Speech melody. Its components

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Though no definition for the intonation is completely satisfactory, any attempt at a definition must recognise that the pitch of the voice plays the most important part. Only in very unusual situations we speak with fixed, unvarying pitch, and when we speak normally the pitch of our voice is constantly changing. We describe pitch in terms of high and low.

For pitch differences to be linguistically significant, it is a necessary condition that they should be under the speaker's control. There is another necessary condition and that is that a pitch difference must be perceptible; it is possible to detect differences in the frequency of the vibration of a speaker's voice by means of laboratory instruments, but these differences may not be great enough to be heard by a listener as differences in pitch. Finally, it should be remembered that in looking for linguistically significant aspects of speech we must always be looking for contrasts.

Speakers are said to select from a choice of tones according to how they want the utterance to be heard. The only really efficient way to learn to use the intonation of a language is the way a child acquires the intonation of its first language, and the training referred to above should help the adult learner of English to acquire English intonation in a similar (though much slower) way - through listening to and talking to English speakers.

One further complication should be mentioned here. Each speaker has his or her own normal pitch range: a top level which is the highest pitch normally used by the speaker, and a bottom level that the speaker's pitch normally does not go below. In ordinary speech, the intonation tends to take place within the lower part of the speaker's pitch range, but in situations where strong feelings are to be expressed it is usual to make use of extra pitch height.

Speech melody is the variation in the pitch of the speaker’s voice in connected speech. Speech Melodyhas the following components:

Range – the interval between the highest and the lowest points of the speaker’s voice. Within the range we can distinguish

the high, mid and low registers are characteristic of emotionally neutral and emotional speeches.

The high and low emphatic registers are characteristic of highly emotional speech.

The changes in the registers of the speaker’s voice serve to express certain modal meanings.

Nuclear tone (NT)– is the pitch change in the last stressed syllable and the following unstressed ones. The stressed part of the tone can be called nucleus and the post-stressed – post-nuclear or tail (the classifications of Nuclear Tones see below).

Head / Scale (H) – is a series of stressed and unstressed syllables that may be pitched variously starting with the first fully stressed syllable and ending before the last stressed syllable

Pre-head (PH) is all unstressed and partially stressed syllables preceding the first fully stressed one. Thus Pre-heads are found in two main environments:

2) When there is no head (no stressed syllable preceding the tonic syllable (nucleus)):

It is not necessary that there will be all components of speech melody in a sentence. Some of them are optional (PH, H or T), and some essential (NT, range regitres).

The Head of the intonation group stretches from the first fully stressed syllable (including it) and expends up to the Nucleus.

1. According to the general contour of pitch movement over the Head, the Heads may be:

2. According to the pitch movement within each stress-group (rhythm group), Heads may be:

3. According to the distribution of relative prominence among the semantic items in the prenuclear part of an intonation group? which is ultimately reflected in the number of full and partial stresses in the Head, we differentiate the following types of Heads:

Thus the general classification of the types of heads can be presented as follows:

Descending Stepping Head is formed by a series of stressed and unstressed syllables in which pitch descends in “steps”, so to speak, i.e. pitch movement within each stressed syllable is level, and the following stressed syllable is pitched a little lower, while the unstressed syllables are pronounced on the same pitch as the preceding stressed syllables. This head is the commonest one used with all the English tones.

Descending Sliding Head is formed by a descending series of stressed syllables pronounced with downward slides, so that each slide begins a little higher than the end of the preceding one. If there are any unstressed syllables between the stressed ones each is pitched a little lower than the preceding syllable; the stressed syllables may then be said on a level pitch:

Descending Scandent Head is formed by a descending series of stressed syllables pronounced with pitch rises within stressed syllables while each of the unstressed ones is pitched a little higher than the preceding one:

Ascending Stepping Head is formed by an ascending series of syllables in which each stressed syllable is pitched a little higher than the preceding one. The unstressed syllables between them rise gradually. The ascending Stepping Head is often used to show surprise, interest, and protest.

Ascending Sliding Head is formed by an ascending series of syllables in which each stressed syllable is pronounced with a slide, while each of the unstressed syllables is pitched a little lower than the end of the preceding syllable.

Ascending Scandent Head is formed by an ascending series of syllables in which each stressed syllable is pronounced with a rise, while each of the unstressed syllables is pitched a little higher than the end of the preceding syllable.

Level Head is formed by a series of stressed and unstressed syllables pronounced on the same pitch level.

Besides in English one can observe the high frequency of heterogenious heads, i.e. heads combining in themselves features of two (or three) different types.

1. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath on the count of 6. On the next count of 6 hold it, and on the next count of 6 release the air.

2. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath on the count of 6. Release the air on the count of 5. Take another deep breath on the count of 6 and release the air on the count of 4 proceed in the same way counting down to 1. At the count of one release the air with the sound “ha”.

3. Articulate the following tongue twister: “Thirty three thick thistle sticks”. The vocal cords are not working. Try to articulate the sounds a bit stronger than you usually do.

5. Take a deep and quick diaphragmatic breath on the count of 1. Release the air on the count of 6. Take another deep breath on the count of 2 and release the air on the count of 6 proceed in the same way counting up to 6.

6. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath and count aloud from 1 to 6. Try to use all air you have in your lungs. Make sure that your vocal cords are relaxed. Check on it by putting your hand on your throat – the neck muscles should not be tensed.

7. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath and say the following “One by one they went away”. If you have some air left let it out freely. Make sure that your vocal cords are relaxed. Proceed in the same way adding one unit to the sentence “One by one and two by two they went away”, and so on up to “six by six…”

8. Do the same as in 7 but starting with the lowest voice you can make and picking its pitch up on each number. The last number should be said on the highest pitch of your voice. Try not to go beyond your natural voice.

9. Do the same as in 7 but starting from the highest pitch and going down to the lowest.

10. Do the same as in 7 but starting with whisper and increasing the volume to a very loud voice, and back from loud to whisper.

11. Say the tongue twister from the activity 3 five times each time increasing the volume of your voice on every other word.

12. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath and read the following poem. Start by taking a breath after each line. Increase the number of lines read at one breath until you read the whole poem at one breath. Try to control the output of the air and make sure that your vocal cords are relaxed.

Listen to these phrases. Write 1 next to the first phrase you hear and 2 next to the second phrase.

Listen again, paying attention to the /l/ sound. Does it sound the same as in Ukrainian?

è The letter l has two pronunciations in English. When there is a vowel sound after it, it is a 'clear' /l/:

When it is at the end of the word, or there is a consonant sound after it, it is a 'dark' /l/:

Listen to the three words above. Can you hear the difference between 'clear' /l/ and 'dark' /l/? Practise saying the words.

The sounds in the pair of words below are “back to front”. Look: [li: p] leap [pi: l] peel.

º 1.1 First listen to this conversation between John and Lisa and then answer the questions.

1.2 In the conversation some phrases are repeated but they sound different because the speakers have chosen to highlight different words.

Listen to the first part of the conversation again as many times as you need to.

a) Identify any phrases which you hear repeated. In the transcript which follows, mark boxes round the words, which you think the speaker has highlighted.

b) Look at the contexts of the phrases carefully and try to explain why the highlighting has changed.

Lisa: That was Samantha on the phone. Honestly, I don't know how she does it.

Lisa: Nothing really. That's what amazing. But somebody has sent her a dozen roses.

1.3 Now listen to the second part of the conversation and do the same again.

John: Poor guy? What do you mean? It doesn't sound very poor to me if he can afford a dozen...

Lisa: No, I mean I feel sorry for him. He's in love with her — yes. But she's not in love with him.

Lisa: She doesn't even know who it is — and she says she doesn't really mind. She always...

Listen to the following utterances which you will hear twice. Decide which of the questions, (a) or (b), provides a suitable context for what you hear.

Now try to say each of the utterances so that it is a suitable response to the other question.

3.1 First listen to the whole of this conversation between Lisa and Tony. You heard the first part in Unit 3.

3.2 Now working with a partner if possible, listen to the second part again.

b) Try to explain why Tony and Lisa have chosen to use a or a tone where you have marked them.

Tony: // I MEAN // I MANaged to answer all the QUEST ions // and I THINK I said the right THING s // but I DON’T think // I wore the right CLOTHES //

Lisa: // WELL // there's NO point in WORR ying about it // what's DONE // is DONE //

Tony: // YES Lisa // I KNOW // There's NOthing I can DO about it // if COURSE // I CAN'T CHANGE anything // but I CAN'T help THINK ing about it //

º Work with a partner and think about which words you will highlight and where you will use and tones. Use a tone as you practiced in Unit 3.

Cathy: 0h, yes, of course. But had forgotten you were traveling by train. How did you manage?

Bob: Well, you see, we came by coach. It took a lot longer but we got back OK.

Bob: No. We didn't mind at all. It took a lot longer, but it was very comfortable - and it was much cheaper. In fact, we’ve decided to go by coach next time.

You can hear the recorded conversation, but, remember, this is only one possible version, yours may sound different.