Intonation refers to the use of supra-segmental features to convey pragmatic meanings at the sentence level in a linguistically structured way.The difference in intonation between the native language and a foreign lan...Intonation refers to the use of supra-segmental features to convey pragmatic meanings at the sentence level in a linguistically structured way.The difference in intonation between the native language and a foreign language may influence second language learners’acquisition of intonation.The purpose of this study is to explore the similarities and differences at the level of phonological representation between English and Chinese intonation systems.This study investigated English and Chinese intonation systems,respectively,from both form and meaning under the Auto-Segmental Metrical framework by referring to previous studies and illustrating examples.The results showed that in terms of form,there were notable differences in the structural elements and their inventories between the intonation systems of English and Chinese.In terms of meaning,assertions were represented by different structural elements in English and Chinese intonation systems;the types of structural elements in English intonation possessed the capability to convey complex and subtle meanings,contrasting with the comparatively simpler nature of Chinese intonation.The results reveal that Chinese EFL learners demonstrate considerable difficulties in the production of the structural elements of English intonation and their combinations due to L1 intonation interference.展开更多
Through the discussion and comparative research on theories, types and uses of English intonation, it is found that intonation is an indispensable part of oral communications. Proper use of intonation lies in knowing ...Through the discussion and comparative research on theories, types and uses of English intonation, it is found that intonation is an indispensable part of oral communications. Proper use of intonation lies in knowing their functions and in the ability to correctly utter the patterns. Therefore, intonation theoretical knowledge is crucial and helpful to the English phonology teaching; and teachers need to properly incorporate intonation knowledge into teaching practice.展开更多
Aiming at difficulties for Chinese students to learn English,based on phonology theory,this article compares the Chinese tone with English intonation from various aspects,the finding is that the two language families ...Aiming at difficulties for Chinese students to learn English,based on phonology theory,this article compares the Chinese tone with English intonation from various aspects,the finding is that the two language families have a great difference in intonation;intonation is put to use without high proficiency for students due to the influence of Chinese tone and its simplified pedagogy.展开更多
Starting from the traditional analysis of English intonation, the article discusses the Halliday＇s, Jackendoff＇s, and Brazil＇s views upon intonation. Then it explores the multiple meanings and its metonymic pattern...Starting from the traditional analysis of English intonation, the article discusses the Halliday＇s, Jackendoff＇s, and Brazil＇s views upon intonation. Then it explores the multiple meanings and its metonymic patterns of English high key in terms of the prototype theory.展开更多
In English,intonation is the main research object of supra-segmental phonology,it refers to the changes of tone and pitch.English intonation is non-tone language which means the word meaning will not changed with the ...In English,intonation is the main research object of supra-segmental phonology,it refers to the changes of tone and pitch.English intonation is non-tone language which means the word meaning will not changed with the changing of the independent word's tone,while Chinese is Tone language,in which tone often determinates the meaning of word,different tones are representative of different meanings.Chinese language function exerts differently in tone and intonation,and it is a bit complicated compared with English.展开更多
Bodily gestures,facial expressions,and intonations are argued to be notably important features of spoken languagewhich are opposed to written language.Bodily gestures with or without spoken words can influence the cla...Bodily gestures,facial expressions,and intonations are argued to be notably important features of spoken languagewhich are opposed to written language.Bodily gestures with or without spoken words can influence the clarity and density of expres-sion and involvement of listeners.Facial expressions whether or not correspond with exact thought could be"decoded"to influencethe extent of intelligibility of expression.Intonation can always reflect the mutual beliefs concerning the propositional content andstates of consciousness relating to the expression and interpretation.Therefore,these can considerably improve or abate the accura-cy of expression and interpretation of thought.展开更多
Corrective feedback is crucial for pronunciation teaching.However,in current pronunciation teaching practice,the corrective feedback provided usually fails to locate pronunciation problems and inform learners of the d...Corrective feedback is crucial for pronunciation teaching.However,in current pronunciation teaching practice,the corrective feedback provided usually fails to locate pronunciation problems and inform learners of the differences between their mispronunciations and the correct form.Based on the motor theory,this study attempted to explore a new way of corrective feedback for pronunciation teaching.Specifically,the learners’ speech output was modified and then was played back to them as an input model for learning.In this way,the learners can imitate the pronunciation model of their own voices,achieving self-imitation.This study included two experiments.The first explored the viability of obtaining one’s self-perceived voice through delayed feedback paradigm.The second experiment examined the effectiveness of self-imitation for English intonation learning.Results showed that imitating the pronunciation model of one’s own voice can reduce the learners’ phonological memory load,assist critical listening and facilitate accurate phonetic realizations of the target intonation.展开更多
