Smart Accent

Unit Seven: Sentence Focus: De-emphasizing structure words

2010-08-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

This Online Audio Course is adopted from: Clear Speech Student's Book: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in American English, 3rd Edition

F: Saying common expression with contraction
listen and repeat these common friendly greetings and expressions. Each one contains a contraction.

1. What's new?                      5. What's up?
2. How're you doing?             6. What'll you have? (to eat or drink)
3. How's it going?                   7. It;s great to see you!
4. How've you been?              8. I don't believe it!

G: Linking in common expressions
Some of the words in these common expressions link together. For example, the final /z/ sound in "how's" connects with the vowel sound in "it" so that the two words wound like one word , " howzit."

Listen and notice how some of the words in these expressions link together.

1. How's it going?                       Howzit going?

2. What's up?                Whatsup?
3. I don't believe it!         I don't believit!
Practice saying these expressions again.

H: De- emphasizing structure words: reductions

Some structure words in English are de-emphasized b reducing the vowel in the structure word to schwa. Reducing structure words in this way makes the more important words easier to notice. Words that begin with a vowel sound like "a," "an," and "or," are often linked to the final sound of the word that comes before them.

He takes a bus to work He takesə bus tə work.

listen to the way the vowels in many of the structure words are reduced to schwa. also notice how the structure words "a," "an," and "or," link to the word that comes before them.

He takes a bus to work. He takesə bus tə work
They wrote a letter to the president.
I left an umbrella in your car.
She runs or swims every day.

Patrice saying the sentences.

Note: you do not have to use reductions in your speech. However, practicing reductions will help you to understand them in other people's speech.

I: De-emphasizing structure words: Reduced "and"

The structure word "and" is de-emphasized by reducing it to /ən/. The vowel sound is reduced to schwa, and the letter -d- is silent. The schwa sound in "and" is also linked to the final sound of the word that comes before it.

When "and" is reduced, the word before it and the word after it are easier to notice.

Cream and sugar     Creamən sugar

Listen to the way"and" is reduced and linked to the word that comes before it.

cream and sugar              creamən sugar
me~~n a~~nd women              menən women
rock and roll rockən roll

K: De emphasizing structure words: Silent letter -h-

Pronouns like "he" and "her" that   begin with the letter -h- are reduced by making the -h- silent. The vowel sound after the silent -h- links with the word that comes before it. For example, the question "is he" usually sound like "Izzy"

Is He?

Listen. Notice how the beginning -h- in each pronoun is silent. Also notice how the vowel in the pronoun links over the silent -h- to the word that comes before it.

What's her name? Whatser name?
Call him. Callim
I can't reach her. I can't reacher.
Matt lost his jacket. Matt lostiz jacket.
Will he be there?
Has anyone seen him?

Note: When a pronoun beginning in -h- is the first word in a sentence , the -h- is not silent. For example, the -h- is not silent in the sentence "he's going"

Practice saying the sentences.

Unit Six: Sentence Focus: Emphasizing content words

2010-08-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

This online course is adapted from:Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in North American English (Second Edition) (Student's Book)

B: Emphasizing a word
Listen to these sentences and notice how the underlined words are easier to her that the other words.

We'll be arriving tomorrow.
You look great.
She lives in Toronto now.
Is the baby walking yet?
Follow that car!

D: Music of English

Listen to these sentences and notice how the focus words are emphasized. The stressed syllable of each focus word has a change n pitch and a long, clear vowel.

You look confused!

That's because I lost my glasses.

Listen again. Practice saying the sentences until you can say them smoothly and easily.

G: Emphasizing the focus word

The focus words in these sentences are underlined. Each or these focus words is a different category of content word.

Listen to the sentences and hear how the focus words are emphasized.

My cat eats fish
He loves it
But only fresh fish
he eats slowly
I don't know why he eats that way.

Practice saying the sentences.

Unit Five: Word Stress Patterns

2010-08-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

This online course is adapted from:Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in North American English (Second Edition) (Student's Book)

B: Review: Identifying stressed syllables

Listen. Underline the stressed syllable in each word. Remember that the vowel in the stressed syllable is extra long and extra clear.

hamburger           extremely refrigerate    electric
cookies               accurate                     refrigerator     electrical
pizza dinner refrigeration electrification

F: Pronouncing two clear vowels together
When two vowels are next to each other in a word, but in separate syllables, they are both clear. Usually , the second clear vowel has the stress, so it is longer.

Listen and repeat these words.

biology (biology )             piano   (piano)            reaction          (reaction )
reality                                geography                    geology
create                                recreation                    association

G: Stress in two- syllable nouns and verbs

The following two- syllable words have a noun form and a verb form.

Listen and underline the stressed syllables. Which syllable is stressed for the nouns? which syllable is stressed for the verbs?

     Noun                       Verb

record record
object object
permit permit
suspect suspect
import import
rebel rebel
present present
conflict conflict
insult insult

Practice saying the noun and verb form of each word.

Read this rule.

Stress Rule for Two-Syllable verb forms

When a two-syllable word can be used as a noun or a verb, the verb form is usually stressed on the second syllable.

H: Which word do you hear?

Listen. Identify the word you hear.

Noun Verb

contract contract
export export
progress progress
reject reject
transport transport
present present
conflict conflict
convert convert

J: Music of English

Listen to the following sentences.

