shutting, closure, and release. Examples of

plosives are [p] and [b].

Fig. 2.1: The production diagram for plosives (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated)

Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.11)

NASALS: These are also produced with the obstruction of airflow. However,

unlike other stops, nasal sounds are released through the nose. Hence, they are

called nasals. During the production of nasals, airflow from the lungs is redirected

from the mouth (oral cavity) to the nose (nasal cavity) for release. Examples are

[m] and [n].

Fig. 2.2: The production structure for nasals. (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated)

Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.11)

AFFRICATES: Affricates are produced with a gradual release of airflow, with a

hissing quality. The articulators go apart gradually at the release phase. Examples

are [ʧ] and [ʤ].

Fig. 2.3: The production structure of Affricates. (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated)

Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.11)

Please keep in mind that stops differ mainly according to their release phases.

NON-STOPS

These are produced without the obstruction of airflow. Articulators for non-stops

draw close to each another but do not make contact during the production of

nonstops. The two types of stops in the English language are approximants and

fricatives.

APPROXIMANTS: These are produced with much gap between articulators. Air

flows out much freely, accompanied by a musical quality that is associated with

vowels. Due to the similarity between the sound of approximants and vowels, they

are also referred to as semi-vowels. Approximants are also described as central

approximants or lateral approximants. Central approximants are released the

centre of the mouth while lateral approximants are released through the sides of

the mouth. The difference is discovered during the pronunciation of the sounds.

For example, [l] is a lateral approximant while [j] is a central approximant.

Fig. 2.3: The production structure for approximants. (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated)

Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.12)

FRICATIVES: These are produced with a narrower gap between articulators. The

articulators are so close to each other such that airflow from the lungs bounces off

the articulators. This causes fricatives to be released with the kind of hissing

quality that is heard at the release of affricates. However, please note that although

fricatives share the hissing quality with affricates, they are nonstops while

affricates are stops. All fricatives are central fricatives because they are all released

through a narrow gap at the centre of the mouth. Hence, there are no lateral

fricatives.

Fig 2.4: The production structure for fricatives. (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated)

Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.12)

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE ARTICULATORS

Articulators could be passive or active during articulation. Passive articulators are

those organs of speech that are usually immobile during articulation, and

commonly found along the roof of the mouth e.g. the hard palate and the upper

front teeth. Active articulators are the speech organs that are mobile during

articulation. They move to make contact with the passive articulators to produce

speech sounds. They are usually on the floor of the mouth, with the tongue and

lower lips as prominent examples.

SINGLE AND DOUBLE ARTICULATION

Furthermore, articulation can be described as single or double, based on the

number of speech organs involved. An articulation in which one active articulator

and one passive articulator are involved is called SINGLE ARTIUCLATION,

while an articulation involving two active articulators and two passive articulators

is called DOUBLE ARTICULATION. Of the nine places of articulation in the

English language, eight places are for single articulation and one (Labial-Velar) is

for double articulation.

SUMMARY

Articulation is the production of speech sounds. Active articulators are mobile

during articulation while passive articulators are immobile during articulation.

Articulation is either single or double, depending on the number of articulators

involved. English speech sounds are produced in nine places of articulation and in

five manners of articulation.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Define articulation.

2. Distinguish between single and double articulation.

3. Describe stops and non-stops with examples.

4. Memorize the production diagrams for stops and nonstops and attempt to

draw them.

TOPIC 3: SPEECH SOUNDS

These are the sounds that make up the intelligible phonological system used in

speech communication. Speech sounds are distinct and singly or collectively

communicate a speaker’s intended meaning to hearers. Speech sounds are also

called ‘phones’. Hence, the scientific study of speech sounds is called Phonetics. In

addition, speech sounds are described as voiced or voiceless. Voiced sounds are

produced with a vibration of the vocal cords, while voiceless sounds are produced

without a vibration of the vocal cords. If you placed your finger on your larynx

(i.e. across the front of your neck) when producing a voiced sound such as [v], you

will feel the vibration of the vocal cords. Similarly, if you placed your finger on the

larynx during of a voiceless sound such as [f], you will feel no vibration of the

vocal cords.

English speech sounds are categorized broadly into consonants and vowels. Each

group has its distinct features. Together, both groups make up the words that are

used in human communication.

