Unit 33. It's BLUE, DARK Blue.

Prominent Words in Speech Units (1)

Some speech units have more than one prominent word in them. Eachprominent word is emphasised because it carries important information.The last prominent word in a speech unit is where the main falling orrising tone in the speech unit starts (see also Unit 39):
                A: How much further is the station?
                B: // ONLy about a MILE ↓//

               A: Why did you buy such an old car?
               B: // THAT'S all I can afFORD at the moment ↓↑//

Unit 33; Part C

Here is part of a conversation with speech units and prominent words marked. Listen and notice these in the recording:
       A: // It's NICK'S BIRTHday coming up// ISn't it// WHAT are you doing for THAT//
       B: // well I'd LIKE// to have a PARty// outSIDE// but we DON'Thave a very big GARden// so that LIMits// HOW many people I caninVITE//
       A: // MY garden's pretty big// WHY don't you use THAT//
       B: // Are you SURE// that would be alRIGHT// that would be GREAT//
       A: // NO problem at ALL//

Exercises

1 Underline the prominent word in each speech unit.

These extracts are divided into speech units (see Unit 32),each containing one prominent word. Listen to the extracts as manytimes as you need and underline the prominent word in each speech unit.
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// most of the time// we advertise jobs// innational newspapers// and on our website// occasionally however// wemight approach someone// to see if they're interested// someone wemight really want//
// when we ran out of money// we worked for a bit// and then gota train// somewhere else// and eventually we ended up// in a littlevillage// in the Andes// way up high//

Now read the extracts aloud, making sure that you emphasise eachprominent word and that you link words within speech units smoothlytogether without pauses.

2 Mark all the speech unit boundaries.

Listen to these extracts as many times as you need. Mark all the speechunit boundaries using // and underline the prominent word in eachspeech unit. (Each speech unit has only one prominent word.)

should the government pay // for health care or do you think it's the individual's responsibility to save money for when they need treatment my personal view is that we should pay for our own treatment
I'm impressed with your cooking Annie that was very nice I particularly liked how you did the rice I'd really like the recipe sometime if you could write it down for me

Now read the extracts aloud, making sure that you emphasise eachprominent word and that you link words within speech units smoothlytogether without pauses.

3 Underline the words that are prominent.

Some of the speech units in these extracts have one prominent wordand others have two. First, underline the words that you think arelikely to be prominent. Key. // we've had wonderful weather// for the last two weeks//but Adam and Emma// have been up in Scotland// where they've had heavyrain// and even fooding// in the western parts of the country// // I was thinking of buying// a second-hand car// from thisgarage// but because I don't know anything about cars// I paid for theAA// to inspect it// and they found all kinds of things wrong// so ofcourse// I didn't buy it//
Now listen and check your predictions. There are many ways of saying these extracts, so if your predictionsare different from those on the recording this doesn't necessarily meanthey are wrong.
Follow up: If you made a recording for the activity at the end of Unit 32 and marked speech unit boundaries, listen to the recording again and try to underline all the prominent words.

Unit 32 Unit 33 Unit 34

English Globe understanding the world

Unit 33. It's BLUE, DARK Blue.

Unit 33; Part A

Unit 33; Part B

Unit 33; Part C