You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh... As Time Goes By
Ah, what a timeless song that is! But it begs the question: if a kiss is still a kiss and a sigh is just a sigh, isn't speaking just speaking?
Not at all. Have you ever heard the phrase "It's not what you say but how you say it?"
In many languages - but especially in English, how you say something is as important as what you say; maybe more so. That's not in the least because how you say a word can change its meaning. Let's use the word 'address' as an example.
If you stress the first syllable - ADdress, you're talking about a location, maybe where you live or information you type into a GPS. Conversely, if you shift the stress to the last syllable, adDRESS, you're describing the act of talking to a group of people.
"The Prime Minister will adDRESS the nation this evening", for instance.
But syllable stress is not all there is to voice modulation. It is a complex topic that ESOL students have a hard time understanding - because it's so broad, not because it's difficult.
So, your Superprof sets out to explain the concept and provide some tips on how you can use voice modulation to help reduce your native language accent.
The Importance of Tone
Unfortunately, the English language is sometimes not very clear in its meaning. When we say 'tone', do we mean your tone of voice - angry, excited, bored or sad? Or are we suggesting which words to stress in a sentence to give it the meaning you want it to have?
Actually, we mean both of them, so we'll talk about both of them. First, let's cover word stress - because it is the most difficult concept for ESOL students to grasp.
I didn't say you stole my book.
The trouble with even such a simple sentence as this is that we don't really know what it's trying to tell us. Sure, we can get an idea that a book was stolen - probably, but the exact meaning of this sentence escapes us because we don't know which word(s) to stress.
Let's take a look at that sentence and how its meaning changes depending on which word is stressed:
- I didn't say you stole my book! Who said it, then?
- I didn't say you stole my book! Please stop telling everyone I did!
- I didn't say you stole my book! But you suggested it!
- I didn't say you stole my book! Who are you accusing of stealing, then?
- I didn't say you stole my book! Are you saying I borrowed it?
- I didn't say you stole my book! Whose book did I steal, then?
- I didn't say you stole my book! What did I steal from you, then?
You can stress an individual word, as we did in this example, to give meaning to what you want to say. Or, you could stress several words: I didn't say you stole my book. Predictably, this version tells us that someone else suggested 'you' stole 'my'... something.
Things get a bit trickier when you're reading in English because there's no one there to tell you where to put the word stress. In that case, you have to rely on context to give sentences their proper meaning.
Certainly, other languages use tone the same way but not nearly as regularly as in English and, often, not to change the entire meaning of a sentence. In most languages, tone is used to give emotional context to what is being said.
Tonality
Tonality is what you sound like. If you're happy or excited, your voice might be louder and have a higher pitch, and your words might come out faster. On the other hand, if you're sad, your voice will be quieter and pitched lower; your words will come out more slowly.
Surely, you are a master of tonality when you speak with your friends and family. If you're excited, your voice, expression and body language all show it. If you're sad, your drooping shoulders and head hanging low will clue them in to your mood long before you open your mouth to speak in a (no doubt) monotone voice.
We all do this without any particular effort but, as an ESOL student working to reduce your accent, focusing on how your voice sounds will help you understand the connection between the feeling you want to share and the words you use to share it with.
Many public speakers - even ESOL students who take part in speech and debate competitions work on their voice's tone as a part of their language learning process.
A Word on Pacing
ESOL teachers all over the world give the same advice: "Listen to native English speakers talk!". Has your teacher told you to do that?
For the most part, this is a very good suggestion. The only thing is, you should listen to broadcasts targeted to English learners; otherwise, those speakers might talk so fast that you'll get the wrong idea of what English fluency is.
Hint: it's not about speaking quickly, it's about being clear in your communication - even if you make a few mistakes.
Voice modulation is how you adjust your voice when speaking. As mentioned above, if you're excited, you will speak faster and in a higher pitch. You might run your words together, forgetting to put breaks in the right places.
Recently, one of my students was excitedly telling me about 'kaypapidows'.
Despite years of training and experience as an ESOL teacher, I couldn't tell if she was talking about 'kaypa pidows' or 'kaypapei dows' and, anyway, I had no idea what such a thing could be. So I asked her.
Turns out, she was talking about her favourite K-pop idols. In her excitement, she ran her words together, forming a completely new, incomprehensible word. After sharing a good laugh, we talked about slowing down a bit and the importance of speaking each word clearly.
In English, it's important to break up your speech with slight pauses between words. Just as you wouldn't write your words all scrunched up together with no spaces between them, speaking needs the same spaces - and for the same reasons.
Besides 'speaking' the spaces between words, you must 'speak' punctuation. A full stop at the end of a sentence is noted by a falling tone on the last word, a comma is spoken with a half-rising tone and listeners can tell you're asking a question by the falling-rising tone on the sentence's last word.
You might consider taking elocution lessons to learn more about speaking pauses and punctuation...
Voice Modulation Exercises
Voice modulation is how you adjust your voice when speaking. As mentioned above, if you're excited, you will speak faster and in a higher pitch. You might run your words together, forgetting to put breaks in the right places.
More so than the words you use and the accent you speak them with, poor voice modulation can affect people's ability to understand you when you speak English. So, rather than trying to imitate native English speakers' fluency and how fast they talk, it would be best for you to learn how to modulate your voice.
One of the first aspects of good communication - in English and other languages is posture.
Having good posture - head up, shoulders squared and back straight is the best way to tap into your vocal power. Once you know how much vocal power you have, you can work to control it. To build that control, you might try singing musical scales, switching between various degrees of loudness.
If you're not fond of musical scales, you might try counting as you walk to class - every time your right foot hits the ground, say a number. Or, if you prefer, your left foot. Either way, the rhythm of your footsteps will help you pace your counting; the habit will then bleed over into other speaking efforts.
As time goes on, you could switch between walking faster and slower, keeping count all the while. What a fantastic voice modulation exercise that is!
Have you seen The King's Speech, a film about the British king learning how to speak clearly?
It contains a scene that shows him getting very frustrated and letting loose by shouting all sorts of dirty words. That is indeed a good strategy to relieve stress as you're learning to pronounce words clearly - but maybe you should use British slang words instead of curse words.
Your ESOL teacher, family and friends might not approve of the type of words the king shouted.
Finally, mind your breathing.
Either because they're anxious, nervous or excited, some people end up taking ever-shallower breaths the longer they talk, to the point that, soon, they only have enough breath to say a word or two before they hitch another breath in.
How you breathe is critical to your English speaking abilities so doing breath exercises will really help you. You might try pranayama - a yoga exercise that focuses on breath, or any other breath training exercise that you know about.
Voice modulation, intonation and breath control are so important to speak English fluently. As strange as it sounds, slowing down and speaking clearly is your path to English fluency and minimising your accent.
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