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Speaking skills
Speaking skills are the skills that give us
the ability to communicate
effectively. These skills allow the speaker, to convey his
message in a passionate, thoughtful, and convincing manner. Speaking skills also help to assure that
one won't be
misunderstood by those who are listening. The speaking skill involves a communicative
ability to use language to chat and transmit messages in different and
appropriate situations.. That is to say speaking is an important skill which
deserves more attention in both first and second language because it reflects
people's thoughts and personalities.
The Importance of Speaking Skills.
Language is a tool for communication. We communicate with
others, to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well. Communication
takes place, where there is speech. Without speech we cannot communicate with
one another. The importance of speaking skills, hence is enormous for the
learners of any language. Without speech, a language is reduced to a mere
script. The use of language is an activity which takes place within the
confines of our community. We use language in a variety of situations. People
at their work places, i.e. researchers working either in a medical laboratory
or in a language laboratory, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively
in-order to communicate well with one another. Any gap in commutation results in
misunderstandings and problems. For a smooth running of any system, the speakers
of a language need to be especially and purposefully trained in the skill of speaking.
In-order to become a well rounded communicator one needs to be proficient in
each of the four language skills viz., listening , speaking, reading and
writing, but the ability to speak skilfully, provides the speaker with several
distinct advantages.
Sub skills of speaking
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is
spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in
speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct
pronunciation"), or simply the way a particular individual speaks a word
or language. A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or
groups, depending on many factors, such as: the duration of the cultural
exposure of their childhood, the location of their current residence, speech or
voice disorders, their ethnic group, their social class, or their education.
Articulation
Articulation is the act of expressing something in a coherent
verbal form, or an aspect of pronunciation involving the articulatory organs. Articulation
comes from the Latin word for "jointed" or "divided into
joints." So it makes sense that the word's original definition described
movement at a joint, as in the articulation of your fingers while you're
typing. (The joints themselves can also be called articulations.) This noun
also describes the act of joining things in such a way that makes motion
possible.
Stress
It is the intensity
of utterance given to a speech sound, syllable, or word producing relative
loudness. In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or
accent is relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a
word, or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically
caused by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length, full
articulation of the vowel, and changes in pitch. The terms stress and accent
are often used synonymously in that context but are sometimes distinguished. For
example, when emphasis is produced through pitch alone, it is called pitch
accent, and when produced through length alone, it is called quantitative
accent. When caused by a combination of various intensified properties, it is
called stress accent or dynamic accent; English uses what is called variable
stress accent.Since stress can be realised through a wide range of phonetic
properties, such as loudness, vowel length, and pitch, which are also used for
other linguistic functions, it is difficult to define stress solely
phonetically.
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Rhythm
Rhythm is a strong pattern of sounds, words, or musical notes
that is used in music, poetry, and dancing. By definition, rhythm is the
pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of
strong and weak melodic and harmonic beats. Simply put, rhythm is that music
component that makes us move, or even just tap the foot, when we listen to a
song. Rhythm may be
defined as the way in which one or more unaccented beats are grouped in
relation to an accented one. ... A rhythmic group can be apprehended only when
its elements are distinguished from one another, rhythm...always involves an
interrelationship between a single, accented (strong) beat and either one or
two unaccented (weak) beats. Rhythm is
about how we use a combination of stressed and unstressed words in sentences.
Sentences have strong beats (the stressed words) and weak beats (the unstressed
words). Intonation is the way the pitch of a speaker's voice goes up or down as
they speak. We use intonation to help get our message across.
Intonation
Intonation
describes how the voice rises and falls in speech. The three main patterns of
intonation in English are: falling intonation, rising intonation and fall-rise
intonation the sound
changes produced by the rise and fall of the voice when speaking, especially
when this has an effect on the meaning of what is said In linguistics,
intonation is variation in spoken pitch when used, not for distinguishing words
as sememes (a concept known as tone), but, rather, for a range of other
functions such as indicating the attitudes and emotions of the speaker,
signalling the difference between statements and questions, and between
different types of questions, focusing attention on important elements of the
spoken message and also helping to regulate conversational interaction. (The
term tone is used by some British writers in their descriptions of intonation
but to refer to the pitch movement found on the nucleus or tonic syllable in an
intonation unit.)
Although intonation is primarily a matter of
pitch variation, it is important to be aware that functions attributed to
intonation such as the expression of attitudes and emotions, or highlighting
aspects of grammatical structure, almost always involve concomitant variation
in other prosodic features. David Crystal for example says that "intonation
is not a single system of contours and levels, but the product of the
interaction of features from different prosodic systems – tone, pitch-range,
loudness, rhythmicality and tempo in particular
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