Language Proficiency Speaking and Pronunciation 4

Question 1

Which term describes the rising and falling pattern of pitch across a sentence?

Accepted Answer

Intonation

Answer

Intonation refers to the melodic pitch movement across an utterance, conveying meaning, emotion, and sentence type.

Question 2

In American English, the word 'butter' is often pronounced with a flapped /t/. This sound is called a:

Accepted Answer

Alveolar tap

Answer

The American English flap (alveolar tap /ɾ/) replaces /t/ or /d/ between vowels when the second syllable is unstressed.

Question 3

What does it mean when a speaker uses 'connected speech'?

Accepted Answer

Linking sounds across word boundaries in natural speech

Answer

Connected speech refers to natural modifications like linking, elision, and assimilation that occur when words flow together in fluent speech.

Question 4

The word 'photograph' has stress on which syllable?

Accepted Answer

PHO-to-graph

Answer

'Photograph' carries primary stress on the first syllable: PHO-to-graph.

Question 5

Which minimal pair demonstrates the contrast between /p/ and /b/ in English?

Accepted Answer

pin / bin

Answer

'Pin' and 'bin' differ only in voicing (/p/ is voiceless, /b/ is voiced), making them a minimal pair for that contrast.

Language Proficiency Practice Test