Voice and intonation

vOICE AND INTONATION LESSON

1. VOICE AND INTONATION

2. VOICE AND INTONATION Vocal Characteristics Vocal Range Speaking Rate Prosody Intonation Stress Content vs. Function Words Timing

3. Voice /Vocalization -it is the sound uttered through the mouth of living creatures, especially human beings in speaking.

4. VOICE CHARACTERISTICS PITCH - the relative tone of a person's voice : how high or low it is , how monotonous INTENSITY - the force or volume of tone; how loud or soft it is. QUALITY - the character or distinctive attributes of a sound; it’s resonance.

5. VOCAL RANGE It is the span from the highest to the lowest note (pitch) a particular voice can produce. The basic choral ranges are: SOPRANO - the highest of the four standard singing voices for women. ALTO -  is lower than the voice of a soprano TENOR - the highest adult male singing voice BASS - the lowest adult male singing voice.

6. SPEAKING RATE It is the person’s talking speed; how fast or how slow it is. A person can talk at 140-160 words per minute (wpm) and be clearly understood. Women speak faster on average than men. The speed of rapping is usually measured in syllables per second/ minute.

7. PROSODY It is the rhythm—stress and intonation patterns of speech. RHYTHM -the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds.

8. INTONATION It is the variation of pitch when speaking– the rise and fall of the voice as it slides from one pitch to another in the formation of syllable, word or group of words.

9. FIVE TONES IN ENGLISH The rise (rising intonation) – the pitch increases overtime The fall-rise (dipping intonation)- the pitch falls then rises The rise-fall (peaking intonation)- the pitch rises and then falls. Level- the pitch is flat.

10. DIPPING INTONATION- Afterthoughts Tag questions FALLING INTONATION-certainty, finality Statements and replies Exclamation Orders, commands and warnings Wh-questions

11. Aida is com ing. = Are you sure she is coming? Aida is coming . = I’m sure it’s Aida. Ai da is coming. = It’s a simple statement. Good eve ning. = It’s a greeting. Good evening. = It’s with authority. He has left. = You sound angry. He has left. = It’s a statement.

12. STRESS is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word or certain words in a sentence.

13. PAUSE It is the modulation of voice ; the change /alteration in pitch or tone INFLECTION The brief suspension of the voice, hesitation , while speaking

14. CONTENT WORDS VS. FUNCTION WORDS

15. In a sentence, content words are stressed such as: Nouns Principal verbs Adjectives Demonstrative pronouns Interrogative pronouns

16. Non-stressed words are considered function words such as: Articles Prepositions Conjunctions Helping verbs Possessive adjectives Relative pronouns Personal pronouns