Do they suspect him?

Yes, He's a suspect.

Listen again. Then say the sentences at least three times, until you can say them easily, like a little song.

N: The spelling -ow- pronounced /a(w)/ as in "cow"

As you learned in Unit 4, the letters -ow- are usually pronounced with the sound /o(w)/ as in "know" and "show" . But sometimes -ow- is pronounced with a different vowel sound , /a(w)/ as in "cow".

Listen and repeat these words.

Cow /a(w)/

now brown

how crowd

down allow

town towel

gown powder

Practice saying these sentences.

These town is very crowded.
Please hand me the brown towel.
Now she understand how to do it

Unit Four: Word stress and vowel clarity

2010-08-06T03:39:00.000-07:00

This online course is adapted from:Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in North American English (Second Edition) (Student's Book)

C: The contrast between schwa and clear vowels
Listen. Notice the difference between schwa and the sound of a stressed vowel.

travel (travel) Kansas (Kansəs)
pilot (pilət) Alaska (əlaskə)
ticket (tickət) Nebraska (Nəbraskə)
pencil (pencəl) Canada (Canədə)
advice (ədvice) American (əmerəcə)

D:Saying the contrast between schwa and clear vowels
Listen. Underline the vowel in the stressed syllable of each word.

reason                                   arrange
listen                                      record
excuse                                   American
allow                                      Irish
exchange           pronounce
African                                   announce
attend                                     Spanish

F: Identifying and saying schwa
Listen . Draw a slash through the vowels that are reduced to schwa.

reduced vowel                     reduced vowels
problem dramatic
jacket economics
photograph adopted
overcast    application
extra collection

H: Identifying stress in multi-syllable words
1 attitude    5 secondary 9 constitution
2 institute    6 reconsider    10 destination
3 gratitude    7 California    11 university
4 military    8 permission 12 understand

Music of English
Listen to the following sentences.

What are you studying?

Economics.

Listen again. Then practice saying the sentences until you can say them smoothly and easily.

Bonus:

J: The vowel sounds in "can" and "can't"
Because it is important to make a contrast berween "can" and "can't", in senteces , "can't is usually said with the clear vowel sound /æ/ , but the vowel sound in "can" is usually reduced to /ə/ .

Listen to the following sentences. Notice the difference between the vowels in "can" and "can't"

We cæn't do it.

We cən do it

They said they cæn't be there

They said the cən be there.

You cæn't have mine.

You cən have mine.

Unit Three: Word stress and vowel length

2010-08-03T02:49:00.000-07:00

C Listening for vowel length

Listen. Notice how the vowel in the stressed syllable is extra long.

Canada   japan    China   America     England

Listen. Underline the stressed syllable.

sofa       around             solution              beautiful
oven           event               arrangement        horrible
painting       arrange            pollution energy
London Brazil    Atlanta    Ottawa
England Berlin    Alberta    Washington
D Saying stressed syllables

Listen and repeat these words. Pay attention to the length of the stressed syllable.

-- ------                                       ----- --
re main                                         mainly
amaze                                           soapy
arrive                                            reason
arrange                                         training
explain                                          sailing

E: Saying words with more that two syllables
-- ----- --                                     ---- -- --
attractive                                       principle
atomic                                           politics
arrangement                                  sensitive
electric                                          minister

I: Music of English
Listen these sentences

Excuse me. Where's the bank?

It's on the corner of Oater Road and selling street.

Listen again. practice saying the sentences until you can say them easily.

Pronouncing /a/, /ae/, and uh Part 2

2010-08-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

The [ä] sound is a more common sound than [æ]; you will find 10 such sounds in the practice paragraph. To pronounce [ä], relax your tongue and drop your jaw as far down as it will go. As a matter of fact, put your hand under your chin and say [mä], [pä], [tä], [sä]. Your hand should be pushed down by your jaw as it opens. Remember, it's the sound that you make when the doctor wants to see your throat.

/ae/One American English vowel sound that many non native speakers have problems with is the /ae/ sound as in the words: cat, bad and man.

To articulate this sound your tongue should be flat and very low in the front of your mouth. Your lips should be open. Many non native American English speakers us the /ɜ / sound when they should use the /ae/ sound. That means that:

* man sounds like men
* sad sounds like said
* had sounds like head

Try to pronounce these phrases using the /ae/ sound. Remember to keep your tongue low, forward and flat in your mouth with your lips open when you make the sound.

1. That was your last chance.
2. That is an angry man.
3. The bad cat made me mad.

Last is the schwa, the most common sound in American English. When you work on the practice paragraph, depending on how fast you speak, how smoothly you make liaisons, how strong your intonation is, how much you relax your sounds, you will find from 50 to 75 schwas. Spelling doesn't help identify it, because it can appear as any one of the vowels, or a combination of them. It is a neutral vowel sound, uh. It is usually in an unstressed syllable, though it can be stressed as well.

Whenever you find a vowel that can be crossed out and its absence wouldn't change the pronunciation of the word, you have probably found a schwa: photography [f'tägr'fee] (the two apostrophes show the location of the neutral vowel sounds).

Because it is so common, however, the wrong pronunciation of this one little sound can leave your speech strongly accented, even if you Americanize everything else.

