English Intonation With Systematic Exercises (Classic Reprint)

Preface The object of this book is fourfold: 1. To place on record a characteristic collection of the tones and tone-compounds as observed in the speech of most Southern English people in ordinary conversation. 2. To suggest a scheme of classification and terminology by which these tones and tone-compounds may be divided into classes according to their degree of resemblance or difference. 3. To formulate in a series of laws or rules the facts which have so far been discovered concerning the relation between tones and meanings. 4. To set forth a simple yet adequate system of tonetic notation, in order that tonetic texts may be produced inexpensively and abundantly for the use of teachers and students. The general utility of the book can be gathered by reference to the four objects for which it has been composed. I have more especially designed it for the use of foreign students of spoken English. No one who wishes to use the Eng Ush language in the manner of English speakers can any more ignore the phenomena of its intonation than he can ignore the phenomena of its pronunciation. It may be no more than a personal opinion of mine, but I am convinced that the two things, pronunciation and intonation, are so bound up with each other that it is futile to teach or to leam one without the other. I base this opinion on psychological grounds. Mimicry is the most potent factor in the study of foreign languages (whether spoken or written). The successful mastery of a language depends on how successfully the student can imitate the models which serve as his standard. Systematic exercises in pronunciation have the effect of causing students to observe the sounds of the language; similarly, systematic exercises in intonation have the effect of causing students to observe the tones of the language.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books