Some Speech Features for Review:
Stress: We usually stress the content words: adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs (and helping (auxiliary) verbs). We stress them by saying them more loudly, and by pronouncing the vowels more clearly.
The content words in this phrase/sentence are: don't, think and agree.
Stressed vowel sounds:
Vowel 1: agree
Vowel 2: think
Vowel 8: don't
and Non-stress (just as important as stress): We usually don't stress the structure (function) words. We say the articles, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and affirmative helping (auxiliary) verbs less loudly and the vowels less clearly (as schwa).
The structure word(s) in this phrase/sentence are/is: I.
When the vowel of a word or syllable is unstressed, we usually say that vowel less clearly; we use the schwa sound. The unstressed vowel in agree is the a-; we don't say that vowel clearly.
Pitch Contours: This sentence is a declarative -- a statement.
We will use a higher pitch and more force on the first important word: don't.
We will use a higher pitch and more force on the stressed syllable of the last important word: agree; and we will drop our pitch on the last syllable of the word: agree. In this case, the last stressed syllable is also the last syllable; so the pitch has to go up and down on that syllable: -gree
Stops: This short sentence has two stops, but they're not pronounced in the same way.
The t in don't is followed by a consonant sound; so the t is a glottal stop. We don't release the air, but catch it and hold it at the glottis.
The k in think_I is followed by a vowel sound; so the k is attached to the vowel which follows it. We do release the k with a lot of air when we pronounce the vowel.
Speech Reduction: We often pronounce the d or t between two vowels in a different way – maybe like r in your first language. In “What_do you --
Linking:
Linking consonants and vowel sounds: When one word ends with a consonant sound and the next word begins with a vowel sound, we often join the consonant to the vowel that follows. In the above sentence, we often say:
thing_kI
Linking two vowel sounds: When a front vowel (Vowel 1) is followed by another vowel, we connect them with a little y.
Iyagree