CONSONANTS

Consonants are speech sounds which are produced with or without an obstruction

of airflow, and with or without a vibration of the vocal cords. They could be stops,

non-stops, voiced or voiceless. There are 24 consonant sounds in the English

language. They are all phonemic sounds because they create a distinction in

meaning between words that have similar sounds. They are produced in nine places

of articulation and with six manners of articulation.

POA

MOA

Bilabia

l

Labi

o-

denta

l

Dental Alveolar Palato-

alveola

r

Palata

l

Velar Glottal Labial

-velar

Nasal m N ŋ

Plosive p b t d k g

Affricates ʧ ʤ

Central

Fricatives

f v ᶿ ᶞ s z ʃ Ʒ h

Central

Approxim

ants

r j w

Lateral

Approxim

ants

l

Table 3.1: The 24 consonants of the English consonants (Source: Lewis, A.

(Undated) Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.15)

Note: In each column, all the sounds on the left side are voiceless while the sounds written on

the right side are voiced e.g., [f] is voiceless while [v] is voiced)

NAMING OF CONSONANTS

Each consonant is has a distinct name attached to it. The following are the

attributes that are used to name consonants:

State of the glottis,

Diacritic (optional)

Place of articulation

Manner of articulation

Hence, for example, the sound /m/ is a voiced labial nasal.

VOWELS

These are speech sounds that are always produced with a vibration of the vocal

cords and without an obstruction of airflow. This means that all vowels are voiced

sounds. The absence of airflow stoppage is responsible for the sonorous (musical)

quality of vowels.

Unlike consonants that are produced at nine places of articulation, vowels are

produced within a specific region in the oral cavity which is known as the vowel

space. This space has the palato-alveolar and velum as its upper boundaries and

the front of the tongue and the back of the tongue as its lower boundaries.

All recognized vowels in all languages are represented by a body of vowels known

as cardinal vowels. These set of sounds are primarily descriptive in function and

do not strictly belong to the sound system of just one language. Essentially,

scholars, such as Daniel Jones (1956), compiled these sets of vowels to allow for a

clear and easy description of vowels. There are two types of cardinal vowels:

Primary cardinal vowels and secondary cardinal vowels.

There are eight primary cardinal vowels. These vowels possess the following

quality:

They are arbitrarily selected –they represent a broad range of languages, not

a specific language;

They are exact in quality;

They are equidistant from one another in the vowel space;

They are peripheral (i.e. around the edges of the vowel, not the centre).

The secondary cardinal vowels share the qualities of the primary cardinal vowels,

except that they tend to occur towards the centre of the vowel space, instead of the

peripheral position.

Figure 3.1: Primary and secondary cardinal vowels (Source:

phonetics.ucla.edu)

Like consonants, vowels are named too. The following provide the template for

naming vowels:

Diacritic

Height of the tongue

Body of the tongue

Shape of the lips

Hence, [e] is named a close-mid front unrounded vowel.

Vowels are also described on the basis of the change in fundamental frequency of

the vocal cords during articulation. This change is revealed as a change in the tune

of the sound being produced. The fundamental frequency of the vocal cords is

simply the rate of the vibration of the vocal cords per second. Hence, there are

monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs.

Monophthongs: These are vowels that are produced with no change in the

fundamental frequency of the vocal cords. They are produced with one (mono)

tune. Because there is no change in tune as these are produced, they are referred to

as pure vowels. There are 12 pure vowels in the English language: 5 long vowels

and 7 short vowels.

Long vowels: These are always accompanied by the diacritic [:], which

symbolizes the extended length of time taken to articulate the sound. Long vowels

and words that contain them are as follows:

[i:] – see, key, eat

[ɜ:] – scourge, word, bird

[ɑ:] – pass, art, clerk

[ɔ:] – law, bought, broad

[u:] – few, soup, pool

Short vowels:

[ɪ] – rich, city, women

[e] – egg, any, leopard

[æ] – man, plan, lap

[ᶺ] – love, come, sun

[ә] – open, upon, ago

[ʊ] – book, pull, should

[ɒ] – orange, cough, what

Diphthongs: These are vowels that are produced with a change in the fundamental

frequency of the vocal cords. This change results in two (di-) tunes during

articulation. There are 8 diphthongs in the English language. 3 of these vowels

move towards the centre of the vowel space during articulation, and are called

centering diphthongs. 5 of these vowels move towards the top of the vowel space

during articulation and are called closing diphthongs. There are therefore 3

centering diphthongs and 5 closing diphthongs in the English language.

