The so-called "meaning group" is to divide a slightly longer sentence into several paragraphs according to the sentence and grammatical structure, and each paragraph is a meaning group.

A sentence can be divided into several small segments according to its meaning and grammatical structure, and each small segment is called a meaning group. A meaning group can be a word, a phrase or phrase, or a clause, clause, etc. A clause or complex sentence of a complex sentence. We can use "/"to divide the meaning groups of sentences. Meaning groups have three characteristics in sentences: semantics, grammar and intonation.

Example:

After school, my class and I will play basketball. /After school, my classmates and I went to play basketball.

There are some women in red over there. Here the sentence can be divided into four paragraphs, that is, four meaning groups.

In long sentences, the meaning group can be long or short, which usually depends on the speed of speech. For example, the given example can also be the following meaning groups:

There are some women in red over there. (speaking faster)

2. Meaning group, pause and continuous reading

"linking" is a phonetic phenomenon that only appears in the same meaning group, and linking between meaning groups cannot be realized.

There is a phenomenon of "continuous reading" in meaning groups, while there is a phenomenon of "pause" between meaning groups.

What is the "pause" phenomenon? That is, when people speak, they read aloud, especially when they speak. In order to express their meaning more clearly, they can make a certain pause between interested groups. Slow speech will lead to more pauses, while fast speech will lead to fewer pauses. But the nouns in the same meaning group should not pause, but should be finished in one breath, so that the meaning of the whole meaning group will not be interrupted. Another example is:

Mr Green is one of the best teachers in China.

Here, the second and third pauses can be omitted when the speech speed is fast.

Summary: "a group" is divided into a slightly longer sentence by a number of meaningful phrases; The "suspension" is between interest groups. It is a natural phenomenon of speech pause according to the needs of semantics and speech speed; "linking" is carried out in a meaning group, which is a natural phonetic linking phenomenon when the speech speed is fast.

How to divide meaning groups?

The general principles of sentence meaning group division are summarized as follows:

1. noun phrase

1) article+noun, for example, a country.

2) Noun+Noun, for example: coumrade Li

3) demonstrative pronoun+noun, for example: this book.

4) Adjective+noun, such as natural science.

5) Nouns are used as adjectives or participles+nouns, for example, New Year's Day working class.

6) Numerals+nouns, for example, the third-second notebooks.

7) Numbers+Numbers, for example: 223- 2 Hungry 23

8) indefinite pronouns+nouns, for example, a certain ink.

2. Preposition phrases

From now on.

3. Adverb phrases

Example: First of all, it is day and night.

4. Adverb+Preposition phrase

Example: Early in the morning until late at night.

5. Adverb+verb, or verb+adverb

Example: I understand very well and study hard.

6. Some fixed verb phrases

Example: Take a break and prepare for the meeting.

7. Contact verb+predicate

Example: Growing up quite well in school.

8. Subject+predicate

When this sentence pattern is used in short sentences, it is generally divided into a meaning group.

He stood up. They were very happy. ..

9. Subject+Predicate+Object

When this sentence pattern is used in short sentences, it is divided into a meaning group.

Example: I can speak English. He gave me a book.

10. Short nominal clauses, including subject clauses, predicative clauses and object clauses.

He will come here/that's for sure .. This is the way he learns English. He took me where I could find the book. (object clause)

1 1. Short attributive clause

This is a factory that makes cloth. ..

12. Short adverbial clauses can be placed at the beginning or end of a sentence. When placed at the beginning of a sentence, a comma is usually used after a clause; When placed at the end of a sentence, there is generally no comma in the clause, and each adverbial clause is divided into a meaning group.

I waited until he came back. He can't come/because he is ill. We worked very fast, so we finished the plan.

Stress in sentences

A) English rhythm: (light)-light-heavy-light-(light) or heavy-light-(light) (light)

B) The length of an English sentence is determined by the number of stressed words in the sentence, not by the number of Chinese characters in the sentence as in Chinese.

C) Pay attention to content words (adverb stress), but ignore function words (articles, monosyllabic prepositions, monosyllabic conjunctions, personal pronouns, anti-pronouns, possessive pronouns, relative pronouns, interactive pronouns, auxiliary verbs, modal verbs and copula be.