Remember, some dictionaries use two different written characters, the upside down e & [^] for the neutral uh sound, but for simplicity, we are only going to use the first one.

Pronouncing /a/, /ae/, and uh Part 1

2010-08-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

æ
Let's start with the [æ] sound. Although it's not a common sound, [æ] is very distinctive to the ear, and is typically American. As its phonetic symbol indicates, [æ] is a combination of [ä] + [e].
To pronounce it, drop your jaw down as if you were going to say [ä]; then from that position, try to say eh. The final sound is not two separate vowels, but rather the end result of the combination. It is very close to the sound that a goat makes: ma-a-a-ah!
If you find yourself getting too nasal with [æ], pinch your nose as you say it. If you include the (oo) sound with it, you will have [æu] as in down or out.

ä
The [ä] sound is a more common sound than [æ]. To pronounce [ä], relax your tongue and drop your jaw as far down as it will go. As a matter of fact, put your hand under your chin and say [mä], [pä], [tä], [sä]. Your hand should be pushed down by your jaw as it opens. Remember, it's the sound that you make when the doctor wants to see your throat.
uh
Last is the schwa, the most common sound in American English. It is a neutral vowel sound, [uh]. It is usually in an unstressed syllable, though it can be stressed as well.

This lesson has been provided by Ann Cook, author of American Accent Training. Visit her website at www.americanaccent.com.

Vowels and Vowel Rules

2010-07-31T00:03:00.000-07:00

B:Alphabet vowel sounds
Listen to the names of the English vowel letters.

a,e,i,o,u

Sometimes vowel letters are pronounced like their letter names. These sounds are called the alphabet vowel sounds. The alphabet vowel sounds are pronounced with a small change in the sound ate the end. This change is called the off-glide

E: Listening to alphabet vowel sounds

Listen to the alphabet vowel sounds in these keywords.

/e(y)/           /i(y)/            /a(y)/              /o(w)/             /u(w)/
cake           tea               ice                cone              blue

Note: In some words, the alphabet vowel sound for the letter -u- is pronounced /yu(w)/ , as in "cube" . The sound /u(w)/ as om "blue", however, is is more common. In this online course, the symbol /u(w)/ will be used for both these pronunciations.

Listen to the alphabet vowel sounds in these other words.

/e(y)/            /i(y)/          /a(y)/      /o(w)/         /u(w)/
mail              leaf            lime    phone         tune

I: Relative vowel sounds

Vowel letters are not always pronounced with their alphabet vowel sounds. Often a vowel letter is pronounced with a relative vowel sound. This sound is related to the alphabet vowel sound, but it has a different sound and there is no off-glide.

Listen to the relative vowel sounds in these key words.

/æ/       /ɛ/           /I/       /a/    /ʌ/

pan     ten          is         top          cut

Listen to the relative vowel sounds in these other words.

/æ/         /ɛ/            /I/          /a/    /ʌ/

back jet     sip    lock    cup
fan French        pin         pot          jump
half           leg             kick        flock       fun
clap          send           wrist      clock       gum

J:Which word do you hear

Listen. Mark the column for the word that is different. The word that is different has a relative vowel sound.

Aid Add Aid

You will not see the words. Try to determine the relative vowel sound of each word above.

Unit One : Syllable

2010-07-30T04:16:00.000-07:00

Introducing Syllable
A
The basic unit of English rhythm is the syllable. Listen.

ease                          easy                           easily
care                          careful                        carefully
paint                         painted                       repainted
call                           recall                          recalling

C
Tapping The Syllables
Listen and repeat the words while tapping your hand or foot for each syllable.

one seven eleven identify

two sentence direction analysis

noun focus continue it's important

verb eighteen emphasis He wants a book

can't cannot syllable I have to go

D
Which word do you hear?

Listen. Circle the word you hear. ( It is recommended that you copy this exercises for you accent improvement)

mess messy
blow below
prayed parade
loud aloud
sport support
round around
claps collaps
clone cologne
state estate
squeeze excuse

K
Music of English

Listen to these sentences.

How do you spell "ease"? E-A-S-E

How do you spell "easy"? E-A-S-Y

Listen again. Say the sentences at least three times, or as many times as you need to be able to say them easily. Learn them like little songs.

M
Music of English II

Listen to the music of these sentences.

What does "easy" mean?

"Easy" means "not hard"

Listen again. Practice saying the sentences until you can say them easily.

O
Check your self: Counting syllables

Listen. Write the number of syllables over the underlined words.

This is the first city they visited when they traveled here on business .

They were so pleased that they decided to stay seven extra days.
If you have a tape recorder, record your yourself saying these sentences. Listen to hear how will you did.

American Accent Training: The role of the native language

2010-07-28T02:12:00.000-07:00

American Accent Training for ESL to Learn English with American Accent

Flege’s hypothesis places the traditional native-language-based explanations in a new light. Firstly, though, I would like to stress the following:

1) As with other aspects of language acquisition, it must apply that the more overlap between the native language and the new language, the fewer learning assignments for the learner. What is identical simply does not have to be relearned.
2) As with all other aspects of language acquisition, it must also apply that the more differences there are between the native language and the new language, the more learning assignments there are, and the longer time one must expect the learning to last.

