Speech Sounds: Suggested Activities
By: Reading Rockets (2004)
Children must understand how speech sounds work to be ready for instruction in reading and writing. There are many activities that you can do with your students to help them increase their knowledge of speech sounds and their relationship to letters.
Activity 1: Good vibrations
Practice differentiating voiced and unvoiced speech sounds with your students. Have them put their hand on their throat to feel the difference between phonemes that make the vocal cords vibrate (voiced) and those that don't (unvoiced).
Voiced phonemes
/b/
/m/
/w/
/v/
/TH/
/d/
/l/
/j/
/y/
/z/
/n/
/r/
/g/
Unvoiced phonemes
/p/
/wh/
/s/
/sh/
/ch/
/k/
/f/
/th/
/h/
Activity 2: Human phonemes
Make a list of simple rhyming words and a second column of words with a different medial (middle) sound. Here are some examples:
- bat
- hat
- sat
- pat
- bit
- hit
- sit
- pit
Choose students to represent the sounds in the words you've chosen. You'll need one student for each sound. In our example, we would need seven students to represent the /b/, /h/, /s/, /p/, /a/, /t/, and /i/ sounds.
Give each of the students a card with the letter(s) that represent their sound. They should hold the card facing the class.
If you have younger students, you should help them by standing behind the group of phonemes and touching the correct phoneme to step forward as you blend them into words.
If you have older students, as you say the word, the "phonemes" should assemble themselves in the correct order.
Activity 3: The alphabetic principle
Students should sit on the floor in a circle or at tables. Give each student five blocks, chips, or other similar objects.
Tell your students, "Place one chip (block, etc.) in front of you for each sound in the word."
Here are some sample words to use with this activity although it would be better to use words you have introduced to students as part of your instruction.
big: /b/-/i/-/g/
house: /h/-ou/-/s/
sandy: /s/-/a/-/n/-/d/-/y/
comb: /c/-/o/-/m/
cook: /c/-/oo/-/k/
sit: /s/-/i/-/t/
pick: /p/-/i/-/c/
win: /w/-/i/-/n/
am: /a/-/m/
bake: /b/-/a/-/k/
Activity 4: Changing sounds
Call on students to change the sound at the beginning of a word. Start the first round by using their names, as in the examples below. Go around the room until every student has had a chance. Remember, make the sound, don't say the letter name!
Jimmy, can you change the /j/ in Jimmy to the /t/ sound?
Lisa, can you change the /l/ in Lisa to the /n/ sound?
Activity 5: Segmenting sounds
As students line up, say a child's name, but separate the first sound from the rest. For example, for a child named Pam, say, "/P/ /am/, could you please line up?" The students will have great fun trying to guess whose name is being called. Once they understand this type of segmentation, make it trickier by separating all of the sounds within their names, for example, "/P/ /a/ /m/."
They'll love the challenge.
Activity 6: Recognizing sounds
Tell students to get ready to learn a word game. Say, "We're going to pretend we are going on a trip. When you go on a trip you need to take lots of things with you. On this trip, we're going to a carnival. Say 'carnival.' What is the first sound? Yes, it's the /k/ sound, so everyone must take something that starts with the /k/ sound, like this:
'I'm going to the carnival and I'm taking a coat.'
Say those worsd: 'carnvial,' 'coat.' What else could I take?"
Ask the children to come up with a suggestion. The story could be changed depending on a specific sound or the recent experiences of the students.
Activity 7: Read books that play with sounds
These books are great resources that play with speech sounds through rhyme, alliteration, and phonemic manipulation.
-All About Arthur (An Absolutely Absurd Ape)
- Alphabears
- Animalia
- Buzz Said the Bee
- Catch a Little Fox
- Each Peach Pear Plum
- A Giraffe and a Half
- The Hungry Thing
- Jamberry
- See You Later Alligator
- Sheep in a Jeep
- Yours Till Banana Splits
- Zoophabets
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Modes of Delivery
Impromptu speaking is a speech and debate consolation event that involves an eight minute speech, with up to three of these eight minutes available for use as preparation time (known as prep time, or simply prep).
At the college level, the speaker is granted seven minutes to divide as he or she sees fit, as stipulated by the National Forensics Association and the American Forensics Association.
Another variation exists in which the speaker must speak for five minutes and half of a minute is given for preparation time. The speaker receives a slip of paper, which provides three choices for their speech. The topics can be abstract or concrete nouns, people, political events, quotations or proverbs.
Another variation still, is where the speaker is given an envelope with slips in it, each with a quotation. They draw three slips of paper, choose one, and then put two back. They then have five minutes to prepare a five minute speech on the subject.
While the format is simple, it takes time to construct a speech in that time and talk on your feet. Mastery of this event is difficult, but many enjoy it, because one does not have to prepare for the event beforehand. Similar in theory to extemporaneous speaking, however unlike that category, impromptu speeches need not be factual and are indeed encouraged to be humorous. In some impromptu rounds, there is a "triad" prompt, in which the participant is given three key words to talk about and connect during the speech.
Rules for Impromptu Speaking (Wisconsin Forensic Coaches' Association)
Purpose of the Category: To develop the skills necessary to quickly provide a responsive statement to a variety of everyday words, phrases and topics.
Definition of the Category: The impromptu speaker should deliver an original, creative and imaginative interpretation of the designated topic, supported by varied materials. An impromptu speech should reveal the student's ability to organize thoughts quickly and logically. The contestant should be held accountable for strict adherence to the topic drawn and discounted severely for shifting to some other topic of personal preference. The information presented should be well-chosen, pertinent, and sufficient to support the central thought of the topic. The material should be organized according to some logical plan to produce a complete speech with the time allowed. Delivery should be free from marked defects in speech mechanics -- poise, quality and use of voice, enunciation, fluency, bodily expressiveness -- and should be effective in enlisting and holding the audience's attention. The best impromptu speech combines clear thinking, good speaking and interesting presentation with respect to the topic chosen. Impromptu topics will be chosen form proverbs, objects, abstract words, events, quotations, and famous people.
Rules:
1. The speech must be original to the student and must be developed during the round. No pre-written or memorized speeches are allowed.
2. Once in the contest room, the student will be given a choice of three topics designated for that section by the judge in that room. The student will then be given a total of 6 minutes in which to prepare and speak. How the time is divided is totally up to the student but is subject to critique by the judge.
3. Auxiliary visual materials are not permitted.
4. No student may enter the contest room until his/her designated speaking time as determined by the speaking order scheduled for that room. The student will wait outside the room until the previous speaker leaves. Then, the student will enter and announce his/her code to the judge.
5. Maximum time limit: 6 minutes. There is no minimum time requirement. A contestant should not be penalized for brevity unless she/he fails to cover the subject adequately. A 30-second grace period is allowed. Any entry exceeding the grace period may not be ranked first in the round. If all entries in a round exceed the grace period, there shall be no first rank given in that round.
6. The use of notes is optional, but limited to both sides of a 4 x 6 card.
7. Vocal music, if used, must be incidental and consist of no more than 30 seconds total. Any entry exceeding this limit may not be ranked first in the round. If all entries in a round exceed the music time limit, there shall be no first rank given in that round.
Criteria for Evaluation:
1. The extent to which a direct and well-defined response to the topic chosen was provided.
2. The extent to which the ideas were analyzed and organized.
3. The extent to which the content (a) supported the response with worthwhile example, data, and personal insight; and (b) employed effective language skills including such items as the use of transitions and clear, vivid and appropriate word choices. Individual judges may lower the rank due to use of profanity or vulgarity.
4. The extent to which vocal interpretation contributed to the clarity and effectiveness of the presentation including such items as articulation, pronunciation, volume, rate, pitch, and vocal quality.
5. The extent to which the physical presence contributed to the clarity and effectiveness of the presentation, including such items as facial expression, eye contact, gestures, bodily movement, and poise.
Appropriate Gestures: The Impromptu Speaking contest rules include the following instructions: Responsive use of the body (i.e., spontaneous changes in posture, gesture, and place-to-place movement) are permissible. However, this active use of the body should:(A) be appropriate to the demands of the selection;(B) be a natural outgrowth from the literature to be performed;(C) not call attention to itself; and(D) be limited in scope.The judge’s opinion in this matter is final.
Extemporaneous Speaking, also known as "Extemp," is a high school and college speech event in which students speak persuasively about current events. In Extemp, a speaker chooses a question out of three offered, then prepares for thirty minutes with the use of previously prepared articles from magazines, journals and newspapers before speaking for seven minutes on the topic.
Basic information and format
The actual speech is delivered without the aid of notes and, at top levels, is a smooth, dynamic performance that incorporates research, background knowledge, humor, and opinion. A successful extemp speech has an introduction that catches the listener's attention, introduces the theme of the speech, and answers the question through three, or sometimes two, areas of analysis which develop an answer to the question. The preview of the three or two areas of analysis to come is called the "menu". The conclusion summarizes the speech and ties everything together, relating back to the introduction and body of the speech.
Debate and public speaking (collectively called "Forensics") are generally stratified into novice, or beginning, and varsity, or experienced, levels. A varsity level extemp is expected to cite anywhere from five to ten sources within the speech to substantiate the credibility of the analysis and demonstrate ample preparation. References are often referred to as a "cite" or "citation." Quality sources include newspapers like the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, magazines like the Economist and Foreign Policy and journals like the Fletcher Forum on World Affairs and Foreign Affairs. Also, on a speech dealing with a certain region's issues, say Africa or the Middle East, it is good to include regional sources as well.
During the speech, competitors are evaluated by way of comparison to the other speakers in a 'round' of competition. Generally, there are five to eight competitors in a given round. Judges give speakers time signals to help them pace their presentations. Judges rank all students in a room in order, with one being the best and the worst speaker ranked last (sixth, for example in a round of six competitors).
The National Forensic League (NFL), the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association (NCFCA) and the National Catholic Forensic League (CFL) host most Extemp tournaments. Both leagues have a national tournament at the end of every year, with the NFL tournament drawing a larger number of competitors. Northwestern University also hosts the Tournament of Champions in Extemperaneous Speaking each year. Other good national extemp tournaments include the MBA (Montgomery Bell Academy) Round Robin, Harvard University Invitational, George Mason University's Patriot Games, St. Mark's Heart of Texas Invitational, the Glenbrooks in Northbrook, IL a suburb of Chicago, and the Barkley Forum at Emory University.
The Different Types of Extemp
Most high school level districts offer two different kinds of Extemp Speaking. Normally, those are FX (or Foreign Extemp or IX) and DX (or Domestic Extemp or USX). Both follow the same format but have questions concentrated on either foreign or domestic political/economic topics. Some states, like Pennsylvania, offer a different event called Extemp Commentary. In Extemp Commentary the speaker, seated behind a desk, gives a five-minute speech about a topic rather than about a question. Extemp Commentary is also held at the National Speech and Debate Tournament as a Supplemental Event.
In college forensics, as well as at a number of large tournaments like the Tournament of Champions in Extemporaneous Speaking at Northwestern University, the Barkley Forum at Emory University, the Harvard Invitational and the NCFL National Championship, there is only one mixed category for Extemporaneous Speaking, referred to as simply 'Extemp' (with the event code 'EX'). Mixed extemp can prove more challenging, calling upon a speaker's broad awareness of possible topics ranging for questions about American culture to foreign policy or obscure international economic issues.
The Extemp Speech Structure
The structure of an extemporaneous speech varies widely depending on whether the competition is a high school or college tournament, and can often vary in style across the country. The most common method, exemplified in several high school and college national final rounds, follows a similar structure to the one described below.
Introduction
Attention Getter - A device used to get the attention of an audience. Some examples include quotations, statistics, history, narratives, political cartoons, anecdotes, and pop culture references. A typical attention getting device (sometimes referred to as an AGD) seeks to set the tone for an extemporaneous speech and acquaint the audiences with the particular style of the speaker.
Link - A description of how the attention getter relates to the actual topic (for example, a speaker might describe how the movie "The Godfather" applies to a topic like American foreign policy). Links can be abstract (connecting the attention getter to the topic using a one word comparison that usually employs 'like' or 'as') or concrete (making multiple connections between the attention getter to the topic).
Significance Statement - A sentence justifying the importance and relevance of the chosen topic.
Source- Most introductions include at least one source, often used to substantiate the
Significance Statement. Sources are cited orally and include the name of the publication and the date, at the minimum (e.g. "The Washington Post of October 23, 2006 reports that...")
Question - A word-for-word recitation of the question (topic) as selected (e.g. "Is Pakistani President Musharraf doing all he can to fight extremism in his country?")
Definition - A definition of any vague words that are critical to your argument (e.g. "extremism") Some definitions can be frowned upon if given in a monotone, or robotic, voice. It is a good tip for all speakers to watch how and when you give definitions.
Answer - A summary of the position to be taken on the issue.
Preview - A preview of the body areas of the speech. Each point should be a short declarative sentence. ("First, Brazil's economic performance will outweigh the alleged corruption.")
Body
It is common that Extemporaneous speeches will have good deal of structure. One of the most frequently employed speech structures will accommodate three contentions or points, each containing two or three sub-points. A popular and easy to follow method of composing contentions includes the three sub-points: Theory, Application and Case Study.
Example
In this example, the first point is illustrated in detail.
Question: Will Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi win his campaign for re-election? Answer: Yes, because he is seen as an effector of necessary reform.
First Point - Koizumi is placing emphasis on the privatization of the Japanese Postal System
Theory - When a candidate focuses their energies on a limited issue that the public supports, they have a greater chance for success.
Application - While Koizumi's approval rating often dips below 50%, his pledge to privatize the Postal System keeps him more popular than any other person or party
Case Study - An Economist article date June 9, 2005 notes that The Japanese Postal system currently sits at ¥386 trillion ($3.6 trillion) in assets, making it the world's biggest financial institution. It continues to explain that Mr. Koizumi is now close to getting a vote on a bill that will—eventually—turn it over to the private sector.
Impact - Because Prime Minister Koizumi will so effectively reform the postal service he will be seen as an effector of reform which will easily win him the re-election.
Second Point drama Theory Application Case Study Impact
Third Point
Theory Application Case Study Impact
Conclusion
The conclusion is an opportunity to recap the ideas discussed in the speech and contains many elements of the introduction. A conclusion may look like this:
Question - A word-for-word restatement of the question.
Answer - A review of the answer and points discussed.
Tie to Introduction/Conclusion - This should be along the same lines as the opening attention getter. The same 'vehicle' or theme (for example, an anecdote about Margaret Thatcher) is employed to conclude the speech as was used initially to introduce it. A clever closing line is common place and many strong competitors will remind the judge of the question, while simultaneously referencing the theme discussed in the introduction and conclusion.
