Read the words, the phrases and the sentences:

A. among                stronger                   B. skin — skiing

darling                angry                          children — chilling

stockings              English          doin — doing

frank                          swinging                    send in —sending

distinct                  coming out               per'sist in — persisting

                                                                     go in for — _xgoing for

 

C. 1. Oh, darling, I do mean something else. 2. Mr. Worthing could not help thinking about his younger brother. 3. Swinging around she asked in angry tone: «There's nothing more, is there?» and he could see the soft beating in her neck. 4. "Stand up children, and say: 'Good morning, Doctor Manson. Thank you for coming."' The infants rose and chanted her ironic bid-

ding.

[u, u:]

Remember that Vowel No. 9 [u:] is a diphthongoid: its begin­ning is very near in quality to Vowel No. 8 [u], it is a back-ad­vanced close vowel, the broad variant. To make the beginning of the vowel sound that way add to it the colouring of the Russian [bl]. As the vowel goes on, it becomes closer, approaching the Rus­sian [Y] (but the lips should not be strained and protruded). As the vowel proceeds, you should feel your tongue go simultaneously up and backwards.

5. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Observe the length variants of the two vowels. Make the vowel [u] checked in its shorter length variant:

A. should — intrude                                   stood — school

 could — protrude took — suit

'understood— 'twenty- two

speculate — ^solitude

B. 1. It'll do him a lot of good. 2. That afternoon he went to the school to have a look at the intrusive girl. 3. Are you absolutely sure you couldn't love me then, that there's no music in the name Jack? — No, it produces absolutely no vibrations. It doesn't look good to me at all.

[ʃ, ʒ]

Remember that both the consonants should be palatal (but not so very palatal as the palatal variant of the similar Russian conso­nants) in any position in the word and before any vowel because they are always articulated with a front secondary focus. But do not raise the middle of the tongue too high and do not strain the mus­cles of the tongue too much; make them short. Otherwise they will be in fact replaced by the Russian consonants [Щ] and [ЖЖ] like in «щи, вожжи».

6. Read the words and the sentences:

A. shake                    

officious                       

fresh                             

pleasure

shiny

especially

flush

provision

1. She flushed. His sharp words were still fresh in her memory. 2. She's sure that Shannon should make provision for his affec­tionate mother. 3. She said her decision was that he should take measures and find some relations.

Units Four, Five

[۸-a:]

Mind that Vowel No. 10 [۸] is a central open vowel (the narrow variant), a bit less open than the Russian [۸] (which is also a central vowel). Make it checked in its shorter variant.

Remember that Vowel No. 5 [a:] is a back-advanced opeti vowel (the broad variant). But it is not advisable to open the mouth too wide while articulating it.

The vowel [a:] is the best in quality when pronounced on a low pitch.

Mind that it is never checked even in its shortest length variant like in 'ask'.

1. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

A. hut — heart                   grunt — grant                      much — March

    lust — last                           nuts — nard                         utter — after

B. 1. "Art for Heart's Sake" is a funny story. 2. Margie's grandfa­ther once said the funny thing to her father. 3. The abruptness of his answer proved too much for his aunt's heart. 4. He'd done some constructive thinking since his uncle's last visit.

 

[əu]

Mind that the nucleus of the diphthong is a mixed (cen­tralized) vowel. So do not make it a back vowel like the Rus­sian [O]. It is a mid vowel. So do not make it an o p e n vowel like the Russian [A]. The glide is Vowel No. 8 [u]. It should be extreme­ly short but distinct. The nucleus should be several times as long as the glide.

2. Read the words and the sentences:

A. show                  old                           cloak

  don't                        close                              radio

B. 1. So the following^[7] week he noticed that the old man's interest was growing. 2. I've slowed it up and I hope the overall pattern of her progress is quite satisfactory. 3. Margie hopes he won't know how to put it together. It won't be so very bad.