A Vietnamese thus has a greater learning assignment when it comes to Danish as a new language than a German or a Dutchman, who can build on the many similarities between their native languages and Danish.
When beginning to acquire the new language, the learner generally tries to employ existing phonological categories from the native language - as we can also see within all other language areas. In the course of the ensuing learning process, an attempt is made to get the sounds to approach those of the new language; the greater experience with the language influences both the perception of the sounds and their production.
Unlike a traditional contrastive conception, where everything that is different is claimed to be what is difficult to learn, we arrive, according to Flege’s hypothesis, at a set of theories according to which one is perfectly well able to learn completely new sounds to perfection throughout one’s life, whereas sounds in the new language that resemble and have many shared features with sounds in the native language are extremely difficult to acquire after the age of 5-6. These sounds are made to fit the native language categorisation
It is precisely these native-language-based sound adaptations we register as an accent. The greater the overlap that exists between the sounds of the two languages, the more difficult it is to tune one’s pronunciation completely to the sounds of the new language. This has been investigated for both vowels and consonants.
Some investigations also show that the position of a sound is by no means irrelevant (Eckman 1977, 1985). German speakers, who do not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced final consonants (e.g. /b/ and /d/ as both voiced and unvoiced) have trouble in acquiring this distinction in final position in English, whereas they have no trouble in making this distinction initially and medially as this is a feature of German. For Koreans, who do not have this voicing contrast in initial, medial or final position in their native language, the prediction is that it will be hardest for them to acquire the contrast between voiced and unvoiced consonant finally, then medially, and, least difficult, initially. A hypothesis for the Danes’ struggle with the voiced stops in English would be that we find it more difficult to acquire the voiced final stop in English than the voiced initial stop in German and English.

Why is pronunciation, of all things, affected so early?

Another question to muse over is why pronunciation, of all things, it so difficult to acquire. One possible answer could perhaps be sought in what it is all about - the phonetic system.

If we have a sixth sense, it must be one of phonetic perception, as the brain researcher Anders Gade says. Phonemes are not separated by pauses when we hear them, and if our conversation partner speaks rapidly, we pick up 15 different phonemes a second. They are packed into a continuous stream of sounds, which we unpack and decode (Gade 1997:264). In terms of production, it calls for incredibly precise articulation work, not only for an individual organ but one that consists of a combination of articulatory movements carried out more or less simultaneously, where a selection is made among the approximately 100 cooperating muscles that make up the speech apparatus. This calls for motor control that is unrivalled in any other form of movement. With 15 phonemes a second, we are down to under 100 milliseconds a phoneme!
Sound reception and production thus require supremely efficient cognitive processes - in the case of reception, the hearer is engaged in both decoding and guessing; in production, the speaker is engaged in anticipatory planning.

Finally, pronunciation is the only aspect of language that calls for a close interaction between the cognitive and physiological processes. In acquiring new sounds we are also dealing with a complex re-organising of the articulatory processes.

We can state that age is not a matter of discussion in the research conducted so far as regards the acquisition of pronunciation. If one begins to learn a new language later than 5-6, one will seldom attain a near-native pronunciation of the foreign or second language.
The explanations for this are legion; those best-tested are neurobiologically based, where among other things the myelinisation process and the speed of the nerve impulses in the brain are considered to be of vital importance for the capacity to learn. The complex articulatory process that is part of pronunciation also helps to explain why pronunciation is that aspect of language which is particularly exposed to the influence of age.
Research also agrees that the native language plays a central role in precisely the acquisition of pronunciation in a new language. But whereas the prevalent view was that it was the new sounds in the target language that were the most difficult or impossible to acquire, new research would seem to indicate that it is in particular the sounds that are close to the native language that are the most difficult to acquire, both because the native language resembles a filter through which one hears the sounds of the new language and because the complex articulatory patterns in the native language predominate and are hard to modify. On the other hand, it is possible - according to these theories - to learn new sounds throughout one’s life. If sounds are not classified on the basis of the sound rules of the native language, there is in fact the basis for the construction of new phonetic categories.

This may also provide an answer as to why so few Danes learn such close languages as Norwegian and Swedish faultlessly - and why most of us retain throughout our lives traces of our regional variant of the Danish language.

Brought to you by:

A sensitive age for pronunciation - why?

2010-07-28T01:39:00.000-07:00

Age and Accent:American Accent Training: The role of the native language

Why are small children better at achieving near-native pronunciation in a new language than young people and adults? There are various hypotheses - some more speculative than others. Let us look at a few of them.

Explained from a socio-psychological point of view, the identity of the adult is more firmly anchored than that of the child; therefore, the adult resists total socialisation, which includes the pronunciation patterns of the new language - seen in this hypothesis as an encroachment on the individual’s identity. For some people it is important to retain an accent precisely as part of a second-language identity.

The child’s mental boundaries are more flexible; therefore the child’s pronunciation is more susceptible to influence than that of the adult, is a further argument. On the basis of such an explanation it is also possible to understand why some adults achieve a much better pronunciation in the new language than others with the same native language: a greater capacity for empathy and therefore better preconditions for temporarily identifying oneself and placing one’s own identity on stand-by. (Larsen-Freeman & Long 1991: 163, 190).

Naturally, one must question why phonology of all things is affected so early on by social, psychological and affective conditions while other language areas are not - until later in life, at any rate. There is still a need for much research within this field of interpretation and, when it comes to it, socio-psychological hypotheses are difficult to test. They can easily appear to be adroit rationalizations after the event.