This study examines the relationship between discourse intonation （henceforth DI） and teacher cognition. Drawing on the rich literature on the teacher cognition in grammar, this study borrows some relevant insights ...This study examines the relationship between discourse intonation （henceforth DI） and teacher cognition. Drawing on the rich literature on the teacher cognition in grammar, this study borrows some relevant insights for a better understanding of the relationship between teacher cognition and DI. Following a qualitative treatment, the study concludes that instruction on D1 is a dynamic debate fed by both teacher training and teachers＇ experience of teaching and learning in general, which leads into suggesting the need for any teacher training on DI to take into account both DI knowledge as well as teacher core and peripheral belief. The contribution of the study lies in its tapping of a relatively poorly investigated area and offering advances on the many negative or simplistic teacher attitudes regarding intonation instruction as expressed in the literature, as well as in bringing to the surfaces something which teachers sometimes are not explicitly aware of.展开更多
The author outlines the matrix and parameters of the forms of basic intonation of Chinese texts, and, based on the traditional Chinese graphic expression Jiugong(nine squares), systematically describes the tonal range...The author outlines the matrix and parameters of the forms of basic intonation of Chinese texts, and, based on the traditional Chinese graphic expression Jiugong(nine squares), systematically describes the tonal ranges and various forms of basic intonation. She concludes that if we express the pitch and length of the texts by means of two coordinate axes, and each coordinate axis is divided into three levels, a Jiugong matrix of intonation will be established, and different two-dimensional acoustic features can be found at various points on the Jiugong diagram. The Jiugong matrix of intonation as expoundedin this paper serves as the rules for the combination of intonations and covers all the basic tones of Chinese texts.展开更多
Prosody in speech synthesis systems (text-to-speech) is a determinant of tone, duration, and loudness of speech sound. Intonation is a part of prosody which determines the speech tone. In Indonesian, intonation is det...Prosody in speech synthesis systems (text-to-speech) is a determinant of tone, duration, and loudness of speech sound. Intonation is a part of prosody which determines the speech tone. In Indonesian, intonation is determined by the structure of sentences, types of sentences, and also the position of the word in a sentence. In this study, a model of speech synthesis that focuses on its intonation is proposed. The speech intonation is determined by sentence structure, intonation patterns of the example sentences, and general rules of Indonesian pronunciation. The model receives texts and intonation patterns as inputs. Based on the general principle of Indonesian pronunciation, a prosody file was made. Based on input text, sentence structure is determined and then interval among parts of a sentence (phrase) can be determined. These intervals are used to correct the duration of the initial prosody file. Furthermore, the frequencies in prosody file were corrected using intonation patterns. The final result is prosody file that can be pronounced by speech engine application. Experiment results of studies using the original voice of radio news announcer and the speech synthesis show that the peaks of?F0?are determined by general rules or intonation patterns which are dominant. Similarity test with the PESQ method shows that the result of the synthesis is 1.18 at MOS-LQO scale.展开更多
Due to the interaction between lexical tones and intonation in Chinese speech melody, the contour patterns of Chinese IPs （intonational phrases） have long been an intriguing yet complicated subject. Within the AM （...Due to the interaction between lexical tones and intonation in Chinese speech melody, the contour patterns of Chinese IPs （intonational phrases） have long been an intriguing yet complicated subject. Within the AM （Autosegmental-Metrical） framework, this paper makes an empirical study on the subject based on a small-scale database of 22 standard Chinese news stories. A five-degree D value system is proposed for data normalization so that various contour patterns of IPs can be identified and compared despite complications in pitch register and pitch range. The major findings are： Chinese IPs mainly comprise 2, 3, or 4 ips （intermediate phrases）. And the contour patterns of Chinese IPs suggest that the statement intonation in Chinese is primarily indicated by the near-bottom Dmin value of the last ip. Meanwhile, when the primary indicator is not typical, the falling trend of the last part of the top-line can serve as a compensatory perceptual clue.展开更多
This research,grounded in the theory of discourse intonation,investigates Chinese EFL learners' intonation features in interactive context.Its research findings reveal that Chinese EFL learners differ from British...This research,grounded in the theory of discourse intonation,investigates Chinese EFL learners' intonation features in interactive context.Its research findings reveal that Chinese EFL learners differ from British native speakers in their application of tone units,prominence selection and tone choice.It further points out that these intonation features are caused on the one hand by Chinese EFL learners' relatively low English proficiency level and on the other hand by their lack of awareness of the communicative and discourse function of intonation.Based on these findings,this research proposes that a discourse-based awareness-raising approach to intonation teaching in the input-poor Chinese EFL context might be of pedagogical necessity and effectiveness.展开更多
