MidTerm Coverage

Speech: Its Nature and Importance Communication and Language

Communication is the dual or two-way process “if all my possessions were to be taken
of transmitting messages from one person to from me with one exception, I would
another. It is the symbolic interaction between choose to keep the power of
two or more people that influences each other’s communication, for by it I would regain
behavior. all the others.” -Daniel Webster
Language, on the other hand, is man’s most
effective medium of communication. It has but
one purpose: to serve as the code for Language, on the other hand, is man’s
transmitting messages between and among most effective medium of communication.
people.
It has but one purpose: to serve as the
Every person speaks at least one language, the
code for the transmission of messages
one he/she learns at home. Commonly every
between and among people. By virtue of
person knows that language is used to be able to
convention or social agreement, language
communicate and that it is made up of sounds,
thus exists as a tool used in expressing
words, and related sentences. However,
language has also its various properties or ideas and feelings to achieve
characteristic features. They are: understanding. It is a part of, in fact, the
1. Language is systematic. This means that greatest achievement of culture and is
language is a highly organized system of sounds, adequate for the communication needs of
words, and sentences and each unit plays an the people who use it.
important part.
2. Language is arbitrary. This means that the
relationship between its meaning and the Properties of Language
symbols employed is just a matter of convention.
3. Language is rule-governed. This means that Every human being speaks at least one
language has rules or patterns that occur language, the one he or she learns from
frequently. the home. What most of know about
4. Language has a dual structure. This means language, however, is simple: that it is to
that language is a system of two subsystems: be able to communicate and that it is
sound and meaning. made up of sounds, words, and/or
5. Language is generative. This refers to the
sentences that convey meaning. Few do
speaker’s ability to understand and produce a
realize that how these sounds, words, and
number of utterances in the native tongue by
sentences are related is important for
relativization.
everyone to know.
6. Language is socially learned behavior.
This means that language is culturally
transmitted. Properties or Characteristics of Language:
7. Language is a social interactive tool. This
means that language is a shared code that 1. It is systematic.
enables its users to transmit feelings, ideas, and Language is a highly organized system of
desires to one another. sounds, words and sentences in which
each unit plays an important part. Each
Verbal personal contact cannot be avoided. unit is related to other parts, which when
Much more so is the opportunity for a two-way put together constitute a whole.
flow of information. That is why, college
students like you, need to learn and develop 2. It is arbitrary.
communication skills, especially speaking to be There is no necessary connection between
proficient and globally competitive which will the sounds people use and the objects to
pave the way for unlimited career possibilities in which these sounds refer. The word is not
the future. the thing. The relationship between
meaning and the symbols employed is
just a matter of convention. It is like the
picture that is not the person
himself/herself.
MidTerm Coverage

modes. More specifically, speech is the process of

3. It is rule-governed. shaping into words the sound of the voice and
While the relationship between meaning the energy of the breath, by means of the speech
and the symbols used is an arbitrary one, organs. To sum it up, speech, language and
the arrangement of the symbols in communication are three distinct aspects
relation to one another in an utterance is but work harmoniously within the same
not arbitrary. This feature of language process.
demonstrates that there are underlying
rules or patterns that occur frequently. EXTRALINGUISITCS ELEMENTS
These rules that govern the use of a
language are embodied in what is called PARALINGUISTICS - non-verbal
the grammar of the language. element of speech that convey meaning
4. It has a dual structure. beyond the words themeselve.
In language there are two levels of Example :
structure of systematic relationships. In 1. Someone says “ really” with a
other words, language is a system rising pitch at the end ,
consisting of two subsystems: the (“Really?”). It means , the rising
subsystem of sound and the subsystem of pitch indicates that it’s A
meaningful units. question or seeking confirmation.
5. It is generative. 2. Someone sighs deeply and says
This refers to the speaker’s ability to “ I guess it's time to do it” It
understand and produce any number of means tired , wants to quit or
sentences/ utterances in the native tongue time to do it again.
by recursion or by relativization. That
makes language creative and productive.
6. It is a socially learned behavior.
METALINGUISTICS – understanding
It is a skill acquired as one grows up in
and discussing the structure , rules,
society. It is culturally transmitted. A
functions, and use of the language, as an
speaker learns the language to which he is
object rather that just a means of
exposed.
7. It is a social interactive tool. communication.
Language cannot be considered without
communication because it is the very Example:
reason for its existence. It is shared code The instructor says, “The students are
that enables its users to transmit feelings, studying “ the word student is a noun
ideas and desires too one another because because it’s a name of a person, and
they want to communicate. “studying “ is a verb because it shows
an action.”