[ai — aiə]

Take care to make the nucleus a f r o n t-retracted open vowel. Make the nucleus long, much longer than the glide. Do not replace it by Vowel No. 5 [a:], which is an open b a c k-a d v a n c e d vowel. Pronounce the glide indistinctly, like a weak |e], in fact, and make it very short. Do not stress it.

When pronouncing the combination [ai] + [a] make the nucle­us the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than the vowel [a].

3. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

A. white — wire                              Friday — prior

writer — riot

while — violent

to tie — entirely

eyes — Irish

B. 1. "It's an entirely new idea," said the writer. 2. "It's not quite her fault," he said quietly, in a tired tone. 3. The old man was prior in buying the things.

[au — аiə]

About the nucleus of the diphthong see the instructions given in Ex. 3: it is almost the same as in the diphthong [ai]. Pronounce the glide indistinctly, like a weak [o], and make it very short. Do not stress it.

When pronouncing the combination [au] + [a] make the nucle­us the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than the vowel [a]. Do not insert the unnecessary [w] between the glide and [a]. To avoid [w] do not let the upper and the lower lips be brought together.

[au — аuə]

About the nucleus of the diphthong see the instructions given in Ex. 3: it is almost the same as in the diphthong [ai]. Pronounce the glide indistinctly, like a weak [o], and make it very short. Do not stress it.

When pronouncing the combination [au] + [a] make the nucle­us the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than the vowel [a]. Do not insert the unnecessary [w] between the glide and [a]. To avoid [w] do not let the upper and the lower lips be brought together.

4. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

how — our                                                  

town — tower

now — towel

south — sour

thousand — shower

b.1. In the south milk quickly gets sour. 2. How I detest that school of ours! 3. Thousand of our people have seen the tower in the south. 4. Now, what about taking a shower? — Yes. Let me fetch our towel.

[tʃ, dʒ]

Let the second element follow the first immediately tcf prevent you from the mistake of detaching the first element from the sec­ond. Strain the muscles of the tongue.

Mind that both affricates are always articulated with a front secondary focus; that is they are somewhat palatal in any position in the word: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. But do not raise the middle of the tongue too high so as not to replace it by the Russian [ч]. When the Russian [ч] is quickly followed by the Russian voiced consonants [Б, Д, Г, 3, Ж] something similar to the English [ tʃ, dʒ] sounds: «дочь больна, с плеч долой, ключ за­был».

5. Read the words and the sentences:

A. chair                   picture                    gee                          Margie

chalk                watch                      juice                        judge

 

B. 1. Just fool around with chalk. 2. Gee, Margie seems to have a chill. 3. The teacher of geography just turned the pages of the picture book.

[w- v]

Mind that [w] is bilabial: it is articulated with both lips. The lips should first be pursed as if ready for a whistle and then quickly spread. Do not start the consonant too early. Otherwise [Y] will sound before [w].

The consonant [v] should be articulated only with the lower lip and the upper teeth: it is labio-dental.

6. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Do not mix up the conso­nants:

A. was — vase

word — verb

window — vigorous

 went - vent

weak — Vic

a warded — adverted

B. 1. She was eleven but she understood it was a very old book. 2. It was very funny that instead of moving the way they were supposed to they stood quite still. 3. Elsworth wanted to show him how very hard and how very well he was working. 4. As the weeks went by Swain's visits grew very frequent.

[t-d]

Mind that the prevocalic voiceless [t] in a stressed syllable should be aspirated and strong whereas the voiced [d] in a similar case should be non-aspirated and weak.

7. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

A. two —do

tone — don't

Tommy — doctor

ton — done

take — date

tall — dollar

B. 1. Today Tommy found a real book. 2. Daddy and Tommy turned back. 3. Did Tom tell them he preferred telebooks? — He did. 4. "I can't do a thing with him," he told the doctor. "He won't take his pineapple juice. He doesn't like it."

Units Six, Seven, Eight

[o — o: — əu]'

Avoid mixing the vowels. Do not make [o:] and [3u] similar by dropping the glide and making the nucleus [3] like [0:] though both are mid-open, [0:] is a very back vowel, while [3] is a mixed (centralized) vowel. Take care not to diphthongize [0:].