Centering diphthongs

[eә] – care, hair, bare

[ɪә] – hear, cheer, gear

[ʊә] – tour, poor, lure

Closing diphthongs

[ɔɪ] – boy, oil, voice

[aɪ] – nine, flight, kite

[eɪ] – fail, great, tale

[әʊ] – rose, coal, load

[aʊ]- shout, crown, loud

Triphthongs: These are vowels produced with a double change in the fundamental

frequency of the vocal cords. There 5 triphthongs in the English language.

[ɔɪә] – loyal, royal

[aɪә] – fire, liar, Myers

[eɪә] – layer, player, prayer

[әʊә] – lower, mower

[aʊә]- hour, cower, power

SUMMARY

English speech sounds are broadly categorized as consonants and vowels.

Consonants could be voiced or voiceless while all vowels are voiced. In addition,

consonants could be stops or non-stops while vowels could either monophthongs,

diphthongs, or triphthongs.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. How many consonants are there in the English language and why are they all

described as phonemic?

2. Distinguish between primary and secondary cardinal vowels.

3. Describe monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs.

4. Practice the naming of consonants and vowels, following the guidelines

provided.

5. Attempt memorizing and drawing the consonant table and the chart for

primary and secondary cardinal vowels.

TOPIC 4: THE SYLLABLE

The syllable is a phonological unit, i.e., a unit made of one or more speech sounds.

It is the unit of pronunciation that can be uttered at a breath. It can be divided into

two major parts: The Onset and the Rhyme. The Onset of a syllable consists of any

consonant that precedes the vowel in a syllable. The Rhyme in a syllable is made

up of all the phonemes stretching from the vowel that comes after the onset to the

end of the syllable.

The Rhyme of a syllable can be subdivided into the nucleus and the coda. The

nucleus in a rhyme is regarded as the peak of the syllable and is traditionally a

vowel. The nucleus of a syllable could also be a syllabic consonant (which is a

consonant that can act as a vowel in syllables). The coda refers to the consonants

that come after the nucleus of the syllable.

The rhyme is the only obligatory part of a syllable. Not all syllables come with

onsets. Furthermore, the rhyme is regarded as the head of the syllable because it

contains the nucleus of the syllable. Moreover, the rhyme of a syllable could exist

without a coda. The greek symbol, sigma, σ, is the symbol used to denote a

syllable.

TYPES OF SYLLABLES

Syllables could be regarded as open syllables or closed syllables based on the

components they include or exclude. An open syllable is a syllable that has no coda

while a closed syllable is one that has a coda.

Note: In syllabic structure analysis, it is the phonetic transcription of a word that is

considered, not its spelling.

EXAMPLES:

Plant is a monosyllabic word that has the onset and rhyme (nucleus + coda)

Figure 4.1: Syllabic structure of ‘plant’ (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated) Developmental

Oral Communication Skills, p.76)

Fig. 4.2: This syllabic structure of ‘at’, without an onset and that of ‘plea’ without a coda

(Source: Lewis, A. (Undated) Developmental Oral Communication Skills, p.76)

Fig. 4.3: Syllabic structures of ‘a’ with no onset and rhyme, and of ‘bottle’ which contains a

syllabic consonant (Source: Lewis, A. (Undated) Developmental Oral Communication Skills,

p.76)

SUMMARY

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that can be uttered in a breath. Usually, a

syllable consists of the onset and rhyme. However, not every syllable has an onset

and coda. A syllable that has no coda is an open syllable, while one with a coda is

a closed syllable.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. What are the basic components of a syllable?

2. Attempt to draw the syllabic structure of the following words: play, it, be,

buy

TOPIC 5: CONSONANT CLUSTERS

A consonant cluster is a group of consonants that appear consecutively without a

vowel between them. Nordquist (2018) defines a consonant cluster as a group of

two or more consonants which could come as onset before the nucleus in a

syllable, as the coda after the nucleus of a syllable, or in the medial position

between vowels.