In teaching English pronunciation,intonationoften poses difficulties to Chinese teachers.This paperpresents an approach of intonation teaching whichconsists of the following points:1)compare Chineseand English intonat...In teaching English pronunciation,intonationoften poses difficulties to Chinese teachers.This paperpresents an approach of intonation teaching whichconsists of the following points:1)compare Chineseand English intonation;2)analyze the structure ofEnglish intonation;3)guide practice through imita-tion;4)emphasize the functions of English intona-tion.展开更多
This study investigates the parallel encoding of tone and declarative question intonation inBai,a Sino-Tibetan tone language spoken in the southwest of China.Bai declarative questions in varied focus conditions and en...This study investigates the parallel encoding of tone and declarative question intonation inBai,a Sino-Tibetan tone language spoken in the southwest of China.Bai declarative questions in varied focus conditions and ended with different level tones were elicited via a picture-marking game.The sentence final words were acoustically analyzed to reveal the effect of focus,tone,and question intonation.Our data shows that Bai speakers use prosody by expanding the pitch range,raising the pitch maximum and minimum,and lengthening the duration of the sentence-final word to distinguish declarative questions from statements in all focus conditions,regardless of the specific level tones.The present study thus reveals the use of prosodic cues for encoding lexical tones and interrogative meaning can be fine-grained and independent of each other.展开更多
An acoustic analysis of the intonation of statements and questions in American English was conducted, followed by a comparison with the intonation of statements and questions in British English, firstly in order to de...An acoustic analysis of the intonation of statements and questions in American English was conducted, followed by a comparison with the intonation of statements and questions in British English, firstly in order to determine at what point in statements and questions F0 tends to significantly diverge, and secondly to obtain an understanding of the basic similarities and differences between F0 movement in statements and questions in American and British English. Pitch range and pitch fluctuation measurements of six statements and six matching declarative questions in American English were taken at the word level, compared with those of British English taken by Guo [7], and checked for significant differences based on word position(sentence-initial, sentence-medial, and sentence-final) and modality(statements and questions) using statistical analysis. The results indicate that 1) in statements, both varieties of English demonstrated very similar pitch fluctuation, while American English demonstrated wider word pitch ranges than those in British English;2) in questions, the terminal rise in American English was primarily demonstrated by a rising top line, while the terminal rise in British English was primarily demonstrated by a falling bottom line;3) statements and questions in American English demonstrated a significant change in pitch fluctuation beginning in the sentence-medial word and a significant change in both pitch range and pitch fluctuation in the sentence-final word;and 4) statements and questions in British English demonstrated a significant change in pitch range location(or key) beginning in the sentence-initial word, a significant change in pitch fluctuation in the sentence-medial word, and a significant change in both pitch range and pitch fluctuation in the sentence-final word.展开更多
This paper stresses the significant pedagogical function ofintonation in spoken English.It also provides a brief review onits current application in teaching English as a foreign language(TEFL)in China.Effective inton...This paper stresses the significant pedagogical function ofintonation in spoken English.It also provides a brief review onits current application in teaching English as a foreign language(TEFL)in China.Effective intonation teaching not only has aneffect on facilitating an acquisition of"intelligiblepronunciation"but also has an underlying implication formaking a"whole-person learner involvement"in learningprocess.This paper outlines an approach practiced in Chinatoday.It is based on the basic nuclear tone patterns proposed byQuirk and others in order to promote oral English teachingthrough intonation awareness training.With the learners’attention transferred from segmental sound or meaning tosuprasegmental tone(intonation),the melodic feature of thelanguage is most salient,which greatly motivates the learner’sinterest,involvement and autonomy,therefore,accelerating anacquisition of oral communicative competence.展开更多
In terms of creativity, variety, and success in a pronunciation and intonation practice class are concerned, this paper has laid great emphasis on the creation of a relaxed classroom atmosphere based on friendly and c...In terms of creativity, variety, and success in a pronunciation and intonation practice class are concerned, this paper has laid great emphasis on the creation of a relaxed classroom atmosphere based on friendly and cooperative relationships. Based on a few of the ideas that result from second language acquisition research and that have implications for pronunciation and intonation practice class, this paper has suggested some communicative classroom techniques which contribute to desired learning outcomes.展开更多
This piece of work analyses some learning difficulties in phonology and presents some teaching strategies on teaching phonology at supra-segmental level.