Do not mix up Vowel No. 7 [0:] and No. 6 [o]. Though both are back vowels, Vowel No. 6 is much more open than No. 7.

The vowel [0:] is never checked even in its shortest length vari­ant like in 'short'.

1. Read the words and the sentences:

A. on — all — oh                                 

novels — Paul — sofa

doctor — door — don't

hy_Npocrisy — reformer — social

often — _xorder — _xonly

B. 1. Oh no, she's not tall. 2. We know Maugham, the short story writer, was the son of a diplomat. 3. In his novels and stories Maugham did not denounce the social order. 4. Her blouse was worn and old. Her face was short, her upper lip short, showing her teeth, her lashes long and dark.

[0i]

Do not replace the nucleus of the diphthong by the Russian [O]: make it much more open than [O] and long. Make the glide short and weak like a weak [e]. Do not stress it.

2. Read the words and the sentences:

A. boy                        

toil

pointless

 noise

point

oice

B. 1. That's his point of view. 2. The young man heard little boys' voices and then another voice crisp and soft. 3. The boy turned out to be a lady with a low voice.

[l]

Distinguish the 'clear' [l] and the 'dark' [*]. The 'clear' [l] is a bit palatal but do not make it as palatal as the Russian palatal

 [Л'] like in «Лиза». Mind that in English the 'clear' [1] should sound before any vowel: front, mixed or central and back, whereas in Russian the palatal [Л'] is found only before front and central vowels. So in the word look [1] is palatal ('clear') and in the Russian word лук [Л] should be hard (твердое). But be­fore [j], when preceded by a front vowel, [l] should be very pala­tal: \will you [\wil ju]. (Cf. \fool you [\fu:t ju:]. The 'dark' [t] should sound at the end of a word and before a consonant. The 'dark' is used despite the following [j] because [l] is preceded by [u:], a back vowel.

3. Read the words and the sentences:

A. leave                    intelligent             look   deal

lady                   clasping                 lot       original

В. 1. Only a lady upstairs, lieutenant, calling me. 2. Lady! It's him I tell you! 3. "Life is a difficult business. Leave me to deal with him," she said clasping her hands. 4. You will protect me, general, will you not?

[d]

Avoid making [d] strong: it should be a weak consonant. To make it weak do not press the tongue to the teeth ridge too hard using only the very tip of the tongue. Do not aspirate it before a vowel. In the word final position devoice the very end of the conso­nant but do not make its voiceless part strong or aspirated. Let the voiced part of the final [d] be much longer than its final voiceless part. Do not devoice the final [d] completely like we do in Russian. Do not make the final [d] fully voiced and strong with the addition of an unnecessary vowel [э].

4. Read the words and the sentences:

A. down                     

lady                       

confidence

had

dared

wonder

bed                        

mind

B. 1. You can't have the cat in bed, Dick. Didn't daddy tell you yes­terday? 2. It's a dangerous thing to order the lives of others so I've always hesitated to give advice. 3. Nobody else can do it as you do. You are not afraid of your own destiny. I wish I had your courage.

 

[z, v]in the Word Final Position

Neither devoice the final [z, v] completely nor make them fully voiced. Devoice only the very end of the consonants and let the de- voiced part sound weak.

5. Read the words and the sentences:

A. has                   flings                       leave

ad_xvise              have                        Steve

B. 1.1 have got your dispatches. 2. Leave them alone. You can only  guess at the emotions of our neighbours. 3. He forces upon his

fellows measures that must alter their manners.

Assimilation According to the Place of Obstruction

Mind that when an alveolar consonant is followed by the inter­dental [Ө,ð] it becomes dental.

6. Read the sentences:

1. What was that? — WhaMhen? 2. Is that a reasonable de­mand? 3. Character in the chin. 4. They are there in the bosom. 5. The fact that you know Spain is very important for me. 6. She didn't let the boys stay in the kitchen. 7. The discovery that there was Celtic blood about this family has excited one who belie­ved that he was a Celt himself.