Some researchers believe that children are exposed to better input than adults - a more here-and-now-anchored and therefore more easily understandable language that is less complex and more limited. In other words, a delimited comprehensible language field to practice within. Moreover, children have better opportunities to play with language along with people of the same age, which gives them a great deal of phonological training. A pedagogical implication of this is that one must give pupils/students more opportunities to play with and train the language and make sure that this occurs within a delimited section of the language.

Neurobiologically based hypotheses

The neurobiologically based hypotheses are probably the best-researched to date when it comes to quality. They are based on neurophysiological relations concerning the neural plasticity of the brain - a field into which we are gaining ever greater insight thanks to technological advances.

According to Lenneberg (1967), who was among the first to advance hypotheses concerning the importance of age for language acquisition, the diminishing ability for language acquisition is related to how the various parts of the brain cooperate and with the lateralisation of the brain - i.e. with the gradual organisation of work functions to the right and left hemisphere of the brain. And most of this organisation is completed precisely around the age of 5-6.

The diminishing plasticity of the brain is today explained more precisely and combined with other brain changes, e.g. the speed at which the electrical impulses move round the brain. Here such substances as myelin have an important function, since the amount of this substance affects the conductivity of the nerve fibres (axons). The myelinisation process in the brain, which begins already at the embryo stage, plays generally speaking a highly central role in the development of general human functions - including language development.

At as early an age as six months the child is able to distinguish adjacent sounds from each other; this means that a neural basis for the articulation of language sounds is formed at an early age. The nerve paths that are used to control the muscles used during the production of language sounds are encapsulated in myelin, which causes the nerve impulses to move faster. In that way, special high-speed nerve paths are formed to send signals to the muscles most often in use. Less important nerve paths where signals less often pass, do not get a layer of myelin and almost assume a kind of side-line function with low activity. In that way, a given functional pattern of articulatory movements is formed that causes certain pronunciation features to be promoted in some languages and to be absent in others. In Spanish, rounded front vowels such as /y/ are, for example, absent and therefore difficult to acquire in Danish; this is either compensated for by using the unrounded variant /i/ or the corresponding back vowel /u/. The movement patterns of the native language thus have a tendency to take over when acquiring the new language sounds.

It is now possible, via neurological experiments, to prove that as a general rule it would seem that the earlier a foreign or second language is learned, and the better it is spoken and understood, the more one can confirm that its representation in the brain overlaps that of the native language. The differences in representation among people regarding the foreign and second language are considerable - and far larger than in the representation of the native language. Examples have i.a. been seen of people where the native language was represented in the left-hand side of the brain while the foreign language was represented in the right-hand side (Gade 1998:.299). This could possibly indicate that the native language and the foreign or second language one masters well are activated from common areas in the brain.

The earlier, the better the neurophysiological conditions; the later, the less brain plasticity. The result: the earlier, the more near-native the pronunciation; the later, the greater variability among learners and the less change of a near-native pronunciation. There is much research to support this view. But it still remains to be proved that precisely puberty represents a demarcation line, as some research claims. Some results might seem to indicate that plasticity survives puberty and that learners up into their twenties still have the possibility to achieve near-native pronunciation. Neither, according to neurophysiological research, are there grounds for concluding that precisely puberty should be a particularly sensitive period.

Stable phonetic categories in the native language

Regarding the specially sensitive age of six, some researchers have, however, other explanations than the one that is based on the gradually diminishing plasticity of the brain. According to Flege (1992) and Bohn (e.g. Bohn & Flege: 1997), the lesser degree of pronunciation success in young people and adults compared to children of 5-6 is due neither to changes in the perceptual and sensory-motor processes nor to a loss of neural plasticity. It is due to an importance shift in speech processing. At exactly the age of 5-6 the phonetic prototype categories and the boundaries between them are refined and stabilised, and there is a growing awareness in the child concerning segmental features in the language. Because the native language categories are established and stabilised, there is an increasing tendency for new sounds in the new language to be identified with the aid of the sound categories from one’s native language; this helps to prevent older learners from establishing phonetic categories for sounds where there are great similarities between the two languages and thus also to prevent them from producing these sounds.

According to this hypothesis, one is able throughout one’s life to establish new phonetic categories, but they have to be perceived by the learners as new and different enough, without too much overlap with sounds in the native language. If there is a great overlap, the learner - instead of establishing a completely new category - will classify the sound as the approximate sound in the native language. If, for example, one has aspirated /t/ in the native language and meets an unaspirated /t/ in the new language, one will categorise the new ‘t’ as aspirated. When in, for example, Danish one meets the very dense /i-e-±-æ-a-α/ distribution and perhaps only uses three of the degrees of opening in one’s native language, one will adapt the Danish degrees of opening to the sounds of one’s native language and, over time, perhaps adjust the sound towards the Danish one but never quite hit it. For the child, on the other hand, every sound in the new language is a new sound, and the child does not attempt to assimilate sounds to the native language. Every sound has its own category for the child, while the mental map from the native language is the ‘sounding board’ for the acquisition of foreign language sounds for the adult.