Speaking is a productive skill and it is acknowledged to be hard for learners to master.Certain elements related to phonetics in discourse analysis,which play a significant role in EFL teaching of speaking,seem to be ...Speaking is a productive skill and it is acknowledged to be hard for learners to master.Certain elements related to phonetics in discourse analysis,which play a significant role in EFL teaching of speaking,seem to be neglected.This paper analyses three of these elements:pause,intonation and tonic syllable,and their application in the teaching of speaking.展开更多
文摘Intonation refers to the use of supra-segmental features to convey pragmatic meanings at the sentence level in a linguistically structured way.The difference in intonation between the native language and a foreign language may influence second language learners’acquisition of intonation.The purpose of this study is to explore the similarities and differences at the level of phonological representation between English and Chinese intonation systems.This study investigated English and Chinese intonation systems,respectively,from both form and meaning under the Auto-Segmental Metrical framework by referring to previous studies and illustrating examples.The results showed that in terms of form,there were notable differences in the structural elements and their inventories between the intonation systems of English and Chinese.In terms of meaning,assertions were represented by different structural elements in English and Chinese intonation systems;the types of structural elements in English intonation possessed the capability to convey complex and subtle meanings,contrasting with the comparatively simpler nature of Chinese intonation.The results reveal that Chinese EFL learners demonstrate considerable difficulties in the production of the structural elements of English intonation and their combinations due to L1 intonation interference.
文摘Through the discussion and comparative research on theories, types and uses of English intonation, it is found that intonation is an indispensable part of oral communications. Proper use of intonation lies in knowing their functions and in the ability to correctly utter the patterns. Therefore, intonation theoretical knowledge is crucial and helpful to the English phonology teaching; and teachers need to properly incorporate intonation knowledge into teaching practice.
文摘Aiming at difficulties for Chinese students to learn English,based on phonology theory,this article compares the Chinese tone with English intonation from various aspects,the finding is that the two language families have a great difference in intonation;intonation is put to use without high proficiency for students due to the influence of Chinese tone and its simplified pedagogy.
文摘Starting from the traditional analysis of English intonation, the article discusses the Halliday＇s, Jackendoff＇s, and Brazil＇s views upon intonation. Then it explores the multiple meanings and its metonymic patterns of English high key in terms of the prototype theory.
文摘In English,intonation is the main research object of supra-segmental phonology,it refers to the changes of tone and pitch.English intonation is non-tone language which means the word meaning will not changed with the changing of the independent word's tone,while Chinese is Tone language,in which tone often determinates the meaning of word,different tones are representative of different meanings.Chinese language function exerts differently in tone and intonation,and it is a bit complicated compared with English.
文摘Bodily gestures,facial expressions,and intonations are argued to be notably important features of spoken languagewhich are opposed to written language.Bodily gestures with or without spoken words can influence the clarity and density of expres-sion and involvement of listeners.Facial expressions whether or not correspond with exact thought could be"decoded"to influencethe extent of intelligibility of expression.Intonation can always reflect the mutual beliefs concerning the propositional content andstates of consciousness relating to the expression and interpretation.Therefore,these can considerably improve or abate the accura-cy of expression and interpretation of thought.
