Improve Your Pronunciation by Humming

Improve Your Pronunciation by Humming

English learners can improve their pronunciation by working with pitch humming.

This advice comes from Tamara Jones. She works for the English Language Center at Howard Community College in the American state of Maryland.

English learners, Jones notes, often think that they can be easily understood if all they do is pronounce individual sounds clearly.

However, saying or speaking individual sounds, such as –er or th-, is only one element of pronunciation. Other parts of pronunciation include rhythm, intonation¹, and word emphasis. Together, they form what we call the 'music of English.'

English learners can become more familiar with the music of English by using pitch humming – mirroring the up and down movement of a speaker's voice.

Word Prominence²

English is a language that does not always use grammar to show meaning. In English, speakers use pitch -- high or low sounds -- to give sentences different meanings. Grammatically, two sentences can be identical, but the meaning is completely different.

Consider this example:

Example 1

Person 1: How was breakfast?

Person 2: The coffee was good.

In the example, the second person makes a statement about the coffee that was served with breakfast. The meaning is direct and clear.

Now, listen to a second example. This time, Tamara Jones shows how pitch can change meaning:

Example 2

Person 1: How was breakfast?

Tamara Jones: The COFFEE was good.

The second example carries a much different meaning than the first example; yet both examples are grammatically identical.

Tamara Jones explains:

"Because my pitch change is coming on the word coffee, I'm meaning that probably the rest of the breakfast was not very good. But I don't say that using grammar or word order; instead, I am communicating my meaning through pitch change."

What is pitch humming?

Pitch humming means listening to an English speaker and then repeating the up and down patterns that you hear them make. You do not even need to understand all of the words they are saying, just copy the pitch by humming along with the speaker.

By using pitch humming, Jones says, English learners can begin to recognize the up and down movement of the voice and the words that a speaker emphasizes.

Jones gives an example of what this exercise sounds like:

In another education tips story, we gave you an example of the pitch of a voice from Martha Kolln's book, Rhetorical Grammar.

Here is the sentence:

"One of the most important aspects of your expertise³ with sentences is your sense of rhythm."

In the sentence, you can hear that some syllables⁵ are emphasized, while others are not. Overall, the pitch goes down after important syllables, notably⁶ at the end of the sentence.

If you were to hum the pitch movement of the sentence, it might sound like this:

What can you do?

Jones suggests that English learners start the pitch humming exercise by listening to a brief radio or television broadcast.

Then, the learners should hum along with the speaker, listening for the up and down movement of the voice and emphasized words. In other words, the parts of pronunciation that are not about individual sounds.

Jones adds that English learners do not always need to listen to native English speakers. The learners can also get help by listening to a capable English speaker who has learned English as a second language.

Ideally, she says, the speaker will share the learner's native language. So, for example, an English learner who speaks French as a native language would look for a French speaker who speaks English well. This exercise provides the learner with an example of an attainable⁷ model.

Give pitch humming a try, and let us know how it works for you.

Words in This Story

pitch – n. the highness or lowness of a sound

hum – v. to sing the notes of a song while keeping your lips closed

mirror – v. to be very similar to (something)

syllable⁴ – n. to place emphasis on (something)

emphasize – v. to place emphasis on (something)

attainable – adj. ability to succeed in getting or doing (something)

1 intonation   

n.语调，声调；发声

参考例句：

• The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
• Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。

2 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

3 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

4 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

5 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

6 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

7 attainable   

a.可达到的，可获得的

参考例句：

• They set the limits of performance attainable. 它们确定着可达到的运行限度。
• If objectives are to be meaningful to people, they must be clear, attainable, actionable, and verifiable. 如果目标对人们是具有意义的，则目标必须是清晰的，能达到的，可以行动的，以及可供检验的。