Literally Communication

Some general principles which are useful as guidelines for all kinds of communication are stated below.

PRINCIPLE 1: Be aware of the importance of communication.
Communication is like breathing. Life is impossible if we stopped breathing, yet we pay little attention to this activity, taking it entirely for granted.

Communication is just as important for sustaining life as breathing, yet it too is something that we usually take for granted. However, the need for proper communication is so great in the modern world that we can no longer afford to take it for granted. Communication education has become as necessary as health education; in fact, the health of a society is, to a great extent, dependent on the quality of communication among its members.

Many people think that the ability to communicate is an inborn talent. However, it is possible to develop the skills of communication through effort and understanding of the principles involved.

When we communicate, our personal experience and view of the world have a strong influence on the messages that we form in our minds and communicate to others. Each one of us sees the world through a mental filter, which colors our communication.

The sender sees the world through one set of filters and the receiver sees it through a different set. Each message has to pass, therefore, through two sets of filters.

The filters aren't only mental or psychological, but they can also be cultural. For example, an American sees the world differently from an Indian, because of cultural filters.

Language itself acts as a filter, because each language forces its users to view the world differently.

A filter can sometimes be so powerful that it blocks or prevents communication altogether. The filter then turns into a barrier.

Syllable Word: A one syllable word is never divided. It has one or more letters but one vowel sound, and is produced by a single voice impulse.

VCV: When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, the word is usually divided before the consonant and the first vowel is long.

VCV: When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, the word is usually divided after the consonant and the first vowel is short.

Division Process: Cross off silent e (if there is one at the end). Mark the vowels V. Mark the consonants between the vowels C. Determine correct syllable pattern. Divide. Identify syllable types/vowel condition. Pronounce each syllable and blend the word. Have you divided correctly? Are there other possibilities? If yes, start over.

Prefix/Suffix: When a word has a prefix and/or suffix, the word is divided between the affix and the root.

Simple Ten Syllable Rules:
The top ten syllable rules will help students improve reading, pronunciation, and spelling accuracy. Applying these syllabication rules will also help readers identify prefixes, roots and affixes, which improves word identification.

Intonation Patterns in English:

When we speak to each other, our voices tend to rise or fall in pitch over a part of an utterance. This rise or fall in pitch is known as intonation. Intonation is used mainly to indicate the speaker's attitude towards the listener or towards the topic.

1. Syllable Stress
   
   The emphasis that is given (through greater breath force) to any particular syllable in a word is known as stress. In all polysyllabic words, one of the syllables receives greater stress than the others. The syllable in a word which receives stress is called the stressed syllable. All other syllables are known as unstressed syllables. The stressed syllable is shown in many dictionaries, by a short vertical mark which is placed above and just ahead of the first letter or the first IPA symbol.
2. Stress Shift
   
   The migration or movement of the stress from one syllable to another in related words is known as stress shift.
3. Stress Variation
   
   Certain pairs of words like 'conduct', 'desert', 'object', 'present', 'rebel', etc have the same spelling but belong to different grammatical classes. Such words can be used as noun or verbs. However, there is a shift in stress in these words. When they are used as nouns, the stress is on the first syllable and when used as verbs, they are stressed on the second syllable.
4. Stress Patterns in Compound Words
   
   In compound nouns, the stress is on the first part. (blackbird, greenhouse)
   In compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part. (good-natured, old-fashioned)
   In compound verbs, the stress is on the second part. (understand, overflow)
5. Stress Pattern in Sentences (Sentence Rhythm)
   
   Sentences, like words, have stressed as well as unstressed syllables. Stress is put on words which give us the main information, while the words which are not important for meaning are left unstressed. This pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in sentences gives English speech its typical rhythm.
   
   English words can be divided into two categories: content words and structure words.
   
   Content words are usually stressed, while structure words are usually unstressed and reduced.
   
   Content words:
   - Nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs
   - Demonstrative pronouns
   - Question words in a question
   
   Structure words:
   - Pronouns, prepositions, articles auxiliary verbs and determiners.
6. Stress-timed and Syllable-timed languages
   
   When the stressed syllables are close to each other, the rate of speaking slows down, but when the stressed syllables are far apart, the rate of speaking becomes faster.
   
   English is called a stress-timed language because the time taken to speak a sentence depends on the number of stressed syllables and not on the total number of syllables.
   
   Languages such as Hindi, Oriya, etc., on the other hand are called syllable-timed languages, because the time taken to go from one syllable to the next, whether stressed or unstressed, is always the same. The time taken to speak a sentence depends on the total number of syllables and not on the number of stressed syllables, as in English.
   
   English, therefore, has a very different rhythm from Indian languages. To an English ear, Indian languages have a sing-song rhythm (like the sound of chanting mantras), while to the Indian ear, English has a staccato rhythm (like the sound of a machine gun).
7. Contrastive Stress in Sentences
   
   Stress is not always pre-determined, and can be moved from the normal position in a sentence. When stress is placed on other syllables, which do not normally take stress, special meanings can be created (mostly depicting the emotional state and intention of the  speaker).

A syllable is a cluster of sounds which forms either a complete word having a meaning
(example - red),or a part of it (example - the syllable 'ab', which forms part of the word 'absent').

Normally, each syllable contains only one vowel. Typically, this word is preceded as well as followed by a consonant - as in words such as 'red', 'cat', 'sad', etc. Here the vowel comes in the middle of the syllable.

A syllable in which there is a consonant in front of it as well as after it is represented by the formula CVC (where 'C' represents Consonant and 'V' represents Vowel).

However, a syllable can also have the structure CV or VC. It is also possible for a syllable to have the structure CCV or VCC.

It is possible to form new words from given words by adding extra syllables.

Words such as 'red', 'rod', 'bad', etc are said to be monosyllabic words, containing only one syllable.

The words that we have looked so far were monosyllabic words. But words can have two, three, four or even more syllables. Such words are called polysyllabic words.

Syllable Division:

Referring to an English dictionary, we can find all the polysyllabic words along with their meanings. They are split up into the syllables they contain. The syllable boundaries are usually shown by dots.