文摘Corrective feedback is crucial for pronunciation teaching.However,in current pronunciation teaching practice,the corrective feedback provided usually fails to locate pronunciation problems and inform learners of the differences between their mispronunciations and the correct form.Based on the motor theory,this study attempted to explore a new way of corrective feedback for pronunciation teaching.Specifically,the learners’ speech output was modified and then was played back to them as an input model for learning.In this way,the learners can imitate the pronunciation model of their own voices,achieving self-imitation.This study included two experiments.The first explored the viability of obtaining one’s self-perceived voice through delayed feedback paradigm.The second experiment examined the effectiveness of self-imitation for English intonation learning.Results showed that imitating the pronunciation model of one’s own voice can reduce the learners’ phonological memory load,assist critical listening and facilitate accurate phonetic realizations of the target intonation.
文摘This study examines the relationship between discourse intonation （henceforth DI） and teacher cognition. Drawing on the rich literature on the teacher cognition in grammar, this study borrows some relevant insights for a better understanding of the relationship between teacher cognition and DI. Following a qualitative treatment, the study concludes that instruction on D1 is a dynamic debate fed by both teacher training and teachers＇ experience of teaching and learning in general, which leads into suggesting the need for any teacher training on DI to take into account both DI knowledge as well as teacher core and peripheral belief. The contribution of the study lies in its tapping of a relatively poorly investigated area and offering advances on the many negative or simplistic teacher attitudes regarding intonation instruction as expressed in the literature, as well as in bringing to the surfaces something which teachers sometimes are not explicitly aware of.
文摘The author outlines the matrix and parameters of the forms of basic intonation of Chinese texts, and, based on the traditional Chinese graphic expression Jiugong(nine squares), systematically describes the tonal ranges and various forms of basic intonation. She concludes that if we express the pitch and length of the texts by means of two coordinate axes, and each coordinate axis is divided into three levels, a Jiugong matrix of intonation will be established, and different two-dimensional acoustic features can be found at various points on the Jiugong diagram. The Jiugong matrix of intonation as expoundedin this paper serves as the rules for the combination of intonations and covers all the basic tones of Chinese texts.
文摘Prosody in speech synthesis systems (text-to-speech) is a determinant of tone, duration, and loudness of speech sound. Intonation is a part of prosody which determines the speech tone. In Indonesian, intonation is determined by the structure of sentences, types of sentences, and also the position of the word in a sentence. In this study, a model of speech synthesis that focuses on its intonation is proposed. The speech intonation is determined by sentence structure, intonation patterns of the example sentences, and general rules of Indonesian pronunciation. The model receives texts and intonation patterns as inputs. Based on the general principle of Indonesian pronunciation, a prosody file was made. Based on input text, sentence structure is determined and then interval among parts of a sentence (phrase) can be determined. These intervals are used to correct the duration of the initial prosody file. Furthermore, the frequencies in prosody file were corrected using intonation patterns. The final result is prosody file that can be pronounced by speech engine application. Experiment results of studies using the original voice of radio news announcer and the speech synthesis show that the peaks of?F0?are determined by general rules or intonation patterns which are dominant. Similarity test with the PESQ method shows that the result of the synthesis is 1.18 at MOS-LQO scale.
文摘Due to the interaction between lexical tones and intonation in Chinese speech melody, the contour patterns of Chinese IPs （intonational phrases） have long been an intriguing yet complicated subject. Within the AM （Autosegmental-Metrical） framework, this paper makes an empirical study on the subject based on a small-scale database of 22 standard Chinese news stories. A five-degree D value system is proposed for data normalization so that various contour patterns of IPs can be identified and compared despite complications in pitch register and pitch range. The major findings are： Chinese IPs mainly comprise 2, 3, or 4 ips （intermediate phrases）. And the contour patterns of Chinese IPs suggest that the statement intonation in Chinese is primarily indicated by the near-bottom Dmin value of the last ip. Meanwhile, when the primary indicator is not typical, the falling trend of the last part of the top-line can serve as a compensatory perceptual clue.
