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7 - Intonation and Intelligibility

The Roles of Prominence and Tune

from Part III - Discourse-Based Errors and Intelligibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2018

John M. Levis
Affiliation:
Iowa State University
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Summary

This chapter moves beyond principles for intelligibility and how an intelligibility-based classroom should be constructed, to a consideration of which specific aspects of pronunciation and other language features are more important for intelligibility, and which are less important. This makes the recommendations different from the recommendations of the Lingua Franca Core, in which pronunciation and other features were largely either essential or not. The basic principle underlying this chapter’s recommendations is that every feature has aspects that are more important, and less important, and an intelligibility-based approach must be selective at all stages. The chapter first argues for building L2 speakers’ skills in perception as an essential part of intelligibility, before moving on to specific features within three major areas, which are presented as having more and less important aspects: those indirectly related to pronunciation; the word-based features; and the discourse-based features. The indirect features have recommendations for fluency features, for vocabulary, and for orthography, or spelling. Word-based features include segmentals (both vowels and consonants), consonant clusters, and word stress. In discourse-based features, recommendations are provided for rhythm, connected speech, prominence, and tune, or final intonation.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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  • Intonation and Intelligibility
  • John M. Levis, Iowa State University
  • Book: Intelligibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation
  • Online publication: 24 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108241564.013
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  • Intonation and Intelligibility
  • John M. Levis, Iowa State University
  • Book: Intelligibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation
  • Online publication: 24 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108241564.013
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Intonation and Intelligibility
  • John M. Levis, Iowa State University
  • Book: Intelligibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation
  • Online publication: 24 September 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108241564.013
Available formats
×