Yoshida (2012) states that the maximum length of clusters at the initial position

(i.e. onset) in a syllable is three (3), and provides the following examples (with

clusters emboldened):

play /pleɪ/

cream /kri:m/

shriek /ʃri:k/

spring /spriŋ/

splendid /ˈsplen.did/

In addition, Yoshida (2012) states four (4) as the maximum length of clusters at

the word final position, providing the following examples:

shelf /ʃelf/

against /әˈgeintst/

glimpsed /glimpst/

exempts /ɪgˈzempts/

To pronounce consonant clusters with more ease, native and non-native speakers

employ consonant cluster reduction or resyllabification (Yoshida, 2012).

Consonant cluster reduction involves the omission of one of the consonants in a

cluster. When clusters appear as three or more in a row, the consonant in the

middle is sometimes omitted, not the first or last consonant, and such medial

consonant that is dropped is often a stop such as / ᶿ/, or /ᶞ/ (Yoshida, 2012).

Example:

tests: pronounced as /tεs/ instead of / tεsts/

asked: pronounced as /æst/ instead of / æskt/

Resyllabification is a technique used to split up consonant clusters such that the

last consonant is attached to the syllable coming after it (Yoshida, 2012).

Example:

‘The lists are here’ could be resyllabified as ‘The list sare here’, with the ‘s’ from

list joined to ‘are’, in speaking.

SUMMARY

Consonant clusters could occur at the beginning and end of syllables. Speakers

apply consonant cluster reduction and resyllabification to consonant clusters to

pronounce them easily.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. In your own words, define consonant clusters.

2. Search your dictionary for at least, 10 new consonant clusters which appear

at the beginning and end of syllables.

3. Explain consonant cluster reduction and resyllabificiation.

TOPIC 6: SYLLABIC CONSONANTS

A syllabic consonant is one that can occupy the nucleus position in a syllable,

acting as a vowel, and yet retains its properties as a consonant. Basically, it can act

as a vowel in a syllable, but does not become a vowel. Traditionally, consonants

are non-syllabic, functioning as onsets or coda in syllables. A syllabic consonant

can however play syllabic or non-syllabic roles.

The capacity of a consonant to function as a syllabic consonant is known as

syllabicity. It is denoted by a diacritic, a vertical line, which is drawn under the

syllabic consonant [ ֽ ]

According to Akamatsu (2013), there are five commonly noted syllabic consonants

in English: [l̩], [n̩ ], [m̩ ], [ŋ̍ ], [r̩ ], and reveals the context in which these

consonants occur as follows:

1. [l̩] – It occurs in word-final and word-medial positions. Example:

[ˈtʃænl̩] channel (word-final position)

[ˈkʌpl̩] couple (word-final position)

2. [n̩ ] – It occurs in word-final and word-medial positions. Example:

[ˈbeɪkn̩ ] bacon (word-final position)

[ˈpendn̩t] pendant (word-medial position)

3. [ m̩ ] – It occurs in word-final position only. Example:

[ˈrɪðm̩ ] rhythm (word-final position)

[ˈprɪzm̩ ] prism (word-final position)

4. [ŋ̍] – It occurs in word-final position. Example:

[ˈbeɪkŋ̍ ] bacon (word-final position)

[θɪkŋ̍ ] thicken (word-final position)

5. [r̩ ] – This rarely occurs at the word-final position but more commonly

at the word-medial position. Examples:

[ˈmemr̩̩ɪ] memory (word-medial position)

[ˈkæmr̩̩ə] camera (word-medial position)

SUMMARY

Syllabic consonants can play the role of vowels as the nucleus of syllables, while

still retaining their features as consonants. The five commonly cited syllabic

consonants in the English and the context of their appearance were examined.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Distinguish between syllabic and non-syllabic consonants

2. Search for other examples of words in which each of the cited syllabic

consonants occur. Give two examples for each.

