Contrasts and Complaints in Conversation:
Uses of the Bookended Narrow-Pitch Pattern
Lesson Plan (#2 in the Dialog-Prosody series. See http://www.cs.utep.edu/nigel/patterns/)
Nigel Ward, December 2 2014
Objective: introduce a useful pattern, for students to learn to recognize and to produce
Audience: intermediate to advanced
Duration: 20-30 minutes, for a class of 12
Intro
Write on board today’s theme, “Beyond Words,” and then just jump into it
Contrast
Do a two-handed puppet show:
A: let’s go hiking someday
B: sure. How about tomorrow? The weather forecast says it will be warm.
A: yes. You know, it’s also supposed to be windy.
Ask them, what’s A doing here? (making a contrast)
And how does he do it? (the words, but also the prosody).
Write on the board the third sentence
Add underlining to show the narrow-pitch region, on it’s also supposed to be
(explain what pitch is, if necessary)
Have the class, one by one, perform the contrast statement.
Say, now let’s change the context. (Change hiking to kite-flying on the board.)
Then perform it again.
Ask them, what’s different about the last sentence this time? (no contrast now, different prosody)
Moral: it’s in the prosody.
Diagram on the board, showing the approximate pitch line
(note that, technically, it’s 400ms+, but there’s no need to time it out, just mimic me)
Contradiction
Do another puppet show:
A. I love you
B. You just love the cookies I make for you.
(diagram the pitch )
Ask them what’s happening here (contrast, contradiction)
Announce “I will now give everyone a green dot. Make sure you get a green dot.”.
Go around handing out blue dots. Hopefully they will spontaneously produce a sentence using
this prosodic feature to show the contradiction. If they need help, write a sample on the board,
e.g.:
A. (Instructor) Here is a green dot for you.
B. Professor, you gave me a blue dot. (desired response)
or
Professor, that’s not a blue dot
Professor, thank you for the green dot.
(this last is clever, since lexically there’s no contradiction, but it’s still clear)
Announce a new game: cotradiction spotting.
Load up “Nine Bowls of Soup” (at Youtube).
Tell them to raise a finger when they hear a contradiction or contrast.
Play it.
“but you don’t have any friends” at 28 seconds is a clear contradiction.
(others possibly too)
If they don’t notice any, stop at 50 seconds and then go back to 15 and replay.
Have them sing that line.
Complaining
Tell them their task is to identify the activity that I will perform: raise your hand when you
know.
Banter with someone.
Instructor: Are you a student here?
Student: yes (presumably)
Instructor: that’s nice. Students always think the faculty have an easy life,
But for me the thing I can’t stand is the parking situation.
It seems that when I get here after ten, there’s never any spaces near my building.
And some spaces are too small.
And some are too large.
Ask them: okay, so what activity was I doing? (complaining).
Have them pair up
1. Each person picks something to complain about, and practices
2. Then in turns they perform for the class
Explain the phonetics:
it’s not just global narrowness
(illustrate how constantly-narrow pitch just sounds cold or uninvolved.)
so it’s aptly called the “bookended narrow” construction,
Announce another game, where your job is to tell me what sentence I’m starting.
Write on the board the two sentences below (without underlining).
1. “I don’t like to complain, because I like to be positive.
2. “I don’t like to complain, but the parking’s really terrible.”
Perform just the first clause of #2. Ask them which it was going to be.
Note again that the prosody tells you more than just the words.
Then draw the underlining, and again say “bookended narrow pitch”.
Note that also, the first bookend is not only wide pitch, but also loud and fast.
Have them pair up,
each pair lists up factors that makes it okay to complain about something; or not okay.
Tell them “some people think you should never complain. They’re always positive. But
sometimes it is appropriate. Can anyone give examples of when or why?
Probably they’ll talk about
-
establishing empathy,
being honest/trusting with friends,
soliciting help with problems,
finding whether you’re right to be unhappy, or just being silly.
Ask them, in their native language do people complain more less than in English?
If no reply, suggest that in Spanish people use complaints more, and in Japanese less.
Then ask again about their language.
Review
Pattern: bookended narrow-pitch regions
Uses: contrasts, contradictions, and complaints. (But be careful about how often.)
File location: http://www.cs.utep.edu/nigel/narrow-pitch/lesson-plan.docx
University of Texas at El Paso