D) The special case that the notional words are not stressed.

A) the notional words appear for the second time. He thought it was a child's idea.

B) One noun is modified by a second noun. I met her at the railway station.

Which book do you want, not which one? The little one. Which book do you want? The little one.

D) what and how in interjections What a nice day! How beautiful she is! She is!

E) proper noun wangfujing street.

F) this in these phrases, this morning/noon/evening.

E) Special case of function word stress

A) Modal verbs, auxiliary verbs and copula verbs are used as the beginning, end and negative sentences. Do you like it? Yes, I know. Are you a doctor? Yes, I am. Can you help me? Yes, I can. Do you like it? Yes, I know. Are you a doctor? Yes, I am. Can you help me? Yes, I can. I don't like you. He is not a worker. T a worker. B) Modal verbs express possibility, surprise and affirmation. They may come tonight. Is it five o'clock already? He must be in the room. They may come tonight. Is it five o'clock already? He must be in the room.

Prepositions are at the beginning and end of sentences. In the box, he found a letter He is the man with whom I talked. In the box, he found a letter He is the man with whom I talked.

D lead the conjunctions of complex sentences to the beginning of the sentence. I'll see you if you like. I'll tell him when he comes. I'll tell him.

Reflexive pronouns indicate emphasis. He can't come in person.

The rules of continuous reading, incomplete explosion, turbidity, weak reading, aphonia and confusion, and the pronunciation differences between British English and American English

First, continuous reading.

In the same meaning group, the previous word ends with a consonant phoneme and the latter word begins with a vowel phoneme. When speaking or reading a sentence, it is customary to read these two phonemes together naturally. This phonetic phenomenon is called linking.

For example, we have an English friend. This sentence is connected in two places: the first place is the last consonant /v/ of have and the first vowel of an /v/; The link is/v/; The last one is the ending consonant /n/ of an and the beginning phoneme /i/ of English, and the link is /ni/.

There is also a link called /r/ linking. In a phrase or sentence, when the previous word ends with -r or -re and the last word begins with a vowel, you can spell it with the last vowel. /r/ Words ending with f-or, the-re, when-re and sist-er can be read together with the last vowel.

If there is a pronounced er,

For example, they look everywhere. This sentence is also read in two consecutive places: the former is for it /frit/, and the latter is here and /hirnd/.

Summary:

Conditions for continuous reading: adjacent words must be closely related in meaning and belong to the same meaning group. Syllables formed by continuous reading are generally not stressed, just pass by naturally, and will not be too heavy or swallowed. (Link symbol: ~)

The phenomenon of linking only occurs within the meaning group, even if two adjacent words between meaning groups meet the above two conditions, they are not linked. For example, I hope the weather will get warmer. Hope it in this sentence is not pronounced as/hupti/,because the main sentence hope is a meaning group, and the following clause is another meaning group.

What are the categories of continuous reading?

(1) "consonant+vowel" continuous reading

In the same meaning group, if the first word in two adjacent words ends with a consonant and the last word begins with a vowel, the consonant and vowel should be read together.

I am an English boy.

This is an old book.

let me take a look at it.

Ms. Black worked in an office yesterday.

I called you half an hour ago.

Please put it on.

Not at all.

Please pick it up.

(2) "r/re+vowel" continuous reading

If the first word ends with -r or -re and the last word begins with a vowel, then r or re should not only be pronounced as /r/, but also be combined with vowels.

They are my father and mother.

I looked for it everywhere.

There is a football under it.

There are some books on the desk.

Here is a letter for you.

Here are four eggs.

But where is my cup?

Where are your brother and sister?

Note: if a syllable has the letter r before and after it, even if the following words start with vowels, they can't be read consecutively.

For example, dark clouds are getting closer and closer.

(3) "Consonant+Semivowel" linking.

/j/ and /w/ in English pronunciation are both semi-vowels. If the first word ends with a consonant and the last word begins with a semi-vowel, especially /j/, read it continuously at this time.

Thank you ~ thank you.

Nice to meet you.

Are you late again?

Would you like a cup of tea?

Can you help me?

(4) Continuous reading of "vowel+vowel"

The linking of vowel phonemes and vowel phonemes is rare, usually [i:] or [u:] is linked with other vowel phonemes, accompanied by sound changes.

