Grade 7 Unit 5: Prosodic Features of Speech in Oral

Grade 7 Unit 5: Prosodic Features of Speech in Oral

Communication Situations

Table of Contents Introduction 2

Objectives 2

Lesson 1: The Prosodic Features of Speech 3 Warm-up! 3 Learn About It! 4 Check Your Understanding 9 Let’s Step Up! 10

Lesson 2: Pitch Levels, Juncture, and Rate of Speech in Reading Lines of Poetry and Passages 11

Warm-up! 11 Learn About It! 12 Check Your Understanding 17 Let’s Step Up! 17

Lesson 3: Intonation Patterns in Questions and Statements 18 Warm-up! 18 Learn About It! 19 Check Your Understanding 26 Let’s Step Up! 27

Performance Task 28

Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn? 30

Wrap Up 32

Bibliography 32

GRADE 7 |English

UNIT 5

Prosodic Features of Speech in Oral Communication Situations In your previous lessons about communication, you learned that getting thoughts, needs, beliefs, and ideas across is an essential part of daily social interaction. It is through these aspects that we can know ourselves, the people around us, and our relationships with them. Successful communication depends more on how something is said than what is said in a conversation. When you look at how something is said, you take note of the sound and rhythm of an utterance and how variations affect meaning. To achieve successful communication, the speaker should be able to master the stress and intonation that carry the rhythm of the utterance of phrases, words, or sentences.

Objectives

In this unit, you should be able to: ● listen for important points signalled by volume, projection, pitch, stress, intonation,

juncture, and rate of speech; ● note the changes in volume, projection, pitch, stress, intonation, juncture, and rate

of speech that affect meaning; ● use appropriate prosodic features of speech like pitch, stress, juncture, intonation,

volume and projection and rate/speed of speech in differing oral communication; ● observe the correct pitch levels (high, medium, low) when reading lines of poetry,

sample sentences and paragraphs; ● use the correct stress (primary, secondary, tertiary and weak) when reading

passages; and ● use the rising intonation pattern with Yes/No and tag questions; the rising-falling

intonation with information- seeking questions, option questions and with statements.

2 Copyright © 2018 Quipper Limited

Lesson 1: The Prosodic Features of Speech

Have you ever experienced doing a dramatic reading in front of others? How was the experience? How did you do it? Reading aloud entails a lot of challenges for it includes modifying your voice and observing proper volume, stress and rate.This lesson will help you understand more about the prosodic features of speech that will help you effectively read aloud poems, short stories, essays and others.

Warm-up!

Quick writes Fill in the K and W column of the KWL chart below. Share your answers with your classmates

K What I know about oral

reading

W What I want to know about

oral reading

L What I learned about

oral reading 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.


Learn About It!

In oral communication, we produce speech sounds that are generally classified into segmentals and suprasegmentals. Segmentals include the vowels, consonants, diphthongs, and triphthongs while suprasegmentals include stress, pitch and intonation, and juncture. Pause This is a relatively brief silence or other speech phenomenon producing a similar impression. Intentional pauses in speech are used to mark off units of grammatical construction, such as sentences or clauses. In writing, pauses are indicated by full stops, colons, semicolons, and commas. 1. Juncture This refers to an interruption or break in continuous flow of speech. In short, these are the pauses in speech. It can occur within words, between words and after phrases or clauses.

Jenny / did you lose your pen again//

The janitor said / the principal / is always late.

I came / I saw / I conquered //


2. Pitch and Intonation This is the relative highness or lowness of voice. Some people naturally have a high-pitched voice, while some have low-pitch ones. Different pitch levels, or intonation, can affect meaning. The most obvious example is the way in which speakers raise the pitch at the end of a question, and this is indicated by a question mark in writing. There are four pitch levels the human voice is capable of reaching. These are low (1), medium/normal (2), and high (3). Extra high (4) is for expressing extreme emotions like fear, anger, or excitement. The combination of any two or three pitch levels results in a tune or melody called the intonation.

Patterns of rising and falling intonation can indicate feelings of astonishment, boredom, or bewilderment. 3. Stress This is the degree of force or prominence given to a syllable or a word. It is usually associated with pitch or the highness or lowness of a tone, length of sound or duration, and volume or loudness. This is a property of syllables which makes them stand out as more noticeable than others. Stress is an emphasis on a particular syllable or word. A stressed word or syllable is usually preceded by a very slight pause and is spoken at slightly increased volume. There are two types of stress: word stress and sentence stress.