TOPIC 7: SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES

So far, we have considered the segmental features of the English language as

regards articulation. Segmental features are basically “the individual phonemes of

a language – the vowel and the consonant sounds.” (Yoshida, 2012)

Suprasegmental features are features of English that extend across segments

(sounds) in phrases, clauses, and sentences. ‘Supra’ means above, thus,

suprasegmental features extend beyond units of sounds, to cover stretches of

utterance. They are the aspects of pronunciation that affect more than one sound

segment such as stress, intonation, and rhythm …” (Yoshida, 2012). The aspect of

phonetics that pertains to suprasegmental features is called Prosodic Phonetics. The

three suprasegmental features to be discussed herein are STRESS, INTONATION,

and RHYTHM.

STRESS

It is “the emphasis or loudness with which syllables are produced [;] It is the high

or low quality of the voice caused by the rate of the vibration of the vocal cords.”

(Steele, undated) The occurrence of stress in words is marked by increased

loudness, long duration, and high pitch. It could occur at the level of words or at

the level of sentences. Hence, there are word stress and sentence stress.

WORD STRESS

Words could carry primary, secondary, and null stress (unstressed), depending on

the number of syllables that they have. Primary stress is denoted by a superscript

[ ˈ ], while the secondary stress is denoted by a subscript [ ֽ ].

Examples:

Letter [ˈletә] – disyllabic word, having its primary stress on the first syllable and

having an unstressed second syllable.

Examination [ɪgֽ zæmɪˈneɪʃәn] – polysyllabic word, having its primary stress on its

third syllable, and its secondary stress on its first syllable, with all its other

syllables unstressed.

Lewis (undated) suggests humming a word to identify the different categories of

stress in it, noting the ‘do-re-mi’ music notes on its syllables, stating that the

primary stress carries the ‘mi’ (high) tone, the secondary carries the ‘do’ (low)

tone, and the unstressed carries the ‘re’(mid) tone.

Furthermore, Lewis (undated) prescribes the following as aids to word stress

mastery:

1. When a disyllabic word is a noun, it is stressed on the first syllable.

2. When a disyllabic word is a verb, it is stressed on the second syllable.

3. The final syllable of a five-syllable word is never stressed. Example:

CAPitalism (stressed on the 1st syllable)

conSUmerism (stressed on the 2nd syllable)

interNATional (stressed on the 3rd syllable)

privatiZAtion (stressed on the 4th syllable)

All the above have five syllables with none carrying a final syllable stress.

4. Six-syllable words are not stressed on the first, second, and last syllables.

Example:

indisTINguishable (stressed on the third syllable)

inferiORity (stressed on the fourth syllable)

5. Seven syllable words are stressed on the sixth syllable only.

6. Compound nouns usually take the primary stress on the first noun in the

pair. Example:

CARDboard, BRIDESmaid, EARTHquake.

7. In reflexive pronouns, the second syllable carries the primary stress.

Example: himSELF, herSELF, yourSELF, etc.

SENTENCE STRESS

In English sentences, all words are not spoken with the same emphasis, just as all

syllables are not spoken with the same emphasis. The variation in the emphasis

(stress) with which words are pronounced in the English language gives it its

characteristic accent (Onuigbo, 1990).

Normally, content words bear the stress in English sentences, while grammatical

words are unstressed in sentences. Content words are words that bear their

meaning in themselves (e.g. nouns, adjectives, main verbs, and adverbs). Beare

(2018) lists negatives such as nothing, nowhere, etc; and words expressing

quantities such as a lot of, a few, and many, etc, as words that could also carry

stress in sentences like content words.

Grammatical words are used to connect the parts of a sentence to convey

grammatical sense. They do not have complete meaning by themselves, rather,

they enhance the meaning conveyed by the content words in sentences (e.g.

preposition, conjunctions, articles, pronouns, and auxiliary verbs)

Stressed words in a sentence are key to understanding that sentence, while the

intonation reveals the meaning intended by the speaker (Beare, 2017). Hence,

stress is key to the listener’s understanding while intonation is crucial to a clear

conveyance of meaning.

Beare (2017) lists the following as sentence stress types used in the English

language:

1. EMPHATIC STRESS: This involves changing the stress from the principal

noun in a sentence to another content word e.g. an adjective or an adverb, in

that sentence. It is used to draw special attention to the speaker’s intended

meaning.