For example, do+any = [dweni] Just do it. [dvqs (t) dwit] see us [sijqs] hurryup pronounced as [hQri jQp].

If the first word ends with a vowel and the second word begins with a vowel, the two sounds should always be read together naturally and continuously.

I'm from China.

He is very friendly to me.

She wants to learn English.

How did you get here? Why did you come here?

She can't carry it.

It will take you three hours to walk there.

This question is too easy for him to answer.

(5) The word ending in a consonant+the word H beginning with H is silent and linked with the preceding consonant. The linking of light consonants [h], if the previous word ends with a consonant phoneme and the pronunciation of the next word begins with a light consonant phoneme [h], will be linked directly with the vowel phoneme after [h] when the speech speed is fast.

For example:

What will he do?

Has he done it before?

Shall we go?

Can he do it?

Should he ...?

Tell him to ask her ...

Leave him.

For him (if you see this word, you will find it is like a forum)

(6) The continuous reading of consonant phonemes and consonant phonemes is rare, and it is usually the continuous reading of [t][d] and [r][w][j], so we should pay attention to the sound change.

The first part.

[pB: twQn]

You must stay in bed for two days.

[ju:mQs tri 5 mei nin be(d)fC:tu:deiz]

David read the letter again and again.

[Chapter V]

(7) Read the word [N] at the end of ng. If it is followed by a word that begins with a vowel phoneme, add a phoneme [g] in the middle. For example, call him [riN gim]

(8) Assimilation of sound

The assimilation of sound is also a phenomenon of continuous reading. The smooth transition between two words causes one sound to change under the influence of adjacent sounds. There are three main ways:

1, when the consonant [d] is adjacent to [j], it is assimilated into [d э]: Will you? ...

2. When the consonant [t] is adjacent to [j], it is assimilated into [t ∫]: You can't. . . . ?

3. When the consonant [s] is adjacent to [j], it is assimilated into [∫]: I miss you.

Four common phonetic changes in continuous reading: [T]+[J] = [TF] [D]+[J] = [DV] [S]+[J] = [F] [Z]+[J] = = [V]

For example, if you're not [b: ntfu:], you won't [5wudn tfu:]

Not last year. How about you?

Miss you [Mi Fei:] Because of you [bE5kC: Vu:] How is your sister? [hBu VC: 5sist[]

In addition, these phonetic changes also occur within words.

For example:

During altitude, attitude

Responsibility [duty] Sugar (5fu: e) suit is stupid.

Note: when a phrase or clause pauses according to the meaning group, even if there are two adjacent consonants and vowels between the meaning group and the meaning group, it cannot be read continuously.

Is it a hat or a cat? (Linking between hat and or is not allowed)

There is a good book in my desk.

Can you speak English or French? (English and or not linked)

Shall we meet at 8 or 10 tomorrow morning? (In case of at, eight and or cannot be linked)

She opened the door and went in.

Second, incomplete blasting.

When reading a sentence or some words aloud, the plosive sounds /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ don't need to be blown out in some cases, that is to say, the airflow doesn't have to break through the obstacles, but the vocal organs form obstacles in the mouth, and immediately transition to the following sounds after a pause. This phenomenon is called incomplete blasting.

Consonant plosives or fricatives are followed by plosives, fricatives, fricatives, etc. , the consonant in front will lose its blasting.

Incomplete blasting can occur inside words, such as bla (ck) board, foo (t) ball, ke (p) t and so on. The consonant phonemes /k/, /t/, /p/ corresponding to the consonant letters in brackets pause for a moment without making any sound. It may also happen between the lines.

For example: sit down, contact lens pie, dad hug me for good night.

Incomplete blasting occurs between two adjacent words in many cases.

(1) When any two blasting sounds are adjacent, the previous one loses blasting. Such as a double (g) car, etc.

(2) When there is a fricative sound /f/, /s/,//,//after any blasting sound, the previous blasting sound loses blasting. Like I never said it.

③ When the blasting sound is followed by /t/, /d/, /tr/ and /dr/, the previous blasting sound loses blasting. For example, the change of grea(t (t) and so on.

