Phonetic_Devices_and_Prose_Rhythm.ppt

of English, spoken or written. As a result many of them cannot even read fluently, with rhythm, much less write with rhythm. A knowledge of some English phonetic devices, and of English prose rhythm is therefore helpful not only to students of EFL as writers, but also as readers of English prose, for only when they can read fluently with proper rhythm prose whatever kind can they write fluently and effectively, with an intuitive sense of rhythm of the written word. The vowels ( monophthongs, diphthongs, triphthongs ) have certain qualities: 1) They are voiced. 2) They may be long or short: /i:/, /i/, /e/, /ei / 3) They may be spread or round: /e/, /? /,/u: /,/au / 4) They may be closed or open: /i/, /ɑ:/ 5) They may be lax or tense: /i/, /u:/ 6) They (diphthongs, triphthongs ) glide: /ai /, /?u / The consonants have a different set of features, caused by some form of obstruction or friction in the production of the sounds. 1) They may be voiced or voiceless: /p/, /b/, /s/, /z/ 2) They may be nasal or non-nasal: /n/, /?/ are nasals. 3) Some are stopped sounds: all the plosives are. 4) Some are fricatives: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/ 5) Some are affricates (塞擦音): /tr /, / dr/, /? /, /?/ 6) Some are liquids (流音) or glides (滑音) , because they are produced with little obstruction of air. The liquids are /l/, /r/, and the glides are /j/, /w/. Apart from these phonetic qualities, the vowels and the consonants have also some sensory qualities, which suggest certain impressions. These sensory qualities are not the product of any systematic or scientific study or theory; rather, they are recognized as such through long association between the sounds of words and the meaning of words. As such they are subject to wide and varied individual interpretation. For example, the short, relax, spread vowel /