What is the music of English pronunciation? What do you think of when you hear the word pronunciation? Is it tricky consonant sounds that make words like berry and very hard to tell apart? Or vowel sounds, like the ones in sheep and ship? Or written words that can be said more than one way, like read and read, or bow and bow? These are certainly an important part of pronunciation, and you do need to say these sounds well. But if you want listeners to understand you easily and get the full meaning of what you say, you need more than just sounds. You need to think about the music of English pronunciation. So what is the music of pronunciation? It includes these things. First, there's word stress, which gives English words their special pattern of stronger and weaker syllables. Putting the stress on the right syllable helps listeners recognize the words you're saying. For example, in introduction, the third syllable is stressed. Putting stress in the wrong place can cause confusion. If someone says introduction or introduction, it would be hard for listeners to understand the word. Try saying these words, paying attention to the stressed syllables. Monkey, giraffe, rhinoceros, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus. Next, there's rhythm. We know that music has rhythm, but language has rhythm, too. When we put lots of words together, the stressed and unstressed syllables form a pattern that makes the rhythm of English. Getting the rhythm right helps speakers sound more natural and be understood more easily. Try saying this sentence and feel the rhythm of the syllables. This is an introduction to the music of English. Reduced words also help form the music of English. In English rhythm, some syllables are longer and stronger, and others are very quick. Short, quick words often change their pronunciation. For example, to usually doesn't really sound like to. It's more like tuh. We call these reduced words. Try saying this sentence, and feel how the short words become even weaker and more reduced. This is an introduction to the music of English. Next is connected speech. You've probably noticed that when people talk, they don't say each word separately and clearly. They don't talk like this. I want you to find Debbie and give her a message. Instead, they join all the words together so they sound like one long word. I want you to find Debbie and give her a message. Changes in sound that happen when words are joined together are called connected speech. Understanding how connected speech works and getting used to listening to it will help you improve your understanding of ordinary spoken English. Try saying this sentence quickly so that the words all join together. I want you to find Debbie and give her a message. The next point is sentence focus. In every sentence or group of words, one word is emphasized more than the others. We say the emphasized word has sentence focus. If we change the word that has sentence focus, we also change the meaning or intention of the sentence. Can you hear the difference between these sentences? I've already written my paper. It's just a nice, normal sentence. I've already written my paper. But you haven't written yours. I've already written my paper. But I haven't proofread it yet. Try saying these sentences in all three ways. I've already written my paper. I've already written my paper. I've already written my paper. Finally, we need to think about intonation. This is the way your voice goes up and down as you speak, the melody of a sentence. Different patterns of intonation can also change the meaning of a sentence or show different emotions. Can you hear the difference in the melody of these sentences? I've already written my paper. Have you written your paper? Why didn't you write your paper? Try saying these three sentences, paying attention to intonation. I've already written my paper. Have you written your paper? Why didn't you write your paper? The music of English pronunciation is important because it helps you be understood more easily. It includes word stress, rhythm, reduced words, connected speech, sentence focus, and intonation. We'll learn about each of these things in the rest of this course.
