Suprasegmentals and Paralanguage: Another idea for relearning

What: imitating with reading

How: the language consultant reads aloud, one phrase at a time.  The learner rereads each phrase aloud imitating the consultant's intonation. 

Choose a text which:

• is below your silent reading level - very few new vocabulary because this activity focuses on intonation rather than pronunciation nor vocabulary acquisition
• is full of expressive dialogue - this sort of text will provide opportunity for your language consultant to express a variety of intonational patterns
• has varying phrasal lengths and structures - lists, "run-on" sentences, parentheses, etc. could all represent different intonational patterns

Recording: recording this sort of exercise and reviewing it is a humbling task but can be extremely helpful for self-observation of both pronunciation and suprasegmentals

Suprasegmentals and Paralanguage: Internet Resources

Following are links to some of the articles that I accessed online to improve my understanding of suprasegmentals and paralanguage some of them are more scholarly than others but at least they could be a start if this topic interests you:

1. An article on voice-setting
2. French rhythm
3. Discourse intonation in L2

Suprasegmentals and Paralanguage: How to "relearn" them

Following are some of the ideas my husband and I have practiced in an effort to improve our suprasegmentals and paralanguage:

1. observe native to native conversations for things such as: who talks when, how do they show agreement to another person's statement, disagreement, confusion, excitement, surprise, how do you know the difference between a question and a statement, etc.
2. record conversations and then try to hum along with the intonation as you listen to the recording
3. tracking: record yourself and then a native speaker saying the same sentences, listen to the records in order to observe the differences, if possible overlay the recordings to listen to them simultaneously
4. draw intonation: listen to a recording that you have of native speech and try to draw the ups and downs that you hear, observe for any patterns - also do this with native speech from your first language and compare the differences.
5. Play a few paralanguage games with native speakers such as: 

• have the native speaker say various sentences with different emotions and you guess which emotion and vice versa; then discuss reasons for incorrect guesses
• act out body language for a native speaker and ask the native speaker to explain what he or she assumes you are communicating with your various actions

Do you have any other ideas for improving suprasegmentals and paralanguage?  

Suprasegmentals and Paralanguage: Why are they important?

I consider suprasegmentals and paralanguage to be important because:

1. They are vital parts of our communication in our native language.  Think about the last few misunderstandings you have had with a close friend or family member.  Maybe every once in a while you misunderstood one of the words he or she says but most likely you have more often mis-assumed the meaning of the suprasegmentals and paralanguage used by that person.  
2. They are the first aspects of language that we pick up as young children.  Suprasegmentals and paralanguage are sometimes even referred to as pre-language because they are the place we start in our first language learning process.  Have you ever noticed the impressive intonation skills of a young child's babble?  Or have you ever met a young child who can babble a story with a surprising ending, or a joke with a punch-line? 

This may not seem like good news for the language learner since suprasegmentals and paralanguage often receive very little attention in the second language classroom.  Yet, as second language learners master other aspects of speech such as pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary the risk of misunderstandings due to incorrect use of suprasegmentals will increase.

Tomorrow I will consider some ways to learn and improve your understanding and use of second language suprasegmentals and paralanguage.

Suprasegmentals and Paralanguage: What are they?

Supra is a prefix with Latin origin that means above, over, on top, greater than, or transcending.

Segmentals are the parts of speech that can be cleanly separated from one another, mainly the phones themselves.

Suprasegmentals could be simply defined as the aspects of language that transcend the segmental; the ingredients of communication that overlay our words such as: tone, intonation, and sometimes nasalization, vowel length and aspiration.

I think as the study of discourse is gaining attention in linguistic circles other aspects of communication are rising to the attention of language analysts, teachers and learners such as: facial expression, gestures, pauses, and expressive utterances.  These along with intonation are often referred to as paralanguage.

Tomorrow I will explore reasons why suprasegmentals and paralanguage deserve significant attention in language learning.