History and Background of Manuscript
The Manuscript Division was one of several "departments" established in 1897 when the Library of Congress moved from the United States Capitol to a separate building nearby. Its staff of four assumed custody of a collection of twenty-five thousand manuscripts which had accumulated throughout the nineteenth century, chiefly through the purchase in 1867 of Peter Force's collection of Americana, the gift in 1882 of Joseph M. Toner's collection relating to George Washington and American medical history, and several small transfers from the Smithsonian Institution. In 1903, by an act of Congress and an executive order, the State Department began transferring historical papers, including several presidential collections, which had been acquired by the federal government.
Despite its early concentration upon acquiring original manuscripts for political, military, and diplomatic history, the division soon broadened its acquisition interests, especially after World War II, to include cultural history, history of science, and the archives of nongovernmental organizations. Its current holdings, nearly sixty million items contained in eleven thousand separate collections, include some of the greatest manuscript treasures of American history and culture. Among these are Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, James Madison's notes on the Federal Convention, George Washington's first inaugural address, the paper tape of the first telegraphic message--"What hath God wrought?", Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and second inaugural address, and Alexander Graham Bell's first drawing of the telephone.
Manuscript Reading Service
The Manuscript Reading Service is an opportunity to have your manuscript carefully read by a professional writer who will provide you with a detailed evaluation of content and technique, as well as suggestions for further development of your work. Manuscript readers will also attempt to answer any specific questions the author has regarding the manuscript. The administrative staff of the WGA will endeavour to match your manuscript with a published writer whose body of work most closely suits the manuscript you submit. All genres are eligible for this program.
To arrange for a professional evaluation of your manuscript, write to Manuscript Reading Service, c/o The Writers Guild of Alberta, 11759 Groat Road NW, Edmonton, AB T5M 3K6. Send only photocopies of manuscripts, typed and double-spaced. Include a cover letter with the following: contact information, page/word count, genre, and any other pertinent information. The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself.
Please enclose a cheque or money order for the appropriate amount, made out to “Writers Guild of Alberta” and clearly marked Manuscript Reading Service. No manuscript will be read unless it is accompanied by payment. Depending on the availability of suitable readers, the service typically takes six to eight weeks.
Note: The Writers Guild of Alberta assumes no responsibility for the safety of the manuscripts sent for this service. The Guild takes reasonable care and attention, but writers are advised to keep a copy of manuscripts when sending them through the mail. The Guild uses regular mail service for this program. The Writers Guild reserves the right to refuse any submission made to the Manuscript Reading Service.
When To Memorize A Speech
by Stephen Boyd February 28, 2005
Memorizing a speech creates many challenges--having a memory block, sounding mechanical in delivery, and lacking rapport with the audience, to name a few. Besides, memorizing a speech simply takes too much time. Thus I recommend: do not memorize a speech!
However, as is the case with most general rules, there are exceptions. That is true about memorization connected to a speech. There are certain parts of a speech that will make you more effective if they are memorized.
Memorize the opening lines of your presentation. This will get you off to a good start. Your language will be specific and concrete to insure that the audience will listen to you. When you get off to a good start, your nervousness lessens and you are on your way to a successful presentation.
Memorize a joke or humorous story you are going to tell. Reading a joke to an audience just does not work. You need to be able to interact with the audience nonverbally as you tell something you hope they think is funny. What you can do with a short piece of material such as a joke is to memorize it and then practice it until it does not sound memorized.
In a persuasive speech, memorize the move to action step. You should know exactly what you want your audience to do as a result of your presentation. In fact, end with "What I want you to do as a result of my presentation is…." Know those words by heart. You will have confidence in your conclusion and will make eye contact with your audience as you deliver this final line.
Sometimes you should memorize transitions. If you have an abrupt change of direction in the middle of your presentation, you might choose to memorize the transition leading to your next point. Thus the audience will receive proper direction and not be confused. For example, in a speech on oral style, I might say, "We must realize that words don’t mean--only people who use them." Each word counts; I would memorize it.
Only under rare circumstances do I recommend memorizing any part of a speech; the above suggestions, however, should make you aware of possibilities for enhancing your effectiveness as a speaker.
Impromptu speaking is a speech and debate consolation event that involves an eight minute speech, with up to three of these eight minutes available for use as preparation time (known as prep time, or simply prep).
At the college level, the speaker is granted seven minutes to divide as he or she sees fit, as stipulated by the National Forensics Association and the American Forensics Association.
Another variation exists in which the speaker must speak for five minutes and half of a minute is given for preparation time. The speaker receives a slip of paper, which provides three choices for their speech. The topics can be abstract or concrete nouns, people, political events, quotations or proverbs.
Another variation still, is where the speaker is given an envelope with slips in it, each with a quotation. They draw three slips of paper, choose one, and then put two back. They then have five minutes to prepare a five minute speech on the subject.
While the format is simple, it takes time to construct a speech in that time and talk on your feet. Mastery of this event is difficult, but many enjoy it, because one does not have to prepare for the event beforehand. Similar in theory to extemporaneous speaking, however unlike that category, impromptu speeches need not be factual and are indeed encouraged to be humorous. In some impromptu rounds, there is a "triad" prompt, in which the participant is given three key words to talk about and connect during the speech.
Rules for Impromptu Speaking (Wisconsin Forensic Coaches' Association)
Purpose of the Category: To develop the skills necessary to quickly provide a responsive statement to a variety of everyday words, phrases and topics.
Definition of the Category: The impromptu speaker should deliver an original, creative and imaginative interpretation of the designated topic, supported by varied materials. An impromptu speech should reveal the student's ability to organize thoughts quickly and logically. The contestant should be held accountable for strict adherence to the topic drawn and discounted severely for shifting to some other topic of personal preference. The information presented should be well-chosen, pertinent, and sufficient to support the central thought of the topic. The material should be organized according to some logical plan to produce a complete speech with the time allowed. Delivery should be free from marked defects in speech mechanics -- poise, quality and use of voice, enunciation, fluency, bodily expressiveness -- and should be effective in enlisting and holding the audience's attention. The best impromptu speech combines clear thinking, good speaking and interesting presentation with respect to the topic chosen. Impromptu topics will be chosen form proverbs, objects, abstract words, events, quotations, and famous people.
Rules:
1. The speech must be original to the student and must be developed during the round. No pre-written or memorized speeches are allowed.
2. Once in the contest room, the student will be given a choice of three topics designated for that section by the judge in that room. The student will then be given a total of 6 minutes in which to prepare and speak. How the time is divided is totally up to the student but is subject to critique by the judge.
3. Auxiliary visual materials are not permitted.
4. No student may enter the contest room until his/her designated speaking time as determined by the speaking order scheduled for that room. The student will wait outside the room until the previous speaker leaves. Then, the student will enter and announce his/her code to the judge.
5. Maximum time limit: 6 minutes. There is no minimum time requirement. A contestant should not be penalized for brevity unless she/he fails to cover the subject adequately. A 30-second grace period is allowed. Any entry exceeding the grace period may not be ranked first in the round. If all entries in a round exceed the grace period, there shall be no first rank given in that round.
6. The use of notes is optional, but limited to both sides of a 4 x 6 card.
7. Vocal music, if used, must be incidental and consist of no more than 30 seconds total. Any entry exceeding this limit may not be ranked first in the round. If all entries in a round exceed the music time limit, there shall be no first rank given in that round.
Criteria for Evaluation:
1. The extent to which a direct and well-defined response to the topic chosen was provided.
2. The extent to which the ideas were analyzed and organized.
3. The extent to which the content (a) supported the response with worthwhile example, data, and personal insight; and (b) employed effective language skills including such items as the use of transitions and clear, vivid and appropriate word choices. Individual judges may lower the rank due to use of profanity or vulgarity.
4. The extent to which vocal interpretation contributed to the clarity and effectiveness of the presentation including such items as articulation, pronunciation, volume, rate, pitch, and vocal quality.
5. The extent to which the physical presence contributed to the clarity and effectiveness of the presentation, including such items as facial expression, eye contact, gestures, bodily movement, and poise.
Appropriate Gestures: The Impromptu Speaking contest rules include the following instructions: Responsive use of the body (i.e., spontaneous changes in posture, gesture, and place-to-place movement) are permissible. However, this active use of the body should:(A) be appropriate to the demands of the selection;(B) be a natural outgrowth from the literature to be performed;(C) not call attention to itself; and(D) be limited in scope.The judge’s opinion in this matter is final.
Extemporaneous Speaking, also known as "Extemp," is a high school and college speech event in which students speak persuasively about current events. In Extemp, a speaker chooses a question out of three offered, then prepares for thirty minutes with the use of previously prepared articles from magazines, journals and newspapers before speaking for seven minutes on the topic.
Basic information and format
The actual speech is delivered without the aid of notes and, at top levels, is a smooth, dynamic performance that incorporates research, background knowledge, humor, and opinion. A successful extemp speech has an introduction that catches the listener's attention, introduces the theme of the speech, and answers the question through three, or sometimes two, areas of analysis which develop an answer to the question. The preview of the three or two areas of analysis to come is called the "menu". The conclusion summarizes the speech and ties everything together, relating back to the introduction and body of the speech.
Debate and public speaking (collectively called "Forensics") are generally stratified into novice, or beginning, and varsity, or experienced, levels. A varsity level extemp is expected to cite anywhere from five to ten sources within the speech to substantiate the credibility of the analysis and demonstrate ample preparation. References are often referred to as a "cite" or "citation." Quality sources include newspapers like the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, magazines like the Economist and Foreign Policy and journals like the Fletcher Forum on World Affairs and Foreign Affairs. Also, on a speech dealing with a certain region's issues, say Africa or the Middle East, it is good to include regional sources as well.
During the speech, competitors are evaluated by way of comparison to the other speakers in a 'round' of competition. Generally, there are five to eight competitors in a given round. Judges give speakers time signals to help them pace their presentations. Judges rank all students in a room in order, with one being the best and the worst speaker ranked last (sixth, for example in a round of six competitors).
The National Forensic League (NFL), the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association (NCFCA) and the National Catholic Forensic League (CFL) host most Extemp tournaments. Both leagues have a national tournament at the end of every year, with the NFL tournament drawing a larger number of competitors. Northwestern University also hosts the Tournament of Champions in Extemperaneous Speaking each year. Other good national extemp tournaments include the MBA (Montgomery Bell Academy) Round Robin, Harvard University Invitational, George Mason University's Patriot Games, St. Mark's Heart of Texas Invitational, the Glenbrooks in Northbrook, IL a suburb of Chicago, and the Barkley Forum at Emory University.
The Different Types of Extemp
Most high school level districts offer two different kinds of Extemp Speaking. Normally, those are FX (or Foreign Extemp or IX) and DX (or Domestic Extemp or USX). Both follow the same format but have questions concentrated on either foreign or domestic political/economic topics. Some states, like Pennsylvania, offer a different event called Extemp Commentary. In Extemp Commentary the speaker, seated behind a desk, gives a five-minute speech about a topic rather than about a question. Extemp Commentary is also held at the National Speech and Debate Tournament as a Supplemental Event.
In college forensics, as well as at a number of large tournaments like the Tournament of Champions in Extemporaneous Speaking at Northwestern University, the Barkley Forum at Emory University, the Harvard Invitational and the NCFL National Championship, there is only one mixed category for Extemporaneous Speaking, referred to as simply 'Extemp' (with the event code 'EX'). Mixed extemp can prove more challenging, calling upon a speaker's broad awareness of possible topics ranging for questions about American culture to foreign policy or obscure international economic issues.
The Extemp Speech Structure
The structure of an extemporaneous speech varies widely depending on whether the competition is a high school or college tournament, and can often vary in style across the country. The most common method, exemplified in several high school and college national final rounds, follows a similar structure to the one described below.
Introduction
Attention Getter - A device used to get the attention of an audience. Some examples include quotations, statistics, history, narratives, political cartoons, anecdotes, and pop culture references. A typical attention getting device (sometimes referred to as an AGD) seeks to set the tone for an extemporaneous speech and acquaint the audiences with the particular style of the speaker.
Link - A description of how the attention getter relates to the actual topic (for example, a speaker might describe how the movie "The Godfather" applies to a topic like American foreign policy). Links can be abstract (connecting the attention getter to the topic using a one word comparison that usually employs 'like' or 'as') or concrete (making multiple connections between the attention getter to the topic).
Significance Statement - A sentence justifying the importance and relevance of the chosen topic.
Source- Most introductions include at least one source, often used to substantiate the
Significance Statement. Sources are cited orally and include the name of the publication and the date, at the minimum (e.g. "The Washington Post of October 23, 2006 reports that...")
Question - A word-for-word recitation of the question (topic) as selected (e.g. "Is Pakistani President Musharraf doing all he can to fight extremism in his country?")
Definition - A definition of any vague words that are critical to your argument (e.g. "extremism") Some definitions can be frowned upon if given in a monotone, or robotic, voice. It is a good tip for all speakers to watch how and when you give definitions.
Answer - A summary of the position to be taken on the issue.
Preview - A preview of the body areas of the speech. Each point should be a short declarative sentence. ("First, Brazil's economic performance will outweigh the alleged corruption.")
Body
It is common that Extemporaneous speeches will have good deal of structure. One of the most frequently employed speech structures will accommodate three contentions or points, each containing two or three sub-points. A popular and easy to follow method of composing contentions includes the three sub-points: Theory, Application and Case Study.
Example
In this example, the first point is illustrated in detail.
Question: Will Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi win his campaign for re-election? Answer: Yes, because he is seen as an effector of necessary reform.
First Point - Koizumi is placing emphasis on the privatization of the Japanese Postal System
Theory - When a candidate focuses their energies on a limited issue that the public supports, they have a greater chance for success.
Application - While Koizumi's approval rating often dips below 50%, his pledge to privatize the Postal System keeps him more popular than any other person or party
Case Study - An Economist article date June 9, 2005 notes that The Japanese Postal system currently sits at ¥386 trillion ($3.6 trillion) in assets, making it the world's biggest financial institution. It continues to explain that Mr. Koizumi is now close to getting a vote on a bill that will—eventually—turn it over to the private sector.
Impact - Because Prime Minister Koizumi will so effectively reform the postal service he will be seen as an effector of reform which will easily win him the re-election.
Second Point drama Theory Application Case Study Impact
Third Point
Theory Application Case Study Impact
Conclusion
The conclusion is an opportunity to recap the ideas discussed in the speech and contains many elements of the introduction. A conclusion may look like this:
Question - A word-for-word restatement of the question.
Answer - A review of the answer and points discussed.
Tie to Introduction/Conclusion - This should be along the same lines as the opening attention getter. The same 'vehicle' or theme (for example, an anecdote about Margaret Thatcher) is employed to conclude the speech as was used initially to introduce it. A clever closing line is common place and many strong competitors will remind the judge of the question, while simultaneously referencing the theme discussed in the introduction and conclusion.
