Speech in Action

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the comments and questions. Ray, I see the three-part metaphor being used at all levels, in ways that I hope will become clear over the next few days. I believe we need to get students at all levels familiar and comfortable with the idea that the words they know have a wide variety of soundshapes.

Below is a description of the use of the metaphor with a scripted sentence from an intermediate textbook. It is a vocal gymnastics exercise, which gets students to savour (another metaphor) the soundsubstance of speech.

Vocal gymnastics

Here is a textbook sentence from New Cutting Edge Intermediate (Cunningham & Moor, 2005: 108) ‘I realised that I’d left my purse at home’.

Let’s give a greenhouse version, with every word (counting ‘I’d’ as one word) in a separate speech unit:

Example 1 Greenhouse version (T stands in front of, or points to, the picture of the Greenhouse)

|| I || REALised || THAT || I’D || LEFT || MY || PURSE || AT || HOME ||

Very emphatic

The teacher does a listen-and-repeat (sorry Piers!) exercise with the class, either performing the speech units themselves, or using a recording. Using a variety of tone choices, and pitch heights, and emotions. But every syllable is clear, all segments pronounced clearly.

Then teacher moves to a joined up – garden – version, a tidy version of the sentence is likely to be given as a speech unit with four prominences (shown in upper case letters) and a falling tone beginning on ‘home’:

Example 2 Garden version (T stands in front of, or points to, the picture of the Garden)

|| i REALised that i’d LEFT my PURSE at HOME ||

Four prominences

Notice that we have partically reduced forms in the non-prominent syllables ‘that’ ‘my’ and ‘at’ – notice the linking of ‘that i’d’ – ‘tha.tied’

Now we will make our first steps in the jungle. So we are going to apply, strictly, the rule that this sentence is going to be performed with only two prominences, on the first syllable of ‘realised’ and on ‘purse’

Example 3 – first step in the Jungle (T stands in front of, or points to, the picture of the Jungle)

|| i REAlised that i’d left my PURSE at home ||

Two prominences

The skill is to make sure that the prominent syllables – in upper case letters – are said louder and longer than the other syllables, and are clear; and that there is a falling tone which starts on ‘purse’, and continues over the syllables ‘at home’.

Placing the speech unit in the five columns of a double prominence speech unit (the five part pattern) will enable us to make some useful observations. Notice that the columns are numbered in reverse order, with the prominent syllables in columns 4 and 2, and the falling tone starting in column 2.

Example 4 – the five part pattern

Two prominences

The prominent syllables are allocated one column each: columns 4 and 2. It is helpful to think of columns 4 and 2 as protected zones, where the syllables are spoken as if they are part of a full citation form, with all segments preserved (this is not absolutely true, because the final segments are often altered or dropped, but it is a useful pedagogic fiction).

Most importantly however, for our first step in the jungle, is the fact that columns 5 and 3 are ‘squeeze zones’ where syllables will be subjected to all kinds of stream-of-speech changes. Column 1 is a semi-protected zone, where the syllables – though non-prominent – are slowing down before a pause, and though quiet, are not subjected to the same level of destruction as they would be in columns 5 and 3.

In squeeze zone 3, there are the following things to notice and practise:

• past tense ending of ‘realised’ is inaudible we get something close to ‘realise’
• the ‘th’ of ‘that’ is inaudible - we get something close to ‘realizatt’ for ‘realised that’
• the ‘t’ of ‘left’ is dropped
• ‘that i’d’ has become something close to ‘attad’
• the diphthong of ‘my’ has lost its glide, it becomes ‘ma’

The vocal gymnastics for the students to do - guided by the teacher - is for them to ‘travel’ from the greenhouse, through the garden, to the jungle, saying this sentence in the appropriate way for each location.

More on squeeze zones tomorrow.