This example means, that the instructor

Relationships of Speech, Language, and explains language as a system, which
Communication has rules, and specific components, and
their functions within the sentences.
Communication is the broad term for the two-
way dynamic process of message
transmission. It embraces both the verbal and
NON-LINGUISTICS – body language,
the non-verbal aspects. The verbal includes
gestures, facial expressions, tone of
the modes, which are reading, writing,
speaking and listening while the non-verbal voice, and environmental factors.
comprises the extralinguistic elements such
as paralinguistics, metalinguistics and Example:
nonlinguistic.
Speech and language are only a portion of the The setting of the interview, such as a
larger process of communication. Language is formal office or a casual coffee shop, can
the medium or vehicle through which messages influence the atmosphere expectations,
are sent and received while speech is one of its
MidTerm Coverage

and impression. Like, a formal venue or

environment may lead to formal
communication.

LANGUAGES: MODES

SIGNING – deaf and hard of hearing or

individuals with speech and language
difficulties used for communication
WRITING AND READING – books,
novels, textbooks, and literature.
For high-front, we have /i/ and /I/,
Newspapers, articles, Text messages.
/i/ - sheet, leaf, believe, tree , see, piece,
SPEECH AND LISTENING – daily
feet, sheep , beep, teeth, brief, and eat.
Conversations, lectures, and podcasts.
/I/ - kit, lift, fit, lid, flick, it.

mid-front /ey/ and /ℇ/,

THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH
/e/ or /ey/ - mate , face, wait, break ,
VOWELS
grade
The quality of vowels is determined by
/ ℇ/ - bed, shed, left, level
the particular configuration of the vocal
tract. Different parts of the tongue may
low front /æ/, mid-central /Ə/,
be raised or lowered. The lips may be
spread or pursed. The passage through
/æ/ - cat, man, bat, sad land, dance,
which the air travels, however, is never
black, bag
so narrow as to obstruct the free flow of
/Ə/ - about, alphabet, comedy, banana,
the airstream. By definition, vowels are
occasion
classified as monopthongs, known as
simple vowels, which do not show a
low-central /a/, high-back /uw/ and /U/,
noticeable angle in quality. Accordingly,
/a/ - vow, mart, farm, father, car, laugh,
vowels are sounds produced by the
class
vocal tract.
• Vowels carry pitch and loudness. •
/u/ - blue, true, shoe, fruit, flute
Their highness/lowness is determined
by the position and movements of the
/U/ - book , pull, foot, good, cook
tongue.
• Vowels can “stand-alone” (they can be
mid-back /ow/, and low-back /ɔ/.
produced without any consonants
before or after them.
/uw/ - fooled, cooed, rude
say beat [bit],
boot [buwt],
/ɔ/ - fraud , law, broad, coffee, fork ,door
without the initial [b] or the final [t]
• And lastly, vowels are all voiced
DIPTHONGS
sounds.
The most important thing about
diphthongs in English is that they are
not simply two vowels that go together,
but one long vowel where the
pronunciation changes from the
beginning to the end. Long vowels have
the same sound at the beginning and the
end, while diphthongs do not. They
glide from one vowel sound to the other
MidTerm Coverage

without breaking the pronunciation. Diphthong IPA Symbol Example Words

According to Ashby (2011) in her book
entitled Understanding Phonetics, we /eɪ/ "day" day, say, they
have eight (8) diphthongs present in /aɪ/ "light" light, might, kite
most accents of English.
/ɔɪ/ "coin" coin, join, choice
There are two different types of
/aʊ/ "house" house, mouse, how
diphthongs. The first five diphthongs in
this presentation are those that belong to /oʊ/ "go" go, boat, stone
closing. This type of diphthong is the
one in which the last vowel is near-high. /ɪə/ "beer" beer, cheer, peer

/eə/ "care" care, air, stare

The first one is /aɪ/. Repeat after me, /aɪ/.
This is the diphthongpresent in the /ʊə/ "tour" tour, pure, sure
words bike, my, flight, smile, and aisle.
The second diphthong is /eɪ/. (Repeat).
The difference between this diphthong COSONANTS
to the vowel /e/ is that a diphthong
glides. This starts with the tongue at the Consonant IPA
front of the mouth with the jaw half Sound Representation Example Words
open /e/ and then closing to /i/.
/p/ "p" in "pat" pat, apple, spin

