English Pronunciation

Stresses
Tu Pei
Beijing Foreign Studies University

What is good English pronunciation?

A lofty goal
sound like native speakers
A modest, realistic goal
to develop a clear, understandable pronunciation
with appropriate intonation and stress

Why is good pronunciation so important?

Intelligibility
is the most sensible goal.
Intelligibility
is being understood by a listener in a given
situation
Poor, unintelligible speech will make your attempts
at conversing frustrating and unpleasant both for
yourself and for your listeners.

What are the priorities for Chinese learners?

Priority aspects for Chinese learners
weak forms

stress
rhythm
intonation

What are the tips on good English pronunciation?

Be aware of the major differences

between Chinese and English
pronunciations.
Be aware of the special features of
English pronunciation that are most
difficult for the Chinese learners.

English stresses
Chinese is a tone language while English is
a highly stressed language.
Apart from the vowel qualities and consonant
qualities, stresses play a very important role in
conveying the meaning of a sentence in English.
Example:
The girl gave the money to her father.
The Greens will never agree to that.

The GREENS will never agree to that.

The Greens will NEVER agree to that.
The Greens will never AGREE to that.
The Greens will never agree to THAT.


+ + >

+ >

Word Stress
Example:
coming

letter

report

myself

remember

explosion

beautiful
forget
modernization

Sentence stress

In a normal English sentence certain

words are stressed and certain words are
unstressed.
Normally stressed are content words.
Normally unstressed are form words.

Examples:

1. Janet has gone to the Bakers.

2. I saw your brother yesterday.
3. Would you like a glass of beer?
4. I must be going. My wifes waiting
for me at the corner of the street.

Stress and Rhythm

Stress gives a natural rhythm to

spoken English.

Rhythm
The rhythm of spoken English is
determined by the occurrence of
stressed syllables. Stressed syllables
occur at more or less equal intervals
in English. The other syllables in a
sentence are reduced or blended to
accommodate the regular beat of the
stressed syllables.

Rules of stresses

As a general rule English tries to

avoid having stresses too close
together.
English stresses tend to recur at
regular intervals.

Stress patterns
Example:
1. Sing a song.
2. Id love to.
3. Ive heard of it.
4. I want to know.
5. She asked me to go.
6. I think it will be fine.

Stress timed language

Example:
Go

home

Going

home

Going back

home

Going straight back home

Weak forms
Example:
A cup of tea

Johns at home.

A glass of water

I can speak English.

A block of flats

Id like some potatoes.

The book that I want

Ive been to France.

Bread and butter

We were leaving the house.

Weak Forms

The weak form or forms of a word are

used only in unstressed positions.
The weak forms of the words are of
much more frequent occurrence than
their strong forms.

/2/
and
/*nd/ /2nd/ /nd/ /n/

bread and butter

Ladies and gentlemen

The average learner uses far too

many strong forms; it is impossible
to speak English fluently unless the
phenomenon of weak forms is
properly understood and their use
acquired, preferably from the
earliest stage.

Features that help you read

smoothly
speech flow --- stress, rhythm, intonation
weak forms
sound linking
loss or incomplete plosion
consonant clusters
elision
pauses

Seasons
Spring is green,
Summer is bright,
Autumn is golden,
Winter is white.
Year in year out,
We work and fight,
For a new world, of red
sunlight.

/ /

Seasons
Spring is green,

Its a Small World

Its a world of laughter, a world of
tears.
Its a world of hopes; its a world of
fears.
Theres so much that we share.
That its time were aware.
Its a small world after all.

Edelweiss

/#eidlvais/

Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet

me.
Small and white, clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow,
May you bloom and grow, bloom and grow
forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland
forever.

Do Re Mi Song
Lets start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with ABC
When you sing you begin with Do
Re Mi

Whatever Will Be, Will Be

When I was just a little girl, I asked my
mother
What will I be?
Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?
Heres what she said to me,

Practice, practice and practice

Rain
The rain is raining all around,
It falls in field and tree.
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

Practice, practice and practice

Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night,
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see,
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up peoples feet,
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

Learning a foreign language was one of the most

difficult yet most rewarding experiences of my life.
Although at times, learning a language was
frustrating, it was well worth the effect.
My experience with a foreign language began in
junior middle school, when I took my first English
class. I had a kind and patient teacher who often
praised all of the students. Because of this positive
method, I eagerly answered all the questions I could,
never worrying much about making mistakes. I was
at the top of my class for two years.

Thank you!