English Pronunciation for Communication

A Practical Course for Students of EnglishBy

Wang GuizhenFaculty of English Language & Culture

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

The Learning of Rhythmic structure in English Utterances

Hypothesis: two types of meter in the world’s languages: Stress-timing and syllable-timing

Stress-timing: Equal intervals between prominent syllables

Prototypical languages: English, Dutch, German

Syllable-timing Equal syllable durations

Prototypical languages: French, Spanish

All languages of the world are said to fall into one group or the other

Speech Rhythm

But no acoustic evidence for meter in speech

Stress-timed languages: intervals between stressed syllables not equal

Syllable-timed languages: successive syllables not equal in length

Nor are intervals between stressed languages more regular in stressed-than in syllable-timed languages

But languages do sound rhythmically different - why?

Empirical evidence?

Speech rhythm

What is it that makes rhythm language specific? Not meter Meter is a concept taken from western music which has meter Linguists who have proposed that language has meter are from a

European language background Alternative hypothesis: Languages sound rhythmically different

because of different levels of acoustic-phonetic variability in the speech signal variability in vowel durations

Speech rhythm

If vowel durations highly variable: language sounds ‘stress-timed’

Languages with vowel reduction: English, Dutch, German

If vowel durations similar: language sounds ‘syllable-timed’

Languages such as French and Spanish which do not have vowel reduction

Low and Grabe 1995, Ramus et al 2000

Speech Rhythm Although there is no evidence for meter in speech, there is an

acoustic basis for cross-language differences in speech rhythm

But what about the stress-timing/syllable-timing dichotomy? Linguists proposed that the world’s languages would fall into two rhythm classes

Is there evidence for this dichotomy from durational variability data?

Two rhythm classes?

The following comparisons are required

(1) A comparison of data from languages cited in the literature as stress-timed and languages cited as syllable-timed

(2) A comparison of the data in (1) with evidence from unclassified languages

French

German

Dutch

Spanish

British English

20

30

40

50

60

70

Var

iabi

lity

Inde

x

Prototypical languages

French

German

Dutch

Spanish

British English

20

30

40

50

60

70

Var

iabi

lity

Inde

x

unclassified

Hitherto unclassified languages

Grabe and Low

Tones in Mandarin

The syllable ma can have four different meanings, depending on the pitch level/movement

ma

m

a

am

m

a

high level high rising low falling rising high falling

‘mother’ ‘hemp’ ‘horse’ ‘scold’

I. Stressed-Timed Rhythm syllable-timed languages : stress-timed languages

An ideal realization from which ‘performance' factors are absent.The rhythm is both regular and irregular; the regularity is provided by the strong 'beat' at the beginning of each foot, and the irregularity by the unequal distribution of time within the foot.

II. Rhythm and Vowel Reduction English rhythm:

A pattern in which long syllables alternate with short ones.

III. The Distribution of English Stresses1. Form words are typically unstressed.

2. Content words are normally stressed. 3. Form words are stressed where contrast is expressed. 4. Any word being repeated is usually not stressed.

5. Many stressings are idiomatic. …

Beats: Try saying or listening to the sentences

below:M:\stress.mp3

1 2 3 41 and 2 and 3 and 4 and1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a1 and then a

2 and then a

3 and then a

4 and then a

Rhythmic patterns: Chinese vs EnglishEnglish RhythmEg: I shall have to try and get some cash from our bank at lunchti

me. Then we can let them have the money that they want as soon as they like. What are they asking us to pay them?Stressed vs unstressedStrong forms vs Weak formsMore advanced learners will find that attempts to use them properly are more likely to improve the naturalness of their speech than efforts in practically any other area of pronunciation.

Alternation preferenceThe strategy for learning to use weak forms properly:1. The essential weak form words must be identified. 2. Establish when they must have their strong forms, when they must have their weak forms.

Mark out the stressed syllables.

I shall have to try and get some cash from our bank at lunchtime. Then we can let them have the money that they want as soon as they like. What are they asking us to pay them?

Mark out the stressed syllables. I shall have to try and get

some cash from our bank at lunchtime. Then we can let them have the money that they want as soon as they like. What are they asking us to pay them?

