Speaking and Pronunciation Flashcards
7 cards from real Language Proficiency practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Speaking and Pronunciation flashcards as text
Which term describes the rising and falling pattern of pitch across a sentence?
Answer: Intonation
Intonation refers to the melodic pitch movement across an utterance, conveying meaning, emotion, and sentence type.
In American English, the word 'butter' is often pronounced with a flapped /t/. This sound is called a:
Answer: Alveolar tap
The American English flap (alveolar tap /ɾ/) replaces /t/ or /d/ between vowels when the second syllable is unstressed.
What does it mean when a speaker uses 'connected speech'?
Answer: Linking sounds across word boundaries in natural speech
Connected speech refers to natural modifications like linking, elision, and assimilation that occur when words flow together in fluent speech.
The word 'photograph' has stress on which syllable?
Answer: PHO-to-graph
'Photograph' carries primary stress on the first syllable: PHO-to-graph.
Which minimal pair demonstrates the contrast between /p/ and /b/ in English?
Answer: pin / bin
'Pin' and 'bin' differ only in voicing (/p/ is voiceless, /b/ is voiced), making them a minimal pair for that contrast.
What is 'elision' in spoken English?
Answer: The omission of a sound or syllable in speech
Elision is the dropping of sounds, such as when 'next day' is pronounced more like 'nex' day' in fast speech.
A speaker who frequently uses filler words like 'um,' 'uh,' and 'like' is most likely experiencing:
Answer: Hesitation or planning pauses in speech
Fillers typically occur when a speaker needs time to plan the next part of their utterance.