Hey guys, It's Hadar and this is the
and today we're going to talk about
We already said that American rhythm
words that are stressed are usually
For example, content words like
to words that are less stressed,
And these are function words like
'on, in, at, could, would, should, am, as, are, for, of, this, a.
have a specific stress pattern
meaning maybe you stress every other
word or maybe you only stress things
at the beginning and drop at the end.
This is a challenge for you and
this is why you need to change
recognizing the words that you want
to stress and these are the words
And by 'go for' I mean prolong the
And to demonstrate this idea of
American intonation and rhythm even
analyze with you this wonderful
Go back and watch any movie and you
Here she's talking about the fact
that almost in every movie there
is a point where the woman turns to
the man asking "What do we do now?" Okay,
so let's analyze this question for a sec.
The two words that stick out the
So we have 'what' that is really high in pitch.
Notice that she's not pushing her
the 'now' she just goes high in pitch.
Now of course she's exaggerating and
I'm not expecting it to go this high in pitch.
'What do we do now" but just try to
wuh duh we do, duh we, duh we. It's not 'what do we'.
The 'we' is not reduced but she's
saying it really-really quickly.
Right. She's not going higher in
pitch but it's longer TA-da-da-da
TA, TA-da-da-da TA.
So if you don't want exaggerated so
much you can just ask: "What do we
'Now' is really long,'what' is kind
of long, 'do' is right there in the middle: TA-da-da-da-TA.
But the 'do we' is short and somewhat reduced.
Let's look at the next sentence.
Seriously I'm not kidding. Go back and watch any movie and you will see.
So she really slows down hitting those stressed words.
That's how people actually speak.
Right. It's a common that she's
adding It's not planned I think. Right.
'Seriously' that's higher in pitch.
The SE- which is the primary stress is longer than the rest of the syllables: TA-da-da-da.
And 'I'm not kidding' both the 'not' and the 'kidding' are stressed.
'Kidding' is a little more stress than 'not'. So it's going to be a little higher in pitch.
Go back and watch, go back and
So we don't reduce the vowel there
to a shwa but they're said quickly and softly
"Go back and watch any movie."
I'm not necessarily saying it a lot louder, it's just slower.
"Go back and watch any movie." and
it's the distinction between the fast past and the slow part.
That makes it different, that helps it stick out.
So it's not just about saying it
or higher in pitch it's also about
what I did just before which is
I'kinda like reduced it or she did.
and watch any movie and you will see this line over and over again. You're going to see it now.
And you see THIS LINE over and over again
And you will see THIS LINE over and over again,
So first of all listen to the melody. Every syllable has a different note.
"And you will see this line", "and you will".. She didn't reduce it to y'll.
But it's said quickly and effortlessly.
"Over and over again" because it's
This is why she chooses to stress
"over and over", "over
and you will see this line over and
If you're going to see it now.
Now she's not saying "you're going
She's not just reducing it she's
going higher in pitch but in this
case that doesn't mean that it's stress.
This is a common pattern where a
sentence starts with higher notes.
"You're gonna see it now" but "see" is the word that sticks out that is longer.
I'm always playing with my head
You're gonna see it now, right?
I'm not using more energy to stress.
I'm just raising my pitch slightly.
And if you're not comfortable with
going really high in pitch because
you get really high pitch when you
you know a little lower in pitch.
Or you can just prolong the word.
You're going to see it now and
But it is different then "You are going to see it now."
"You are going to see it now" or
And that's the feel of American English.
Let's skip to the end of the speech.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we are in a cultural crisis.
Ladies and gentlemen I think we are in a cultural crisis.
Now again look at this constant distinction between the fast and the slow the reduced and the stress.
Obviously she's talking to the
ladies and the gentleman in the audience.
Ladies and gentlemen I think we are.
"I think we are". "Think" is stress it's a little longer.
"I think we are in a cultural crisis".
So she slows down on the two words "cultural crisis".
I think we are in a cultural crisis, right.
When you really want to stress your
point slow down towards the end of the point and then prolong the words that you are stressing.
Ta-Ta-ra-TA. Ta-TA-ra-Ta-ta-ra-ta-ta.
So the words are prolonged but also the pace slows down towards the end.
Ladies and gentlemen I think we are in-a cultural crisis.
In every field, and every industry.
Now notice the word "in" turns into a shwa.
She is reducing it. In and in every field.
So "in" is reduced, "every" is a little longer.
And "field" that's a stressed word.
This word is higher in pitch and longer. In every field, in every industry.
So "industry" is a little higher in pitch it's a little longer because she's starting to build up her argument.
In every field, in every industry.
And again she slows down to get our point across to indicate that it's an important part.
It's an important part you slow down when you reach the important part.
Women are underrepresented and underpaid in leadership positions.
Women are underrepresented and underpaid in leadership positions.