Flege and Bohn’s hypothesis has the advantage of both being able to take into account the sensitive age of around 5-6 as crucial for how close to the new language one gets and the fact that learners later on in life can achieve a high level of perfection in pronunciation when it comes to new sounds.
Even so, the hypothesis is unable to explain the fact that there can be that much variation among learners of the same age and with the same native language - this applies not only to adults but to children of the same age, too. Some researchers suggest that there may perhaps be differences in how finely tuned the hearing of the individual is, but once again we are within the realm of the speculative here, where motivational, psychological and personal factors may be possible explanations.

Some researchers claim that one can never achieve total native competence in two languages. Anne Cutler, via experimental psycholinguistic experiments, is able to show that one of the languages always dominates over the other in every person - even those that are thought to be totally bilingual. Using experiments with highly sensitive instruments she is able to demonstrate that in the meeting between languages with different prosodies - e.g. between English (or, for example, Danish), which uses stress patterns, and French, which has syllabic stress - one or the other of the types of stress will dominate in both languages.
By means of prosody we also express emotions and attitudes and, according to neurological investigations, we have a special functional area in the right hemisphere of the brain that deals with affective prosody. The fact that one constantly and unconsciously colours one’s language with attitudes and emotions when one speaks, only perhaps becomes really apparent when one encounters people with brain damage that has affected precisely this functional area. Their speech is felt to be monotonous, toneless and disinterested.

That prosody plays such a central role for interaction is something that one as a foreign or second language speaker is only too well aware of; here the basis lies for a large number of intercultural misunderstandings - among other things because we are not aware of precisely how and for what purpose we use prosody. Nor are we aware of the fact that people from different language areas have different prosodic conventions. English speakers, for example, use intonation patterns in order to underline their message. Danes use stress for this purpose, which is decoded by English speakers as anger and aggression. When Danes transfer their prosodic code to English, there is thus fertile ground for unpleasant misunderstandings!

The role of the native language

Flege’s hypothesis places the traditional native-language-based explanations in a new light. Firstly, though, I would like to stress the following:
1) As with other aspects of language acquisition, it must apply that the more overlap between the native language and the new language, the fewer learning assignments for the learner. What is identical simply does not have to be relearned.
2) As with all other aspects of language acquisition, it must also apply that the more differences there are between the native language and the new language, the more learning assignments there are, and the longer time one must expect the learning to last.

A Vietnamese thus has a greater learning assignment when it comes to Danish as a new language than a German or a Dutchman, who can build on the many similarities between their native languages and Danish.
When beginning to acquire the new language, the learner generally tries to employ existing phonological categories from the native language - as we can also see within all other language areas. In the course of the ensuing learning process, an attempt is made to get the sounds to approach those of the new language; the greater experience with the language influences both the perception of the sounds and their production.

Unlike a traditional contrastive conception, where everything that is different is claimed to be what is difficult to learn, we arrive, according to Flege’s hypothesis, at a set of theories according to which one is perfectly well able to learn completely new sounds to perfection throughout one’s life, whereas sounds in the new language that resemble and have many shared features with sounds in the native language are extremely difficult to acquire after the age of 5-6. These sounds are made to fit the native language categorisation.
It is precisely these native-language-based sound adaptations we register as an accent. The greater the overlap that exists between the sounds of the two languages, the more difficult it is to tune one’s pronunciation completely to the sounds of the new language. This has been investigated for both vowels and consonants.

Some investigations also show that the position of a sound is by no means irrelevant (Eckman 1977, 1985). German speakers, who do not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced final consonants (e.g. /b/ and /d/ as both voiced and unvoiced) have trouble in acquiring this distinction in final position in English, whereas they have no trouble in making this distinction initially and medially as this is a feature of German. For Koreans, who do not have this voicing contrast in initial, medial or final position in their native language, the prediction is that it will be hardest for them to acquire the contrast between voiced and unvoiced consonant finally, then medially, and, least difficult, initially. A hypothesis for the Danes’ struggle with the voiced stops in English would be that we find it more difficult to acquire the voiced final stop in English than the voiced initial stop in German and English.

brought to you by:

Could your speech be holding you back?

2010-07-26T02:04:00.000-07:00

Could your speech be holding you back?

The way you speak is certainly one of the most personal things about you. It impacts on your success in professional and social settings, from job interviews to meeting new people. In a competitive employment market, those with the ability to speak clearly and with conviction have the edge.

Let me tell you about a program based at the e-centre at Massey University which can help to neutralize foreign or regional accents, improve speech clarity, reduce speech problems such as mumbling and stuttering and teach you how to reach the full potential of your voice and speech.

It is called SpeechSchool.TV, a subscription-based Internet TV Channel that is the result of over 30 years learning and practice in the area of English speech training and accent/voice coaching.

SpeechSchool.TV provides high quality audio visual training every week along with downloadable exercises and recordings for daily practice. In this way it replicates the sessions with a leading voice coach, as delivered to well known politicians, actors and international celebrities.

However, using the online model, the level of deep immersion and ongoing exposure required to truly make a difference to your speech, for the first time, becomes affordable and within the reach of every learner.

Whether you want to neutralise a foreign or regional accent, speak more clearly, overcome speech problems such as mumbling/stuttering or develop your presentation standard to a broadcast level, SpeechSchool.TV will transform your speech - impacting the quality of what you say and how you say it.

I encourage you to take this opportunity to find out more. Please visit the website at www.speechschool.tv.