(15/41 – 63% unstressed)

Chinese Rhythm

French Putonghua EnglishSyllable structure － － +Duration N 0 +Vowels N 0 +Consonants － － +Intonation － － +Function of accent － 0 +Table 1:Components of speech rhythm in Putonghua with reference to French and English

语言项目 法语 普通话 英语时长 N O +

音节结构 — — +

语调 — — +

元音 N O +

辅音 — — +

重音的作用 — O +

( 语言节律构成要素 : 汉语普通话、英语和法语的比较 )+: 表示正值–: 表示负值0: 表示零值

N: 未加分析的要素

7、汉语拼音韵母与国际音标对照韵母 国际音标 韵母 国际音标 韵母 国际音标

α 单独或零韵尾 [A] ou [ ou] iαng [iα?]o [o] α n [an] uα [ua]

e [ ] en [ n] uo [uo]

i （单独做韵母） [ i ] αng [α?] ing [i?]

-I （舌尖前）和z c s相拼 ן ] ] eng [ ?] uαi [uai]

-I（舌尖后）和zh ch sh r 相拼 [ ι ] i α [ia] uei [uei]

u [u] ie [iε] uαn [uæn]

ü [y] üe [yε] uen [u n]

er [ ] iαo [iαu] uαng [uα?]

αi [ai] iou [iou] ueng [u ?]

ei [ei] iαn [iεn] ong [u?]

αo [αu] in [in] üαn [yεn]

ün [yn] iong [y?]

e e

e

e

e

ę

表：

[ uη]

η

八、音位的组合

1、音节及其形成

音节是音位和音位组合构成的最小的语音结构单位，也是听觉上最自然、最容易分辨的最小的语音单位。例如汉语wo chifαn（我吃饭）这样一串声音，可以划分成三个音节。大多数音节是由两个或两个以上的音位为组合而成，如汉语普通话的“饭”/fan/，英语的cup/k p/（杯子）等。一个音节也可以由一个音位构成，如汉语普通话的“阿”[a]。音节的特性以及音节的分界，可以依据发音时肌肉紧张程度的变化来解释。“肌肉紧张度说”理论认为，人在发音时，发音器官的肌肉总是交替一紧一松，因而在人们的听觉上形成一个个语音片段，这就是音节。在汉语普通话中，往往是一个汉字就是一个音节。（除了儿化，如huαr 花儿）

2、汉语普通话音节结构的主要特点

汉语的音节可以分为声母、韵母、声调三个部分。声母指音节开头的辅音，如普通话“电”[]里的[]。韵母只音节中声母后面的整个部分，如[]里的[]。韵母又分为“韵头”、“韵腹”、“韵尾”三个部分。韵腹是韵母中开口度最大或听起来最响亮的那个元音，它是韵母的核心。韵头又叫介音，是韵母中位于韵腹之前的成分。韵尾是韵母中位于韵腹之后的收尾成分。如（）这个韵母里，（）是韵头，（）是韵腹，（）是韵尾。每一个韵母都必须有韵腹，但可以没有韵头和韵尾。声调指音节中具有区别意义作用的音高变化。

/kΛp/

最简单的一个音节可以没有声母、韵头和韵尾，但必须有韵腹和声调。

阳平阳平eechch晨晨chenchen

上声上声ooααiinn鸟鸟niniααoo

阴平阴平iitt梯梯titi

去声去声iieell类类 lei lei

去声去声 ααu u zhzh壮壮zhuzhuααnn

阳平阳平eexx学学xx

上声上声nn允允 nn

阳平阳平uuooii游游iouiou

阴平阴平ααuu蛙蛙uuαα

阳平阳平uu吴吴uu

韵母韵母韵头韵头 韵腹韵腹 韵尾韵尾

（介音）（主要元音）（介音）（主要元音） 元音元音 辅音辅音 声调声调

声声母母

结构成分例

字

n

ü

Ü Ün

xüé

η zhuang

例 1 ： — I need a couple of shirts, grey terylene please.

— Certainly, sir, I'll just get some out. Would you mind taking a seat for a moment? I shan't be long.