This is the diphthong present in the /b/ "b" in "bat" bat, rabbit, rib
words space, eight, say, case, and rain.
We also have /ɔɪ/. (Repeat). The words /t/ "t" in "top" top, better, hit
toy, oyster, foil, employ, and joy have
this diphthong. Next is /aʊ/. (Repeat). /d/ "d" in "dog" dog, ladder, sad
The words now, house, out, mouth, and
/k/ "k" in "cat" cat, clock, quick
brown have this diphthong upon
transcribing. The last one is /əʊ/. /g/ "g" in "go" go, great, egg
(Repeat). This is the diphthong present
in the words go, no, foe, stones, and fish, coffee,
alone. The second type of diphthong is /f/ "f" in "fish" laugh
centering as they end in schwa. To
remember the schwa sound, just
remember ‘uh’, the voice you do when /v/ "v" in "van" van, never, love
you’re thinking, but shorter. Also, thin, author,
remember that these diphthongs are /θ/ "th" in "thin" math
usually present when vowels are paired
with the consonant r or /r/. The first one this, weather,
is /ɪə/. (Repeat). The words fear, tear, /ð/ "th" in "this" smooth
mere, beer, and of course, ear have this
/s/ "s" in "sun" sun, listen, dress
diphthong. Next, we have /eə/. (Repeat).
This is the diphthong present in the zebra, music,
words hair, there, care, stairs, and of /z/ "z" in "zebra" please
course air. The last diphthong is /ʊə/.
(Repeat). The words pure, cure, tour, shoe, sure,
/ʃ/ "sh" in "shoe" mission
endure, and urine have this diphthong
in their transcription. measure,
/ʒ/ "s" in "measure" leisure, genre

/h/ "h" in "hat" hat, help, behind

MidTerm Coverage

Consonant IPA Been – past tense of verb “be”

Sound Representation Example Words
Write/ right
man, hammer,
/m/ "m" in "man" film Write – verb to put words in a document
Right – correct or direction
/n/ "n" in "not" not, finger, tune

song, finger, Minimal pairs vary in three

/ŋ/ "ng" in "song" wrong phonological environments; (1) Initial
consonant, (2) Vowel, and (3) Final
/l/ "l" in "light" light, fall, smile consonant.
Let see example on the initial
/r/ "r" in "red" red, car, mirror
consonants. We have the words pin and
yes, yellow, bin /pɪn/-/bɪn/ again pin-bin. Notice that
/j/ "y" in "yes" onion these words vary in the initial consonant
sounds p and b. We also have the words
/w/ "w" in "wet" wet, one, twin tab-cab these words vary in the initial
consonant sounds /t/ and /k/. Minimal
Pairs can also differ in vowels. We have
/θ/ - Voiceless dental fricative (as in
the examples, pen and pan, once again,
"thin").
pen and pan. Notice that these words
/ð/ - Voiced dental fricative (as in "this").
differ in the vowel sounds ɛ and æ, pen
/ʃ/ - Voiceless postalveolar fricative (as in
and pan. We also have the words bin
"shoe").
/ʒ/ - Voiced postalveolar fricative (as in and bean, again bin and bean, these
"measure"). words differ in the vowel sounds /I/ and
/ŋ/ - Voiced velar nasal (as in "song"). /i:/. Lastly, Minimal Pairs can also differ
in the final consonant sound. We have
example words had and hat, again had
MINIMAL PAIRS and hat, these words vary in the final
- Pairs of words in a language that consonant sounds /d/ and /t/. We have
differ by only one phoneme (sound), examples, mean and meme, again mean
and this difference changes the and meme these words vary in the final
words. consonant sounds /n/ and /m/
Example:
TRANSCRIPTION
Ship / Sheep
Ship refers to a type of boat Phonetic transcription is the visual
Sheep , refers to an animal system of symbolization of the sounds
occurring in the spoken human
Bit/ beat language, and by symbols I am referring
Bit – refers to a past tense if bite to the International Phonetic Alphabet
Beat – refers to a strike or rhythmically.
Here are the notable guidelines in
Cat / hat transcribing words:
Cat – animal/ pet
1. Symbols are enclosed with square
Hat – accessory
brackets which indicates narrow
transcription, meaning to say that your
Pen/ Pan
symbols should be placed inside the
Pen – for writing
square brackets just like on your
Pan – for cooking
screens.
Bin/ Been 2. Do not use capital letters or
punctuation marks. The IPA does not
Bin – container follow conventional writing rules such
MidTerm Coverage

