Communication Skills

Phoneme and Syllable

Phoneme

French phonme, from

from phnein to sound
First Known Use: 1896

One of the smallest units of speech that distinguishes one utterance from another Ex.\n\
and \t\ in "pin" and "pit" are different phonemes

Greek phnmat-,

phnma speech

sound,

utterance,

o The sounds represented by c and b are different phonemes, as in the

words cat and bat.
Syllable
A syllable is a single unit of written or spoken word, an unbroken sound used to
make up words.
o Examples of one syllable words known as monosyllabic
Cat, dog, car, sky.
o Examples of two syllables - disyllabic
Ho-tel, Po-em, Chor-us
o Examples of three syllables - trisyllabic
Beau-ti-ful, met-a-phor, po-e-try
o Examples of more than three syllables polysyllabic
Ox-y-mor-on
Syllables are used in poetry to give rhythm and depth to sentences.
Stress and Intonation

Stress

All words of more than one syllable have what is called word stress. This means that at
least one of the syllables is l o n g e r and louder than the other syllables.
The stress accent on the syllables of individual words either in a sentence or in isolation
In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we
accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the
other syllables very quietly.
Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same
when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not
always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different.
Word
shape
Total syllables Stressed
syllable
PHO TO GRAPH
3
#1
PHO TO GRAPH ER

#2

PHO TO GRAPH IC

#3

This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE,
converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera
The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Native speakers of English
listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your
speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your
comprehension.
Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in
films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognize it. After that, you can USE it!
There are two very important rules about word stress:
One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you
have heard two words, not one word.)
The stress is always on a vowel.

Communication Skills

Intonation
The sound changes produced by the rise and fall of the voice when speaking, especially
when this has an effect on the meaning of what is said.
The degree to which the notes of a piece of music are played or sung correctly:
The functions of intonation
Attitudinal function: related to determining the mode of the speakers attitude amd
mode.
Accentual function: related to determining the speakers accent.
Grammatical function: The nature of the speakers tone and bitch determines the
grammatical function of the prononounced sentences which may differ according to the
speakers tone and bitch.
Discourse function: accelerating the discourse between speakers arises because of the
intonational form of the speakers.
Speech may be divided into tone units.
Each tone unit is composed of:
A tonic syllable (obbligatory)
Optional elements which precede the tonic syllable (pre-head, head)
Optional elements which follow the tonic syllable (tail)
In short:
(pre-head) + (head) + tonic syllable + (tail)
We will begin by looking at the tonic syllable, it may follow one of these intonation patterns
Fall: neutral statement
Rise: neutral question, doubt
Fall-Rise: surprise, scepticism
Rise-Fall: emphatic statement
Level: boredom, disinterest
Fall: neutral statement, conclusion
E.g. Have you seen Ann?
Yes. (Falling intonation indicates I have answered your question and do not
intend to add anything else)
Rise: questioning, doubt, desire to continue conversation
E.g. Have you seen Ann lately?
Yes (Rising intonation indicates I want to continue the conversation, I am curious)
Rise-Fall: emphatic statement, irritation, command
Do I really have to clean my room?
Yes!
Fall-Rise: surprise, scepticism
Ann and Peter were on good terms at the party
Oh yes?
Level: boredom, lack of interest
Can you remember Peter Jackson, the cost consultant for our company in
Taiwan? The other day in the office I invited him for dinner, hell be coming
tomorrow.
Yes.