Try one of the programs - and for a special 10% discount please enter the referral code SACCENT10

Best wishes,

Smart Accent

"SpeechSchool.TV is a great solution to a significant issue - the large numbers of people globally needing to interact well in the English language."
- Rob Spray, CEO, Telecommunications Industry Group

"I have now achieved my goal of gaining a job in my field in London! Thank you so much for the speech training you provide. It has neutralised my accent and given me confidence and the ability to present myself well in interview situations. Due to this I have been able to gain work here shortly after arriving."
- Christina Wong, IT Professional

Understanding the Phonetic Alphabet

2010-07-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

What is the phonetic alphabet?

Phonetic transcription is a system in which one symbol is used to represent one sound.
English writing does not usually consistently use one symbol (or letter) to represent one
sound. For example:

As you can see, English uses various letters to represent the sound. Phonetic
transcription, however, uses the same symbol for the same sound.

When we talk about English spelling, each unit is called a letter. When we talk about
phonetic transcription, each unit is called a symbol. Phonetic transcription is written
using slashes, like this:

When we use English spelling to talk about words, words are written like this to avoid
confusion (so we know that we are not using transcription):

I want a vacation

Why is phonetic transcription useful?

Phonetic transcription is useful because English spelling does a poor job of showing how
words are pronounced.

Smart Accent English FAQs : Your Questions , My Answer

2010-07-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

What is the best way to improve my pronunciation?

Many adults have the mistaken impression that the best way to learn a language is to
learn naturally, just as a child does. However, employing a child’s language learning
style is not doable. Children have infinite time to try out new language. If people do
not understand them, they simply try and try again until they get what they want.
Adults will not acquire language as readily because they are inhibited by social and
psychological constraints. Furthermore, some experts think that children are wired
for language, and that, as one grows older, it becomes biologically more difficult to
acquire a language naturally (because the brain loses the ability to make new
connections). The good thing is that adults, unlike small children, can readily deduce
and learn language rules. So any good language pronunciation course should
combine naturalistic methods (listening, guessing, trying out new things, etc.) and
rules (explanations of what to do with your mouth, explanations of how sounds
change based on their positions, etc.). Adults can and do benefit from some explicit
rule-based instruction.

Does my native language affect my accent?

Your native language does affect your accent. Often times, adults adjust English to
make it sound more like their native language. Here are some examples:
• Chinese speakers often have trouble with long words and consonant
combinations because these sound set-ups do not occur in Chinese. For
example, a Cantonese speaker may pronounce as to make the
word “easier” to pronounce.
• German does not have the sound /w/ as in , and .
Therefore, a German speaker may say and
vant some vine?>.

Is learning how to pronounce individual sounds the most important thing I can do
to improve my accent?

Working on individual sounds is not the most important thing you can do to improve
your accent; the most important thing you can do to improve your accent is to work
on your prosody. Prosody is the larger patterns of a language, like rhythm,
tone/intonation, and pausing. Prosody varies from language to language, and in
English, prosody is used to convey emotion. For example, look at the following
situations…

“The house is on fire!”
(Run for your lives, call 911!)

“The house is on fire.”
(I am so happy; my insurance fraud
scheme is going better than I planned.)

“The house is on fire…again. Yeah I know. But please don’t bother me with such
problems. It’s 2 AM and tomorrow’s a workday!”
(My neighbor is such a bother. I wish he would stop his chemistry experiments.)

The phrase is the same in every situation, but the speed, pausing,
and tone of the words is different. That’s prosody at work. Prosody changes the way
words are perceived. Sometimes, English as a second language speakers use prosody
incorrectly, as a result, people misunderstand them. In other words, you can use correct
words with incorrect prosody and miscommunication often results. For example,
sometimes English as a second language speakers are perceived to be rushed or annoyed
(when they are not) because the English as a second language speakers use prosody
incorrectly.

Sometimes English as a second language speakers mix up sounds. Oftentimes, English
as a second language speakers will substitute a sound from their own language for a more
difficult English sound.
For example, some Chinese speakers have a propensity to mix up and sounds and
they pronounce and similarly. Other Chinese have a hard time telling the
difference between and . Chinese does not make a distinction between
and and and and that’s why people have trouble.
Because learners sometimes do mix up sounds, textbooks often have learners practice
sentences like and . This sort of
practice has some use in that it helps you to initially learn to distinguish between sounds.
However, this sort of practice does not reflect real life very well. In everyday situations,
most of the time, meaning is not affected by mispronouncing one sound. Look at the
cartoon below:

Customer: One cub, please.
Server: One cub, just for you!
This is not quite what the customer had in mind!

That sort of situation would probably not happen in real life. The server would not be
confused even if the customer made a mistake and pronounced instead of ,
because, in real life, people use context to help them understand meaning. As you may
have guessed by now, getting each and every sound right all the time is not that important
to being understood. Nevertheless, sounds are of some importance, because if there are
too many sound mistakes, even with the help of context, the meaning can be obscured.

Do people generally overlook accents? Does the way I talk affect how people
think about me?

