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Book B11: Fluency and Moment-to-Moment Speech Production

Fluency and Moment-to-Moment Speech Production

Fluency and Moment-to-Moment Speech Production
By Prof. Kev Nair

"Fluency and Moment-to-Moment Speech Production teaches you in a systematic way the techniques of building speech from moment to moment as you speak along."
The New Indian Express.

Please note: This book is not sold separately. It is available for sale only as part of Fluentzy: The English Fluency Encyclopedia.


Sample pages from this book


Moment-to-moment speech production

If you want to be fluent in producing long sequences of speech, there’s a basic skill you must have: The skill of composing speech and uttering it at the same time. That is, the skill of moment-to-moment speech production. Of course, you must have this skill not only for producing long sequences, but also for producing short sequences, too. But this skill has a greater role in producing long sequences than in producing short sequences.

By now, you already have a sound theoretical knowledge of speech-composition features and moment-to-moment speech production. You have already had considerable oral training, too. It is now time for you to get some more intensive training in moment-to-moment speech production. But before going through the practice materials given below, go carefully through Lessons 5, 7 and 8 once again.

Life-giving elements of spoken English
Now remember this: What gives life to a spoken language is the presence of speech-composition features. Yes, features like starting-troubles, false-starts, repetition of syllables, repetition of words and word groups, incomplete structures, unfinished word groups, pauses, pause-fillers, reformulations, refinements, rearrangements, back-tracking, looseness in packing information etc. If these features are absent, your speech will have no life in it, and it won’t even sound like spoken language. What is more, if you try to avoid these features, you won’t be able to speak on either.

Go through the following three pieces of spoken texts:

1) I was going that way + and I saw a - a picture + in a shop + th - the picture of a – Chinese – net + you know + a very beautiful picture + and I wanted to buy it + but :– I didn’t – didn’t have any money on me then + no + actually + I had some money + but not much + anyway it wasn’t – wasn’t enough for the – for the – picture. (= When I was going that way, I saw a very beautiful picture of a chinese net in a shop. I wanted to buy it. But I did not have enough money for buying it).

2) There was a - There was a huge – m structure + you know : – they call it the dome + oh it’s amazing + the way they have built it. (= There was a huge structure called ‘the dome’ there. The way they have built it is amazing).

3) She wanted this – this new book + and as she - she picked it up + then there was another man there who + he wanted it too + and this man said + I’ve - I’ve already reserved it + and he – sort of started shouting + and he made a scene there. (= She wanted this new book, and as she picked it up, another man who was there, and who also wanted the book, said that he had already reserved it, and he started shouting and making a scene).

The materials within the brackets are the written English equivalents of the materials outside the brackets. And the materials outside the brackets are spoken English texts. Look at the difference between each spoken English text and its written English equivalent. Now don’t you see? The chief difference between a spoken English text and its written English equivalent is this: The spoken English text contains features of speech-composition. The written English equivalent does not. So the lesson you must learn is this: If you take away speech-composition features from a spoken text, it ceases to be a spoken text.

A common mistake
The trouble with most non-fluent people is this: They believe that the word groups that a fluent speaker produces are similar to those within the brackets. When they aim at spoken English fluency, their aim is to gain the skill of producing word groups similar to those within brackets. That is, they try to produce written English word groups orally. No wonder they don’t become fluent in speech.

What they must try to produce orally is a sequence of oral (spoken) English word groups, and not a sequence of written English word groups. Only then can they become fluent in oral (spoken) English. And oral (spoken) English word groups are similar to those outside the brackets (in the three examples given above), and not those within the brackets.

Speech-composition features & duration of speech
Remember one thing — always, whenever you open your mouth to speak. Yes, whenever. Without the help of speech-composition features, nobody can produce speech — orally. Nobody can. Not even a fluent native speaker of English.

In fact, whenever a fluent speaker speaks, 30% to 50% of the speaking time is taken up by pauses, hesitations and other speech-composition features. Yes, 30% to 50% of the speaking time! Yes, when a well-educated native speaker of English speaks, the information content of his speech takes up only about 50% to 70% of the speaking time. The rest of the time is taken up by pauses, hesitations and other speech-composition features.

It is this duration of time (taken up by speech-composition features) that gives fluency to the production of the information content. And so if you don’t spend 30% to 50% of your speaking time to speech-composition features, you won’t be able to produce the information content fluently. No.

So speech-composition features are an essential part of a spoken language — particularly spoken English. But listeners don’t consciously notice the speech-composition features. They don’t keep track of the time that the speaker spends on the process of spontaneous speech-composition. Everybody unconsciously accepts the speech-composition features in their native speech as an integral part of the speech content. That’s why people don’t consciously notice the presence of these features in speech.

In fact, most people are not aware that 30% to 50% of the speaking time is taken up by speech-composition features alone — though everyone makes use of these features to speak in their native language. That’s why when a non-native speaker tries to produce a foreign language orally, he tries to fill the whole of his speaking time with information content alone. And he does not spend any time on speech-composition features. The result is that he fails to speak fluently — though he may be highly educated in that foreign language and has a good command of its grammar and vocabulary.
You are not going to commit this mistake. From now on, make it a point to spend 30% to 50% of your speaking time for getting help from speech-composition features.

Spoken English texts
What follows is a collection of spoken English texts. Each text (stretch of speech) is divided into chunks, and each text contains speech-composition features. As you know, there’s no rigid rule about where exactly to divide a stretch of language into chunks. There are only guidelines — practical guidelines. You are free to divide a stream of speech virtually anywhere — depending on the needs of the “on-the -spot-speech-composition” process.

Go through each text carefully. Identify the speech-composition features found in each text. Notice how different in form each text would have been if the speech-composition features had not been present. Notice how different the written-English equivalent of each text would be.

Read each text ALOUD — making full use of the speech-composition features. Repeat several times. Here we go:

• The place + it looks really - dirty + in the rainy season + I mean + gutters and - pools of mud + and everything. • He’s a very able man + I’ve noticed that + I mean + m – just from the point of view of his – mastery of law + and – looking at the way he - explains things + he grasps things quickly + and prepares himself - thoroughly + before coming to the Court. • At the next junction + about th - two furlongs from here + you’ve got – m – well it’ll be a bit expensive + but it’s a good hotel. • It go – goes to the – comes from the other side. • It takes a – it’s about a ten-mile-drive from here. • You would love the place + the buildings + the parks + the playgrounds + but it is the - backwaters + you can hire a boat and + and – it’ll be really be enj – fantastic. • In a place where – : – places like these + if we have – if you have a small - shop + or something like that + you can make money + a very busy place + this – bus stop + railway station + and all that. • Abraham Lincoln + it’s very interesting actually + there’s a story about Lincoln where + one day Lincoln was… • And one of them + he was m – a fat fellow you know + m - bulky + and - m – he was in that chair + oh - and the other man came in + through that door. • Di - did - oh - you went there + didn’t you? • They kept it in – they have a big iron safe + they put it away safely. • Oh the – she says + they didn’t complete it she says. • I met her husband there + John + that’s right + and John told me the + when he started the business + that was years back + he didn’t have much money with him – then. • She filled up the form + and dropped it in the - box + and the office people + on the last day + she dropped it on the last day + and their – they got it on the last day. • Some of these people + they - you can easily convince them. • He quarrels with everybody + yes + and criticizes everybody + and this sort of thing happens whenever you – whenever you meet him. • He was so interested in – in this thing that – you see + this was his hobby + and he – he used to spend thousands of rupees every year + buying books, tools and things.

 

End of sample content

 

  

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