N- '

Loss of Plosion «

Mind that when a plosive consonant is immediately followed by noise consonants (both fricative and plosive, voiceless and voiced) it loses plosion. In case of two plosives running (whether within a word or at the junction of words) the first loses plosion, the second does not.

Remember that when a plosive consonant is immediately fol­lowed by the sonorant [n] or [l] it loses plosion but makes [n] and [l] plosive (we call it 'nasal plosion' and 'lateral plosion'). Some­times in spelling there are some letters between those representing the plosive and the sonorant but they are not pronounced like in 'modern'.

7. Read the words and the sentences:

A. 'Robert  Garton

let  down                                                                              

subtle

currant  bushes

sudden

gentleman

8. B. 1. She wants awakening. 2. Do you threaten women? 3. Only a lady, lieutenant, calling me. 4. It heightened their interest. 5. Isn't it reasonable? 6. I begged him to sit down. 7. It gave him confidence.

 

EXERCISES IN INTONATION

SECTION ONE

REVIEW OF PART TWO ^[8]EXERCISES Simple Tunes

1."^[9] This exercise is meant to review Intonation Patterns IX and XII. Listen carefully to the following sentences. Mark the stresses and tunes. Listen to the sentences again. Pronounce the unstressed syllables of the pre-head as low as possible. Make the stressed and the unstressed syllables of the head carry the pitch lower, until you come to the last stressed syllable of all, which starts very high and falls right down to the bottom of the voice. Any syllables after the last stressed syllable are said on a very low note. Do not forget to blend the words to­gether. Give a conversational context with the same sentences. Say what atti­tudes you mean to render.

Intonation Pattern IX

(LOW PRE-HEAD +) HIGH FALL (+ TAIL)

 

Intonation Pattern XII

(LOW PRE-HEAD +) HIGH HEAD + HIGH FALL (+ TAIL)

 

Move.                              I'll see.

I did.                               They shall.

They can.

 Try to.

That side.

This time.

 I'm in it.

 Borrow one.

 John took it.

 Wait for them.

That was it.

You aren't.

We're wet.

You must tell me.

We could trace it.

 It was all here.

This is the best.

It isn't steady.

I'm not wanted.

 

I think you'd better ask the others.

Henry said he'd wait for us at home.

What time do you generally have breakfast?

I was held up at the last moment.

Which of Shakespeare's plays d'you like best?

This exercise is meant to review Intonation Pattern XIII. Listen carefully to the following sentences. Mark the stresses and tunes. Listen to the sentences again. Pronounce the stressed and the unstressed syllables of the high head on the same rather high pitch. The very last stressed syllable starts from a medium to a high pitch. Do not forget to blend the words together. Give a conversational context with the same sentences. Say what attitudes you mean to render.

Intonation Pattern XIII

(LOWPRE-HEAD +) (HIGH HEAD +) HIGH RISE

Always?

Can't you?

May I?

This time?

Doesn't it?

Are we to?

Haven't they?

Will it do?

Can I start?

Is it brown?

 Were they mixed?

Are they as good?

Will they be there?

Were they enough?

Will they be?

Which is it?

Won't it be done?

Are you the one?

What did you say?

 Will she be there?

Which did he take?

Will you wait?

Were you in time?

Can she do this?

Couldn't she stay?

 Is it all here?

Did John like it?

Have you seen it?

 Is it wanted?

 

Is that the man who sent you tickets?

Hasn't John given Mary the paper?

Can you tell me the shortest way to the station?

Aren't you going to take the children to school?

Are you quite sure I'm not bothering you?

3. This exercise is meant to review Intonation Patterns I, III, IX, XII. Read the following sentences with the Low Fall, making your voice fall from a medi­um to a very low pitch; with the High Fall, making your voice fall from a high to a very low pitch; with the Low Rise, making your voice rise from a low to a medium pitch; with the High Rise, making your voice rise from a medium to a high pitch. Use them in conversational situations. Observe the difference in at­titudes.

