Fundamentals of Stress And Phrasing In Connected Speech
Ephraim Chukwu · 2016
Naturalness of spoken English manifests in superimposing its features to word and group pronunciation. Misnomer in observing these inherent features appropriately makes spoken language odd. Stress gives language its nature, makes a part of an utterance emphatic, focuses attention on needed information, makes words musical and infuses life to language. Phrasing, the division of utterances into sense groups to reflect natural reading and to show sense groups that can be uttered at a breath, gives spoken language beauty. This beauty is signaled by hills and valleys (rising and falling of voices) of natural utterance which are stress- and determined. This paper therefore projects the fundamentals of stress and phrasing in spoken English. These must be adhered to make English natural, sonorous, endearing and lively.