Word stress A word stress shows what syllables in a word is stressed. This is because we do not pronounce each syllable with the same force or strength. Some syllables in a word may be pronounced louder than the others.

First syllable Second syllable Third syllable

Cátegory Dióxide Enginéer Róbot Sincérely Carousél Líterature Diagnósis Despíte

Sometimes, the placement of stress in a word can differentiate nouns from verbs. An example of this is the word record.“REcord” with stress on the first syllable is a noun which means a document while “reCORD” with stress on the second syllable is a verb which means to write something down.


Different levels of stress can occur within a word in English. These could be primary or strong /’/, secondary, medium, or next strongest /^/, and tertiary or weak / /. Stress indications are always placed in the vowel.

Word Primary Secondary Tertiary

faintheartedness faint heart -ed, -ness Observe where the word stress is in the following sentences:

1. An éxport presénted a slíde ábout expórted présents. 2. Japán was relúctant to impórt another impórted car due to the dangers of pollution. 3. Any commódity that cómes from outsíde the cóuntry is cálled an ímport.

Sentence Stress A sentence stress shows which word/s in a sentence is /are stressed. Stressed words are keys to emphasizing meaning. When reading passages, it is important to know which words should be stressed and which should not be stressed. When speaking, the speaker alternates between stress and unstressed words with the stresses falling within content words. They are to be stressed as they are most important in an utterance.

Stressed word Examples Nouns house, Alice Main verbs come, leave Adjectives pretty, fascinating Adverbs often, always Negatives not, no, nowhere Quantity words a lot, a bunch, few, some


At the sentence level, the word that is stressed can alter the meaning of the sentence. Consider the sentence “Mary had a little lamb.”

Sentence with the Stressed word Meaning

Mary had a little lamb. Mary, not Amanda, had the lamb. Mary had a little lamb. Mary had it once, but she does not have it now. Mary had a little lamb. Mary had one, not two. Mary had a little lamb. The lamb was little, not big. Mary had a little lamb. It was a lamb, not a dog.

In any sentence, some words will be stressed more than others; lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) are more likely to carry primary stress than grammatical words. 4. Volume This is the perceived loudness of the speaker. A slight increase in loudness indicates stress. It is generally used to show emotions such as fear or anger. 5. Rate of Speech This is the speed of speaking in words per minute from slow to fast, with normal rate averaging about 125 words per minute. Variations in the rate at which you speak can convey different emotions or emphasize important parts of your message.


Check Your Understanding Identify the correct stressed syllable in the following: 1. We should always live in the (PREsent, preSENT). 2. We attend a flag (cereMOny, CERemony) every Monday. 3. I have never seen this (beFORE, BEfore). 4. Turn on the (TELevision, teleVISion) please. 5. Who wants some (potaTo, poTAto) fries?

Write the meaning of the sentence based on the stressed word.

Sentence with the Stressed word Meaning Joan gave April a book to read. Joan gave April a book to read. Joan gave April a book to read. Joan gave April a book to read. Joan gave April a book to read.

Underline the stressed words in the following conversation:

Ara: Hello, Yam! How are you doing today? Yam: I’m feeling well, Ara. How is your sister? Ara: She’s still in the hospital. I hope she gets well soon. Yam: Tell me if there is anything I can help you with. Ara: Thanks, Yam.


Let’s Step Up!


Lesson 2: Pitch Levels, Juncture, and Rate of Speech in Reading Lines of Poetry and Passages

Reading silently and reading orally are two different things. Reading orally is challenging because it involves following certain guidelines to catch and maintain the attention of your listeners. This lesson will discuss some concepts you need to know to do an effective oral reading.

Warm-up!

Read each statement aloud but follow the emotion indicated inside the parenthesis.

1. I am hungry and tired (happy) 2. I really need to help her (surprised) 3. Wow! I did not expect this! Thank you very much (angry) 4. I just won first prize in the spelling contest. (sad) 5. We need to do our best. (thankful)

How does each statement sound? Why do you think is it important that we use the appropriate emotion when reading aloud some statements? What will happen if we do not modify our voice to fit whatever we are reading?


Learn About It!

There are different factors to consider when reading lines in poetry and passages. Take a look at the following: 1. Pitch Levels Pitch is directly related to word and syllable stress. When reading aloud, content words are stressed more during speech than function words. With pitch, one or more of the stressed content words of our speech will have a more dramatic rise of pitch than the other content words. That pitch change usually falls on the stressed syllable of that content word. English speakers mark words with a higher pitch for many reasons:

1. To make a simple statement (neutral statement) 2. To contrast or clarify information 3. To give new information 4. To show emphasis 5. To ask questions

Pitch can be simplified into four levels: The highest level of pitch (4) is used when the speaker wants to emphasize something, make a contrast, or show feelings.