文摘This research,grounded in the theory of discourse intonation,investigates Chinese EFL learners' intonation features in interactive context.Its research findings reveal that Chinese EFL learners differ from British native speakers in their application of tone units,prominence selection and tone choice.It further points out that these intonation features are caused on the one hand by Chinese EFL learners' relatively low English proficiency level and on the other hand by their lack of awareness of the communicative and discourse function of intonation.Based on these findings,this research proposes that a discourse-based awareness-raising approach to intonation teaching in the input-poor Chinese EFL context might be of pedagogical necessity and effectiveness.
文摘In teaching English pronunciation,intonationoften poses difficulties to Chinese teachers.This paperpresents an approach of intonation teaching whichconsists of the following points:1)compare Chineseand English intonation;2)analyze the structure ofEnglish intonation;3)guide practice through imita-tion;4)emphasize the functions of English intona-tion.
基金the project YB2022083"An experimental study on prosodic variations of Mon-Khmer languages"。
文摘This study investigates the parallel encoding of tone and declarative question intonation inBai,a Sino-Tibetan tone language spoken in the southwest of China.Bai declarative questions in varied focus conditions and ended with different level tones were elicited via a picture-marking game.The sentence final words were acoustically analyzed to reveal the effect of focus,tone,and question intonation.Our data shows that Bai speakers use prosody by expanding the pitch range,raising the pitch maximum and minimum,and lengthening the duration of the sentence-final word to distinguish declarative questions from statements in all focus conditions,regardless of the specific level tones.The present study thus reveals the use of prosodic cues for encoding lexical tones and interrogative meaning can be fine-grained and independent of each other.
文摘An acoustic analysis of the intonation of statements and questions in American English was conducted, followed by a comparison with the intonation of statements and questions in British English, firstly in order to determine at what point in statements and questions F0 tends to significantly diverge, and secondly to obtain an understanding of the basic similarities and differences between F0 movement in statements and questions in American and British English. Pitch range and pitch fluctuation measurements of six statements and six matching declarative questions in American English were taken at the word level, compared with those of British English taken by Guo [7], and checked for significant differences based on word position(sentence-initial, sentence-medial, and sentence-final) and modality(statements and questions) using statistical analysis. The results indicate that 1) in statements, both varieties of English demonstrated very similar pitch fluctuation, while American English demonstrated wider word pitch ranges than those in British English;2) in questions, the terminal rise in American English was primarily demonstrated by a rising top line, while the terminal rise in British English was primarily demonstrated by a falling bottom line;3) statements and questions in American English demonstrated a significant change in pitch fluctuation beginning in the sentence-medial word and a significant change in both pitch range and pitch fluctuation in the sentence-final word;and 4) statements and questions in British English demonstrated a significant change in pitch range location(or key) beginning in the sentence-initial word, a significant change in pitch fluctuation in the sentence-medial word, and a significant change in both pitch range and pitch fluctuation in the sentence-final word.
文摘This paper stresses the significant pedagogical function ofintonation in spoken English.It also provides a brief review onits current application in teaching English as a foreign language(TEFL)in China.Effective intonation teaching not only has aneffect on facilitating an acquisition of"intelligiblepronunciation"but also has an underlying implication formaking a"whole-person learner involvement"in learningprocess.This paper outlines an approach practiced in Chinatoday.It is based on the basic nuclear tone patterns proposed byQuirk and others in order to promote oral English teachingthrough intonation awareness training.With the learners’attention transferred from segmental sound or meaning tosuprasegmental tone(intonation),the melodic feature of thelanguage is most salient,which greatly motivates the learner’sinterest,involvement and autonomy,therefore,accelerating anacquisition of oral communicative competence.
文摘In terms of creativity, variety, and success in a pronunciation and intonation practice class are concerned, this paper has laid great emphasis on the creation of a relaxed classroom atmosphere based on friendly and cooperative relationships. Based on a few of the ideas that result from second language acquisition research and that have implications for pronunciation and intonation practice class, this paper has suggested some communicative classroom techniques which contribute to desired learning outcomes.
文摘This piece of work analyses some learning difficulties in phonology and presents some teaching strategies on teaching phonology at supra-segmental level.
文摘Speaking is a productive skill and it is acknowledged to be hard for learners to master.Certain elements related to phonetics in discourse analysis,which play a significant role in EFL teaching of speaking,seem to be neglected.This paper analyses three of these elements:pause,intonation and tonic syllable,and their application in the teaching of speaking.