History and Background of Manuscript
The Manuscript Division was one of several "departments" established in 1897 when the Library of Congress moved from the United States Capitol to a separate building nearby. Its staff of four assumed custody of a collection of twenty-five thousand manuscripts which had accumulated throughout the nineteenth century, chiefly through the purchase in 1867 of Peter Force's collection of Americana, the gift in 1882 of Joseph M. Toner's collection relating to George Washington and American medical history, and several small transfers from the Smithsonian Institution. In 1903, by an act of Congress and an executive order, the State Department began transferring historical papers, including several presidential collections, which had been acquired by the federal government.
Despite its early concentration upon acquiring original manuscripts for political, military, and diplomatic history, the division soon broadened its acquisition interests, especially after World War II, to include cultural history, history of science, and the archives of nongovernmental organizations. Its current holdings, nearly sixty million items contained in eleven thousand separate collections, include some of the greatest manuscript treasures of American history and culture. Among these are Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, James Madison's notes on the Federal Convention, George Washington's first inaugural address, the paper tape of the first telegraphic message--"What hath God wrought?", Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and second inaugural address, and Alexander Graham Bell's first drawing of the telephone.
Manuscript Reading Service
The Manuscript Reading Service is an opportunity to have your manuscript carefully read by a professional writer who will provide you with a detailed evaluation of content and technique, as well as suggestions for further development of your work. Manuscript readers will also attempt to answer any specific questions the author has regarding the manuscript. The administrative staff of the WGA will endeavour to match your manuscript with a published writer whose body of work most closely suits the manuscript you submit. All genres are eligible for this program.
To arrange for a professional evaluation of your manuscript, write to Manuscript Reading Service, c/o The Writers Guild of Alberta, 11759 Groat Road NW, Edmonton, AB T5M 3K6. Send only photocopies of manuscripts, typed and double-spaced. Include a cover letter with the following: contact information, page/word count, genre, and any other pertinent information. The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself.
Please enclose a cheque or money order for the appropriate amount, made out to “Writers Guild of Alberta” and clearly marked Manuscript Reading Service. No manuscript will be read unless it is accompanied by payment. Depending on the availability of suitable readers, the service typically takes six to eight weeks.
Note: The Writers Guild of Alberta assumes no responsibility for the safety of the manuscripts sent for this service. The Guild takes reasonable care and attention, but writers are advised to keep a copy of manuscripts when sending them through the mail. The Guild uses regular mail service for this program. The Writers Guild reserves the right to refuse any submission made to the Manuscript Reading Service.
When To Memorize A Speech
by Stephen Boyd February 28, 2005
Memorizing a speech creates many challenges--having a memory block, sounding mechanical in delivery, and lacking rapport with the audience, to name a few. Besides, memorizing a speech simply takes too much time. Thus I recommend: do not memorize a speech!
However, as is the case with most general rules, there are exceptions. That is true about memorization connected to a speech. There are certain parts of a speech that will make you more effective if they are memorized.
Memorize the opening lines of your presentation. This will get you off to a good start. Your language will be specific and concrete to insure that the audience will listen to you. When you get off to a good start, your nervousness lessens and you are on your way to a successful presentation.
Memorize a joke or humorous story you are going to tell. Reading a joke to an audience just does not work. You need to be able to interact with the audience nonverbally as you tell something you hope they think is funny. What you can do with a short piece of material such as a joke is to memorize it and then practice it until it does not sound memorized.
In a persuasive speech, memorize the move to action step. You should know exactly what you want your audience to do as a result of your presentation. In fact, end with "What I want you to do as a result of my presentation is…." Know those words by heart. You will have confidence in your conclusion and will make eye contact with your audience as you deliver this final line.
Sometimes you should memorize transitions. If you have an abrupt change of direction in the middle of your presentation, you might choose to memorize the transition leading to your next point. Thus the audience will receive proper direction and not be confused. For example, in a speech on oral style, I might say, "We must realize that words don’t mean--only people who use them." Each word counts; I would memorize it.
Only under rare circumstances do I recommend memorizing any part of a speech; the above suggestions, however, should make you aware of possibilities for enhancing your effectiveness as a speaker.
The Speech Devices
Stressing
Stressing is a technique developed in the 1960's to avert rail track problems that can occur when installing Continuous Welded Rail (CWR). When installing new rail the rail must be returned to its former temperature or length.
Technique
Unconstrained large sections of steel will shrink as the temperature drops and expand as it increases. Since the ends of CWR are fixed the rail will experience tensile stress in extreme cold and can fracture if it grows too great. In extreme heat, it will experience compressive stress and if that force grows too strong, the rail will buckle.
Imagine a length of CWR 1 kilometer long on track that has some stress in it. Each end of that rail is fixed to the track. Also imagine a 1 kilometer long length of rail lying on the ground next to the track. In a hot summer, the unconstrained rail lying next to the track is going to expand, and the rail fixed to the track will experience compression. The unconstrained rail will actually be longer than 1 kilometer. Likewise, in extreme cold, the unfixed rail will shrink and actually be shorther than 1 kilometer, while the rail that is constrained to 1 kilometer will experience tension.
Obviously, there is a temperature where the length of the rail as fixed on the track is equal to the length of the unfixed rail. This is known as the rail neutral temperature. Note that rail neutral temperature does not actually measure the temperature of the rail. Instead it measures stress because rail neutral temperature is merely the ambient air temperature where the fixed length of rail has no compressive or tensile stress.
When working with rail (laying new track, repairing track, changing out sleepers/ties), this rail neutral temperature can be induced even if the ambient temperature is different by adding stress to the rail.
The act of stressing rail is inducing the proper rail neutral temperature so that there will be no fracturing or buckling at the temperature extremes. Since environmental extremes will vary, there is no universal rail neutral temperature. In the UK all rail is stressed to 27 degrees Celsius (81 Fahrenheit) (mean summer rail temperature). US standards range from 90 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (35 to 43 Celsius) depending in large part on expected temperature range over the course of a year.
Stress is frequently induced when a piece of rail is removed (a defective rail) or when an IBJ (Insulated Block Joint) is to be replaced. In these cases: The rail is marked and clips removed. The start point of the new rail is then cut. At this point the rail should shrink (a gap is created) due to the stress being lost in the rail. The technician then calculates how much stress is lost and needs replacing. The second cut is made and the old rail removed. The new rail is fitted and welded at one end. A stressing kit is then fitted at the end still to be welded. The kit is clamped to the rail and it pulls the gap together, leaving space for the second weld. Once the rail is stressed to the appropriate temperature the weld is made. After setting the weld the stress kit is removed.
The stress or neutral rail temperature of track can change over time, particularly under heavy traffic conditions. Besides resetting the rail neutral temperature when making repairs, rail testing is often employed to attempt to calculate the rail neutral temperature of a particular track to determine if prescriptive measures are needed.
What is blending?
Definition
Blending is the process of forming a word by combining parts of words.
Discussion
In blending you sound out a sound or phoneme and combine it with the next sound or phoneme of the same word. Eventually, all sounds or phonemes of a word form the word itself.
Blending is used in the phonics approach to teaching reading and works well with phonemic orthographies.
Examples
Here are some examples of blending:
When you blend the sounds /b/ /a/ /t/ , they become the word bat.
When you blend the syllables /ba/ /na/ /na/ together, they make the word banana.
Phrasing
A Sentence Phrasing Analysis is a way of presenting the text of a passage visually to show the grammar of the passage and the relationship between the parts of the sentence.
Basic Terminology
Sentences are composed of clauses. A clause is a group of words containing a subject/noun and a predicate/verb.
There are two kinds of clauses: independent and dependent clauses. Independent clauses are defined as those clauses which can stand alone as complete sentence. They consist of a subject and a verb and sometimes a direct object. The subject is the actor in the sentence, the verb is the action taking place, and the direct object is the recipient of the action.
Dependent clauses (also called subordinate clauses) cannot stand alone as an independent sentence. In English, dependent clauses usually begin with a subordinate conjunction or relative pronoun. It is vitally important that you learn how to recognize when clauses begin and end and also to be able to determine what kind of clause you are dealing with.
It is important to identify participles because they are extremely important in Greek, but function differently in Greek than in English at times. The easiest way to recognize participles in English is the -ing words. Participles contain a verbal idea and sometimes in English, they can appear to be an independent clause. However, in Greek they are not independent clauses, but independent clauses. Thus, it is very important to recognize a participle in English as a dependent clause.
Any clause, independent or dependent, can have a variety of modifiers. Adjectives modify a noun. Adverbs modify a verb. Prepositional phrases can modify either, though they usually modify the verb. A clause which contains a modifiers is always a dependent clause.
Conjunctions – "and," "but," "therefore," "so," "if"
Sentence Phrasing Analysis Principles & Process
- Identify the main independent clause
- Identify subordinate (dependent) clause
- dentify the modifiers & conjunctions
Believe it or not there are only three basic principles of making a mechanical layout. The rest of the material is merely refining the process. They are simply these:
- Begin independent clauses at the left margin.
- Follow the order of the English text.
- Show grammatical relationships by means of indentation and arrows.
Obviously before you begin making your sentence phrasing analysis you need to identify the independent and dependent clauses. This can be done easily on a computer by simply hitting the return key at the end of every clause. In English all the words that belong to a clause are placed together.
2. Follow the order of the English text.This principle needs a little more explanation. As you read an English sentence modifiers can be placed either before or after the word they modify. When the modifier is placed before the word that it is modifying they are placed above the line. When the modifier is found after the word it modifies then it is placed on the line below. Let me give you an example. At this point I only want you to be concerned about the placement of the modifier above or below the line.
Now we have said that one principle of the mechanical layout is that we follow the order of the English text. There are a couple of important modifications to that rule that I want to introduce at this time. Occasionally words need to be removed from the order in which they occur in the text. When that happens (and we will explain when in a few minutes) then use elipsis points (. . .) to mark the original location in the text and use a caret (^) preceding the words that have been moved out of order.
3. Show grammatical relationships by indentation & arrowsThe dependent clause or prepositional phrase or adjective or adverb should be indented under the word it modifies with an arrow pointing to the word it modifies. By using both the indentation and the arrow, you ensure that when you return to the passage you will recall which word it modifies (the word before or after).
The word "that" is often important in our mechanical layouts. In Greek, "That" can indicate direct or indirect discourse. Direct discourse is simply recorded speech. If we quote a person word for word then that is direct discourse. "John said, `I am hungry.'" If we quote the essence of a person's words then we use indirect discourse. "John said that he was hungry."
Definitions of 'phrasing'
(frā́zĭng)
Dictionary.com · The American Heritage® Dictionary - (14 definitions)
(noun)
The act of making phrases.
The manner in which an expression is phrased.
Music The manner in which a phrase is rendered or interpreted.
Definitions of 'phrase'
(frāz)
Dictionary.com · The American Heritage® Dictionary
[Latin phrasis, diction, from Greek, speech, diction, phrase, from phrazein, to point out, show.]
(noun)
A sequence of words intended to have meaning.
A characteristic way or mode of expression.
A brief, apt, and cogent expression.
A word or group of words read or spoken as a unit and separated by pauses or other junctures.
Grammar Two or more words in sequence that form a syntactic unit that is less than a complete sentence.
Music A short passage or segment, often consisting of four measures or forming part of a larger unit.
A series of dance movements forming a unit in a choreographic pattern.
(verb: phrased, phras·ing, phras·es.)
(transitive verb)
To express orally or in writing: The speaker phrased several opinions.
To pace or mark off (something read aloud or spoken) by pauses.
Music
To divide (a passage) into phrases.
To combine (notes) in a phrase.
(intransitive verb)
To make or render phrases, as in reading aloud.
Music To perform a passage with the correct phrasing.
INTONATION
In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. (Compare tone.) Intonation and stress are two main elements of linguistic prosody.
All languages use pitch semantically, that is, as intonation, for instance for emphasis, to convey surprise or irony, or to pose a question. Tonal languages such as Chinese and Hausa use pitch to distinguish words in addition to intonation.
Rising intonation means the pitch of the voice increases over time; falling intonation means that the pitch decreases with time. A dipping intonation falls and then rises, whereas a peaking intonation rises and then falls.
The classic example of intonation is the question-statement distinction. For example, northeastern American English, like very many languages (Hirst & DiCristo, eds. 1998), has a rising intonation for echo or declarative questions (He found it on the street?), and a falling intonation for wh- questions (Where did he find it?) and statements (He found it on the street.). Yes or no questions (Did he find it on the street?) often have a rising end, but not always. The Chickasaw language has the opposite pattern, rising for statements and falling with questions.
Dialects of British and Irish English vary substantially,[1] with rises on many statements in urban Belfast, and falls on most questions in urban Leeds.
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, "global" rising and falling intonation are marked with a diagonal arrow rising left-to-right [↗] and falling left-to-right [↘], respectively. These may be written as part of a syllable, or separated with a space when they have a broader scope:
He found it on the street?
[ hiː ˈfaʊnd ɪt ɒn ðə ↗ˈstɹiːt ‖ ]
In the previous example, the global rise symbol is placed between the transcriptions for the words "the" and "street".
Yes, he found it on the street.
[↘ˈjɛs ‖ hi ˈfaʊnd ɪt ɒn ðə ↘ˈstɹiːt ‖ ]
In that example, the symbol for a global fall was placed before the transcription for the word "yes," as well as between the transcriptions for the words "the" and "street".
How did you ever escape?
[↗ˈhaʊ dɪdjuː ˈɛvɚ ɨ↘ˈskeɪp ‖ ]
Here, the global rise symbol is place before the transcription for the word "how" and the global fall symbol is placed between the two syllables in "escape".
DIPHTHONGS, CONSONANTS AND VOWELS
DIPHTHONGS
are types of vowels where two vowel sounds are connected in a continuous, gliding motion. They are often referred to as gliding vowels. Most languages have a number of diphthongs, although that number varies widely, from only one or two to fifteen or more.
A vowel is a specific type of sound, characterized by a lack of full obstruction to the air flow. Vowels can be contrasted with consonants, where there is such an obstruction. As air comes out when you are speaking a consonant, there is a build up of pressure as the air flow is constricted. When speaking a vowel, there is no built up pressure, the sound is simply shaped by the position of the tongue.
Vowels are generally characterized by three different criteria: the position of the tongue in the mouth relative to the roof of the mouth (height), the position of the tongue in either the front or back of the mouth (backness), and the shape of the lips as the vowel sound is being made (roundedness). There are other things that may characterize vowels, but they are not very common in English — things such as the position of the root of the tongue, for example, rarely affect English vowels, though they affect the vowels in many African languages.
