Prosody in conversation – crucial for effective communication?
Wednesday 22nd October 2025, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (London Time)
In this course, we will take an introductory look at what prosody is and consider its functions in natural everyday dialogue.
The term ‘prosody’ describes the musical aspects of speech: pitch, loudness, time, and voice quality. Pitch includes intonation (the constantly changing melody of speech, such as when asking a question with rising intonation) and pitch register (the momentary lowering or lifting of pitch overall, such as when using higher pitch to greet a friend). Loudness manifests on single syllables as stress (such as contrast vs. contrast), but speakers also change their overall loudness, for example, when interrupting another speaker. Time includes speech tempo (for example, speaking faster to avoid being interrupted), syllable length (for example, lengthening a word to give it extra emphasis), speech rhythm (for example, speaking very fluently and without delay), and silence (for example, delaying an answer when disagreeing). Voice quality can be, for example, creaky (‘vocal fry’), harsh, breathy, or whispered. Each voice quality has a different function in conversation.
We will examine each of these with video recordings of everyday talk and show how they contribute to small but very meaningful changes to how we communicate.
🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available
Beatrice Szczepek Reed
Beatrice Szczepek Reed is Professor of Linguistics at King’s College London, where she is the Co-Director of the Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication. Beatrice studies spoken language, particularly the phonetics and phonology of natural conversation.
Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
Learn MoreSorry, this is an archived short course...
We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.
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2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
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5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
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Tuesday 9th December 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
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