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Intonation
of the English language

Foreword

Intonation is one of those things best taught by a native speaker, however, I recently decided that it might not be necessary to have a native speaker present, BECAUSE I HAVE FINALLY UPLOADED AUDIO FILES TO THIS PAGE!!  YAHOO!  YIPPEE!  HOORAY! 

Just follow the technique that I have designed, and you will be able to teach yourself.

 

Leon's Phonemic Color-coding Technique (1995):

1.  Get an English text/composition.

2.  Mark the stress according to the following rules....

The words in a composition are stressed accordingly:

King Card = strongest stressed word = adverb

Queen Card = next strongest stressed word = adjective

Jack Card = next strongest stressed word = verb

10 Card = next strongest stressed word = noun

everything else is NOT stressed at all.

So, what you do is go through your entire text and mark the stress according to the rules as set above.

HOWEVER, be careful!, THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES...

LOOK:

Ace Card = negative adverb such as:  not, never, etc. (MOST STRESS in a sentence)

King Card = adverb (exception:  Ace Card)

Queen Card = adjective (exception:  determiners, such as: a(n), the, this, that, etc.)

Jack Card = verb (exception:  auxiliary verbs, such as:  can, could, would, might, will, etc.)

10 Card = noun (exception:  pronouns, such as:  he, she, it, they, we, I, etc.)

 

3.  After making your text, practice reading it with the intonation as marked.  You may wish to get a native speaker check to see that you've marked it appropriately.  But, practice can be done by yourself, without the aid of a native speaker.

4.  The end.

 

Sample Text for practicing listening and speaking:  

 

Just click to listen to a native speaker
I could go on ad-infinitum about the merits of this form of study, but if one doesn't see them by his/herself, he/she never will; even if I point them out.  This form of study is time-consuming and most people don't wish to invest the time to learn a language the way it should be learned.  AND, yes, this is the way a spoken language should be learned.  If one never intends to speak English, then what the heck is he/she looking at this page for?  Can I hear an "amen"?

See?

See how the darker the word, the stronger the stress.  And then, one practices reading aloud over and over again.

Important NOTE:  There are times to "break" the rules.  Notice the word "AND" is black.  It is a conjunction, so it should not have any stress, but also notice that it is in capital letters.  That means that I want the reader to "break" the rule and stress that word... for emphasis.  Also, notice that the two "should"s are black.  They are auxiliary verbs; therefore, they should not be stressed.  But, I put them in italics.  That means I want the reader to "break" the rule and stress those words... for emphasis.  Same with "spoken".

The phrase "by his/herself" is an adverbial phrase, so it gets a lot of stress.  The words "does" is an auxiliary verb, so by itself, it doesn't get any stress; but, when coupled with the negative adverb "not" in the contraction: "doesn't", the contraction gets paramount stress.  That goes for all contractions with "not".

If one is not sure about the "part of speech" of a word (i.e., noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.), one can look in a lexicon.  I didn't know the part of speech for the word "yes".  I had to look it up in the Merriam-Webster's online dictionary.  Evidently, it is classified as an adverb.  That makes sense.  It is a "sentence adverb", which means it modifies the whole sentence, not the verb.

Lastly, please notice that I've put the vowel of the stressed syllable in bold print, as non-native speakers often need help in that department.

ONE FINAL LEGAL NOTE:

I have designed this form of study for intonation BY MYSELF.  I designed it, taught it, and have been teaching it for many years (at least since 1995, when I started teaching EFL to adults).  I therefore reserve the right to name this method of study.  Also, unless anyone has come up with this idea before me, I reserve all rights to the invention of this technique.  I do not know if someone has come up with such an idea until this very day.  I publish this idea here for all to use (as learner), to quote (as academic), or to implement (as teacher), however, I would appreciate all persons following the conventions of our modern, global society and give me credit for inventing this technique of study.  (1995)

The name that I shall give to this technique is:  Phonemic Color-coding.

Originally, I didn't color the words, I used colored accentuation marks above the words.  This is more practical when dealing with hard copies.  For soft copies, the words can be colored themselves, and verily one cannot put accentuation marks on soft copies without very expensive and sophisticated software, which most people don't have.