When vowels come together, they may either be two distinct syllables, or may merge into one syllable. When they merge, they form what are known as diphthongs. If they stay separate they are simply two monophthongs. An example of two single syllable vowels can be seen in the word triage, in which the i and the a are both pronounced on their own. An example of a diphthong can be seen in the word mouse, in which the ou part of the word obviously consists of two distinct vowels, but there is no syllabic break between the two.
Diphthongs can usually be seen as having two distinct parts — the nucleus, and the off-glide. The nucleus of the diphthong is the vowel that is most stressed, and forms the center of the sound, while the off-glide is the vowel which seems to flow into or off of the nucleus vowel.
The three major diphthongs in Standard English, which are known as phonemic diphthongs, are ai, aw, and oy. All three of these diphthongs are very common, and many people simply think of them as single vowels in some contexts. For example, in the English word ride, the i would be transcribed phonetically as ai. Although it appears as a single letter in our writing, it actually consists of two vowels — if you say the word you should be able to hear the two. Similarly, the word how contains the diphthong aw at the end, and the word boy contains the diphthong oy.
Other diphthongs in Standard English are the ei sound in the word fame or the pronunciation of the letter a, and the ou sound in the word phone. Other languages have many more diphthongs aside from these, and other dialects of English may have more diphthongs as well. Languages such as Finnish have nearly twenty diphthongs, while the Received Pronunciation dialect of English has an extra five or so diphthongs not found in Standard English.
In addition to diphthongs and monophthongs, there are also what are called triphthongs. These are similar to diphthongs, but instead of moving simply from one vowel sound to another, a third sound is also added. Source: What Are Diphthongs?
TYPES OF DIPHTHONGS
Falling (or descending) diphthongs start with a vowel quality of higher prominence (higher pitch or louder) and end in a semivowel with less prominence, like [aɪ̯] in "eye", while rising (or ascending) diphthongs begin with a less prominent semivowel and end with a more prominent full vowel, like [ɪ̯a] in "yard". The less prominent component in the diphthong may also be transcribed as an approximant, thus [aj] in "eye" and [ja] in "yard". However, when the diphthong is analysed as a single phoneme, both elements are often transcribed with vowel letters (/aɪ̯/, /ɪ̯a/). Note also that semivowels and approximants are not equivalent in all treatments, and in the English and Italian languages, among others, many phoneticians do not consider rising combinations to be diphthongs, but rather sequences of approximant and vowel. There are many languages (such as Romanian) that contrast one or more rising diphthongs with similar sequences of a glide and a vowel in their phonetic inventory.[3]
In closing diphthongs, the second element is more close than the first (e.g. [ai]); in opening diphthongs, more open (e.g. [ia]). Closing diphthongs tend to be falling ([ai̯]), and opening diphthongs are generally rising ([i̯a]), because open vowels are more sonorous and therefore tend to be more prominent. However, exceptions to this rule are not rare in the world's languages. In Finnish, for instance, the opening diphthongs /ie̯/ and /uo̯/ are true falling diphthongs, since they begin louder and with higher pitch and fall in prominence during the diphthong.
A centering diphthong is one that begins with a more peripheral vowel and ends with a more central one, such as [ɪə̯], [ɛə̯], and [ʊə̯] in Received Pronunciation or [iə̯] and [uə̯] in Irish. Many centering diphthongs are also opening diphthongs ([iə̯], [uə̯]).
Some languages contrast short and long diphthongs, the latter usually being described as having a long first element. Languages that contrast three quantities in diphthongs are extremely rare, but not unheard of: Northern Sami is known to contrast long, short and finally stressed diphthongs, the last of which are distinguished by a long second element.
While there are a number of similarities, diphthongs are not the same as a combination of a vowel and a semivowel or glide. Most importantly, diphthongs are contained in the syllable nucleus[4] while a semivowel or glide is restricted to the syllable boundaries (either the onset or the coda). This often manifests itself phonetically by a greater degree of constriction.[5] The English word yes, for example, consists of a palatal glide followed by a monophthong rather than a rising diphthong.
CONSONANTS
A consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a constriction or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract. The word consonant comes from Latin meaning "sounding with" or "sounding together", the idea being that consonants don't sound on their own, but only occur with a nearby vowel; this conception of consonants, however, does not reflect a modern linguistic understanding, which defines them in terms of vocal tract constrictions.
There are a group of consonants called sonorants that sometimes act as vowels, occupying the peak of a syllable, and sometimes act as consonants. For example, in English, the sound [m] in "mud" is a consonant, but in "prism", it occupies an entire syllable, as a vowel would.
The word consonant is also used to refer to letters of an alphabet that denote a consonant sound. Consonant letters in the English alphabet are B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z, and sometimes Y - the letter Y stands for a consonant in "yoke" but for a vowel in "myth", for example.
Since the number of consonants in all the world's languages is much greater than the number of consonant letters in most alphabets, linguists have devised systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assign a unique symbol to each possible consonant. In fact, the Latin alphabet, which is used to write English, has fewer consonant letters than English has consonant sounds, so some letters represent more than one consonant, and digraphs like "sh" and "th" are used to represent some sounds. Many speakers aren't even aware that the "th" sound in "this" is a different sound from the "th" sound in "thing."
Each consonant can be distinguished by several features:
The manner of articulation is the method that the consonant is articulated, such as nasal, stop, or approximant. The place of articulation is where in the vocal tract the articulators of the consonant act, such as bilabial, alveolar, or velar. The phonation method of a consonant is whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating during articulation of a consonant. When the vocal cords are vibrating, the consonant is voiced; when they're not, it's voiceless. Aspiration is also a feature of phonation. The airstream mechanism is how the air moves through the vocal tract during articulation. Most languages have exclusively pulmonic egressive consonants, but ejectives, clicks, and implosives use different mechanisms. All English consonants can be classified by a combination of these, such as "voiceless alveolar stop consonant" [t]. In this case, the air stream mechanics is omitted.
source: Consonant
Common consonants
Many consonants are far from universal. For instance, nearly all Australian languages lack fricatives; a large percentage of the world's languages, for example Mandarin Chinese, lack voiced stops such as [b], [d], and [g]. The most common consonants around the world are the three voiceless plosives [p], [t], [k] and the two nasals [m], [n].
Most languages, however, do include one or more fricatives, with [s] being the most common, and a liquid consonant or two, with [l] the most common. The approximant [w] is also widespread. However, even the basic five—[p], [t], [k], [m], [n]—are not universal. Several languages in the vicinity of the Sahara Desert, including Arabic, lack [p]. Several languages of North America, such as Mohawk, lack both labials, [p] and [m]. Some West African languages, such as Ijo, lack /n/ on a phonemic level, but [n] does occur as an allophone of /l/. A few languages on Bougainville Island and around Puget Sound, such as Makah, lack both nasals, [m] and [n]. The 'click language' Nǀu lacks [t],[5] and colloquial Samoan lacks both alveolars, [t] and [n].[6] Xavante has no dorsal consonants whatsoever. However, nearly all other languages have at least one velar consonant: the few languages which do not have a simple [k] have a consonant that is very similar.[7] For instance, an areal feature of the Pacific Northwest coast is that historical *k has become palatalized in many languages, so that Saanich for example has [tʃ] and [kʷ] but no plain [k].[8][9]
The most frequent consonant (that is, the one appearing most often in speech) in many languages is [k].
"CONSONANTS" are sounds made by severly restricting or stopping the flow of air. Note that is not JUST those that stop the flow -- these sounds (like b,p, t,d, k,g), fittingly called "STOPS" [another useful term] are only ONE type of consonant. A great many consonants do not stop the flow, but they DO restrict it.VOWEL eother hand, are characterized by how they SHAPE the sound --esp by positioning of the tongue and shape of the mouth-- WITHOUT severely constricting the air flow. This is why they are so important to carrying speech and enabling us to open up our mouths and sing. Note that vowels almost always are "voiced" (sounded with the vocal chords); in many (most?) languages (English included) ALL vowels are voiced. A great many consonants --including those that don't stop the air flow-- are not voiced. This characteristic use of the voice (compare "vocal") is the origin of the term "vowel" itself. The vowels in English are a,e,i,o,u. Other than these, all the other alphabets are consonants.
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx. Consonants contrast with vowels.
Since the number of consonants in the world's languages is much greater than the number of consonant letters in any one alphabet, linguists have devised systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assign a unique symbol to each attested consonant. In fact, the Latin alphabet, which is used to write English, has fewer consonant letters than English has consonant sounds, so digraphs like "ch", "sh", "th", and "zh" are used to extend the alphabet, and some letters and digraphs represent more than one consonant. For example, many speakers are not aware that the sound spelled "th" in "this" is a different consonant than the "th" sound in "thing". (In the IPA they are transcribed ð and θ, respectively.)
VOWELS
A vowel is a type of sound for which there is no closure of the throat or mouth at any point where vocalization occurs. Vowels can be contrasted with consonants, which are sounds for which there are one or more points where air is stopped. In nearly all languages, words must contain at least one vowel. While a word can be formed without any consonants – such as the English words I or way – no word may consist of only consonants, without a vowel.
Vowels in many languages are not crucial to the general meaning of the word. Rather, a vowel in these languages – of which many are Semitic languages – acts more to give a specific inflection than to differentiate the word from other distinct words. A parallel of this in English can be seen in the example of dive and dove or lay and lie, in which the core word is the same, but the changed vowel denotes tense. Languages that have this type of structure often do not even mark all of their vowels in written text. Both Arabic and Hebrew are good examples of this, where the marking of many vowels is unnecessary in writing.
Since a vowel refers to a specific type of sound, orthographically some letters may represent a consonant in some circumstances, and a vowel in others. In English we can see this with the letters y and w which are most often used to make consonant sounds, but can also be used to represent vowels. In the case of y, for example, we can compare its use in the words yonder and day. In the word yonder, it acts distinctly as a consonant, with the center of the tongue blocking the flow of air on one side by touching the palette of the mouth – as what is called a palatal approximant. In the word day, on the other hand, it is forming a vowel sound akin to if the word were written in English as dei.
In the case of w, we could look at the words woo and how. In the word woo, the letter is acting as a consonant, with the back of the tongue blocking the flow of air on one side by touching the palette of the mouth – what is called a labiovelar approximant. In the word how, it serves as a vowel, which could be represented in English writing as hao.
In English, there are five letters which always represent a vowel when written: a, e, i, o, and u. These five letters represent more than five vowel sounds, however, depending on the word, or if they are combined with other vowels. Compare the letter a in the words hat and hate as one of many examples. source: What is a vowel?
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! [ɑː] or oh! [oʊ], pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! [ʃː], where there is a constriction or closure at some point along the vocal tract. A vowel is also understood to be syllabic: an equivalent open but non-syllabic sound is called a semivowel.
In all languages, vowels form the nucleus or peak of syllables, whereas consonants form the onset and (in languages which have them) coda. However, some languages also allow other sounds to form the nucleus of a syllable, such as the syllabic l in the English word table [ˈteɪ.bl̩] (the stroke under the l indicates that it is syllabic; the dot separates syllables), or the r in Serbian vrt [vr̩t] "garden".
We might note the conflict between the phonetic definition of 'vowel' (a sound produced with no constriction in the vocal tract) and the phonological definition (a sound that forms the peak of a syllable).[1] The approximants [j] and [w] illustrate this conflict: both are produced without much of a constriction in the vocal tract (so phonetically they seem to be vowel-like), but they occur on the edge of syllables, such as at the beginning of the English words 'yes' and 'wet' (which suggests that phonologically they are consonants). The American linguist Kenneth Pike suggested the terms 'vocoid' for a phonetic vowel and 'vowel' for a phonological vowel,[2] so using this terminology, [j] and [w] are classified as vocoids but not vowels.
The word vowel comes from the Latin word vocalis, meaning "speaking", because in most languages words and thus speech are not possible without vowels. Vowel is commonly used to mean both vowel sounds and the written symbols that represent them.
Articulation
The articulatory features that distinguish different vowel sounds are said to determine the vowel's quality. Daniel Jones developed the cardinal vowel system to describe vowels in terms of the common features height (vertical dimension), backness (horizontal dimension) and roundedness (lip position). These three parameters are indicated in the schematic IPA vowel diagram on the right. There are however still more possible features of vowel quality, such as the velum position (nasality), type of vocal fold vibration (phonation), and tongue root position.
Consonants and vowels
Consonants and vowels correspond to distinct parts of a syllable: The most sonorous part of the syllable (that is, the part that's easiest to sing), called the syllabic peak or nucleus, is typically a vowel, while the less sonorous margins (called the onset and coda) are typically consonants. Such syllables may be abbreviated CV, V, and CVC, where C stands for consonant and V stands for vowel. This can be argued to be the only pattern found in most of the world's languages, and perhaps the primary pattern in all of them. However, the distinction between consonant and vowel is not always clear cut: there are syllabic consonants and non-syllabic vowels in many of the world's languages.
One blurry area is in segments variously called semivowels, semiconsonants, or glides. On the one side, there are vowel-like segments which are not in themselves syllabic, but which form diphthongs as part of the syllable nucleus, as the i in English boil [ˈbɔɪ̯l]. On the other, there are approximants which behave like consonants in forming onsets, but are articulated very much like vowels, as the y in English yes [ˈjɛs]. Some phonologists model these as both being the vowel /i/, so that the English word bit would phonemically be /bit/, beet would be /bii̯t/, and yield would be phonemically /i̯ii̯ld/. Similarly, foot would be /fut/, food would be /fuu̯d/, wood would be /u̯ud/, and wooed would be /u̯uu̯d/. However, there is a (perhaps allophonic) difference in articulation between these segments, with the [j] in [ˈjɛs] yes and [ˈjiʲld] yield and the [w] of [ˈwuʷd] wooed having more constriction and a more definite place of articulation than the [ɪ] in [ˈbɔɪ̯l] boil or [ˈbɪt] bit or the [ʊ] of [ˈfʊt].
The other problematic area is that of syllabic consonants, that is, segments which are articulated as consonants but which occupy the nucleus of a syllable. This may be the case for words such as church in rhotic dialects of English, although phoneticians differ in whether they consider this to be a syllabic consonant, /ˈtʃɹ̩tʃ/, or a rhotic vowel, /ˈtʃɝtʃ/: Some distinguish an approximant /ɹ/ that corresponds to a vowel /ɝ/, for rural as /ˈɹɝl/ or [ˈɹʷɝːl̩]; others see these as the a single phoneme, /ˈɹɹ̩l/.
Other languages utilize fricative and often trilled segments as syllabic nuclei, as in Czech and several languages in Congo and China, including Mandarin Chinese. In Mandarin, they are historically allophones of /i/, and spelled that way in Pinyin. Ladefoged and Maddieson[4] call these "fricative vowels" and say that "they can usually be thought of as syllabic fricatives that are allophones of vowels." That is, phonetically they are consonants, but phonemically they behave as vowels.