How many stressed syllables?How many unstressed syllables?

例 1 ： — I need a couple of shirts, grey terylene please.

Certainly, sir, I'll just get some out. Would you mind taking a seat for a moment? I shan't be long.

（ Unstressed syllables 20/36 ， 55.5% ）

例 2 ： 大妈：我可不去开会！人家说什么，我老听不懂。 四嫂：也没什么难懂的。反正说的都离不开修沟，修沟反正是好事，好事反正就得拍巴掌，拍巴掌反正不会有错儿，是不是？老太太？

（选自老舍剧作《龙须沟》第三幕第二场片断）北京话口语里的轻声比普通话的轻声要发达得多普通话口语里的轻声比书面语的轻声要发达得多

例 2 ： 大妈：我可不去开会！人家说什么，我老听不懂。 四嫂：也没什么难懂的。反正说的都离不开修沟，修沟反正是好事，好事反正就得拍巴掌，拍巴掌反正不会有错儿，是不是？老太太？

（共 65 个音节，轻声音节 15 个，占 23% ）（选自老舍剧作《龙须沟》第三幕第二场片断）北京话口语里的轻声比普通话的轻声要发达得多普通话口语里的轻声比书面语的轻声要发达得多

类别 例子語氣助詞 " 啊 , 嗎 , 吧 , 呢 " 等等。 去吧，好嗎結構助詞 " 的 , 地 , 得 " 。 你的筆，慢慢地，寫得好名詞或代詞的後綴 " 們 , 子 , 頭 , 麼 " 。 他們，桌子，木頭，什麼動態助詞 " 著 , 了 , 過 " 。 看著書，吃了飯，去過上海動詞重疊的第二個音節及夾在重疊動詞當中的 " 一 " 或 " 不 " 。 看著，想一想，去不去動詞後面的某些結果補語。 打開，站住，關上名詞後面的某些方位詞。 桌上，地下，家里動詞後面的趨向補語 出去，進來，跑出來作賓語的人稱代詞 " 我，你，他 " 。 請你去叫他

据厉为民（ 1981 ）的统计，在收词五万多条的《现代汉语词典》（ 1979 年版）里，轻声词在 32540 个双音节词语中只占 6.65% （ 2164 个），而以轻声作为最小音差构成辨义对立的则不足 1% 。（王理嘉 ,1998 ）。根据林焘 (1992) 的计算，平均每六、七个音节就可能出现一个轻音音节。统计数据出现的差异很可能是语体不同所致。

The rhythmic patterns of Chinese and English

Syllable-timed Stress-timed French Putonghua Spanish English

Fig. 1: Chinese Putonghua on the rhythmic scale in relation to French, Spanish and English

Fig 2: Duration for “ 里头” (litou), meaning “inside” Fig 3: Duration for “ 拿来” (nálai), meaning “to fetch it”

Who’s coming to the birthday par- ty? By a non-native speaker of English.

Who’s coming to the birthday par- ty? By a native speaker of English.

Syllables din ner par ty

Native speakers

0.125 0.075 0.103 0.052

Non-natives 0.123 0.143 0.199 0.168

Table 2: Syllable length for “dinner party” in “Who’s coming to the dinner party?” Time unit : sec

Time unit: sec

00. 050. 1

0. 150. 2

0. 25

di n- ner par- ty

Nati ve speakersNon-nati ves

Fig. 6: The average syllable lengths for “dinner party” in “Who’s coming to the dinner party?”

Fig 9: England was at war with America. (By non-native speaker of English)

Fig 10: England was at war with America. (By native speaker of English)

was at war Fig: “was at war” in the sentence “England was at war with America”. -- (By non-native speaker of English)

was at war Fig: “was at war” in the sentence “England was at war with America”. -- (By native speaker of English)

Amptitude

Amptitude

When Margaret Thatcher came to power in May nineteen seventy nine, Britain was a very different place to today. The trades unions were a political force to be reckoned with, government was involved in everything from generating power to making cars and many people looked to the state to provide their every need. Much of that changed during her eleven years in power. She neutered the labour movement, oversaw the privatisation of large swathes of the economy, and encouraged people to take more responsibility for their own lives. Much of this was fiercely resisted but is now political orthodoxy in Britain.