For example:

That was a difficult ˈtest. (‘test’ is the normal stress carrier, the principal

noun)

If the speaker intends to express how difficult the test was, the stress will be

placed on ‘difficult’:

That was a ˈdifficult test. (Emphatic stress)

This is a very beautiful ˈhouse. (normal stress on ‘house’)

This is a very ˈbeautiful house. (emphatic stress on ‘beautiful’)

2. CONTRASTIVE STRESS: This is used to emphasize a word in a sentence

which would slightly alter the meaning of that sentence. Grammatical words,

such as pronouns, articles, and conjunctions, can also carry constrative stress

and be used to convey the speaker’s intended meaning.

They ˈwalk to school daily. (Meaning: They walk, not run, to school.)

They walk ˈto school daily. (Meaning: They walk to school, not from

school)

They walk to ˈschool daily. (Meaning: They walk to school, not to the park)

It is evident that a shift in stress has resulted in the differences in the

meaning of the three sentences. This is the function of contrastive stress.

3. NEW INFORMATION STRESS: This is used to stress the requested

answer to a given question.

Question: Where do you live?

Answer: I live at ˈEke.

Question: What is your name?

Answer: My ˈname is Samuel.

RHYTHM

English is described as a stress-timed language “because there is a tendency

for stress to occur at regular intervals of time during connected speech.”

(Lewis, undated) Rhythm is that pace of stress that natural speakers of

English maintain as they speak. Rhythm, therefore, pertains to pace and

timing. The foot is an important term related to rhythm: It is the time it takes

to pronounce the segment of an utterance from one stressed syllable to

another (Lewis, undated) It begins with “a stressed syllable and includes all

the following unstressed syllables to the following stressed syllable.”

(Roach, cited, in Lewis, undated).

The stress placed on select words in connected utterances is called rhythmic

stress. To maintain rhythm, English speakers may use contractions such as ‘I

can’t; I won’t’, or replace the vowel in a syllable with a schwa, or reduce the

length of that vowel, or even delete an entire syllable.

Some languages are syllable-timed languages. In such languages, every

vowel is pronounced with equal emphasis, and rhythm in such languages is

“determined by the number of syllables, not by the number of stresses.”

(Lewis, undated) Nigerian languages are syllable-timed. i.e. their pace and

timing of speaking is according to syllables, not stresses. This is why when

many Nigerian speakers speak English, they tend to stress ‘every word and

impose lexical tones from the mother tongue.” (Lewis, undated)

INTONATION

Intonation is simply the rise and fall of the pitch of the voice during speech.

The melody heard in speech is a function of intonation. A speaker can use

intonation to reveal his or her attitude towards a subject and for certain

grammatical functions. Intonation could be used to convey attitudes such as

doubt, confidence, annoyance, shyness, etc. It also serves grammatical

functions which include asking questions and making statements.

Lewis (undated) outlines the five basic intonation tunes of the English

language as follows:

1. The falling intonation: This occurs as a lowering of voice pitch at the

end of a statement and is used in expressions such as declarative

statements, commands, WH-questions, questions with closed options,

exclamations.

Declarative statements:

The man died.

The earth is spherical.

Commands:

Get in the car, now.

WH-questions:

Who is that?

Questions with closed options:

Do you want coffee or tea?

Exclamations:

What a great match!

2. Rising intonation: This occurs as the raising of the voice pitch at the end

of a statement. It is used in polar questions, simple polite request, simple

greeting, hesitation, surprise, question tags, and requesting for

information.

Polar questions:

Are you leaving?

Surprise:

You painted that yourself?

Simple polite greeting:

How do you do?

3. Fall-Rising intonation: This occurs as a sequence of short fall in pitch

followed by a short rise in voice pitch. This is seen in statements that are

used to give name-ending commands and to express doubt.

Example: Name-ending command:

Give me the keys, Mark.

4. Rise-falling intonation: This occurs as a rise in voice pitch, followed by

a fall in voice pitch at the end of a statement. It could be used to show

that the speaker is not fully receptive or in support of an idea or subject.

Example:

Selling the car is not a bad idea.

5. The level intonation: This is used to imply to the listener that you are

done talking, that you are only taking momentary pause, to continue with

your speaking shortly. This is heard when a speaker is reading a list of

items, or calling out phone numbers.

