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Forgot your password?Prosody Levels
The 5 levels of prosody
What level are you?
General Levels of Prosody
- 1 Bad Prosody
- 2 Robotic Prosody
- 3 Clear & Interesting Prosody
- 4 Natural Prosody
- 5 Expressive Prosody
- Test your level!
Bad-Prosody...
When Prosody goes wrong...
Bad Prosody
lessonAudio/audio_badProsody.mp3
Key Features |
Impact |
---|---|
Strange chunking|pausing |
Pausing is a key method to communicate a complete idea/concept to the listener. However, poor chunking means that incomplete ideas are signaled as ready to be 'processed'. These incomplete ideas can easily confuse the listener. |
Confusing intonation |
Strange intonation will confuse the listener as to what your actual message is. |
Inappropriate pitch |
By focusing on some words and 'hiding' others the listener is left feeling unsure as to what was meant, or even be completely confused. |
Misleading expression |
Poor choice of volume or length is another way to confuse the listener about the actual message. |
Non-Prosody...
Robotic & Unnatural
lessonAudio/audio_robotic.mp3
Key Features |
Impact |
---|---|
Flat pitch |
The voice remains at the same pitch, this means the listener does not know what is important in what is being said. |
Syllable timed |
English is a stress-timed language, perfectly measured syllables make the person seem like a robot and can be very confusing unless the listener concentrates. |
Flat intonation |
A flat intonation implies boredom (normal intonation is downward). |
Basic Prosody
Clear & Interesting
lessonAudio/audio_clear.mp3
Key Features |
Impact |
---|---|
Use of HIGH pitch |
A high pitch focuses the listener's attention on what is important. It really helps understanding. |
Words are isolated |
This is not very natural - but in situations where we want to be very clear we will separate the words. |
Chunking|Pausing |
In order to be clear the speaker will group words into chunks, or ideas, with slight pauses. This really helps understanding. |
Good Prosody
Natural Prosody
Natural Prosody
lessonAudio/audio_natural.mp3
Key Features |
Impact |
---|---|
Stress timed |
In English in order to sound natural the speaker must use stress timing. Basically the chunks of language (the separate key ideas) have a rhythm - the opposite to stress timed is where the rhythm is created by the number of syllables (syllable timed). |
Weak sounds |
In order to squeeze all these sounds into a limited space the speaker will start to use weak forms (which are easier / faster to say) |
Use of LOW pitch |
The use of LOW pitch is the opposite of HIGH pitch, using low pitch allows the spekaer to move even more smoothly. This makes it much eaiser to achieve stress timing. |
Linking sounds |
Again, once we start speaking naturally we need to move between words much quicker. A key method is to link one word to the next word if possible. |
Down intonation |
Down intonation, which is basically letting the 'energy' of the word fall, is the default for words in English. A flat intonation shows disinterest - at best. |
Great Prosody
Expressive Prosody
Expressive Prosody
lessonAudio/audio_expressive.mp3
Key Features |
Impact |
---|---|
Range of word intonation |
By modulating the 'energy' when we say a word we can express questions, doubt, sarcasm, interest etc |
Use of volume |
Volume allows us to really focus the listener on a key point. |
Use of length |
Length is a great way to focus attention and to keep a word in the listener's mind. |
Creative pausing |
Pausing is a great way to add emphasis because it can allow an idea to really 'sink in' to the listener. |
Try For Free
Time to get some feedback!
Your Turn
lessonAudio/audio_expressive.mp3
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