Discourse Intonation In L2

Intonation, rhythm, and general "melody" of language are among the first aspects of speech that infants attend to and produce themselves. Yet, these same features are among the last to be mastered by adult L2 learners. Why is this, and how can L2 learners be helped? This book first presents the latest linguistic theories of intonation, in particular, how intonation functions in discourse not only to signal sentence types and attitudinal meanings but also to provide turn-taking and other conversational cues. The second part of the book examines the research in applied linguistics on the acquisition of L2 phonology and intonation. The third section offers practical applications of how to incorporate the teaching of intonation into L2 instruction, with a focus on using new speech technologies. The accompanying CD-ROM makes a unique addition in allowing for simultaneous audio playback and visual display of the pitch contours of utterances contained in the book. Users can start or stop the playback at any point in the utterance and can observe first-hand how such visual and audio representations could be useful for L2 learners.

Grounded in a systemic functional linguistic (SFL) approach, this book applies a contrastive interlanguage corpus-based approach to investigate the nature and role of L2 intonation and its pragmatic function in spoken discourse. The volume offers a brief overview of SFL theories and frameworks, with a clear focus on Halliday’s model of phonology and the proposal of developing a grammar of speech. Integrating a SFL framework with a corpus linguistic-informed approach, the book uses this foundation as a jumping-off point from which to explore the prosodic complexities involved in English language teaching and learning for L2 learners, highlighting its various functions as illustrated in examples from the UAM English Learner Spoken Corpus. A final chapter synthesizes these findings toward critically reflecting on future directions for the study of L2 speech prosody. This book will be key reading for graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics and English language teaching.

This textbook is an accessible introduction to discourse intonation for ESL/EFL instructors, whether practicing or in pre-service graduate programs. Because intonation is used to form impressions about a speaker’s attitude, it is crucial that instructors understand the details of the underlying linguistic system so that they can help students avoid the more common intonation-related pitfalls they experience when communicating in an academic setting. This textbook relies heavily on the Brazil model; chapters are organized around different parts of that model and how they can be most effectively taught. Readers will learn the conventions underlying, for example, how we group words in prosodic units, how we understand turn-taking cues in conversation, and how we assess whether someone is feeling angry or sad. This text features Check Your Learning sections, discussion questions, and hands-on activities at the end of every chapter. Chapters 3-9 also include a section on pedagogical implications. Some of the example sentences that illustrate intonation have accompanying short audio (MP3) files, which can be found online at www.press.umich.edu/elt/compsite/DI.

This volume explores the elusive subject of English prosody—the stress, rhythm and intonation of the language—, and its relevance for English language teaching. Its sharp focus will be especially welcomed by teachers of English to non-native speakers, but also by scholars and researchers interested in Applied Linguistics. The book examines key issues in the development of prosody and delves into the role of intonation in the construction of meaning. The contributions tackle difficult areas of intonation for language learners, providing a theoretical analysis of each stumbling block as well as a practical explanation for teachers and teacher trainers. The numerous issues dealt with in the book include stress and rhythm; tone units and information structure; intonation and pragmatic meaning; tonicity and markedness, etc... The authors have deployed speech analysis software to illustrate their examples as well as to encourage readers to carry out their own computerized prosodic analyses.

First published in 1986. This book presents studies of intonation undertaken from within a number of different traditions: acoustic phonetics, phonology, psychology, social psychology, syntax, conversation analysis, developmental phonetics and sociolinguistics. The studies reported are empirically based, and give an indication of the many methodologies which have been developed in different disciplines for the investigation of the nature, structure and functions of intonation.

This book examines the acquisition of L2 Mandarin prosody, a less explored area in SLA. While acknowledging that tone acquisition is one of the most important aspects in acquiring L2 Mandarin phonology, the book demonstrates that phrase- and utterance-level prosody is equally important. Specifically, this book discusses the acquisition of Mandarin lexical tones and utterance-level prosody, the interaction of tones and intonation, the acquisition of Tone 3 sandhis, the temporal differences between L1 and L2 Mandarin discourse, and the relationship between intelligibility, comprehensibility and foreign accent perception in L2 Chinese. In addition, a whole chapter is exclusively devoted to the pedagogy of L2 Mandarin prosody. Studies in this book further our understanding of speech prosody in L1 and L2 and showcase the interesting interaction of phonetics, phonology, and pedagogy in SLA. This book will be of great interest to SLA researchers and graduate students, applied linguists, Chinese linguists, and Chinese practitioners.

This book integrates theoretical and practical perspectives on computer-assisted analysis of spoken discourse, reflecting recent important developments in speech analysis for language teaching and assessment. Bringing together into one volume the methods and approaches for analysis of speech properties and spoken discourse, Ghanem, Kang, and Kostromitina illustrate the importance of adaptive learning technologies in analyzing speech. The book offers a comprehensive go-to resource for the description of various features in second language (L2) spoken discourse as well as a guide for ways in which they can be extracted and analyzed. The text aims to accomplish its goal by providing an overview of linguistic features found in L2 acquisition, clarifying evidence-based constructs in L2 speech, and applying various analyses to suggestions for practice. This book brings together various strands of research and application with an emphasis on analysis of speech properties, which can be a gate-keeping function of speech. In particular, its innovative approach lies with the introduction of segmental, suprasegmental, lexico-grammatical, and pragmatic features in the analysis of L2 speech. This approach offers a more comprehensive view of L2 spoken discourse which can be extremely beneficial for L2 research and pedagogy. Covering the speech of both native and non-native speakers, but with particular relevance for second language acquisition, this book is essential reading for graduate students, teachers, and researchers in applied linguistics, TESOL, and other speech-science related fields.