Example:

Reading a list: She bought bread, jam, butter…….

Calling out phone numbers: 0-8-0-7-7-8……

THE TONIC SYLLABLE

This is an important feature to consider as concerns intonation. A tonic syllable is

the main stress, i.e. the tonic stress, in a tone unit. It is usually found in the last

content word in a tone unit.

A tone unit is ‘a stretch (or chunk) of spoken material that has its own intonation

pattern (or tune).” (Nordquist, 2017) It is also known as an intonation group,

phonological phrase or tone group. Every tone unit is made up of just one tonic

syllable. However, a sentence can be made up of more than one intonation unit

and, thus, could have more than one tonic syllable.

The tone unit is easily identified by a switch in tone. It “tends to be marked by cues

such as a pause, and a shift upward in overall pitch level at its beginning, and a

lengthening of its final syllable.” (Dubois, cited in Gribb, 2015)

Tonality refers to the chunking of a statement by a speaker, i.e. the speaker

presents a statement in bits, which affects the meaning conveyed to the hearer. In

phonetic analysis, a vertical bar [ ׀ ] is used to mark the boundaries of a tone

group.

The tone unit can be divided into four distinct parts:

The pre-head

The head

The tonic syllable

The tail

The pre-head: This refers to all the unstressed syllables before the first stressed

syllable in a tone unit.

The head: This stretches from the first stressed syllable in a tone unit to the last

syllable before the tonic syllable. If no stressed syllable appears before the tonic

syllable, there will be no head in that tone unit.

The tonic syllable: This is the syllable that bears the significant tone change in a

tone unit. It is often found in the last content word in a tone unit.

The tail: This refers to the unstressed syllables that come after the tonic syllable.

They usually maintain the tone that appears on the tonic syllable.

Please note that the only obligatory part of the tone unit is the tonic syllable.

Examples:

1. in a ˈlittle ˈless than an hour ׀

Pre-head Head Tonic syllable

The tonic syllable in the sentence is hour and it is italicized and is preceded

by the slanting line, marking it as the tonic syllable. The sentence above has

no tail because no other word or syllable followed the tonic syllable. Also,

the end of the tone unit is shown by the vertical line placed after hour.

2. and then ˈI said my father was here ׀

Pre-head Head TS Tail

The tonic syllable in the sentence is ‘fa’ in father. The tonic syllable is

followed by the unstressed syllable in father ‘-ther + was here’ as the tail.

Again, note the slanting line placed before the tonic syllable and the vertical

line that marks the boundary of the tone unit.

SUMMARY

Stress, rhythm and intonation are crucial aspects of spoken English. Stress

pertains to emphasis placed on select words and could occur at the word or

sentence level. Rthythm concerns pace and timing in speech, while

intonation refers to the rise and fall of voice pitch in speaking, which gives

melody to speech. It occurs in five basic tunes. The tone unit is a vital

division in intonation that houses the tonic syllable and it is the carrier of

tonic stress.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Write short notes on word and sentence stress, with examples.

2. Explain the concept of stress-timed langauge and syllable-timed

language, with your understanding of rhythm.

3. State, at least, one fucntion of each of the five intonation types.

4. Describe the structure of the tone unit.

REFERENCES

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Beare, K. (2017). “ESL Intonation- Stress Types”. [Accessed 19 March, 2018]

Beare. K. (2018). “Intonation and Stress in English”. [Accessed 19 March, 2018]

Cribb, M. (2015). “Intonation 2 – the tone unit”. [Accessed 17 March, 2018]

Lewis, A. (Undated). “Oral Developmental Communication”. Ibadan: The

University of Ibadan.

Nordquist, R. (2017). “Intonation Phrase”. [Accessed 20 April, 2018]

Nordquist, R. (2018). “Suprasegmental Definition and Examples” [Accessed 20

March, 2018]

Onuigbo, S. (1990). “Oral English for Schools and Colleges” Onitsha: Africana-

FEP Publishers Limited

Yoshida, M. (2012). “Suprasegmentals: Part 1” [PDF accessed 20 April, 2018]

Yoshida, M. (2012). “Syllable Structure and Consonant Clusters” [PDF accessed

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