Unit 12 Lesson Plan (With Notes for Teachers) Rhythm of English Speech Date: Dec., 2-6 Class: Classes 1, 2 & 3, Grade 2002 Subject: English Pronunciation for Communication Purpose: The students will learn rhythm of English speech. Objectives: Students will be able to: Define - in their own words a definition for rhythm of English speech. It is a revision and therefore, easy for most of the students; Compare – based on the understanding of the basic concept, compare different types of speech rhythm in connected speech; Practice – imitate the stress patterns and do practice. Resources/Materials: Textbook: Wang, Guizhen, An English Pronunciation Course, Higher Education Press, Beijing, 2000; Handouts: illustration of stress patterns and rhythmic pattern; Recordings of native speakers Activities and Procedures: Stimulating: Begin by asking the class to find out how much the students know about what they are required to learn. Make sure that it serves the purpose of stimulating the students to think about the issue and have the desire to find out the answers themselves. Display examples by playing the recording of the native speakers showing the typical pronunciation in English. Ask the students to listen to the tapes to make a good discrimination of rhythmic patterns in connected speech. Have the students imitate the speech rhythm in utterances. Have the students share what they have learned by reading out the practice materials in pairs. Have the students listen to the conversations recorded by native speakers of English and try to get the rhythm correct in their pronunciation. Have the students practice the guided conversation. Ask them to pay special attention to the stress in speech. Highlight the language function in the conversation in the practice. Have several pairs of the students present their conversation in the class. Comment on the students’ performance by highlighting the achievement of the students and the efforts they need for the improvement. Ask the students to do more practice after class and get ready for presentation during the next session. Notes for Teachers Rhythm of English Speech In this unit, we will learn the rhythm of English speech. Every language in the world has its own rhythmic patterns. English is very different from Chinese in its rhythmic patterns. From what we learned in the previous units, we know that English depends on the correct pronunciation of stressed and unstressed or weakened syllables recurring in the same phrase or sentence in the expression of ideas. In another word, variation of words or syllables that have strong stress with those that have weaker or reduced stress is typical and contributes to the rhythm of English. When English speakers are speaking, therefore, they usually: make some parts of words stronger and clearer than other parts join parts of the words together arrange words into groups and join them together make some words stronger and clearer than other words. If a Chinese EFL learner fails to follow the rules and say all English words in a sentence in a strong way, English speakers may not understand what he says, or think that he is impolite or angry. Misunderstanding may arise or communication may break down because of that. So, for more effective communication, we need to master the rhythm of English. In conclusion, rhythm in English speech is based on stress. A rhythm unit is formed by a stressed syllable, together with unstressed syllables which may come before that stress and/or after it. Here are some examples. /Tom /John /Steve /Sam /Thomson /Johnson /Steven /Samson /Thomson and /Johnson and /Steven and /Samson /Thomson and then /Johnson and then /Steven and then /Samson Letters in bold here represent stressed syllables. The beat is marked with a /. You can hear a beat on the stressed syllable. When you are practising, you can even tap your hands to keep the rhythm of the above phrases. It is, therefore, the rhythm pattern of an English sentence that the stressed syllables follow each other at roughly equal intervals of time. Let’s look at the pairs of word phrases and sentences on page 130 in your textbook. Black or white? It was black and it was white. soft and light It's soft and it's light. Dan and Sue It was Danny and it was Susie. bread and milk Some bread and some milk. Get a purse. Get us her purse. a dark room It was dark in the room. cold winter It was cold in the winter. On the left hand side column we see sentences or phrases with three syllables among which two are stressed. On the right hand side column, there are four to nine syllables in each of the sentences. We notice, however, it takes about the same length of time to say each pair of these phrases and sentences because the number of syllables may vary but the number of stressed syllables are the same. To achieve this "similar length of time", we have to adjust the length of words according to the context. The stressed information words are usually long, specially when there are few or no function words between them. When there are function words between the strong stresses, English speakers make them very short so they fit between the stresses by reducing the vowels (using the weak vowel or schwa, for example), linking words together, and squeezing the words together and say them quickly. Look at some more examples. Each of the following sentences is made up of four stressed content words. The content words are underlined and the stressed syllable of these words are in bold. The number of unstressed syllables between the stressed syllables is different, from two to four. In normal speech, however, the stressed syllables follow each other at roughly equal intervals of time. So, each phrase in the following sentences takes about the same length of time to say. Do you think you would be able to finish it in a month? She said that she would like us to take it away. He turned to the left at the end of the street. I shouldn't have thought that she could appreciate the approach. 话语节奏 本单元介绍的是英语的话语节奏。 言语节奏指的是人们在说话时胸部肌肉收缩和放松产生的节奏, 是指人们感知为响亮高峰音或节拍的重音所形成的模式。语言学家将言语节奏分为音节定时节奏和重音定时节奏两大类：每个音节出现的时间间隔相等的为音节定时节奏，重读音节等时重复出现的为重音定时节奏。法语通常被认为属音节定时节奏语言，汉语的普通话也具有按音节定时的趋势。英语则通常被称为按重音定时的。 英语话语的重读规律是: 重读与非重读音节相间出现。重读音节与紧跟其后的非重读音节一起组成重音组。在不受迟疑（可使人说话速度放慢）或激动（可使人说话速度加快）等因素影响的情况下, 话语中重音之间的间隔时间大致相等。也就是说，根据英语的节奏规律，话语说起来所需的时间不决定于它有多少个词，多少个音节，而决定于它有多少个句子重音。假如句子重音之间的非重读音节数多，结果必然是说起来要快一些，含糊一些。同时，为了求得这种“大致相等”，话语中单词的发音也可能由于受到语言环境的影响而产生不同程度的变化。例如，在以下这个句子中共有重读音节四个，这些重读音节之间所含的非重读音节数分别为：两个、三个、四个，但在话语中，人们的感觉是：重读音节出现的间隔是大致相等的。 Do you think you would be able to finish it in a month? 又比方，下列几个句子的音节数不同，但所含重读音节数相同, 因此, 在说话速度相同的情况下，完成句子所需的时间亦大致相等： John is here now. John will be at home tonight. The professor is in London this evening. 我们可以从以上的例子得出几点结论： 句中重读音节相继出现的地方，通常语速会慢一些, 音节听起来自然也清楚一些。 重读音节之间拥挤着出现的非重读音节听起来轻快而且含糊。 一句话说起来所需时间长短不取决于句中的单词数或音节数, 而取决于句中有多少个重读音节。 总而言之，英语的话语节奏是一种有规则的节拍。掌握英语的节奏规律，主要涉及：句子的重音模式、节律模式、音的连读、音的同化、省音与缩约、弱读等方面。练习英语话语节奏的重点是：学会顺利地、匀称地从一个重读音节移动到下一个重读音节，特别要学会把重读音节中间夹带的非重读音节读好。掌握英语节奏规律可以提高话语的流利和自然程度以及听力理解的水平。