English Phonetics - Yensi Cortes Valencia

Rising intonation is when the pitch of your voice goes up at the end of a sentence. It’s often used to express: Yes/No questions Uncertainty or doubt Surprise Incomplete thoughts or lists Examples: Are you coming?  (Yes/No question – the voice rises on "coming.") Do you like it?  (Another Yes/No question – rising intonation on "it.")

Falling intonation is when the pitch of your voice drops at the end of a sentence. It’s the most common intonation pattern in English and is typically used in: Statements Wh - questions Commands End of a conversation or thought Examples: 1. It’s time to go.    (A statement: your voice falls on "go.") 2. Where are you going?    (A wh- question: the voice falls on "going.")

A function word is a word that has little or no meaning on its own, but it is essential for the grammar and structure of a sentence. These words help connect content words and show relationships between them. Common Types of Function Words: Prepositions (e.g., in, on) Articles (e.g., the, a) Conjunctions (e.g., and, but) Pronouns (e.g., he, they) Auxiliary verbs (e.g., is, have) Examples: 1. The (article) – “ The cat is sleeping.” 2. And (conjunction) – “She likes apples and bananas.” - Function words do not carry main meaning, but they are vital for correct sentence structure and fluency.

A content word is a word that carries meaning and contributes significantly to the main message of a sentence. These are the words that tell us what someone is talking about. Types of Content Words: Nouns (e.g., dog, book) Main Verbs (e.g., run, eat) Adjectives (e.g., happy, blue) Adverbs (e.g., quickly, always) Examples: Tree (noun) – “The tree is tall.” Jump (verb) – “They jump over the fence.” Unlike function words (like the, is, on), content words are stressed more when we speak because they hold the key information.

 - Voiced Sounds These are sounds produced with vibration of the vocal cords. Examples: b as in "bat" d as in "dog" g as in "go" v as in "van" z as in "zoo" th as in "this" All vowel sounds are voiced (e.g., a, e, i, o, u) - Unvoiced Sounds These are sounds produced without vibration of the vocal cords. Examples: p as in "pen" t as in "top" k as in "cat" f as in "fish" s as in "sun" sh as in "ship" th as in "thing"