Many Slavic languages allow the trill [r̩] and the lateral [l̩] as syllabic nuclei (see Words without vowels), and in languages like Nuxalk, it is difficult to know what the nucleus of a syllable is (it may be that not all syllables have nuclei), though if the concept of 'syllable' applies, there are syllabic consonants in words like /sx̩s/ 'seal fat'.
DIPHTHONGS
are types of vowels where two vowel sounds are connected in a continuous, gliding motion. They are often referred to as gliding vowels. Most languages have a number of diphthongs, although that number varies widely, from only one or two to fifteen or more.
A vowel is a specific type of sound, characterized by a lack of full obstruction to the air flow. Vowels can be contrasted with consonants, where there is such an obstruction. As air comes out when you are speaking a consonant, there is a build up of pressure as the air flow is constricted. When speaking a vowel, there is no built up pressure, the sound is simply shaped by the position of the tongue.
Vowels are generally characterized by three different criteria: the position of the tongue in the mouth relative to the roof of the mouth (height), the position of the tongue in either the front or back of the mouth (backness), and the shape of the lips as the vowel sound is being made (roundedness). There are other things that may characterize vowels, but they are not very common in English — things such as the position of the root of the tongue, for example, rarely affect English vowels, though they affect the vowels in many African languages.
When vowels come together, they may either be two distinct syllables, or may merge into one syllable. When they merge, they form what are known as diphthongs. If they stay separate they are simply two monophthongs. An example of two single syllable vowels can be seen in the word triage, in which the i and the a are both pronounced on their own. An example of a diphthong can be seen in the word mouse, in which the ou part of the word obviously consists of two distinct vowels, but there is no syllabic break between the two.
Diphthongs can usually be seen as having two distinct parts — the nucleus, and the off-glide. The nucleus of the diphthong is the vowel that is most stressed, and forms the center of the sound, while the off-glide is the vowel which seems to flow into or off of the nucleus vowel.
The three major diphthongs in Standard English, which are known as phonemic diphthongs, are ai, aw, and oy. All three of these diphthongs are very common, and many people simply think of them as single vowels in some contexts. For example, in the English word ride, the i would be transcribed phonetically as ai. Although it appears as a single letter in our writing, it actually consists of two vowels — if you say the word you should be able to hear the two. Similarly, the word how contains the diphthong aw at the end, and the word boy contains the diphthong oy.
Other diphthongs in Standard English are the ei sound in the word fame or the pronunciation of the letter a, and the ou sound in the word phone. Other languages have many more diphthongs aside from these, and other dialects of English may have more diphthongs as well. Languages such as Finnish have nearly twenty diphthongs, while the Received Pronunciation dialect of English has an extra five or so diphthongs not found in Standard English.
In addition to diphthongs and monophthongs, there are also what are called triphthongs. These are similar to diphthongs, but instead of moving simply from one vowel sound to another, a third sound is also added. Source: What Are Diphthongs?
TYPES OF DIPHTHONGS
Falling (or descending) diphthongs start with a vowel quality of higher prominence (higher pitch or louder) and end in a semivowel with less prominence, like [aɪ̯] in "eye", while rising (or ascending) diphthongs begin with a less prominent semivowel and end with a more prominent full vowel, like [ɪ̯a] in "yard". The less prominent component in the diphthong may also be transcribed as an approximant, thus [aj] in "eye" and [ja] in "yard". However, when the diphthong is analysed as a single phoneme, both elements are often transcribed with vowel letters (/aɪ̯/, /ɪ̯a/). Note also that semivowels and approximants are not equivalent in all treatments, and in the English and Italian languages, among others, many phoneticians do not consider rising combinations to be diphthongs, but rather sequences of approximant and vowel. There are many languages (such as Romanian) that contrast one or more rising diphthongs with similar sequences of a glide and a vowel in their phonetic inventory.[3]
In closing diphthongs, the second element is more close than the first (e.g. [ai]); in opening diphthongs, more open (e.g. [ia]). Closing diphthongs tend to be falling ([ai̯]), and opening diphthongs are generally rising ([i̯a]), because open vowels are more sonorous and therefore tend to be more prominent. However, exceptions to this rule are not rare in the world's languages. In Finnish, for instance, the opening diphthongs /ie̯/ and /uo̯/ are true falling diphthongs, since they begin louder and with higher pitch and fall in prominence during the diphthong.
A centering diphthong is one that begins with a more peripheral vowel and ends with a more central one, such as [ɪə̯], [ɛə̯], and [ʊə̯] in Received Pronunciation or [iə̯] and [uə̯] in Irish. Many centering diphthongs are also opening diphthongs ([iə̯], [uə̯]).
Some languages contrast short and long diphthongs, the latter usually being described as having a long first element. Languages that contrast three quantities in diphthongs are extremely rare, but not unheard of: Northern Sami is known to contrast long, short and finally stressed diphthongs, the last of which are distinguished by a long second element.
While there are a number of similarities, diphthongs are not the same as a combination of a vowel and a semivowel or glide. Most importantly, diphthongs are contained in the syllable nucleus[4] while a semivowel or glide is restricted to the syllable boundaries (either the onset or the coda). This often manifests itself phonetically by a greater degree of constriction.[5] The English word yes, for example, consists of a palatal glide followed by a monophthong rather than a rising diphthong.
CONSONANTS
A consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a constriction or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract. The word consonant comes from Latin meaning "sounding with" or "sounding together", the idea being that consonants don't sound on their own, but only occur with a nearby vowel; this conception of consonants, however, does not reflect a modern linguistic understanding, which defines them in terms of vocal tract constrictions.
There are a group of consonants called sonorants that sometimes act as vowels, occupying the peak of a syllable, and sometimes act as consonants. For example, in English, the sound [m] in "mud" is a consonant, but in "prism", it occupies an entire syllable, as a vowel would.
The word consonant is also used to refer to letters of an alphabet that denote a consonant sound. Consonant letters in the English alphabet are B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z, and sometimes Y - the letter Y stands for a consonant in "yoke" but for a vowel in "myth", for example.
Since the number of consonants in all the world's languages is much greater than the number of consonant letters in most alphabets, linguists have devised systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assign a unique symbol to each possible consonant. In fact, the Latin alphabet, which is used to write English, has fewer consonant letters than English has consonant sounds, so some letters represent more than one consonant, and digraphs like "sh" and "th" are used to represent some sounds. Many speakers aren't even aware that the "th" sound in "this" is a different sound from the "th" sound in "thing."
Each consonant can be distinguished by several features:
The manner of articulation is the method that the consonant is articulated, such as nasal, stop, or approximant. The place of articulation is where in the vocal tract the articulators of the consonant act, such as bilabial, alveolar, or velar. The phonation method of a consonant is whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating during articulation of a consonant. When the vocal cords are vibrating, the consonant is voiced; when they're not, it's voiceless. Aspiration is also a feature of phonation. The airstream mechanism is how the air moves through the vocal tract during articulation. Most languages have exclusively pulmonic egressive consonants, but ejectives, clicks, and implosives use different mechanisms. All English consonants can be classified by a combination of these, such as "voiceless alveolar stop consonant" [t]. In this case, the air stream mechanics is omitted.
Common consonants
Many consonants are far from universal. For instance, nearly all Australian languages lack fricatives; a large percentage of the world's languages, for example Mandarin Chinese, lack voiced stops such as [b], [d], and [g]. The most common consonants around the world are the three voiceless plosives [p], [t], [k] and the two nasals [m], [n].
Most languages, however, do include one or more fricatives, with [s] being the most common, and a liquid consonant or two, with [l] the most common. The approximant [w] is also widespread. However, even the basic five—[p], [t], [k], [m], [n]—are not universal. Several languages in the vicinity of the Sahara Desert, including Arabic, lack [p]. Several languages of North America, such as Mohawk, lack both labials, [p] and [m]. Some West African languages, such as Ijo, lack /n/ on a phonemic level, but [n] does occur as an allophone of /l/. A few languages on Bougainville Island and around Puget Sound, such as Makah, lack both nasals, [m] and [n]. The 'click language' Nǀu lacks [t],[5] and colloquial Samoan lacks both alveolars, [t] and [n].[6] Xavante has no dorsal consonants whatsoever. However, nearly all other languages have at least one velar consonant: the few languages which do not have a simple [k] have a consonant that is very similar.[7] For instance, an areal feature of the Pacific Northwest coast is that historical *k has become palatalized in many languages, so that Saanich for example has [tʃ] and [kʷ] but no plain [k].[8][9]
The most frequent consonant (that is, the one appearing most often in speech) in many languages is [k].
"CONSONANTS" are sounds made by severly restricting or stopping the flow of air. Note that is not JUST those that stop the flow -- these sounds (like b,p, t,d, k,g), fittingly called "STOPS" [another useful term] are only ONE type of consonant. A great many consonants do not stop the flow, but they DO restrict it.VOWEL eother hand, are characterized by how they SHAPE the sound --esp by positioning of the tongue and shape of the mouth-- WITHOUT severely constricting the air flow. This is why they are so important to carrying speech and enabling us to open up our mouths and sing. Note that vowels almost always are "voiced" (sounded with the vocal chords); in many (most?) languages (English included) ALL vowels are voiced. A great many consonants --including those that don't stop the air flow-- are not voiced. This characteristic use of the voice (compare "vocal") is the origin of the term "vowel" itself. The vowels in English are a,e,i,o,u. Other than these, all the other alphabets are consonants.
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx. Consonants contrast with vowels.
Since the number of consonants in the world's languages is much greater than the number of consonant letters in any one alphabet, linguists have devised systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assign a unique symbol to each attested consonant. In fact, the Latin alphabet, which is used to write English, has fewer consonant letters than English has consonant sounds, so digraphs like "ch", "sh", "th", and "zh" are used to extend the alphabet, and some letters and digraphs represent more than one consonant. For example, many speakers are not aware that the sound spelled "th" in "this" is a different consonant than the "th" sound in "thing". (In the IPA they are transcribed ð and θ, respectively.)
VOWELS
A vowel is a type of sound for which there is no closure of the throat or mouth at any point where vocalization occurs. Vowels can be contrasted with consonants, which are sounds for which there are one or more points where air is stopped. In nearly all languages, words must contain at least one vowel. While a word can be formed without any consonants – such as the English words I or way – no word may consist of only consonants, without a vowel.
Vowels in many languages are not crucial to the general meaning of the word. Rather, a vowel in these languages – of which many are Semitic languages – acts more to give a specific inflection than to differentiate the word from other distinct words. A parallel of this in English can be seen in the example of dive and dove or lay and lie, in which the core word is the same, but the changed vowel denotes tense. Languages that have this type of structure often do not even mark all of their vowels in written text. Both Arabic and Hebrew are good examples of this, where the marking of many vowels is unnecessary in writing.
Since a vowel refers to a specific type of sound, orthographically some letters may represent a consonant in some circumstances, and a vowel in others. In English we can see this with the letters y and w which are most often used to make consonant sounds, but can also be used to represent vowels. In the case of y, for example, we can compare its use in the words yonder and day. In the word yonder, it acts distinctly as a consonant, with the center of the tongue blocking the flow of air on one side by touching the palette of the mouth – as what is called a palatal approximant. In the word day, on the other hand, it is forming a vowel sound akin to if the word were written in English as dei.
In the case of w, we could look at the words woo and how. In the word woo, the letter is acting as a consonant, with the back of the tongue blocking the flow of air on one side by touching the palette of the mouth – what is called a labiovelar approximant. In the word how, it serves as a vowel, which could be represented in English writing as hao.
In English, there are five letters which always represent a vowel when written: a, e, i, o, and u. These five letters represent more than five vowel sounds, however, depending on the word, or if they are combined with other vowels. Compare the letter a in the words hat and hate as one of many examples. source: What is a vowel?
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! [ɑː] or oh! [oʊ], pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! [ʃː], where there is a constriction or closure at some point along the vocal tract. A vowel is also understood to be syllabic: an equivalent open but non-syllabic sound is called a semivowel.
In all languages, vowels form the nucleus or peak of syllables, whereas consonants form the onset and (in languages which have them) coda. However, some languages also allow other sounds to form the nucleus of a syllable, such as the syllabic l in the English word table [ˈteɪ.bl̩] (the stroke under the l indicates that it is syllabic; the dot separates syllables), or the r in Serbian vrt [vr̩t] "garden".
We might note the conflict between the phonetic definition of 'vowel' (a sound produced with no constriction in the vocal tract) and the phonological definition (a sound that forms the peak of a syllable).[1] The approximants [j] and [w] illustrate this conflict: both are produced without much of a constriction in the vocal tract (so phonetically they seem to be vowel-like), but they occur on the edge of syllables, such as at the beginning of the English words 'yes' and 'wet' (which suggests that phonologically they are consonants). The American linguist Kenneth Pike suggested the terms 'vocoid' for a phonetic vowel and 'vowel' for a phonological vowel,[2] so using this terminology, [j] and [w] are classified as vocoids but not vowels.
The word vowel comes from the Latin word vocalis, meaning "speaking", because in most languages words and thus speech are not possible without vowels. Vowel is commonly used to mean both vowel sounds and the written symbols that represent them.
Articulation
The articulatory features that distinguish different vowel sounds are said to determine the vowel's quality. Daniel Jones developed the cardinal vowel system to describe vowels in terms of the common features height (vertical dimension), backness (horizontal dimension) and roundedness (lip position). These three parameters are indicated in the schematic IPA vowel diagram on the right. There are however still more possible features of vowel quality, such as the velum position (nasality), type of vocal fold vibration (phonation), and tongue root position.
Consonants and vowels
Consonants and vowels correspond to distinct parts of a syllable: The most sonorous part of the syllable (that is, the part that's easiest to sing), called the syllabic peak or nucleus, is typically a vowel, while the less sonorous margins (called the onset and coda) are typically consonants. Such syllables may be abbreviated CV, V, and CVC, where C stands for consonant and V stands for vowel. This can be argued to be the only pattern found in most of the world's languages, and perhaps the primary pattern in all of them. However, the distinction between consonant and vowel is not always clear cut: there are syllabic consonants and non-syllabic vowels in many of the world's languages.
One blurry area is in segments variously called semivowels, semiconsonants, or glides. On the one side, there are vowel-like segments which are not in themselves syllabic, but which form diphthongs as part of the syllable nucleus, as the i in English boil [ˈbɔɪ̯l]. On the other, there are approximants which behave like consonants in forming onsets, but are articulated very much like vowels, as the y in English yes [ˈjɛs]. Some phonologists model these as both being the vowel /i/, so that the English word bit would phonemically be /bit/, beet would be /bii̯t/, and yield would be phonemically /i̯ii̯ld/. Similarly, foot would be /fut/, food would be /fuu̯d/, wood would be /u̯ud/, and wooed would be /u̯uu̯d/. However, there is a (perhaps allophonic) difference in articulation between these segments, with the [j] in [ˈjɛs] yes and [ˈjiʲld] yield and the [w] of [ˈwuʷd] wooed having more constriction and a more definite place of articulation than the [ɪ] in [ˈbɔɪ̯l] boil or [ˈbɪt] bit or the [ʊ] of [ˈfʊt].