④ When the blasting sound is followed by /m/, /n/ and /l/, the previous blasting sound loses blasting. For example, more expensive bi(t) and so on.

There are 3 pairs of 6 popping sounds /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

Note: there is a consonant after the blasting sound, which makes the blasting sound read lightly, indicating that the blasting sound is not completely lost. For example, bedroom is pronounced as [be(d)ru:m], in which d is lighter to read.

Let's look at specific examples:

(1) Type of "blasting sound+blasting sound"

When any two of the six blasting sounds are in phase, the first blasting sound will lose its explosiveness, that is, the related pronunciation organs will make this pronunciation posture, and after a short pause, the following blasting sound will be issued.

The girl in a red coat is riding on a black bike.

The bus from the factory was crowded with people.

What time does he get up every morning?

This is an old photo of a motorcycle.

This word also has a letter.

We will go to work on the farm next Tuesday.

What do you want, tea or coffee?

It's cold today, but it's also a good day.

You can put it in the garden.

I bought a good book, but it is a good book.

(2) "Blasting sound+rubbing sound" type

If there is a blasting sound in front, followed by some rubbing sounds (such as /f/, /s/,//,etc.). ), then the blasting sound in front is only a slight blasting, and the fricative sound in the back is completely blasted.

Third, turbidity

The unvoiced consonants after 1 and [S] should be voiced.

Discussion: [k] Turbidity becomes [g]

Position: [t] turbidity becomes [d]

Expression: [p] turbidity

In American English, [t] becomes [d] in the middle of words.

For example:

Writer, sounds like rider.

Letter ladder

Go out from ...

In order to save trouble, Americans and Canadians are used to voiced sounds, especially [t] will definitely be pronounced as [d] in the middle of words, but English pronunciation will not be like this, which is also a big difference between British and American pronunciation. Understanding this turbidity principle will bring some help to listening.

Fourth, weak reading.

Weak reading refers to the weakening of vowels and phonemes. It refers to the phenomenon that vowels and phonemes in a word can't be pronounced completely and standard, but in spoken language they become other vowels with weak intensity because they speak too fast or are not emphasized in sentences. For example, vowel phoneme [i:] is sometimes weakened to [i] and can be further weakened to [].

Many words in English have two or more different pronunciations because of the weakening of vowels. One of them is strong reading, and the other one or more are weak reading. When a word is read alone or emphasized in a coherent sentence, the pronunciation of the word is strong. Phonetic symbols in dictionaries and textbooks are generally strong.

When a word is in a coherent sentence and is not the main meaning of the sentence, its pronunciation is often weak when it is not stressed. This kind of weak reading is what we call vowel weakening, also called weak reading. Dictionaries or textbooks generally do not mark weak words or only mark a few weak words, but people's hearing always hears changed weak words, not the standard pronunciation in books. I often hear people complain that the English spoken by foreigners is often different from the pronunciation taught by teachers! One of the important reasons is that teachers teach the standard pronunciation of words, while foreigners speak the weak pronunciation of words in some contexts. Weak reading is also one of the most basic and common problems in listening.

Generally speaking:

Emphasize notional words, such as verbs, nouns and adverbs;

Weak reading of function words, such as prepositions and pronouns.

The rule of weak reading is generally: vowel syllables are weakened into [] or [].

For example, the following words: for/to/some/does/of.

If you look up these words in the dictionary, you will find that they all have at least two pronunciations, such as for: stress [] and weak [].

Note: some sounds in English belong to the category of weak reading in the stream, such as H and W, which are often read very weakly or even can't be read. Therefore, for one more can be pronounced as fr n m:. Of course, it is impossible to read continuously when "one" is emphasized.

To be exact, "swallowing sound" should be called "falling off", that is, reading is gone. In this way, the pronunciation of words will be very different from pronunciation, and so will Chinese. For example, "tofu douf" u often says "douf" u is gone, "we wom" en, and northerners often say "wom" en is gone. The phenomenon of English "falling off" is more serious, and some people even pass CET-6 but can't understand foreigners. That's the reason. For example, "one" is often said to be "Z" weakened; Go for a walk is pronounced as [gu f w:lk] or even pronounced as [gu f w:lk], and it falls off to varying degrees.

