A report discussed during my Phonology class

1. Discussant:
KIEV B. ALMIRA
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF
RHYTHM OF ENGLISH

2. What is

3. Rhythm
- it is a sense of movement in speech, which is marked
by stress, timing and quantity of syllables.
- refers to the sense of movement in speech.
- is the recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables in the flow of language in a literary work.

4. Pronunciation of Rhythm
rih-thum
/ˈrɪðəm/
(According to the Oxford Dictionary)

5. Origin of Rhythm:
The word rhythm first appeared in English
in the 1550s and meant “rhymed verse,
metrical movement.” This word derived from
the Latin rhythmus, indicating “movement in
time,” which comes from the Greek rhythmos,
“measured flow or movement; proportion,
symmetry; arrangement, order; form, shape.”

6. Rhythm is not an individual
phonetic segment (like consonants
or vowels) but is instead concerned
with syllables and the larger parts
of speech. It is an aspect of Prosody
and can be referred to as
a suprasegmental.

7. The rhythm of English is based
on the contrast of stressed and
unstressed syllables in regular
intervals, with the stresses falling
within content words.

8. The stressed syllables of the
sentence create beats. Therefore,
they determine the rhythm.
The beats of the following
sentence fall on the words
'like' and the second syllable
of 'Colombia'.
Example:

9. "Pitch, loudness, and tempo (also
suprasegmental) combine to make
up a language's expression
of rhythm.

10. Rhythm Examples:
Read the sentence below out loud:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Do you notice how you place stress on certain
syllables or words?

11. Below, the stressed syllables are in bold:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pep
pers.

12. Rhythm Examples:
Here is another example:
I went to the beach and stood on the sand.
Which parts of the sentence do
you stress, and which parts do
you leave unstressed?

13. I went to the beach and stood on
the sand.
Here is the sentence again, with the stressed
parts in bold:
Here, the most important words in the
sentence are stressed and the closed
class words (e.g., prepositions) are
unstressed. The stressed words help
create the rhythm of the sentence.

14. Types of Rhythm
Each language has different rhythm patterns, which
alters how words are pronounced. The two most
common types of rhythm are:
1. Stress-timed rhythm
2. Syllable-timed rhythm

15. Types of Rhythm
1. Stress-timed rhythm - relies on the regular, repetitive
occurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables.
2. Syllable-timed rhythm - focuses on an equal length of
time between syllables in words. This means that
each syllable is pronounced for roughly the same duration,
and the words generally have the same amount of stress.

16. English typically uses a stress-
timed rhythm, which relies on the
regular, repetitive occurrence of
stressed and unstressed syllables.
It is worth mentioning that no language is fully stress-
timed or fully syllable-timed; there is a tendency for
languages to include elements of both, to varying degrees.
English is classified as a stress-timed language because the
stress-timed rhythm is simply the more dominant of the
two.

17. Rhythm Patterns:
Rhythmic patterns in speech are dependent on
the word forms we use. In Phonetics, there are
two word forms: strong forms and weak
forms.

18. Rhythm Patterns:
The strong form of a word refers to when a word is
fully stressed when pronounced. When this
happens, the vowel sounds in the word
become longer. This usually only happens when the
word is pronounced on its own or is being purposely
emphasized.

19. Rhythm Patterns:
On the other hand, the weak form of a word
refers to when the word is unstressed. When a
weak form is used, the vowel
sounds are shorter and the words tend to be
spoken quicker.

20. Word Strong form Weak form
The
Pronunciation: /ði/ (thee)."I
found the best coffee shop."Here, "the"
is stressed to add emphasis and express
certainty.
Pronunciation: /ðə/ (thuh)."I fed the cat
this morning."In connected speech, when
"the" isn't stressed, the vowel does not
need to be strongly pronounced.
To
Pronunciation: /tu:/ (too)."I can't drive
you to the train station, but I can pick
you up later."Here, stress is placed on
"to" to emphasize the direction.
Pronunciation: /tə/ (tuh)."I want to see my
sister."When "to" is unstressed in connected
speech, the vowel has a shorter sound.
Some
Pronunciation: /sʌm/ (sum)."I'll
read some of the book, but I won't finish
it."Here, "some" is stressed to highlight
the quantity/amount.
Pronunciation: /səm/ (seum)."I have some
presents for you."When we talk at a fast
pace in everyday conversations, the vowel
sound in "some" is not as strong.
A
Pronunciation: /eɪ/ (ay)"I
bought a dress, but it wasn't the right
one."Here "a" is stressed to contrast one
idea with another.
Pronunciation: /ə/ (uh)."I'll have a vanilla
milkshake please."We tend to use the weak
form of "a" in normal connected speech
when we don't need to emphasize anything
or make a contrast.
Examples of strong vs weak forms of a word

21. Now let’s practice our English Rhythm!
1. John wants to be an actor, so he wants to
live in Hollywood.

22. Now let’s practice our English Rhythm!
2. Mary made an appointment with the dentist
on Monday.

23. Now let’s practice our English Rhythm!
3. What did you do yesterday?

24. Now let’s practice our English Rhythm!
4. You are not going to that place, are you?

25. Now let’s practice our English Rhythm!
5. Most people are fully aware that
motorcycles can be dangerous to ride.

26. Is there any
question?

27. NONE!!

28. Test your retention!
 Rhythm is an individual
phonetic segment. True or
false?
False

29. Test your retention!
 Rhythm can be referred to as
a suprasegmental. True or
false?
True

30. Test your retention!
 Rhythm is an aspect of what?
Phonology, pragmatics,
phonetics or prosody?
Prosody

31. Test your retention!
 What are the two types of
rhythm?
Stressed- timed and
syllable-timed

32. Key takeaways
Rhythm refers to the sense of movement in speech. It is
not an individual phonetic segment but is instead
concerned with syllables and the larger parts of speech.
The two most common types of rhythm in language are
the stress-timed rhythm and the syllable-timed rhythm.
English typically uses a stress-timed rhythm, which relies
on the regular, repetitive occurrence of stressed and
unstressed syllables.

33. Key takeaways
In Phonetics, there are strong forms and weak
forms of words. Strong forms are fully stressed and
have longer vowel sounds, whereas weak forms
are unstressed and have shorter vowel sounds.
Rhythm is important in making speech sounds flow
well and helps us to comprehend utterances.

34. Apply what you have learned!
Accept a challenge of being a
voice actor. Goodluck!

36. Rhythm is important in making
speech sounds flow well and helps
us to comprehend utterances. If we
are aware of the correct rhythm of
the English language, our speech
will sound natural and we will be
more understood by others.

37. Readings:
 https://www.juicyenglish.com/blog/the-rhythm-of-english
 HTTPS://WWW.STUDYSMARTER.CO.UK/EXPLANATIONS/ENGLISH
/PROSODY/RHYTHM/