The other problematic area is that of syllabic consonants, that is, segments which are articulated as consonants but which occupy the nucleus of a syllable. This may be the case for words such as church in rhotic dialects of English, although phoneticians differ in whether they consider this to be a syllabic consonant, /ˈtʃɹ̩tʃ/, or a rhotic vowel, /ˈtʃɝtʃ/: Some distinguish an approximant /ɹ/ that corresponds to a vowel /ɝ/, for rural as /ˈɹɝl/ or [ˈɹʷɝːl̩]; others see these as the a single phoneme, /ˈɹɹ̩l/.
Other languages utilize fricative and often trilled segments as syllabic nuclei, as in Czech and several languages in Congo and China, including Mandarin Chinese. In Mandarin, they are historically allophones of /i/, and spelled that way in Pinyin. Ladefoged and Maddieson[4] call these "fricative vowels" and say that "they can usually be thought of as syllabic fricatives that are allophones of vowels." That is, phonetically they are consonants, but phonemically they behave as vowels.
Many Slavic languages allow the trill [r̩] and the lateral [l̩] as syllabic nuclei (see Words without vowels), and in languages like Nuxalk, it is difficult to know what the nucleus of a syllable is (it may be that not all syllables have nuclei), though if the concept of 'syllable' applies, there are syllabic consonants in words like /sx̩s/ 'seal fat'.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
THE SPEAKING PROCESS
The Speaking Process
As students actively engage in the speaking process, their perceptions can change from moment to moment and from week to week. As individuals acquire new information, the language they use to make meaning changes. As they reflect upon information shared or received, they revise their understanding, further developing their schemas about language and the world.
The speaking process includes activities that occur prior to, during, and after the actual speaking event. For example, before speaking, the speaker might determine the actual content of the message, how it should be presented, and what kind of audience will be hearing the message. While speaking, the speaker must attend to such things as presenting a clear message, tone of voice, suitable vocabulary, possible responses, the environment, and nonverbal gestures. Following speaking, the speaker might accept comments, answer questions, explain concepts not understood, and/or assess the process.
Pre-speaking: Planning and Organizing
Just as pre-writing precedes drafting, pre-speaking begins before students actually speak. Students' experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have an impact upon what they say and how they say it. Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking. Some purposes for pre-speaking are listed below.
To choose a speaking topic:
Students generate and explore ideas for speaking topics through a variety of pre-speaking activities such as the following:
- constructing thought webs and graphic organizers
- reading and researching
- listening to music
- viewing a video
- listening to a speaker
- jotting down ideas
- reflecting upon personal experience.
To determine purpose:
Speakers talk to express ideas, emotions, and opinions, and to share information. Students must ask themselves "What is my purpose for speaking?"
To determine audience:
Speakers must ask themselves "Who is my intended audience?" Some possible audiences are:
- familiar, known audiences (self, friends, peers, family, teachers)
- extended, known audiences (community, student body)
- extended, unknown audiences (local media).
To determine format:
Speakers must consider how their ideas and information can be presented most effectively. Some possible formats include the following:
- conversation
- discussion
- formal speech
- dramatic presentation
- monologue
- Readers Theatre.
See the Writing section for a variety of pre-writing suggestions which also can be useful as pre-speaking scaffolds.
Speaking: Going Public
Speaking actively engages students in interactions with peers and other audiences. Students who have been provided with supportive, collaborative environments and opportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences are more likely to have the confidence needed to "go public" with their ideas and information.
In order to communicate and interact with others, students need to engage in a variety of formal and informal speaking situations, depending upon their purpose for speaking. Some purposes for speaking include the following:
- to express personal feelings, ideas, or viewpoints
- to tell a story
- to entertain or amuse
- to describe
- to inform or explain
- to request
- to inquire or question
- to clarify thinking
- to explore and experiment with a variety of ideas and formats
- to converse and discuss.
Some scaffolds to support speaking include the following:
- Discussing or developing with students criteria for a variety of formal and informal speaking formats (e.g., conversation, group discussion, role play), and posting these on a bulletin board or having students record them in their notebooks for reference.
- Modelling a variety of formal and informal speaking formats for students.
- If possible, making available to students audio and video equipment so that they can practise prior to formal speaking situations.
Post-speaking: A Time for Reflection and Setting Goals
Following speaking experiences, both formal and informal, it is important to have students reflect upon their performance. Their reflection, whether it is oral or written, should include the teacher, who can help them set personal goals for improving their speaking abilities. This type of reflective assessment and goal setting encourages critical thought. Some purposes for post-speaking activities are listed below.
To reflect upon performance:
Students who have opportunities to reflect upon their speaking experiences, in light of pre-determined criteria, grow in their abilities to speak effectively.
To set goals for improvement:
When students reflect upon their performance, they begin to recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement.
Some post-speaking scaffolds include:
- Discussing or developing criteria for assessing a variety of speaking experiences.
- Providing opportunities for students to talk, write, or represent in various ways their personal speaking strengths and needs (e.g., learning logs, teacher/peer conferences).
When students have reflected upon their own speaking performance, peers may be invited to comment. Peers may comment through a structure similar to a writing conference and may give oral feedback, written feedback, or a combination of the two. Conferences may be guided by specific questions determined by the teacher or may take the form of conversation between peers.
Teaching the Normal Speaking Process
It is important that clients understand the normal process of speaking. Clinicians should devote about 15 minutes explaining the process and identifying significant features of the physical act of speaking. This will form a basis for understanding and continued communication about speaking.
Respiration. We speak on the air we exhale. When we exhale for speaking, we breathe air out at a measured rate that is slower than for respiration alone. We inhale rather rapidly and then begin to exhale slowly. Have your client place one hand on their chest and one hand on their belly to feel the movement during their respiration; have them note the difference between breathing and saying the sound "ah" for an extended period.
Phonation. Our voice is created as the vocal folds come together and narrow the opening through which air can flow between them. This restriction causes the vocal folds to vibrate and make noise that is our voice. Have the client feel the vibrations of the vocal folds by placing their fingers on the angle of the cricoid while phonating. Show them the some phonemes are voiced while others are voiceless. Demonstrate what happens when the vocal folds are brought together with too much effort.... Have the client hold onto the sides of their chair and pull up while saying 'ah'. Draw their attention to the effort and the similarity to the type of stuttering known as laryngeal blocking. Note that with excessive tension, there is less control and range in using the voice. Gradually release the tension allowing the voice and air flow to begin again.
Articulation. Discuss the process of making sounds by moving and contacting the lips, tongue, teeth and palate. Show some examples of how different types of sounds are articulated (the manner and place of articulation). Describe speaking as movement from one place of contact to another.
Speaking then is the process in inhaling, then bringing the vocal cords together while air is being exhaled to produce sounds that are modified by movement of the articulators. Speaking fluently is a smooth, effortless, forward-moving process. Breathing is relaxed and regular; the vocal folds are slightly tensed, and them muscles of articulation are relaxed enough to move freely from one contact to another.
The Audience-Centered Speaking Process
As every successful speech writer knows, the only reason to give a speech is to change the world! Otherwise, why bother?
Having established that, how can you ensure that your speech can accomplish such a lofty goal, especially when the opportunities for failure are many, and for success correspondingly few?
Recent studies suggest that most executives would rather die than deliver a public speech. Perhaps this explains why most executives often put off the task of preparing speeches to the last minute, or hand the task off to someone else.
Before you do this, you should know that public speaking can be a powerful tool for communicating your most important messages. And, when it happens, it’s powerful. When it’s missing, everyone feels it, including the ill-fated speaker.
Can you find that connection with your audience that truly creates sparks? And, once you make the leap and deliver a successful speech, could it be that it is something you actually enjoy?
Yes, and yes!
The place to start is with the content of your speech or presentation, for that will make or break you with your audience.
Structure Your Content Like a Conversation
Your content should be structured and delivered in a way that recognizes the audience’s need to absorb information through an aural genre with limited opportunities for feedback of the kind conversation provides. This is not to say that there is no feedback in public speaking; there’s actually plenty. But because most public speaking is more or less scripted, the speaker is limited in the amount of attention he can give to feedback, and limited in the ways in which he or she can respond.
Perhaps it is best to think of your presentation as a journey. Once on the journey, you may not get to stop often, for you will miss something. Considering this, your content needs to proceed logically, in complete thoughts, with stops along the way for the audience to check its comprehension.
You will need to remember that active listening is exhausting work and people don’t retain much of what they hear. So, with this in mind, make sure you structure your content so that it is organized and delivered the way the audience needs to hear it.Second, it’s a matter of unabashed focus. Think in terms of getting your messages and your ideas across to your audience. For instance, if you get only a single message across to your audience, what will it be? When structuring your speech’s content, pit your focus here.Third, consider your emotional content. You want to give as much thought to preparing an emotional story line as an intellectual one.
Take Your Audience on the Journey With You
Your audience will start the journey wanting a few key questions answered: “Why am I here,” “Why is this topic important to me,” and “Why should I pay attention to this speaker for the next hour or so?”Herein lies the difference between conversation and public speaking. People engage in conversation for mutual pleasure, to exchange information, or perhaps storytelling, or even a mix of the three.Public speaking differs greatly from conversation in that you need to orient the audience and prepare the way, or the journey, for where you will take them. To accomplish this, you must set them at ease early on and establish right off the bat what the context of your presentation is and why it is important and worth their time (and yours). Once you’ve answered the “why?”, the real journey begins. Now your goal is to move your audience from “why?” to “how?”.
Don't Tell All You Know
Your audience already assumes you are an authority on the subject discussed. By being there, they are bestowing a mantle of trust and credibility upon you at the beginning of the speech. It’s up to you to wear it successfully. To do this, stick to the point and make it possible (and enjoyable) for the audience to follow you by delivering strong, focused, clear and concise messages.
Connect with Your Audience with Stories
Studies show that we make sense of the world by piecing together stories. Take advantage of this to ensure your audience gets your message. Think of the journey you are taking your audience on as a kind of story. Your audience will understand it better if it has all the parts, or the various makings, of a good story – a strong protagonist, a clear dilemma for him or her to work on, and a happy ending.
As students actively engage in the speaking process, their perceptions can change from moment to moment and from week to week. As individuals acquire new information, the language they use to make meaning changes. As they reflect upon information shared or received, they revise their understanding, further developing their schemas about language and the world.
The speaking process includes activities that occur prior to, during, and after the actual speaking event. For example, before speaking, the speaker might determine the actual content of the message, how it should be presented, and what kind of audience will be hearing the message. While speaking, the speaker must attend to such things as presenting a clear message, tone of voice, suitable vocabulary, possible responses, the environment, and nonverbal gestures. Following speaking, the speaker might accept comments, answer questions, explain concepts not understood, and/or assess the process.
Pre-speaking: Planning and Organizing
Just as pre-writing precedes drafting, pre-speaking begins before students actually speak. Students' experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have an impact upon what they say and how they say it. Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking. Some purposes for pre-speaking are listed below.
To choose a speaking topic:
Students generate and explore ideas for speaking topics through a variety of pre-speaking activities such as the following:
- constructing thought webs and graphic organizers
- reading and researching
- listening to music
- viewing a video
- listening to a speaker
- jotting down ideas
- reflecting upon personal experience.
To determine purpose:
Speakers talk to express ideas, emotions, and opinions, and to share information. Students must ask themselves "What is my purpose for speaking?"
To determine audience:
Speakers must ask themselves "Who is my intended audience?" Some possible audiences are:
- familiar, known audiences (self, friends, peers, family, teachers)
- extended, known audiences (community, student body)
- extended, unknown audiences (local media).
To determine format:
Speakers must consider how their ideas and information can be presented most effectively. Some possible formats include the following:
- conversation
- discussion
- formal speech
- dramatic presentation
- monologue
- Readers Theatre.
See the Writing section for a variety of pre-writing suggestions which also can be useful as pre-speaking scaffolds.
Speaking: Going Public
Speaking actively engages students in interactions with peers and other audiences. Students who have been provided with supportive, collaborative environments and opportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences are more likely to have the confidence needed to "go public" with their ideas and information.
In order to communicate and interact with others, students need to engage in a variety of formal and informal speaking situations, depending upon their purpose for speaking. Some purposes for speaking include the following:
- to express personal feelings, ideas, or viewpoints
- to tell a story
- to entertain or amuse
- to describe
- to inform or explain
- to request
- to inquire or question
- to clarify thinking
- to explore and experiment with a variety of ideas and formats
- to converse and discuss.
Some scaffolds to support speaking include the following:
- Discussing or developing with students criteria for a variety of formal and informal speaking formats (e.g., conversation, group discussion, role play), and posting these on a bulletin board or having students record them in their notebooks for reference.
- Modelling a variety of formal and informal speaking formats for students.
- If possible, making available to students audio and video equipment so that they can practise prior to formal speaking situations.
Post-speaking: A Time for Reflection and Setting Goals
Following speaking experiences, both formal and informal, it is important to have students reflect upon their performance. Their reflection, whether it is oral or written, should include the teacher, who can help them set personal goals for improving their speaking abilities. This type of reflective assessment and goal setting encourages critical thought. Some purposes for post-speaking activities are listed below.
To reflect upon performance:
Students who have opportunities to reflect upon their speaking experiences, in light of pre-determined criteria, grow in their abilities to speak effectively.
To set goals for improvement:
When students reflect upon their performance, they begin to recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement.
Some post-speaking scaffolds include:
- Discussing or developing criteria for assessing a variety of speaking experiences.
- Providing opportunities for students to talk, write, or represent in various ways their personal speaking strengths and needs (e.g., learning logs, teacher/peer conferences).
When students have reflected upon their own speaking performance, peers may be invited to comment. Peers may comment through a structure similar to a writing conference and may give oral feedback, written feedback, or a combination of the two. Conferences may be guided by specific questions determined by the teacher or may take the form of conversation between peers.
Teaching the Normal Speaking Process
It is important that clients understand the normal process of speaking. Clinicians should devote about 15 minutes explaining the process and identifying significant features of the physical act of speaking. This will form a basis for understanding and continued communication about speaking.
Respiration. We speak on the air we exhale. When we exhale for speaking, we breathe air out at a measured rate that is slower than for respiration alone. We inhale rather rapidly and then begin to exhale slowly. Have your client place one hand on their chest and one hand on their belly to feel the movement during their respiration; have them note the difference between breathing and saying the sound "ah" for an extended period.
