USING YOUR VOICE

USING YOUR VOICEUSING YOUR VOICE

Unit 1 Section 3a

VocabularyVocabulary

• Articulation• Breathiness• Diaphragm• Inflection• Larynx• Nasality• Pitch• Pronunciation

• Range• Rate• Resonance• Trachea• Vocal cords• Voiced

Identifying the Generators of Sound

Identifying the Generators of Sound

• Primary generators:– Vocal folds (vocal cords)

• Muscles that form the larynx

• Respiration Cycle– Inhalation

• Air passes through the larynx (voice box) and the trachea (windpipe) and is drawn into the lungs

– Exhalation• air in the lungs pushed back through the larynx

and trachea through the throat and out through the mouth or nose

Inhalation and ExhalationInhalation and Exhalation

Using Respiration for SpeakingUsing Respiration for Speaking

• Slight changes in regular breathing include– Burst of air from the lungs up to the larynx to

set the vocal cords into vibration• You inhale more swiftly and more deeply than you

do during normal breathing• You prolong the airflow as you exhale

– Muscles in the chest wall contract to counteract the force of the diaphragm so that all your air does not escape at once

• Prevents “gulping” of air in order to finish sentences

ACTIVITY 1:Breathing exercises

ACTIVITY 1:Breathing exercises

Understanding the ResonatorsUnderstanding the Resonators

• Resonance: reinforcement produced by vibration

• Resonators of sound for speech:– Bones in the chest, neck and head– Cavities of the throat, nose, and mouth

• A cavity is a partially enclosed area• A cavity’s natural range of sound depends on

– Size, shape, texture of the material forming the cavity, and size of the opening of the cavity

ResonatorsResonators

• Throat: Pharyngeal cavity

• Nose: Nasal cavity• Mouth: Oral cavity

ACTIVITY 2:Experimenting with Sound

Production

ACTIVITY 2:Experimenting with Sound

Production• Loop a large rubber band over your hands

and stretch it as far as possible.• Pluck the band with your thumb. Describe

the sound.• Move hands closer together and continue

plucking.• How do the sounds change?• How do your findings relate to the process

of producing human speech?

Identifying the Articulators of Sound

Identifying the Articulators of Sound

• Articulation: shaping of speech sounds into recognizable oral symbols that go together to make up a word

• The major articulators are in the mouth:– Tongue– Hard and soft palates– Teeth– Lips

Diagram of the MouthDiagram of the Mouth

The Sounds of EnglishThe Sounds of English

• Pronunciation

• International Phonetic Alphabet– Symbols frequently used in speech– Phonetic Chart of IPA symbols

http://www.stuff.co.uk/calcul_nd.htm

Classification of SoundsClassification of Sounds

• Voiced: vocal cords are vibrating when the sound is being made

• Voiceless: vocal folds are held open so that air breathed out does not vibrate them

• Consonants– Plosives– Fricatives– Nasals– glides

Improving VocalizationImproving Vocalization• Pitch: highness or lowness of the sound

– Key: average pitch at which you speak– Melody: variations in pitch to give expression

to the voice– Range: spread between the lowest and

highest notes you can speak comfortably– Inflection: upward or downward glide of your

pitch as you speak• Rising• Falling• Circumflex• Step

Improving VocalizationImproving Vocalization

• Volume– Loudness or intensity of sound– Depends on the force exerted to produce

speech tone

Activity 5: Experimenting with Loudness

Activity 5: Experimenting with Loudness

• Place your hands around your waist like a belt.

• In a normal voice say “Get over here as fast as you can.”

• Say the same sentence very loudly. On at last three of the words, you should feel a sharp tensing of the stomach muscles.

• Say it again. This time try to stop your stomach muscles from moving.

• What happens to your voice?


• Rate– Speed at which you talk– Normal speed: 120-160 words per minute– Rate is influenced by a number of factors,

including the emotional content of the message

Activity 6: Timing Your Rate of Speech

Activity 6: Timing Your Rate of Speech

• With a partner, take turns reading a passage in a book or magazine.

• Time each other.

• Count the number of words in the passage and figure out the rate of speech.


• Quality– Tone of your voice– Personal vocal quality is the tone that makes

your voice identifiable as yours.– Most common quality problems

• Nasality• Breathiness• Hoarseness• harshness

Correcting Articulation Problems


• Substituting one sound for another– Common problems

• da for the, radder for rather, dose for those• tink for think, anyting for anything• excape for escape, expecially for especially• bref for breath, bof for both• coutn’t for couldn’t, woutn’t for wouldn’t• jist for just• git for get, pin for pen



• Leaving out a Sound (omission)– Common problems

• dropping “d”: frien, gole• dropping “t”: mos, jus, kep, bes• dropping “l”: hep, sef, woff, sauve• dropping initial “h” after other words: see’um,

gave’er• dropping “e” along with a consonant sound:

Probly, member



• Adding an Extra Sound– Common problems

• soften for sofen• filum for film, athaletic for athletic, childaren for

children• idear for idea, drawr for draw• ahold for hold, especial for special, ascared for

scared



• Transposing sounds– Common problems

• aks for ask• hunderd for hundred• perscribe for prescribe, perfer for prefer• childern for children, modren for modern

Sending Effective Vocal Messages

Sending Effective Vocal Messages

• Breathe properly

• Resonate sounds effectively

• Articulate clearly

• Use vocal variety and appropriate emphasis

REVIEW QUESTIONSUnit 1 Section 3a

REVIEW QUESTIONSUnit 1 Section 3a

1. What is the basic difference between the breathing process used in regular breathing and the process used by a person who is speaking?

2. Define resonance.3. Identify three major cavity resonators and explain how

each affects the sound of the voice.4. What are the major articulators?5. What is the difference between pitch and volume?6. What are the four major vocalization problems that

relate to the quality, or tone, of the voice?7. What are the four major articulation problems that can

be remedied with practice?

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USING YOUR VOICE