The medium level (3) is the usual level of the primary word of a thought group and is most commonly the highest pitch of a thought group. The neutral pitch (2) is often used at the beginning of a thought. The lowest level (1) is the pitch a speaker often falls to at the end of a thought.

Notice the pitch levels in the poem by Langston Hughes. The portions with the higher pitch are found in the first part of each line and the lower pitches are found in the end of each line. Emphasis can also be noticed in the third line where ‘life’ is defined. 2. Juncture This represents a temporary stoppage of the flow of speech. It characterizes the passage from one sound to the next sound in the stream of speech. It suggests the need of pausing to obtain clarity of the sentence spoken. There are three types of junctures. a. Sustained Terminal Juncture (/). It is characterized by a level or a slight rise in pitch. It is indicated by a single bar (/) ; also referred to as single bar juncture.

We visited our students / who are sick.

Happy birthday / Diana./


b. Rising Terminal Juncture (//). It is characterized by a rise in pitch just before the juncture and is one and a half times as long as single bar juncture. It indicates the need for a longer pause between two, thought groups in a sentence. It is indicated by (//); also referred to as double bar juncture.

Does Paula like to swim//

Ms. Hannah// the College of Arts dean// teaches Microbiology.

c. Falling Terminal Juncture (#). It is characterized by a drop in pitch. The pausing time is twice as long as single bar juncture and comes at the end of statements, fact questions, long imperative sentences, and some tag questions. The pausing also responds to a need for semicolon, colon or period. It is indicated by a (#); also referred to as double cross juncture.

It is not what man tells # but what he does # that makes him great.

Who will sing at the program tomorrow#

In poetry, it is usually difficult to determine the juncture in free verse poems. The poet decides where to stop and where not to stop.

Tomatoes by Shane Koyczan People always ask me: // How do you memorize all of that? # And the truth is // the first

girl I ever kissed / tasted like tomatoes# And I know this / because the second girl I ever kissed / tasted like

pepper // It wasn’t unpleasant / it’s just / I was expecting tomatoes# When I was a kid / I learned that

time slows near a black hole# Inside a black hole / time stops altogether # Whether or not this theory will

ever be proved / I’m moved to believe / this would be the perfect place to love someone.


3. Rate of Speech (Tempo) in Reading Lines of Poetry and Passages Tempo, or rate of speech, is a term given to the speed at which we speak; calculated by the number of words spoken in a minute. Speaking rate matters because it alter’s the listeners perception of the topic.

● Slow speech (110wpm) ● Conversational speech (120 at the slow end, to 160-200wpm at the fast range) ● Podcasts/radio (150-160wpm) ● Auctioneers/commentators (250-400)

Speech rate varies depending on the speaker’s culture, geographical location, subject matter, emotional state, etc. Although the speaker should be flexible too and able to mix and match pace appropriately, determine speech context and the ability of the speaker to comprehend what is being spoken. Variations in Speed

1. A slow speed projects characteristics such as calmness, acceptance of others, and formality.


2. A speech rate that is too slow projects an image of dullness, listlessness, apathy, laziness, and sometimes lack of intelligence. 3. A fast speed projects animation, enthusiasm, excitement, and informality. 4. A speech rate that is too fast suggests nervousness, tension, anxiety, or a flighty Personality.

Two Factors Influencing Differences of Speech Rate

1. Quantity in Speech Rate This is the length of time that is spent in the actual utterance of vowel sounds within words, and the duration varies according to the mood and sentiment being expressed. 2. Pause This is the length of time spent in silence between words and particularly between phrases. A pause may range from a slight hesitation to a longer pause or silence. It may be made not only between words and phrases but also during vocalization.

Uses of Pauses

1. It build up suspense and emphasize the word or sentence that follows. 2. It gives listeners time to assimilate the word particularly for dramatic effects. 3. It increases the impact of feeling projected. 4. It breaks the continuity of thought that makes the listeners bored.


Check Your Understanding

Write the correct juncture symbol for the passage. What dress should I wear tonight? This pink dress or this blue overalls? I have always looked good in pink but the blue one looks sophisticated. I am attending a social gathering, you see. It is required that we look good. We will meet celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ellen DeGeneres. But, what should I wear? I hope you can help me decide.

