Visualizing Air Pressure
So far, we’ve learned to notice and feel the aspects of speech timing, pitch, and articulation. The final aspect of speech to consider is that of air pressure.
When we intake air into our bodies, the air particles push on the walls of our lungs and vocal tract. This pushing force is known as “pressure”, and the intensity of this pressure varies.
We can feel pressure in the various parts of our own bodies, and we feel the pressure in other people’s bodies by hearing their speech. This of course all happens unconsciously, but as always, we can become conscious of these dynamics and use our awareness to improve our listening and pronunciation.
First, let’s get a visualization of ai pressure at the most basic level - in the function of breathing.
Pressure Dynamics in Phonemes
Practicing Air Pressure Combos
Often what trips people up in pronunciation is the pressure dynamics of certain combinations of sounds. The PDF below provides a comprehensive list of possible combination. Practicing and recognizing each as a category will help you identify and reproduce them in speech, leading to a smoother listening and speaking experience.
Pressure Combos.pdf36.1KB
Segmenting with Pressure (Words)
We’ve already practice segmenting speech into its component sounds. In the process, however, we totally left out any consideration of air pressure mechanics.
This is problematic, because as we’ve discussed, air pressure is an essential aspect of speech, so if it’s left out of the practice, then we’re not practicing full reality.
What you will learn and practice now is a more challenging, but more complete form of segmenting. Once you know how to segment this way, it will be much easier for you to pick up new words and phrases with smooth and authentic pronunciation.
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Segmenting with Pressure (Speech)
The value of this new segmenting technique is most apparent in the context of real speech. You will bring up a youtube video, put the playback speed at either .25x or .50x, grab a phrase, echo it, then segment it in this way.
In doing so, you will find that the phrase becomes much more clear in your listening, even when brought back up to full speed. The more you practice this skill on real speech, the better you will get at it. The better you get at it, the easier time you will have comprehending fast speech.