So a lot of words are stressed here:
underpaid, leadership positions.
This is an important sentence, so more words are naturally going to be stressed.
But here I really want you to see how they come across
in comparison to the function words that barely get noticed.
Ah.
it's not. Women are under represented.
And even in the word underrepresented, there is a distinction between the more
important and the less important.
"Under " is less important. Underrepresented.
And then the "Z" is the primary source so it's going to be higher in pitch and longer than the rest.
Women are underrepresented an underpaid and then "in leadership positions".
So "in" is really really short and reduced. It feels like it's part of the word leadership.
So you go from the end to the L you connect them in-leadership positions.
Notice there is no "o" in the word positions.
And the reason we're all talking about it tonight.
And the reason we're all talking about it tonight.
And the reason, "reason" is higher in pitch and longer.
And the reason w-r-all, w-r-all. It's not "we are all'.
"We are" turns into "w-r". And it's low in pitch and soft and quick.
'W'r-all' and then we connected to "all".
So eventually what you get is "w'r-all", w'r-all, w'r-all.
And the reason we're all talking about it tonight.
So "talking" and "tonight" are
important. So it's gonna be fast and
Talking about it tonight, talking
It's not "talking about it".
Under 5 percent of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are women.
of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are women.
So there are the stressed words,
Third, the stressed words and among them there
are words that are more stressed and less stressed.
"Under five percent" that's stressed because it's slower and higher in pitch.
That's also stressed but "of" is reduced.
Notice that in the word CEOs the
stress falls on the last letter ceO,
ceO.
of Fortune 500 companies, right.
These are all content words but
they're less important, right.
So here there are no reductions but
you need to practice saying it quickly.
important because it feels like it's one big word.
Fortune five hundred companies,
fortune-five-hundred-companies.
The secret to getting it right is to really soften your consonants.
Say your consonants really softly,
No. Say these consonants softly.
Don't push your voice and say it softly.
And it doesn't matter that you need
to be saying this phrase properly or not.
When you practice something that is
challenging and you manage to master it
you improve a little more you are able to do other things that are also challenging.
Okay.
So even if you're saying to yourself
"This is not a good practice."
Then forget about these bad voices in your head.
Just practice it because every time
you practice something and improve
in it you're improving English as well.
So, Fortune 500 companies are women.
Okay. That's how she manages to get to her point nicely.
Only 19 percent of Congress is women.
Only 19 percent of Congress is women.
Right. Short-long, short-long.
So this is stressed, it's longer,
Right. It's not "of Congress".
It doesn't have the same length as
"of". There is also one syllable
And again notice what she does.
It's not "of Congress as women".
There is a mini break "of Congress"
Like a mini-clap right there in the middle.
Only 19 percent of Congress is women.
These are the phrases it's like a
mental break that you're taking allowing you to speed up in the next race.
No wonder we don't have the health
That's like a common intonation pattern
No wonder you're tired you haven't been getting enough sleep.
No wonder she's acting out she's been eating candies all afternoon.
"Wonder" is the stressed word,
"we don't have", "we don't have" is reduced.
So "health care" is important and
"we deserve" is a little less.
So "we deserve" is pronounced
Notice how people speak around you. This is a very common speech pattern.
No wonder we don't have the health care we deserve.
Or paid family leave or public access to early childhood education.
Or paid family leave or public
access to early childhood education.
So she's listing things and every
time she lists something else it
is going to be higher in pitch.
No wonder we don't have the health
care we deserve or paid family leave.
Or public access to early childhood education.
Right. So again she's building it up.
And then she keeps going down in
range right in her chest voice
So this perception of women only
They go to their head voice and men as well.
By the way it's not just women.
They go to head voice when they stress words in parts of the sentence and then parts
of the sentence are also really really low in pitch.
And we need to balance between the
highs and the low, the head voice
and the short, the fast and the slow.
"That" is reduced and "that" is short.
"And that" (going down) REALLY (stressed, the word really is usually stressed)
But whatever comes after is usually more stress.
And pronunciation aside, that really worries me too.
Okay, this was an example of how you
can take a speech, and interview, a TED talk that you like and analyze
it according to the things we learned.
I hope that this video helped you notice these things a little more.
Things that your brain usually filters out.
Things like rhythm, pitch, difference, voice difference, length
So a good way to practice is to take a text,
underline the stressed words, cross out the reduced words
and try to imitate what you're hearing knowing what words you're going for.
And by "going for" I mean going higher in pitch, prolonging them.
and reducing, softening and going lower in pitch for
everything else that is not stressed.
Okay. That's it. Thank you so much for watching.
Now let me know in the comments below what is the most important
thing that you've learned about American intonation or rhythm in this video.
And also tell me what you think about the content of the speech that we analyzed.
Have a wonderful week full of music and melody and rhythm and
I will see you next week in the next video.
Bye.