Let’s Step Up!


Lesson 3: Intonation Patterns in Questions and Statements

English has many intonation patterns and they change depending on what we say. The intonation pattern we use when giving statements is different from the intonation pattern we use when asking questions. This lesson will discuss these in detail.

Warm-up!

How do you say “Hello” in the following situations? 1. When you meet a friend 2. When you see a five month old baby 3. When you see your teacher 4. When you meet a person for the first time 5. When you answer the phone

How did the intonation of your voice differ for each situation? Share your insights in class.


Learn About It!

In Lesson 1, we learned that pitch is the rise and fall of the voice when we speak, also called the highness or lowness. The use of pitch in English communication is known as the intonation. In intonation, there are three basic pitch levels:

• Low tone — 1 (where voice falls, usually at the end of sentences) • Middle (normal) tone — 2 (where the voice usually is) • High tone — 3 (where voice rises to indicate information focus)

1. Basic Intonation Pattern

1. Rising Intonation. The voice starts from the normal level, then rises to high level (2 to 3).

a. Yes/No questions


b. For echo statements

c. slow counting and enumeration

This is the intonation pattern for statements, commands, lists or enumerations, option questions, and information-seeking questions. For the enumeration, the pattern is rising, rising, rising, and falling. Intonation falls on the last item to show that the list is finished.


2. Falling Intonation The voice begins from level 3 the drops to level 1. Note the dropping of voice in the following examples. a. In one-word or short sentences


b. Counting of numbers

3. Rising-Falling Intonation (2-3-1) this is a combination of the first two patterns. The voice begins on the normal level 2, goes up to level 3, then drops or slides to level 1.

a. Statements

b. information questions


c. longer imperative statement

2. Variations in Intonation Patterns

1. Rising and Rising-Falling Intonation This is a combination of the pattern (2-3) and (2-3-1)

2. Rising-Falling and Rising-Falling Intonation This is combination of pattern (2-3-1) (2-3-1), is most commonly used in compound sentences.


3. Rising-Falling and Rising Intonation This is a combination of the pattern for statements (2-3-1) and the pattern for yes/no questions (2-3). It is used in statements with tag endings and expresses genuine questions.

4. Rising-Falling and Falling Intonation This is a combination of (2-3-1) and (3-1). Like the previous pattern, it is used in statements with tag endings but the tag ending expects a confirmation of fact.

3. Attitudinal Intonation Patterns

The speaker’s emotional state are revealed through intonation. The following examples of pattern may be similar to the previously discussed patterns, but they differ in the speaker’s emotion or attitude. 1. Rising and Falling Intonation a. Normal – Very High – Low (2-4-1). This pattern denotes surprise, fear or extreme anger.


b. Normal – Half Normal – Low. (2-2 ½-1) A short, detached or uninterested remark is characterized by this pattern.

2. Falling Intonation. This pattern is sometimes used to express sarcasm or annoyance.

3. Falling-Rising Pattern Starts with level 3, goes down to level 2 then moves up to level 3 again. This pattern is used to indicate variety of attitudes, e.g. doubt, encouragement, appeal, or invitation.


Check Your Understanding

Categorize the sentences in the following passage to rising and falling intonation: Teacher: Stop! Time is up. Student A: Oh no! I wasn’t able to finish the test. Student B: Why not? It was an easy one. Student A: Easy for you to say. You’re smart. Student B: It will be easy for you too if you studied. Student A: I know. I’m hungry. Let’s eat!

Rising Intonation Falling Intonation


Let’s Step Up!


Performance Task

NEWS WATCH

Goal: Your task is to deliver news to the viewers of

a TV station. Role: You are the newscaster of a certain TV

station. Audience: The target audience are the viewers of that TV

station who wants to be updated on the latest news. Situation: The challenge is to be able to deliver news with proper pitch, rate, stress,

juncture, etc.

Product / Performance and Purpose You need to deliver news observing the proper pitch, volume, rate, stress, intonation, etc. 1. Search for the latest news. Choose two news articles and print them. 2. Study the articles. Practice reading them aloud with proper stress, pitch, volume, rate etc. 3. Read the two news articles aloud in class like a true newscaster. Standards and criteria for success Your work will be judged by the following rubric:

Criteria Beginning (0-12 points)

Developing (13-16 points)

Accomplished (17-20 points)

Score

Content (Focus on details/events are clearly evident; it is clearly related to the topic.)


Organization (Logical progression of details/events; clear transitions between ideas.)