 

I can admit her.                                         How can you accept this I do mean that. answer?

He's a decent fellow.                                 Refuse it.

He thought so.                                            Be frank with us. Who can resist it?

4. This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear and reproduce into­nation in proper speech situations. Listen to the following dialogue. Write it down. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise the dialogue. Find sentences with the High Fall and the High Rise. Observe the attitudes they convey. Record your reading. Play the recording back immediately for your teacher and fellow-stu­dents to detect the errors in your pronunciation. Practise reading each sentence of your corrected variant after the cassette-recorder. Practise reading the dia­logue with a fellow-student. Make up a conversation with a fellow-student using any phrases from the dialogue. See that your Russian pronunciation habits do not interfere.

A Letter of Introduction

Short: Mr. Wills?

Wills: Yes.

Short: My name's Short, from Malaya. J. R. Smith told me to come and see you. I believe he's written to you.

Wills: Yes, I heard from him— when was it? About a month ago, I suppose. He said you'd be coming along, but he didn't say when. Have you just arrived?

Short: On Monday. I rang you up yesterday, but there wasn't anyone who knew when you'd be in. I had to be passing this morn­ing in any case, so I thought I'd look in and ask if there was any chance of finding you.

Wills: Well now, I'd love to have a chat with you, but it's a bit awkward this morning. The trouble is, I've got a man coming to see me in a few minutes, and I don't know just how long the business'll take. Otherwise I'd have suggested you having lunch with me. But I just don't know when I shall be free.

Short: Oh please don't bother. I hate to worry you, but if you could spare me a little time some other day...

Wills: Well, what could we do, I wonder. Are you staying in town for the moment?

Short: About ten days. Till Monday week in fact.

Wills: Let's see. Today's Thursday, and I shall be going out of town next Wednesday. What about Monday? Is that any use to you, or have you got other things on?

Short: Could you make it the afternoon? I've already made an appointment for the morning. I might be able to change it — if I could let you know this afternoon.

Wills: No, no; that's all right. We'll make it Monday after­noon. What shall we say — half-past two?

Short: Yes, that'll be fine. Thanks very much.

Wills: Good. I'm sorry to have to push you out like this now, but we'll have our talk on Monday. See you then.

5.This exercise is meant to review Intonation Patterns VI and VII. Listen to the following sentences. Mark the stresses and tunes. Listen to the sentences again, and repeat them in the intervals. Pronounce each group of sentences sev­eral times so as to accustom yourself to the various intonation patterns. Do not forget to blend the words together smoothly. In order to improve your ability to control the ups and downs of your voice, to hear and produce an intonation pat­tern record the groups of sentences, play the recording back. The fellow-stu- dents will try to detect any failure to reproduce the pattern. Give a conversation­al context with the same sentences. Say what attitudes you mean to render. Make a dialogue of your own.

Intonation Pattern VI

FALL-RISE

 

This time

 Try to.

Take it.

Tell me.

 

This time.

Try to.

Take it.

Tell me

 

This time

Try to.

Take it.

Tell me.

 

LOW RISE + TAIL	HIGH FALL +	FALL-RISE
	TAIL
(of more than one	(of more than one	(spread over a
syllable)	syllable)	number of
		syllables)
Model:  None	Model;None	Model: None
of them.	of them.	of t them.
That was it.	That was it.	That was it.
They were in it.	They were in it.	They were in it.
These'U be good.	These'11 be good.	These'11 be good.
You could do it.	You could do it.	You could do it.
That isn't it.	That isn't it.	That isn't it.
Borrow one.	Borrow one.	Borrow one.
Wait for them.	Wait for them.	Wait for them.
Keep it for us.	Keep it for us.	Keep it for us.
LOW PRE-	LOW PRE-	LOW PRE-
HEAD + LOW	HEAD + HIGH	HEAD + FALL-
RISE	FALL	RISE
Model: I'll, see.	Model: I'll^xsee.	Model: I'llysee.
They shall.	They shall.	They shall.
You aren't.	You aren't.	You aren't.
We were wet.	We were wet.	We were wet.
They may have.	They may have.	They may have.
She could hear.	She could hear.	She could hear.
They were eight.	They were eight.	They were eight.
I can start.	I can start.	I can start.
They were mixed.	They were mixed.	They were mixed.
We were in time.	We were in time.	We were in time.
They understood.	They understood.	They understood.