But she didn't win all the arguments. The National Health Service has been spared from comprehensive privatisation and a policy of ever smaller government and lower taxes has been abandoned by her Conservative party. One thing that hasn't changed however is the argument over Britain's place in Europe. It still divides the Conservatives and could yet be the undoing of Britain's current Prime Minister Tony Blair.

 轻声的使用乙：你读过老子（ laozi ）的文章吗？ 甲：你这话问得既没礼貌，又不谦虚。 乙：我怎么没礼貌、不谦虚了？ 甲：只有自以为了不起的人才自称“老子”！我比你岁数大，你怎么 在我面前称自己“老子”？这就是没礼貌！你写了那么两篇文章，就自以为是，张口闭口就是“老子的文章”，这就是不谦虚！ 乙：我想你大概误会了。我说的这个“老子”不是我，是中国古代的一个思想家。 甲：噢！你说的是道家的创始人老子（ laozǐ ）啊！ 乙：对！我说的就是他！甲：那你应该念成 laozǐ ，这个“子”不能念轻声。乙：是吗？我还以为“子”在词的后面都念轻声呢！甲：那可不对 !“ 子”在词的后面不念轻声的多着呢！乙：那你给我说说，还有哪些不念轻声？甲：比如说，你下星期要参加田径比赛。

乙：对！我参加 100米赛跑。 甲：和男的比呀，还是和女的比呀？ 乙：废话！我是男的，当然和男的比！ 甲：所以，你应该说：“我参加男子 100米赛跑。”“男子”的“子”也 不能念轻声。 乙：那一女子”的“子”也不念轻声了？ 甲：你真聪明！还有，你有几个兄弟呀？ 乙：我们家哥儿仨，我行大。 甲：那你就是长子（ zhangzǐ ）。 乙：噢！行大就是“长子”？我过去一直把这两个字念成 changzi 。 甲：肠子？还肚子呢！ 乙：不念轻声的还有哪些？ 甲：多了！才子、弟子、电子、分子、瓜子、孔子、棋子、鱼 子、败家子……这些词里的“子”都不能念轻声。

乙：看来你对轻声很有研究。 甲：哪里，还差得远呢！刚学汉语的时候，因为不会用轻声，闹 了不少笑话。 甲：有一次，我在街上问路，见到一位老人，我想跟他问路，可 又不知道怎么称呼才好。 乙：你就叫他“同志”。 甲：哎！那多不亲热呀！我想起我们的口语课本里有一课就是问 路，课文里用的称呼是“大爷（ da yé ），“大小”的“大”，“爷爷 奶奶”的“爷”，所以我就向老人打招呼说“大爷（ da yé ）！” 乙：老人答应了？ 甲：哪儿呀！老人回头瞪了我一眼：“你叫谁‘大爷（ da yé ）’呢？” 一扭头，走了。 乙：他怎么走了？

甲：我也纳闷哪！怎么回事？我挺有礼貌地和他打招呼，他怎么 生气了？回来我一问别人，敢情这称呼有两种读音：有礼貌地称呼老人，应该叫大爷（ da ye ）。中国人管那种光吃饭不 干活的叫大爷（ da yé ）。你想，我追着人家一个劲儿叫大爷 （ da ye ），人家能不生气吗？

乙：是得生气。 甲：还有一次，为了这轻声，我挨了一回骂。 乙：怎么？不会用轻声还挨骂？ 甲：那是刚到中国的时候。句子后面的语气词我总是念不好，念 不出轻声来，一念就好像四声。“你好吗”我老是说成“你好吗 （ mò ）”，“你是中国人吧”的

“吧”字，我也念成 bà ，结果，挨 了一回骂。 乙：怎么挨骂了？ 甲：那天，邻居家的一只猫跑到我家来了。我怕邻居找不到猫着 急，就赶紧抱着猫给邻居送去。一进邻居家的门，我就把猫递过去说：“这是你的吧（ b

à ）？”邻居一听火儿了：“它是你 的爸！你爸才是猫呢！” 乙：好家伙！连爸爸一块儿挨骂！