Phonation. Our voice is created as the vocal folds come together and narrow the opening through which air can flow between them. This restriction causes the vocal folds to vibrate and make noise that is our voice. Have the client feel the vibrations of the vocal folds by placing their fingers on the angle of the cricoid while phonating. Show them the some phonemes are voiced while others are voiceless. Demonstrate what happens when the vocal folds are brought together with too much effort.... Have the client hold onto the sides of their chair and pull up while saying 'ah'. Draw their attention to the effort and the similarity to the type of stuttering known as laryngeal blocking. Note that with excessive tension, there is less control and range in using the voice. Gradually release the tension allowing the voice and air flow to begin again.
Articulation. Discuss the process of making sounds by moving and contacting the lips, tongue, teeth and palate. Show some examples of how different types of sounds are articulated (the manner and place of articulation). Describe speaking as movement from one place of contact to another.
Speaking then is the process in inhaling, then bringing the vocal cords together while air is being exhaled to produce sounds that are modified by movement of the articulators. Speaking fluently is a smooth, effortless, forward-moving process. Breathing is relaxed and regular; the vocal folds are slightly tensed, and them muscles of articulation are relaxed enough to move freely from one contact to another.
The Audience-Centered Speaking Process
As every successful speech writer knows, the only reason to give a speech is to change the world! Otherwise, why bother?
Having established that, how can you ensure that your speech can accomplish such a lofty goal, especially when the opportunities for failure are many, and for success correspondingly few?
Recent studies suggest that most executives would rather die than deliver a public speech. Perhaps this explains why most executives often put off the task of preparing speeches to the last minute, or hand the task off to someone else.
Before you do this, you should know that public speaking can be a powerful tool for communicating your most important messages. And, when it happens, it’s powerful. When it’s missing, everyone feels it, including the ill-fated speaker.
Can you find that connection with your audience that truly creates sparks? And, once you make the leap and deliver a successful speech, could it be that it is something you actually enjoy?
Yes, and yes!
The place to start is with the content of your speech or presentation, for that will make or break you with your audience.
Structure Your Content Like a Conversation
Your content should be structured and delivered in a way that recognizes the audience’s need to absorb information through an aural genre with limited opportunities for feedback of the kind conversation provides. This is not to say that there is no feedback in public speaking; there’s actually plenty. But because most public speaking is more or less scripted, the speaker is limited in the amount of attention he can give to feedback, and limited in the ways in which he or she can respond.
Perhaps it is best to think of your presentation as a journey. Once on the journey, you may not get to stop often, for you will miss something. Considering this, your content needs to proceed logically, in complete thoughts, with stops along the way for the audience to check its comprehension.
You will need to remember that active listening is exhausting work and people don’t retain much of what they hear. So, with this in mind, make sure you structure your content so that it is organized and delivered the way the audience needs to hear it.Second, it’s a matter of unabashed focus. Think in terms of getting your messages and your ideas across to your audience. For instance, if you get only a single message across to your audience, what will it be? When structuring your speech’s content, pit your focus here.Third, consider your emotional content. You want to give as much thought to preparing an emotional story line as an intellectual one.
Take Your Audience on the Journey With You
Your audience will start the journey wanting a few key questions answered: “Why am I here,” “Why is this topic important to me,” and “Why should I pay attention to this speaker for the next hour or so?”Herein lies the difference between conversation and public speaking. People engage in conversation for mutual pleasure, to exchange information, or perhaps storytelling, or even a mix of the three.Public speaking differs greatly from conversation in that you need to orient the audience and prepare the way, or the journey, for where you will take them. To accomplish this, you must set them at ease early on and establish right off the bat what the context of your presentation is and why it is important and worth their time (and yours). Once you’ve answered the “why?”, the real journey begins. Now your goal is to move your audience from “why?” to “how?”.
Don't Tell All You Know
Your audience already assumes you are an authority on the subject discussed. By being there, they are bestowing a mantle of trust and credibility upon you at the beginning of the speech. It’s up to you to wear it successfully. To do this, stick to the point and make it possible (and enjoyable) for the audience to follow you by delivering strong, focused, clear and concise messages.
Connect with Your Audience with Stories
Studies show that we make sense of the world by piecing together stories. Take advantage of this to ensure your audience gets your message. Think of the journey you are taking your audience on as a kind of story. Your audience will understand it better if it has all the parts, or the various makings, of a good story – a strong protagonist, a clear dilemma for him or her to work on, and a happy ending.
The Speaking Process
As students actively engage in the speaking process, their perceptions can change from moment to moment and from week to week. As individuals acquire new information, the language they use to make meaning changes. As they reflect upon information shared or received, they revise their understanding, further developing their schemas about language and the world.
The speaking process includes activities that occur prior to, during, and after the actual speaking event. For example, before speaking, the speaker might determine the actual content of the message, how it should be presented, and what kind of audience will be hearing the message.
While speaking, the speaker must attend to such things as presenting a clear message, tone of voice, suitable vocabulary, possible responses, the environment, and nonverbal gestures.
Following speaking, the speaker might accept comments, answer questions, explain concepts not understood, and/or assess the process.
Pre-speaking: Planning and Organizing
Just as pre-writing precedes drafting, pre-speaking begins before students actually speak. Students' experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have an impact upon what they say and how they say it. Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking. Some purposes for pre-speaking are listed below.
To choose a speaking topic:
Students generate and explore ideas for speaking topics through a variety of pre-speaking activities such as the following:
- constructing thought webs and graphic organizers
- reading and researching
- listening to music
-nviewing a video
- listening to a speaker
- jotting down ideas
- reflecting upon personal experience.
To determine purpose:
Speakers talk to express ideas, emotions, and opinions, and to share information. Students must ask themselves "What is my purpose for speaking?"
To determine audience:
Speakers must ask themselves "Who is my intended audience?" Some possible audiences are:
- familiar, known audiences (self, friends, peers, family, teachers)
- extended, known audiences (community, student body)
- extended, unknown audiences (local media).
To determine format:
Speakers must consider how their ideas and information can be presented most effectively. Some possible formats include the following:
- conversation
- discussion
- formal speech
-ndramatic presentation
- monologue
- Readers Theatre.
See the Writing section for a variety of pre-writing suggestions which also can be useful as pre-speaking scaffolds.
Speaking: Going Public
Speaking actively engages students in interactions with peers and other audiences. Students who have been provided with supportive, collaborative environments and opportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences are more likely to have the confidence needed to "go public" with their ideas and information.
In order to communicate and interact with others, students need to engage in a variety of formal and informal speaking situations, depending upon their purpose for speaking. Some purposes for speaking include the following:
- to express personal feelings, ideas, or viewpoints
- to tell a story
- to entertain or amuse
- to describe
- to inform or explain
- to request
- to inquire or question
- to clarify thinking
- to explore and experiment with a variety of ideas and formats
- to converse and discuss.
Some scaffolds to support speaking include the following:
- Discussing or developing with students criteria for a variety of formal and informal speaking formats (e.g., conversation, group discussion, role play), and posting these on a bulletin board or having students record them in their notebooks for reference.
- Modelling a variety of formal and informal speaking formats for students.
- If possible, making available to students audio and video equipment so that they can practise prior to formal speaking situations.
Post-speaking: A Time for Reflection and Setting Goals
Following speaking experiences, both formal and informal, it is important to have students reflect upon their performance. Their reflection, whether it is oral or written, should include the teacher, who can help them set personal goals for improving their speaking abilities. This type of reflective assessment and goal setting encourages critical thought. Some purposes for post-speaking activities are listed below.
To reflect upon performance:
Students who have opportunities to reflect upon their speaking experiences, in light of pre-determined criteria, grow in their abilities to speak effectively.
To set goals for improvement:
When students reflect upon their performance, they begin to recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement.
Some post-speaking scaffolds include:
- Discussing or developing criteria for assessing a variety of speaking experiences.
- Providing opportunities for students to talk, write, or represent in various ways their personal speaking strengths and needs (e.g., learning logs, teacher/peer conferences).
When students have reflected upon their own speaking performance, peers may be invited to comment. Peers may comment through a structure similar to a writing conference and may give oral feedback, written feedback, or a combination of the two. Conferences may be guided by specific questions determined by the teacher or may take the form of conversation between peers.
Teaching the Normal Speaking Process
It is important that clients understand the normal process of speaking. Clinicians should devote about 15 minutes explaining the process and identifying significant features of the physical act of speaking. This will form a basis for understanding and continued communication about speaking.
Respiration. We speak on the air we exhale. When we exhale for speaking, we breathe air out at a measured rate that is slower than for respiration alone. We inhale rather rapidly and then begin to exhale slowly. Have your client place one hand on their chest and one hand on their belly to feel the movement during their respiration; have them note the difference between breathing and saying the sound "ah" for an extended period.
Phonation. Our voice is created as the vocal folds come together and narrow the opening through which air can flow between them. This restriction causes the vocal folds to vibrate and make noise that is our voice. Have the client feel the vibrations of the vocal folds by placing their fingers on the angle of the cricoid while phonating. Show them the some phonemes are voiced while others are voiceless. Demonstrate what happens when the vocal folds are brought together with too much effort.... Have the client hold onto the sides of their chair and pull up while saying 'ah'. Draw their attention to the effort and the similarity to the type of stuttering known as laryngeal blocking. Note that with excessive tension, there is less control and range in using the voice. Gradually release the tension allowing the voice and air flow to begin again.
Articulation. Discuss the process of making sounds by moving and contacting the lips, tongue, teeth and palate. Show some examples of how different types of sounds are articulated (the manner and place of articulation). Describe speaking as movement from one place of contact to another.
Speaking then is the process in inhaling, then bringing the vocal cords together while air is being exhaled to produce sounds that are modified by movement of the articulators. Speaking fluently is a smooth, effortless, forward-moving process. Breathing is relaxed and regular; the vocal folds are slightly tensed, and them muscles of articulation are relaxed enough to move freely from one contact to another.
The Audience-Centered Speaking Process
As every successful speech writer knows, the only reason to give a speech is to change the world! Otherwise, why bother?
Having established that, how can you ensure that your speech can accomplish such a lofty goal, especially when the opportunities for failure are many, and for success correspondingly few?
Recent studies suggest that most executives would rather die than deliver a public speech. Perhaps this explains why most executives often put off the task of preparing speeches to the last minute, or hand the task off to someone else.
Before you do this, you should know that public speaking can be a powerful tool for communicating your most important messages. And, when it happens, it’s powerful. When it’s missing, everyone feels it, including the ill-fated speaker.
Can you find that connection with your audience that truly creates sparks? And, once you make the leap and deliver a successful speech, could it be that it is something you actually enjoy?
Yes, and yes!
The place to start is with the content of your speech or presentation, for that will make or break you with your audience.
Structure Your Content Like a Conversation
Your content should be structured and delivered in a way that recognizes the audience’s need to absorb information through an aural genre with limited opportunities for feedback of the kind conversation provides. This is not to say that there is no feedback in public speaking; there’s actually plenty. But because most public speaking is more or less scripted, the speaker is limited in the amount of attention he can give to feedback, and limited in the ways in which he or she can respond.
Perhaps it is best to think of your presentation as a journey. Once on the journey, you may not get to stop often, for you will miss something. Considering this, your content needs to proceed logically, in complete thoughts, with stops along the way for the audience to check its comprehension.
You will need to remember that active listening is exhausting work and people don’t retain much of what they hear. So, with this in mind, make sure you structure your content so that it is organized and delivered the way the audience needs to hear it.
Second, it’s a matter of unabashed focus. Think in terms of getting your messages and your ideas across to your audience. For instance, if you get only a single message across to your audience, what will it be? When structuring your speech’s content, pit your focus here.Third, consider your emotional content. You want to give as much thought to preparing an emotional story line as an intellectual one.
Take Your Audience on the Journey With You
Your audience will start the journey wanting a few key questions answered: “Why am I here,” “Why is this topic important to me,” and “Why should I pay attention to this speaker for the next hour or so?”Herein lies the difference between conversation and public speaking. People engage in conversation for mutual pleasure, to exchange information, or perhaps storytelling, or even a mix of the three.Public speaking differs greatly from conversation in that you need to orient the audience and prepare the way, or the journey, for where you will take them. To accomplish this, you must set them at ease early on and establish right off the bat what the context of your presentation is and why it is important and worth their time (and yours). Once you’ve answered the “why?”, the real journey begins. Now your goal is to move your audience from “why?” to “how?”.
Don't Tell All You Know
Your audience already assumes you are an authority on the subject discussed. By being there, they are bestowing a mantle of trust and credibility upon you at the beginning of the speech. It’s up to you to wear it successfully. To do this, stick to the point and make it possible (and enjoyable) for the audience to follow you by delivering strong, focused, clear and concise messages.
Connect with Your Audience with Stories
Studies show that we make sense of the world by piecing together stories. Take advantage of this to ensure your audience gets your message. Think of the journey you are taking your audience on as a kind of story. Your audience will understand it better if it has all the parts, or the various makings, of a good story – a strong protagonist, a clear dilemma for him or her to work on, and a happy ending.
The Speech Organs : Part 1
The Voice, a Waste Product. It is one of the most curious things in this body of ours that what we regard as its most wonderful power and gift, the voice, is, in one sense, a waste product. So ingenious is nature that she has actually made that marvelous musical instrument - the human voice - with its range, its flexibility, and its powers of expression, out of spent breath, or used-up air, which has done its work in the lungs and is being driven off to get rid of it. It is like using the waste from a kitchen sink to turn a mill.
The organs that make the human voice were never built for that purpose in the first place. Unlike the eye and the ear, nature built no special organ for the voice alone, but simply utilized the windpipe and lung-bellows, the swallowing parts of the food passage (tongue, lips, and palate) and the nose, for that purpose, long after they had taken their own particular shapes for their own special ends.
The important point about this is that a good voice requires not merely a large and well-developed "music box" in the windpipe, but good lungs, a well-shaped healthy throat, properly arched jaws, - which mean good, sound teeth, - clear and healthy nasal passages, and a flexible elastic tongue. Of course, the blood and the nerves supplying all these structures must be in good condition, as well. So practically, a good voice requires that the whole body should be healthy; and whatever we do to improve the condition of our nose, our teeth, our throat, our lungs, our digestion, and our circulation will help to improve the possibilities of our voice. There are, of course, many exceptions; but you will generally find that great singers have not only splendid lungs and large vocal cords, but good hearts, vigorous constitutions, and bodies above the average in both stature and strength.
How the Voice is Produced. The chief parts of the breathing machine that nature has made over for talking purposes are the windpipe, or air tube, and the muscles in its walls. In the neck, about three inches above the collar bone, four or five of the rings of cartilage, or gristle, - which, you remember, give stiffening to the windpipe, - have grown together and enlarged to form a voice box, or larynx.