 

You were asleep.

It was the best.

 Take them today.

 

You were asleep.

It was the best.

Take them today.

You were asleep.

It was the best.

Take them today.

Intonation Pattern VII

(LOW PRE-HEAD +) FALLING HEAD + FALL-RISE

 

She never really looks very well.

I wish we could get them all to agree.

 It's easier to speak than to understand.

I should like you to take the class tomorrow.

You can't be sure of finding them in the office.

I think most of the trains used to stop at Exeter.

 It doesn't do to be too eager about it.

You surely don't believe everything you hear.

We didn't know the whole family was there.

 They won't arrive before lunch tomorrow.

Compound Tunes

FALL + RISE

 

She ought to tell us when she's going to leave.

I used to be very fond of strawberries and cream.

We should have hated to have stayed any longer.

It would have been much better to peel them.

You can certainly ask him to wait in the drawing-room.

It's easy to see he's not susceptible to flattery.

The librarian lent him the book.

I know you wouldn't be anxious to go.

Nobody wanted to stay there.

6. Read the following sentences with the Fall + Rise. In order to fix intonation of this compound tune in your mind, ear and speech habits read each sentence several times until they sound perfectly natural to you. Use them in conversa­tional situations. Observe quick pronunciation of unstressed syllables. Concen­trate your attention on Rhythm and Intonation. Say what attitudes you mean to render.

I want you to take the others.

Living in a big city has advantages.

She sang so well that the listeners were filled with admiration.

How can they be so indifferent to the sufferings of the child?

I'm sure they accepted the invitation with pleasure.

She pretends to be quite indifferent to what her friends said to her.

He was indignant with Tom for not telling him the truth.

I wish I could spare you the trouble of going there.

But we are confident of winning the first place in the competi­tion.

She'll have an accident if she doesn't show more discretion when driving the car.

Spare me the trouble of reminding you of your promises.

I admit that the statement is true.

For me the picture has an irresistible charm.

I regard it as my duty to help them.

She is tired of your constant complaints.

I can hardly believe that my son will be admitted to screen the play.

I'm sorry you've had all this bother on my account.

You don't mean to say you'd forgotten it.

But I've already made an appointment for the morning.

7. '"This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear and reproduce in­tonation in proper speech situations. Listen to the dialogue. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise the dialogue. Record your reading. Play the recording back immediately for your teacher and fellow-students to detect the errors in your pronunciation. Practise reading each sentence of your corrected variant after the cassette-recorder. Find phrases pronounced with Fall-Rise or Fall + Rise. Say what attitudes are rendered by them. Make up conversational situations using these sentences.

A: Did you see "Othello" on television last night?

B: The opera, you mean? No, I didn't. I was out.

A: I saw it, and quite enjoyed it.

B: Did you? I thought you didn't approve of television.

A: I don't as a regular thing, but I happened to be round at my sister's, and she wanted to see it, so I watched it too.

B: Have you thought any more about getting a set?

A: No, I don't think I shall. Though there's a good deal of pres­sure, of course.

B: From your family?

A: From my daughter in particular. All her school friends talk about it so much.

B: I know. You'd think they never did anything else but sit glued to the television screen.

A: That's mostly what I object to, the time it wastes.

B: It isn't the television that wastes the time, it's you.

A: I know that, but I have a deep distrust of myself. So it's proba­bly better to avoid the occasion of sin. Don't you think?