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Part 3: Segments, Transformations & Rhymes

3A Segmenting

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Segmenting is the act of breaking speech down into its component parts. You can segment speech down into syllables, and you can segment syllables into elemental sounds. In this exercise, you are going to practice segmenting in your head, without the aid of writing out the symbols. This will develop your capacity to distinguish the elemental sounds intuitively, as well as your capacity to hold speech in your short term auditory memory at high fidelity. Use single words from forvo.com to start, then try to catch phrases from full speech using audacity. Be sure to not let the spelling of a word interfere with your hearing. Take the sounds for what they are, and try to hear each sound in sequence. When articulating voiceless consonants, try to NOT use any voice (e.g. "t" instead of "tuh"). Practice for at least 15 minutes. Then when you think you got the hang of it, record yourself doing 5 new words/phrases on the fly, so we can see how you segmenting live, and share your recording to #articulation along with a brief description of how you found the experience.

3B Transforming

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After segment speech in your head, the next level of mastery involves transforming that speech in your head. If the "form" of a word refers to its component sounds and the sequence in which they occur, then "trans-forming" is about changing the components or sequence. For example, here are the three most common "transformations" of my name: i - daʊ - sa - Replace the /aʊ/ with an /oʊ/: i - doʊ - sa - Replace the /i/ with an /aɪ/: aɪ - doʊ - sa - Replace the /s/ with a /z/: i - daʊ - za - Replace the first two syllables and replace with "ai - də - ho": ai - də - hoʊ - sa In addition to "Replacement", you can also transform through "Addition" and "Subtraction". Here are examples of Addition/Subtraction transformations on the word "Mimic Method" mɪ - mɪk - mɛ - θɪd - Add an /s/ to the beginning of syllables 1 and 3: smɪ - mɪk* - smɛ - θɪd* - Subtract the stop consonants: mɪ - mɪ - mɛ - θɪ Transforming in our head further develops our capacity to intuitively and accurately capture sounds in our working auditory memory. It's challenging at first, but with practice you can learn to do it very quickly. In this exercise, you will record a separate loom video performing the following transformations on five random words in Forvo: - Add the /ʃ/ consonant ("sh" in "shoe") in front of the first syllable (3 words/phrases) - Replace all the vowels (fixed & moving) with /i/ (3 words/phrases) - Subtract the first consonant of every syllable (3 words/phrases) Then for the last three, do a transformation of your own choice. Then post recording to #articulation, indicating what your chosen transformation was, and how you found the exercise.

3C Rhyming

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The video below is from a course I made on how to freestyle in any language. You already saw the first video "Rhythm is the container." This one explains what rhyme is and its relevance to us as language learners. Watch the video, then share what you found most interesting about it to the #learn channel, then reply on the post of the person who posted before you.

BONUS Rhyme Stacking & Flowing

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In the video below, I demonstrate how to build a Rhyme stack by analyzing the poetry of a song. Then I demonstrate how to read freestyle with the rhyming words to a beat. Watch the video through to see how I do it, then try it yourself. If you're up to share a flow to the group, record a loom and share to #articulation.