Using Your Voice: Articulation, Pronunciation, Dialect, and Vocal Variety

1. Articulation

Humans are unique in their use of the tongue, lips, and other movable parts of the speech mechanism. There are four acts in the process of speech:

1. Respiration. The first act of speech is respiration, or breathing, during which air is brought from your lungs to your larynx (vocal cords).
2. Phonation. The second act of speech is phonation, during which air passes through the larynx and creates vibration to make a sound.
3. Resonation. The third act of speech is resonation, in which your mouth, nose, and throat cavities amplify the sound so you can hear it.
4. Articulation. Finally, there is articulation, in which you modify the sound by the movement of the teeth, tongue, and lips into recognizable patterns.

There are only 44 sounds to master in order to speak, and young children begin practicing them by mastering simple sounds, which are later articulated into combinations to create words.

Proper articulation is essential to intelligible speech. Can the audience comprehend what you are saying? If you produce the basic sounds of the language in a manner that is different from the language users in the audience, your speech will not be understood at the most basic level.

For example, in everyday speech you might substitute one sound for another at the beginning of a word, such as dis for this, or use the sound w instead of the sound r so you would say wabbit rather than rabbit. Or, you might leave a sound off the end of a word, such as in goin for going, in casual speech. But the real challenge is whether or not you can produce the correct sound when it is required for communication. If you have difficulty physically producing a sound, then you may want to consult with a professional speech therapist to help you with articulation.

try it

Here are some tips for practicing articulation:

• Practice making sure you are not substituting or omitting sounds when you say a word, or adding unnecessary sounds.
• Pay particular attention to common sound substitutions such as t for th so that you don't say tin for thin, and d for th so that you don't say den for then.
• Practice reading and recording passages with the problem sounds. Listen to the practice recording with a learning partner or tutor.

term to know

Articulation

Use of tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs to make a sound. Often, the concept is only used for the production of consonants.

2. Pronunciation

Pronunciation refers to the ability to use the correct stress, rhythm, and intonation of a word in a spoken language. A word may be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors. These factors include the area in which you grew up, the area in which you now live, whether you have a speech or voice disorder, your ethnic group, your socioeconomic class, or your education.

When we talk about pronunciation, we focus on the word rather than the individual sound, as with articulation. A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds.

A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with consonants around it at the beginning and end. Syllables are often considered the phonological "building blocks" of words. A word that consists of a single syllable (like the English word dog) is called a monosyllable and is said to be monosyllabic.

Similar terms include disyllable and disyllabic, for a word of two syllables; trisyllable and trisyllabic for a word of three syllables; and polysyllable and polysyllabic, which may refer either to a word of more than three syllables or to any word of more than one syllable. Your job in pronunciation involves recognizing the different syllables that make up a word, applying the stress to the right syllable, and using the right up-and-down pitch pattern for intonation.

Intonation is also used in English to add functions to words, such as to differentiate between different types of questions (e.g., who questions versus yes-no questions), requests, etc. You can change the meaning by varying the intonation pattern.

try it

Here are some tips for practicing your pronunciation:

1. Listen to recordings of different people you admire to check the pronunciation.
2. You can connect to one of the online dictionaries that offer audio of the preferred pronunciation of words.
3. You can download an app for your cell phone or tablet so you have it readily available to check the pronunciation and meaning of words.
4. If you are using a non-English word, you can also use Google's translate function with an audio pronunciation guide with the translation.
5. If you spell a word differently than other language users, you may also pronounce the word differently. Check to determine if the word is pronounced as it is spelled. There are 44 sounds in English, but over 500 spellings for the different sounds.
6. You should practice reading a story or article aloud with a learning partner or tutor to check your pronunciation.

terms to know

Pronunciation

The way in which the words of a language are made to sound when speaking.

Intonation

The rise and fall of the voice in speaking. Some texts use "inflection" instead of intonation to indicate change in pitch.

3. Dialect

A dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of language speakers. A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (phonology, including prosody). Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation, the term "accent" is appropriate—not dialect.

The term "dialect" is applied most often to regional speech patterns. The major native dialects of English are often divided by linguists into three general categories: British, North American, and Australasian. American English is a set of dialects used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States, and it is the most common language there.

Although the U.S. federal government has no official language, English is the common language used by the federal government and is considered the de facto language of the United States because of its widespread use. English has been given official status by 28 of the 50 state governments.

There are several dialects associated with speech communities in different regions. You may have met people from different parts of the country who speak a different dialect.

Some of the more common dialects are included on the following map:

think about it

What dialect do you speak? Are you currently living in your native dialect area? What differences in words or pronunciation do you hear from others in different parts of the United States?

Since there are so many dialects of English, it is difficult to say that one dialect is better than another. Some dialects may be spoken by persons holding powerful positions in an area, so those dialects are the ones that become a standard for others. People of one dialect may view speakers with dialects from different regions and social or cultural backgrounds negatively and treat them accordingly.

All dialects have communicative value within the particular dialect community; it is when the person moves out of their home dialect community that they may encounter negative evaluation.

try it

Here are some tips for working with your dialect:

1. It is important to consider whether the majority of the audience shares the same dialect as the speaker to make sure that the words and pronunciation match those of the audience.
2. If you are speaking to a national audience, you will want to make sure that your word choice and pronunciation is more widely used than that of your home dialect community.

term to know

Dialect

A variety of a language (specifically, often a spoken variety) that is characteristic of a particular area, community, or group, often with relatively minor differences in vocabulary, style, spelling, and pronunciation.

4. Vocal Variety

Vocalics, or paralanguage, refers to the nonverbal elements of speech used to modify meaning and convey emotion. You achieve vocal variety by using any or all of the features of vocalics: the rate, pitch, volume, and pauses you use to change the way you deliver your message.

try it

Here are methods to help you create variety in your delivery:

• Speak faster or slower at different times.
• Speak at a slightly higher or lower pitch.
• Use more force to speak louder or softer.
• Pause at different points in your speech.

Consider that emphasis allows you to compare and contrast. You might say one phrase at a faster rate in comparison to another phrase that you speak at a slower rate. You might speak louder at the end of your speech to create a contrast with the softer delivery in the preceding part of your speech. All of these vocal changes in paralanguage help you emphasize what is more important compared to another part that is less important.

The goal here is to avoid monotony, or an unvarying tone, that could bore your audience and fail to communicate your message clearly.

try it

Here are some tips for working on your vocal variety:

1. Every speech has key points that you want to emphasize. Identify those points by changing the delivery so they stand out or contrast with the rest of the speech.
2. Change the rate meaningfully; do not speak faster to finish the speech or to avoid talking about the main point.
3. Change in rate is natural in conversation. Notice how you change the rate in your conversation and apply the natural changes while speaking in public.

terms to know

Paralanguage

The nonverbal elements of speech used to modify meaning and convey emotion, such as pitch, volume, and intonation.

Monotony

Tedium as a result of repetition or a lack of variety. The quality of having an unvarying tone or pitch.

Tone

The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.