The upper edge of this voice box forms the projection in the front of the throat known by the rather absurd name of the "Adam's apple." This grows larger in proportion to the heaviness of the sounds to be made, and hence is larger in men than in women and boys. When the boy's voice box begins to grow to the man's in shape and size, his voice is likely to "break"; for it is changing from the high, clear boy's voice to the heavy, deep voice of the man.
Inside of this voice box, one of the rings of muscle that run around the windpipe has stretched into a pair of straight, elastic bands, or strings, one on each side of the air pipe, known as the vocal cords, or voice bands. These are so arranged that they can be stretched and relaxed by little muscles; and, when thrown into vibration by the air rushing through the voice box, they produce the sounds that we call talking or singing. The more tightly they are stretched, the higher and shriller are the tones they produce; and the more they are slackened, or relaxed, the deeper and more rumbling are the tones.
The Speech Organs : Part 2
AYou would naturally think that the strings, or cords, were the most important part both of the voice and of a musical instrument; and in one sense they are, as it could make no noise at all without them. But in another sense, far more important are the sounding boxes, or resonance chambers. The whole quality and value, for instance, of a Stradivarius violin, which will make it readily bring ten thousand dollars in the open market, are due to the skill with which the body, or sound box, was made; the quality of the wood used; and, odd as it may seem, even the varnish used on it - the strings are the same as on any five-dollar fiddle. This is almost equally true of the human voice. While its size, or volume, is determined by the voice box and vocal bands, and its power largely by the lungs and chest, its musical quality, its color, and its expression are given almost entirely by the throat, mouth (including the lips), and nose. The proper management of these parts is two-thirds of voice training, and all these are largely under our control.
How a Good Voice may be Developed. If the nasal passages, for instance, are blocked by a bad cold or a catarrh or adenoids, then nearly half the body of your violin is blocked up and deadened; half your resonance chamber is destroyed, and the voice sounds flat and dead and nasal. If, on the other hand, your throat be swollen, or blocked, as by enlarged tonsils or chronic sore throat, then this part of the resonance chamber is muffled and spoiled, and your voice will be either entirely gone or hoarse; though perhaps by driving it very hard you may be able to make a clear tone.
As students actively engage in the speaking process, their perceptions can change from moment to moment and from week to week. As individuals acquire new information, the language they use to make meaning changes. As they reflect upon information shared or received, they revise their understanding, further developing their schemas about language and the world.
The speaking process includes activities that occur prior to, during, and after the actual speaking event. For example, before speaking, the speaker might determine the actual content of the message, how it should be presented, and what kind of audience will be hearing the message.
While speaking, the speaker must attend to such things as presenting a clear message, tone of voice, suitable vocabulary, possible responses, the environment, and nonverbal gestures.
Following speaking, the speaker might accept comments, answer questions, explain concepts not understood, and/or assess the process.
Pre-speaking: Planning and Organizing
Just as pre-writing precedes drafting, pre-speaking begins before students actually speak. Students' experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have an impact upon what they say and how they say it. Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking. Some purposes for pre-speaking are listed below.
To choose a speaking topic:
Students generate and explore ideas for speaking topics through a variety of pre-speaking activities such as the following:
- constructing thought webs and graphic organizers
- reading and researching
- listening to music
-nviewing a video
- listening to a speaker
- jotting down ideas
- reflecting upon personal experience.
To determine purpose:
Speakers talk to express ideas, emotions, and opinions, and to share information. Students must ask themselves "What is my purpose for speaking?"
To determine audience:
Speakers must ask themselves "Who is my intended audience?" Some possible audiences are:
- familiar, known audiences (self, friends, peers, family, teachers)
- extended, known audiences (community, student body)
- extended, unknown audiences (local media).
To determine format:
Speakers must consider how their ideas and information can be presented most effectively. Some possible formats include the following:
- conversation
- discussion
- formal speech
-ndramatic presentation
- monologue
- Readers Theatre.
See the Writing section for a variety of pre-writing suggestions which also can be useful as pre-speaking scaffolds.
Speaking: Going Public
Speaking actively engages students in interactions with peers and other audiences. Students who have been provided with supportive, collaborative environments and opportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences are more likely to have the confidence needed to "go public" with their ideas and information.
In order to communicate and interact with others, students need to engage in a variety of formal and informal speaking situations, depending upon their purpose for speaking. Some purposes for speaking include the following:
- to express personal feelings, ideas, or viewpoints
- to tell a story
- to entertain or amuse
- to describe
- to inform or explain
- to request
- to inquire or question
- to clarify thinking
- to explore and experiment with a variety of ideas and formats
- to converse and discuss.
Some scaffolds to support speaking include the following:
- Discussing or developing with students criteria for a variety of formal and informal speaking formats (e.g., conversation, group discussion, role play), and posting these on a bulletin board or having students record them in their notebooks for reference.
- Modelling a variety of formal and informal speaking formats for students.
- If possible, making available to students audio and video equipment so that they can practise prior to formal speaking situations.
Post-speaking: A Time for Reflection and Setting Goals
Following speaking experiences, both formal and informal, it is important to have students reflect upon their performance. Their reflection, whether it is oral or written, should include the teacher, who can help them set personal goals for improving their speaking abilities. This type of reflective assessment and goal setting encourages critical thought. Some purposes for post-speaking activities are listed below.
To reflect upon performance:
Students who have opportunities to reflect upon their speaking experiences, in light of pre-determined criteria, grow in their abilities to speak effectively.
To set goals for improvement:
When students reflect upon their performance, they begin to recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement.
Some post-speaking scaffolds include:
- Discussing or developing criteria for assessing a variety of speaking experiences.
- Providing opportunities for students to talk, write, or represent in various ways their personal speaking strengths and needs (e.g., learning logs, teacher/peer conferences).
When students have reflected upon their own speaking performance, peers may be invited to comment. Peers may comment through a structure similar to a writing conference and may give oral feedback, written feedback, or a combination of the two. Conferences may be guided by specific questions determined by the teacher or may take the form of conversation between peers.
Teaching the Normal Speaking Process
It is important that clients understand the normal process of speaking. Clinicians should devote about 15 minutes explaining the process and identifying significant features of the physical act of speaking. This will form a basis for understanding and continued communication about speaking.
Respiration. We speak on the air we exhale. When we exhale for speaking, we breathe air out at a measured rate that is slower than for respiration alone. We inhale rather rapidly and then begin to exhale slowly. Have your client place one hand on their chest and one hand on their belly to feel the movement during their respiration; have them note the difference between breathing and saying the sound "ah" for an extended period.
Phonation. Our voice is created as the vocal folds come together and narrow the opening through which air can flow between them. This restriction causes the vocal folds to vibrate and make noise that is our voice. Have the client feel the vibrations of the vocal folds by placing their fingers on the angle of the cricoid while phonating. Show them the some phonemes are voiced while others are voiceless. Demonstrate what happens when the vocal folds are brought together with too much effort.... Have the client hold onto the sides of their chair and pull up while saying 'ah'. Draw their attention to the effort and the similarity to the type of stuttering known as laryngeal blocking. Note that with excessive tension, there is less control and range in using the voice. Gradually release the tension allowing the voice and air flow to begin again.
Articulation. Discuss the process of making sounds by moving and contacting the lips, tongue, teeth and palate. Show some examples of how different types of sounds are articulated (the manner and place of articulation). Describe speaking as movement from one place of contact to another.
Speaking then is the process in inhaling, then bringing the vocal cords together while air is being exhaled to produce sounds that are modified by movement of the articulators. Speaking fluently is a smooth, effortless, forward-moving process. Breathing is relaxed and regular; the vocal folds are slightly tensed, and them muscles of articulation are relaxed enough to move freely from one contact to another.
The Audience-Centered Speaking Process
As every successful speech writer knows, the only reason to give a speech is to change the world! Otherwise, why bother?
Having established that, how can you ensure that your speech can accomplish such a lofty goal, especially when the opportunities for failure are many, and for success correspondingly few?
Recent studies suggest that most executives would rather die than deliver a public speech. Perhaps this explains why most executives often put off the task of preparing speeches to the last minute, or hand the task off to someone else.
Before you do this, you should know that public speaking can be a powerful tool for communicating your most important messages. And, when it happens, it’s powerful. When it’s missing, everyone feels it, including the ill-fated speaker.
Can you find that connection with your audience that truly creates sparks? And, once you make the leap and deliver a successful speech, could it be that it is something you actually enjoy?
Yes, and yes!
The place to start is with the content of your speech or presentation, for that will make or break you with your audience.
Structure Your Content Like a Conversation
Your content should be structured and delivered in a way that recognizes the audience’s need to absorb information through an aural genre with limited opportunities for feedback of the kind conversation provides. This is not to say that there is no feedback in public speaking; there’s actually plenty. But because most public speaking is more or less scripted, the speaker is limited in the amount of attention he can give to feedback, and limited in the ways in which he or she can respond.
Perhaps it is best to think of your presentation as a journey. Once on the journey, you may not get to stop often, for you will miss something. Considering this, your content needs to proceed logically, in complete thoughts, with stops along the way for the audience to check its comprehension.
You will need to remember that active listening is exhausting work and people don’t retain much of what they hear. So, with this in mind, make sure you structure your content so that it is organized and delivered the way the audience needs to hear it.
Second, it’s a matter of unabashed focus. Think in terms of getting your messages and your ideas across to your audience. For instance, if you get only a single message across to your audience, what will it be? When structuring your speech’s content, pit your focus here.Third, consider your emotional content. You want to give as much thought to preparing an emotional story line as an intellectual one.
Take Your Audience on the Journey With You
Your audience will start the journey wanting a few key questions answered: “Why am I here,” “Why is this topic important to me,” and “Why should I pay attention to this speaker for the next hour or so?”Herein lies the difference between conversation and public speaking. People engage in conversation for mutual pleasure, to exchange information, or perhaps storytelling, or even a mix of the three.Public speaking differs greatly from conversation in that you need to orient the audience and prepare the way, or the journey, for where you will take them. To accomplish this, you must set them at ease early on and establish right off the bat what the context of your presentation is and why it is important and worth their time (and yours). Once you’ve answered the “why?”, the real journey begins. Now your goal is to move your audience from “why?” to “how?”.
Don't Tell All You Know
Your audience already assumes you are an authority on the subject discussed. By being there, they are bestowing a mantle of trust and credibility upon you at the beginning of the speech. It’s up to you to wear it successfully. To do this, stick to the point and make it possible (and enjoyable) for the audience to follow you by delivering strong, focused, clear and concise messages.
Connect with Your Audience with Stories
Studies show that we make sense of the world by piecing together stories. Take advantage of this to ensure your audience gets your message. Think of the journey you are taking your audience on as a kind of story. Your audience will understand it better if it has all the parts, or the various makings, of a good story – a strong protagonist, a clear dilemma for him or her to work on, and a happy ending.
The Speech Organs : Part 1
The Voice, a Waste Product. It is one of the most curious things in this body of ours that what we regard as its most wonderful power and gift, the voice, is, in one sense, a waste product. So ingenious is nature that she has actually made that marvelous musical instrument - the human voice - with its range, its flexibility, and its powers of expression, out of spent breath, or used-up air, which has done its work in the lungs and is being driven off to get rid of it. It is like using the waste from a kitchen sink to turn a mill.
The organs that make the human voice were never built for that purpose in the first place. Unlike the eye and the ear, nature built no special organ for the voice alone, but simply utilized the windpipe and lung-bellows, the swallowing parts of the food passage (tongue, lips, and palate) and the nose, for that purpose, long after they had taken their own particular shapes for their own special ends.
The important point about this is that a good voice requires not merely a large and well-developed "music box" in the windpipe, but good lungs, a well-shaped healthy throat, properly arched jaws, - which mean good, sound teeth, - clear and healthy nasal passages, and a flexible elastic tongue. Of course, the blood and the nerves supplying all these structures must be in good condition, as well. So practically, a good voice requires that the whole body should be healthy; and whatever we do to improve the condition of our nose, our teeth, our throat, our lungs, our digestion, and our circulation will help to improve the possibilities of our voice. There are, of course, many exceptions; but you will generally find that great singers have not only splendid lungs and large vocal cords, but good hearts, vigorous constitutions, and bodies above the average in both stature and strength.
How the Voice is Produced. The chief parts of the breathing machine that nature has made over for talking purposes are the windpipe, or air tube, and the muscles in its walls. In the neck, about three inches above the collar bone, four or five of the rings of cartilage, or gristle, - which, you remember, give stiffening to the windpipe, - have grown together and enlarged to form a voice box, or larynx.
The upper edge of this voice box forms the projection in the front of the throat known by the rather absurd name of the "Adam's apple." This grows larger in proportion to the heaviness of the sounds to be made, and hence is larger in men than in women and boys. When the boy's voice box begins to grow to the man's in shape and size, his voice is likely to "break"; for it is changing from the high, clear boy's voice to the heavy, deep voice of the man.
Inside of this voice box, one of the rings of muscle that run around the windpipe has stretched into a pair of straight, elastic bands, or strings, one on each side of the air pipe, known as the vocal cords, or voice bands. These are so arranged that they can be stretched and relaxed by little muscles; and, when thrown into vibration by the air rushing through the voice box, they produce the sounds that we call talking or singing. The more tightly they are stretched, the higher and shriller are the tones they produce; and the more they are slackened, or relaxed, the deeper and more rumbling are the tones.
The Speech Organs : Part 2
AYou would naturally think that the strings, or cords, were the most important part both of the voice and of a musical instrument; and in one sense they are, as it could make no noise at all without them. But in another sense, far more important are the sounding boxes, or resonance chambers. The whole quality and value, for instance, of a Stradivarius violin, which will make it readily bring ten thousand dollars in the open market, are due to the skill with which the body, or sound box, was made; the quality of the wood used; and, odd as it may seem, even the varnish used on it - the strings are the same as on any five-dollar fiddle. This is almost equally true of the human voice. While its size, or volume, is determined by the voice box and vocal bands, and its power largely by the lungs and chest, its musical quality, its color, and its expression are given almost entirely by the throat, mouth (including the lips), and nose. The proper management of these parts is two-thirds of voice training, and all these are largely under our control.
How a Good Voice may be Developed. If the nasal passages, for instance, are blocked by a bad cold or a catarrh or adenoids, then nearly half the body of your violin is blocked up and deadened; half your resonance chamber is destroyed, and the voice sounds flat and dead and nasal. If, on the other hand, your throat be swollen, or blocked, as by enlarged tonsils or chronic sore throat, then this part of the resonance chamber is muffled and spoiled, and your voice will be either entirely gone or hoarse; though perhaps by driving it very hard you may be able to make a clear tone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)