Language (spelling, mechanics, grammar and usage)

Rate of speech The rate is too fast or too slow.

The rate is slightly slow or slightly fast.

Rate of speech is appropriate to the news article.

Volume Volume is too loud or too soft.

Volume is a bit loud or a bit soft for a news report.

Proper volume was observed in the news delivery.

Pitch The voice is too high-pitched or too low-pitched

The voice is slightly high or slightly low.

The student used appropriate pitch for a news report.

Stress The students made a lot of mistakes in stress placement while reading.

The student made some mistakes in putting stress on words or syllables

The student observed proper stress.

Total Score:


Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn?

Do a self-check on how well you learned the lessons in this unit. Place a checkmark in the appropriate box.

Skills I think I need more

practice and assistance

I am familiar and can perform well

with minimal assistance

I am confident that I can perform this on

my own

I can listen for important points signalled by volume, projection, pitch, stress, intonation, juncture, and rate of speech.

I can note the changes in volume, projection, pitch, stress, intonation, juncture, and rate of speech that affect meaning.

I can use appropriate prosodic features of speech like pitch, stress, juncture, intonation, volume and projection and rate/speed of speech in differing oral communication.

I can observe the correct pitch levels


(high, medium, low) when reading lines of poetry, sample sentences and paragraphs; use the correct stress (primary, secondary, tertiary and weak) when reading passages. I can use the rising intonation pattern with Yes/No and tag questions; the rising-falling intonation with information- seeking questions, option questions and with statements.


Wrap Up

Prosodic features are the aspects of speech which go beyond phonemes and deal with the auditory qualities of sound. In verbal communication, we use and interpret these features without really thinking about them. Juncture is the temporary stoppage of the flow of speech and suggests the need of pausing to obtain clarity in thought relation Stress is the degree of prominence given to a syllable or word. Pitch is the relative highness or lowness, which one speaks Volume is the loudness or softness of sound. Intonation is the variation of spoken pitch used for a range of functions such as indicating the attitudes and emotions of the speaker and signaling the difference between statements and questions and between different types of questions.

Bibliography

Garcia, A. 2013. Juncture and Reduction. Accessed June 13, 2017. https://prezi.com/a1xwone67e7e/juncture-and-reduction/

Guardia, P. 2014. Prosodic Features. Accessed June 12, 2017.

https://prezi.com/bm4hiqwwah6f/prosodic-features/ Intonation. Pronunciation Tips—A Guide to Better Speaking. Accessed June 13, 2017.

http://www.pronunciationtips.com/intonation2.htm Intonation (linguistics) 2017. Accessed June 13, 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intonation_(linguistics). Introduction to Pitch. 2016. Accessed June 12, 2017. https://pronuncian.com/pitch-lessons/ Prosodic Features of Speech. Accessed June 12, 2017.


http://www.litnotes.co.uk/prosodicspeech.htm Ragas, L. 2014. English III: Rate of Speech. Accessed June 13, 2017.

https://www.slideshare.net/mhiequhMhae/english-iii-rate-of-speech Sexon, D. 2012. Rate of Speech. Accessed June 13, 2017.

https://www.slideshare.net/draizelle_sexon/rate-of-speech Smith, J., Meyers, C.M., and Burkhalter, A.M. 1992. Thought Groups, Phrasal Stress and

Intonation. Communicate: Strategies for International Teaching Assistants. Accessed June 12, 2017. http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nmswishe/401_thought%20groups_stress_intonatio n.html

Supra-segmental Phonemes and Phonetics. 2010. Accessed June 13, 2017.

https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/supra-segmental-phonemesand-phonetics/

The Top-Down Approach. American English Pronunciation. 2017. Accessed June 12, 2017.

http://www.pronunciationinaction.com/top-down What is the ideal rate of speech? Clearly Speaking, LLC. 2017. Accessed June 12, 2017.

https://clearly-speaking.com/what-is-the-ideal-rate-of-speech Recommended Links for This Unit: Boundless. “Rate.” Boundless Communications. 2017. Accessed June 13, 2017.

https://www.boundless.com/communications/textbooks/boundless-communications-textbook/delivering-the-speech-12/effective-vocal-delivery64/rate-254-4175/

“Stress and Rhythm in English Pronunciation”.Youtube. Accessed February 16, 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbcEiFTmkQo “How sentence stress changes meaning in English”. Youtube. Accessed February 16, 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4u0vINDZ_g


https://www.boundless.com/communications/textbooks/boundless

Documents

Grade 7 Unit 5: Prosodic Features of Speech in Oral