ESL Pronunciation Tip: Rising and Falling Intonation in WH- and Yes/No Questions

A question mark is placed at the end of a sentence that asks a question. Questions end in both rising and falling intonation. If the sentence ends in falling intonation, the voice tone goes down at the end of the sentence, much like musical notes on a piano. If a sentence ends in rising intonation, the voice tone goes up at the end of the sentence.
 

Falling Intonation 

Questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why, which, and how (often referred to as “wh-questions”) usually end in falling intonation.

Examples: 

What time is it?
Who is she?
When is he coming?
 

Also, commands and statements end in falling intonation. Commands and statements end in a period.
Examples: 

Commands
Shut the door. 

Write your name.

Statements

The color is blue.
It is raining.

ESL Pronunciation Tip: Recognizing and Pronouncing Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

The last two teaching tips I posted referred to recognizing voiced and voiceless sounds to predict ending sounds (plurals and the suffix -ed). If your student needs help learning to recognize voiced and voiceless sounds, you may find the following lesson helpful.

Recognize Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

Why:
• Knowing if a sound is voiced or voiceless will help you pronounce certain sounds better, such as plurals, possessive s, and -ed endings.

How:
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these vowel sounds: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. Do you feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds? That is voicing. All vowels are voiced.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /p/, /f/, /t/, /s/. You do not feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds. These consonants are voiceless.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /b/, /v/, /d/, /z/. You feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds. These consonants are voiced.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /p/, /b/, /f/, /v/, /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/. Compare the voiceless sounds and voiced sounds.

Apply:
• Below is the alphabet. Say each sound. Which sounds are voiceless? Which sounds are voiced? Write the sounds that are voiceless in the left column. Write the sounds that are voiced in the right column.

          a     b     c     d      e     f     g      h     i     j     k     l     m
          n     o     p     q     r      s     t    u      v      w      x     y      z

                                  Voiceless                                            Voiced 



 

Evaluate:
• Can you hear the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds? Which ones are difficult for you to distinguish between?


For additional ESL teaching tips:

Click here to read about the pronunciation of -ed.

Click here to read about pronouncing plurals.

Click here to read about rising and falling intonation in questions.

Click here to read about syllable stress and the schwa.
Click here to read about adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.
Click here to read about teaching common suffixes. 
Click here to read about teaching common prefixes. 
Click here to read about decoding multi-syllabic words. 
Click here to read about spelling words that end in S, F, and Z.
Click here to read about other sounds for c and g.

ESL Pronunciation Tip: Pronouncing Plurals

Similar to my last post on the pronunciation of the suffix -ed, the following is another pronunciation rule that ESL students appreciate. This rule teaches how to properly pronounce plurals. Pronouncing plural endings correctly is important for non-native English speakers to develop comprehensible, natural sounding speech.

What is a Plural?

One object (e.g., one hat, one pen) is referred to as singular because it is one single object. If we want to refer to more than one (e.g., three hats, five pens), an s is added to the word (hats, pens), and we call it plural.

  

Pronouncing Plural Endings

The sound of a plural s changes from /s/ to /z/ depending on whether it follows a voiced or voiceless consonant.

Plural S says /s/:

All the final consonants in the singular form of the following words are voiceless; therefore, the sound for s is /s/. 

           Examples: rats, cuffs, cups, kits

When s is added to words ending in the voiceless consonant sounds f, k, p, t, and ck, the plural s will have the sound of voiceless /s/. 

          Examples: cuffs, parks, pups, cats, stacks, etc.

Plural S says /z/:

The final consonant in the singular form of the following words are voiced; therefore, the sound of the plural s is /z/.
           Examples: flags, jobs, fans, pads

When an s is added to words ending in the voiced consonant sounds b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v, the plural s will have the sound of voiced /z/. 

          Examples: cubs, hands, dogs, calls, clams, bins, cars, gloves

ESL Pronunciation Tip: The Three Sounds of the Suffix -ED

I decided it was time to post a series of ESL teaching tips. My next several blog posts will contain teaching tips for reading, spelling, and pronunciation. The following tip is a pronunciation tip for the three sounds of the suffix -ed. This rule may be familiar to the experienced ESL teacher, but it's an interesting rule nonetheless that never fails to turn on a light bulb in the heads of ESL students.

The suffix -ed has three sounds: /t/, /d/, /id/. The sound of the consonant that immediately precedes -ed determines the correct pronunciation of the suffix -ed.

-ed = /t/

• Following the voiceless sounds f, k, p, s, x, ch, th, and sh, the suffix -ed has the sound of voiceless t, /t/. 
     (Examples: huffed, kicked, mapped, dressed, mixed, matched, birthed, wished)

-ed = /d/

• Following the voiced sounds b, g, l, m, n, r, v, z, and th, the suffix -ed has the sound of voiced d, /d/.

(Examples: sobbed, hugged, pulled, filmed, fanned, starred, loved, buzzed, bathed)

-ed = /id/ 

• The suffix -ed cannot use the sound of t and d when it follows a word ending in t or d, so when it does, the sound of -ed is /id/.

(Examples: tested, landed, trusted, tended, lifted, handed)

(Click here to see also my post on the pronunciation of plurals.)

(For more information about how to teach students to recognize voiced and voiceless sounds, click here.) 

For additional ESL teaching tips:
Click here to read about rising and falling intonation in questions.
Click here to read about syllable stress and the schwa.
Click here to read about adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.
Click here to read about teaching common suffixes. 
Click here to read about teaching common prefixes. 
Click here to read about decoding multi-syllabic words. 
Click here to read about spelling words that end in s, f, and z.
Click here to read about other sounds for c and g.