Learning should be Easy
Oral Presentation
2.0 Oral Presentation
2.1 Organs of Speech
The Lips: Lips are used to pronounce sounds such as /m/ and /n/.
The Tongue: Tongue is combined with other organs of speech during sound production. Examples: the combination of the tongue and the teeth produces /t/ and /d/ sound.
The Teeth: The teeth also combine with the tongue to produce some sounds such as /s/ and /z/.
The Hard Palate: The Hard palate is located at the roof of the mouth and is used to produce palatal sounds such as /j/.
The Soft Palate: The soft palate is located in the inner part of the roof of the mouth.
The Alveolar: The Alveolar is also located at the roof of the mouth immediately after the teeth. It is the place that looks like a ridge. It is used to articulate alveolar sounds such as /Ѳ/.
The Oral Cavity: The oral cavity is the mouth chamber. Apart from nasal sounds, all other phonemes pass through the mouth during speech production.
The Nasal Cavity: The nasal cavity is used to articulate sounds that pass through the nose such as /m/ and /n/.
The Vocal Cords: The vocal cords are used to block or open the glottis during articulation of sounds.
The Larynx: This is where the vocal cords are located.
The Trachea: The trachea is the windpipe that the air from the lungs passes through.
The Lungs: It is the source of the air used in sound production.
Phonemes: Phonemes are segmented into two: consonants and vowels. The air used in producing consonant sounds are either partially blocked or completely blocked by two or more organs of speech but when it comes to production of vowels air flows out freely.
2.2 The Phonemes of the English Language
Consonants
| Consonant | Initial Position | Medial Position | Final Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| /p/ | pan, Peace | repeat | reap |
| /b/ | bin, bean | Robin | curb |
| /t/ | tank | retake | rate |
| /d/ | dam | induce | rude |
| /k/ | king | seeker | sick, sake |
| /g/ | gain | forget | fig, beg |
| /f/ | fig | refurbish | roof, cuff, rough |
| /v/ | vest | invest | rove |
| /s/ | sincere | risk | mice |
| /z/ | zipper | unzip | dogs |
| /Ѳ/ | thank | rethink | both |
| /ʃ/ | shin | reshape | rush |
| /Ʒ/ | gigolo | vision | |
| /ð/ | this | feather | with |
| /ʧ/ | chair | richer | reach |
| /ʤ/ | Jim | injure | judge |
| /w/ | win | unwind | |
| /m/ | mark | roomy | roomType equation here. |
| /n/ | nice | rinse | bin |
| /ŋ/ | ` | singing | sing |
| /l/ | lip | ceiling | seal |
| /r/ | ran | unruly | |
| /j/ | yes | unused | |
| /h/ | hoe | mishap |
Vowels of the English Language: Vowels of the English language are0 divided into two, namely monophthongs and diphthongs.
Monophthongs
| Phoneme | Initial Position | Middle Position | Final Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| /i/ | ink | sink | pity |
| /i:/ | each | peach | tea |
| /u/ | pull | sue | |
| /u:/ | ooze | tooth | too |
| /Ə/ | observe, object | fatherly | feather |
| /Ə:/ | early | girl | |
| /ᴂ/ | at | cat | |
| /a:/ | arm | cart | car |
| orb, oration |
Diphthongs
| Phoneme | Initial Position | Middle Position | Final Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| /ai/ | Iron | Mike | buy |
| /ei/ | ate | maiden | may |
| /ie/ | ear | ||
| /Əu/ | over | clove | sow |
| /uƏ/ | |||
| /ea/ | air, airy | fairly | chair |
| /au/ | house | how |
2.3 Stress and Intonation
Stress
Stress is used to add emphasis on a syllable or word in a sentence. A stressed syllable or word receives more articulatory force than other syllables or words that appear with it. If a word in a sentence receives more articulatory force it means the speaker is foregrounding the word.
Types of Stress (1)
Primary and Secondary Stress: Both primary and secondary stress receive more articulatory energy or force during pronunciation but primary stress is louder than secondary stress. Primary stress is marked with a small straight stroke before and on the upper side of the syllable that carries stress, while secondary stress is indicated with a stroke marked on the down side of the syllable.
Examples: 1edu1cation 1communi1cation
Functions of Stress
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Stress is used to distinguish word class of words especially if the same word is assigned to different grammatical classes. For instance one word may serve as a noun and a verb. If it happens, stress is used to mark their differences.
| Noun | Verb |
|---|---|
| 1Export | ex1port |
| 1Report | re1port |
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Stress is used to foreground a word in a sentence which calls the attention of the listener to the word.
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The combination of stressed and unstressed syllables makes speech to be rhythmic.
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Stress also produces stylistic effect.
Intonation: Intonation involves modulation of voice to a discourse effect. Voice modulation is achieved by varying the pitch either by tuning it up or down to show the attitude of the speaker towards the utterance made.
Types of Intonation
Rising Tune: In rising tune, the speaker raises his pitch at the end of the utterance.
Uses of Rising Tune
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It is used in polite requests.
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It is used in constructing polar questions.
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It is also used when the speaker’s attitude is that of doubt.
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It is used in statements that are questions.
Falling Tune: In falling tune, pitch falls at the end of the utterance.
Uses of Falling Tune
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It is used to construct constituent questions.
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It is used in imperative sentences.
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Falling tune makes an utterance to be flat, without emphasis.