as capitalization of initial letters. In fact, 9. Chocolate

the use punctuation marks as symbols [ˈtʃɔkəˌlɪt]
indicates specific sounds or properties 10. Honor
of sounds. Example to that is a colon [ˈɑnər]
after a symbol indicates length, / i: / in
the pronunciation. 11. Indigenous
3. If there are double letters in the [ɪnˈdɪdʒənəs]
spelling of a word, do not use double
consonants in transcribing.
Tips :
For example, rabbit is transcribed
Indicate Syllable breaks – use the (.)
[ræbɪt]. Remember that spelling is a
periods to indicate syllable breaks within
totally different system from that of
the word , to clarify the words structure.
transcription. Rely on your ears rather
than your eyes. Mark Stress : IF APPLICABLE , USE THE
ACCUTE ACCENT ( ˈ ) , TO INDICATE
3. Remember to distinguish your THE STRESSED SYLLABLE WORD
symbols properly.
Do not confuse certain symbols, like Write the Transcription: Write the IPA
/θ/ and /ð/ in ‘think’ and ‘there’. transcription of the word, with the IPA
Remember your previous lessons on symbols enclosed in square brackets ([]).
vowels, diphthongs, and consonants. Place the stress mark, if needed, before
5. Be careful when transcribing /r/, the stressed syllable.
/l/, and /n/ when they occur at the
end of a word, especially when they
IMPORTANCE OF
are velarized, meaning the tongue's
PRONOUNCIATION AND SPEECH
body moves towards the velum. You
PATTERNS
would transcribe these “syllabic”
consonants with a tick mark under
Negative Impression
the symbol. Example. Deeper [di:př].
1. When you talk to people in the real-
life, your pronunciation is the first thing
they notice during a conversation. In
EXAMPLES
everyday communication, you usually
1. Television do
[ˈtɛlɪˌvɪʒən]
Misunderstanding
2. Giraffe 2. Knowing a lot of vocabulary is
[ʤɪˈræf] meaningless if you cannot pronounce
those words correctly and no one can
3. Computer understand the words that you are
[kəmˈpjuː.tər] trying to use. Even worse,
4. Celebrate pronunciation mistakes can lead to
[ˈsɛlɪˌbreɪt] some serious misunderstanding.

5. Ocean Ineffective Communication

[ˈoʊ.ʃən]
6. Telephone 4. It is irritating for other people if
[ˈtɛl.ɪˌfoʊn] they have to keep asking you to
7. Hospital repeat, but they still cannot figure
[ˈhɑs.pɪ.təl] out what you are trying to say.
8. Umbrella
Also, if it takes a lot of effort to
[ʌmˈbrɛl.ə]
understand your English, people
MidTerm Coverage

will avoid communicating with intonation, rhythm, pitch, volume, and

you as much as they can. In tempo. Speech rate is the speed at which
contrast, they will enjoy talking someone talks. Clarity, on the other
to you when you have a pleasant hand, is a product when two or more
accent that is easy for them to speech pattern elements combine as this
hear and understand you. needs words to be clearly articulated
and pronounced. Brevity represents a
So how do we overcome this? Here speaker’s ability to express a lot in the
are good tips for practicing better space of a few words.
pronunciation:
Last but not least, the emotive mood is,
1. Learn to listen to others. The more of course, someone’s mood while
you listen, the more successful you talking. The only reminder to achieve
will be. Nowadays, there are many effective communication is to harmonize
opportunities of hearing native each element of the speech pattern well
English speech: songs, films, TV depending on the person you are
series, videos on YouTube and other talking to or to the situation that you are
sites, audiobooks, voice chats, name in.
them. Pay attention to the individual
sounds and combinations of sounds
and look at the stresses and rhythms Jazz chants are a type of language teaching
of the language in each sentence. technique that uses rhythm, melody, and
repetition to help learners practice and
2. Practice makes perfect. Use the improve their English pronunciation,
English language every day, in every rhythm, and intonation. They were
conversation, if you can and if developed by Carolyn Graham, an
appropriate. Even if your English American educator and jazz musician, as a
level is high, you can lose your way to make language learning more
phonetic skills if you have too little engaging and musical. Jazz chants typically
practice. consist of short, rhythmic spoken phrases or
sentences that are chanted in a jazz-like
3. If your pronunciation is not manner.
perfect, don’t speak fast. Pronounce
words slowly and clearly, and any
English native speaker will aims:
understand you. • Increase rhythm and pronunciation

5. Finally, enjoy speaking! Laugh • Acquire useful vocabulary

along with your friends/teachers • Reinforce grammar
and other speakers if you make
mistakes. • Gain confidence in spoken English

• Have fun and play with language

A speech pattern is a characteristic
mode of verbal expression. These
mannerisms are noteworthy because ADVANTAGES
each person has their own unique
speech pattern. Composing the speech
patterns are inflection, speech rate, • Work with any sized classroom
clarity, brevity, and emotive mood.
• Build up children’s confidence

Inflection describes how someone places • Help create a sense of achievement and
stress on the vocal elements in their success
speech. It could be on the use of
MidTerm Coverage

• Develop fluidity

• Add variety

• Fun

TONGUE TWISTER

Tongue twisters are fun and challenging phrases

or sentences that are designed to be difficult to
pronounce correctly due to their repetitive or
complex sounds. They are often used as a form
of speech exercise to improve pronunciation,
diction, and articulation

advantages

Tongue Twisters stretch out the speech

muscles

and strengthen them, so that one is able to

produce different sounds clearly. People,

who

practice tongue twisters, often have the

clearest

speech.

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