The weakening of vowels follows the step rule:

1) The first step of vowel weakening, if a vowel is not weakened too much, it is only changed to a vowel one level lower than it. For example, [I:] can be weakened to [I]. For example, the word he[hi:] is actually pronounced as [hi] in daily spoken language, not completely [hi:]. As long as you listen to the tapes carefully, or experience your own pronunciation when you speak oral English at a natural speed, you will find this.

Similarly, the weakening forms of other vowels in the first step are: [U:] weakened to [U], [C:] weakened to [C], [:] weakened to [[], [ei] weakened to [i] and so on.

Weakening in this case will not feel obvious differences in hearing because of minor changes, so it does not constitute obvious hearing impairment. Therefore, the weakening of the first step can not cause hearing loss.

2) The second step of weakening is that all vowels can become [[] sounds after weakening to a certain extent, which makes vowels weaken to a greater extent. This is the weakening state of all vowels, so this [[] sound is the most expressive form of weak sounds. For example:

Words that mean from to are

Strong formula [fc:] [FRC: m] [tu:] [sqm] [am] [du:] [hav] [dqz]

Weak formula [f] [fr [m] [t] [s [m] [[m] [d] [h [v] [d [z]

When vowels weaken into the second step, the pronunciation is completely different from the original standard pronunciation, which is the main weak sound form that causes hearing loss.

3) In the third step of weakening, vowel phonemes disappear due to excessive weakening. The weakening at this stage can be regarded as a kind of aphonia. This situation often appears in long sentences and weak words that speak too fast. For example, the weak reading form of for has another form besides [f], namely [fr]. The above-mentioned weak reading form [fr[m] for him came into being. The specific weakening process can be expressed as:

(1)[fC:rim] [h] is decomposed, that is, the light consonant [h] disappears due to weakening, making the two words read together.

(2) The [C:] in [f [r [m] for and [I:]he is weakened to [[]. At this time, the pronunciation of this word for him is the same as the weak pronunciation of the word forum.

(3) The [C:] sound in [fr [m] for disappears completely due to weakening. At this time, the pronunciation of this word to him is the same as the weak pronunciation of the word from.

Note: vowel weakening has reached the third step, and the actual pronunciation has been unrecognizable compared with the standard sound. It is for this reason that many people still can't understand why there are such words even after listening to the tape repeatedly.

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Five, aphonia

A major obstacle to listening is the loss of sound, that is, the sound is not read out. Several main aphonia phenomena in listening include the loss of the same or similar sounds, the loss of plosive sounds, the loss of suffix phonemes at the end of sentences and aphonia caused by abbreviations.

1) When two identical or similar phonemes and phonemes with the same pronunciation position are adjacent (included in a word), the former phoneme is silent.

For example: What does a man mean? [Matt (North) Michigan]

Officials say there will be a parade. [E fifel(z)sei TZE wEl bi E pe5 rei(d)]

The boy is coming into the room. It varies from ...

Clothes ice cream seller

2) Blasting loss refers to the loss of blasting sound. If there are two plosives [p], [b], [t], [d], [k] and [], which appear in the same word or at the end of the previous word and the beginning of the next word, the previous consonant phoneme only forms an obstacle according to its pronunciation position and does not explode. After a short interval, it immediately transitions to the pronunciation position of the latter sound and explodes. This phenomenon is called throwing explosion.

Like sit down -à si(t)down, it seems that no one can pronounce the [t] sound of sit completely, and this sound will almost certainly be lost forever.

Sometimes the beginning of the last word is not necessarily a plosive sound, but other consonants can also cause the loss of the plosive sound at the end of the previous word. Such as good night-goo (d) good night, contact lenses -à Conta (CT) lenses.

The phenomenon of missing explosion occurs not only between two words, but also within the same word, for example, English à en (g) lish, friendly à friend (d) ly handbag and so on.

3) Consonant phonemes located at the end of a sentence are generally read lightly or not. Such examples can be seen everywhere in listening.

4) Abbreviation is to connect two or more adjacent words by omitting some letters when writing, and to read a word after omitting some corresponding phonemes when speaking. We call the writing form of abbreviation abbreviation, and the sound change caused by abbreviation is called abbreviation.

For example: I am [bi am]-à I am [BIM] you have [ju: hav]-à [ju: v]