rhythm of english

1. Rhythm of
English
Lecture 5

2. Rhythm
• The arrangement of stress and
unstressed syllables
• Stress-timed, the stress
syllables are produced with
more intensity of voice within a
longer span of time

3. Listen!
• Under the heat of the noon day
sun
• As a matter of fact
• The generations to come
• In times of emergency
• The answer to the question

4. Her face, like an angel’s grows
brighter
With the passing of the years
And her voice makes the dark
places lighter
As she wipes away my tears

5. Rhythm of English
• Phrasing
• Blending
• Stress and
• Intonation

6. Phrasing
• Grouping together of words
that convey thought
• Phrases that are separated
from each other by pauses
which are longer than those
found between words

7. Phrasing
• Go / slow men are working.
• Go slow / men are working

8. Blending
•Words that flow along
•One word seeming to
blend into the next

9. Blending
•Good afternoon
•How are you today
•Fine, thanks!
•And how are you?

10. Blending
• Hello
• Good morning!
• Good evening
• Good night
• I’m fine, thank you
• Goodbye, so long.

11. Intonation
• Rise and fall of the voice
Low – sadness, solemnity
Mid
High – joy
Extra high – extreme joy,
fear, calling of someone.

12. Intonation
• That is so pitiful
• I’m going home.
• Allan, play with us outside!
• There’s a snake!

13. Intonation
• For simple sentence,
commands and general
questions, the intonation falls
“I’m ok”, “Carry this”,
“Who are you?”

14. Intonation
• For Yes-No questions, the
intonation rises.
“Are you listening?”
“Can you pass today’s quiz?”

15. Intonation
• For two-prased sentences, in
the first phrase, HIGH then
FALLS. In the second phrase,
LOW then RISES

16. Intonation
Good morning, sir.
Who is on the phone, Gloria?

17. Stress
• Loudness or softness
• Emphasis
• BU’hay – life
• buHAY’ - alive