Research has shown that people tend to perceive speakers with accented speech as less
skilled, but thankfully, not all people are prejudiced.
Even if people have non-biased attitudes, misunderstandings may occur that cause nonnative
speakers to be misjudged and misunderstood – but not necessarily deliberately
discriminated against. As was just mentioned, sometimes non-native speakers can be
misunderstood because of their use of prosody. One particular aspect of non-native
speaker’s prosody that causes misunderstandings is intonation (tone). An example of
misunderstanding caused by tone is the US-Soviet diplomatic talks during the Cold War.
Linguists speculate that tone differences in the Russian and English languages
contributed to tensions between the two countries (though, of course, there were many
larger social, political, economical, and historical reasons for hostilities). Russians (or
their interpreters) spoke English with a Russian accent that included Russian style
sentence tones applied to English sentences. Russian style sentence tones sound hostile
and angry to English speakers. This certainly did nothing for negotiations and talks, and
more generally, contributed (along with propaganda and the history of the time) in a
small way to the West’s impression of all average Soviet people as inherently hostile.

One Example of this , when someone who works for a
head-hunting company that places Russian speaking engineers in US positions.
Occasionally, English speaking potential employers would become very agitated when
speaking to our Russian job seekers on the telephone. We had a few instances where the
English speaking would-be employers hung up on Russian job seekers because the
English speaking employers felt that the Russian-speakers were bored and inattentive.
Presuming that the Russian speaking job seekers’ ethnicity was evident from the names
on their resumes, the English speaking employers were not very biased against Russianspeakers
– after all, the potential employers did take the initiative to call in the first place.
Most likely, the problem was not one of prejudice, but rather linguistic
miscommunication.

So, can I get rid of my accent completely?

Many accent reduction programs promise that they will help you to get rid of your accent.
For most people, losing their accent completely is an unreasonable goal. Many studies
have shown that people who began to use a language after puberty (typically defined as
12-13 years old) almost always will have an accent. The reasons for this could be either
biological or psychological (or a combination). Researchers who think that the reason is
biological explain that the brain makes new connections less readily as we age.
Researchers who think that the reason is psychological explain that as people grow older
they become more inhibited and will not readily go through the process of trial and error
to learn to make new sounds.
The good news is that it is entirely possible to improve your accent enough to prevent
most miscommunications that from occur because of your speech.

How soon can I expect to see results from American accent training programs? Will it take just a few
hours for me to improve my accent?

Most people can see a noticeable difference in their speech after six months or so of
practice (try to practice a little everyday). Unfortunately, changing your accent takes a
lot of work – there is no “magic bullet” (instant cure) for accents. Improving your accent
involves not only learning rules about speech, but also practicing these rules until they
become automatic. This should not discourage you as this cycle of learning and
practicing is common to many pursuits: art, music, sports, and dance for example. In
short, improvement in most any pursuit takes a lot of practice and requires the formation
of habits and physical abilities, and accent reduction is no exception.

You should be very skeptical of any course that promises almost instant improvement in
your speech. Most often, these are scams

How much do ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers know about
pronunciation?

Most English teachers know very little about accent and pronunciation. Although this is
starting to change, most teacher training focuses around grammar and writing; very little
attention is given specifically to pronunciation.
In many countries, some English teachers do not have very good oral English themselves,
so their students do not acquire very good pronunciation.
If you are looking for a professional to help you with your accent, you should look for
some one with a background in speech pathology, linguistics and/or phonetics and
phonology as well as ESL.

What about speech recognition? Could I use it to improve my accent?
Reliable speech recognition for second language learning software is something that still
has not been developed by any company with which I am familiar. I have seen a few
attempts at using speech recognition, but they all function rather unreliably.
Smart Accent English is working to research and implement quality speech recognition within our programs.

Will improving my pronunciation have additional benefits?

Most people do find that improving pronunciation helps improve comprehension ability.
Part of pronunciation training involves learning to distinguish different sounds, which can
help you hear words and phrases more clearly. Another part of pronunciation training is
learning to distinguish tones, and this can help you understand the mood of what is being
said.

Mastering The American Accent: Free DEMO

2010-07-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

Chapter One

THE VOWEL SOUNDS

Mastering The American Accet

In this chapter you will learn how to accurately pronounce all of the main American English
vowel sounds. The English alphabet has five vowels, a, e, i, o and u, but it has about 15 main
vowel sounds. For some learners this is one of the most difficult aspects of American English to
master. Speakers of languages with fewer vowel sounds are likely to speak English using only
the same number of sounds that exist in their native language. Sometimes they do not even
hear the distinction between certain sounds in English. Consequently, non-native speakers
might pronounce “hill” and “heal” the same way. Similarly, the words sell and sale, or cup, cop,
and cap may also sound the same when spoken by a non-native speaker.

Because there is not always a direct relationship between how a word is spelled and how it
is pronounced, you should become familiar with the phonetic symbols that represent the
sounds that you are learning. This way, you will be able to use your dictionary when you
come across a word that contains a vowel sound that you don’t know how to pronounce.
Make sure you also become familiar with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary as they

may be a bit different from the symbols that this book uses.

Main Vowel Sounds of
American English

1. /i/ read, heat, meet, seat, seen, feet

Please eat the meat and the cheese before
you leave.

2. /ɪ/ in, bit, this, give, sister, will, city

My sister Linda will live in the big city.

3. /eɪ/ late, gate, bait, fail, main, braid, wait

Jane’s face looks great for her age of
eighty-eight.

4. /ɛ/ let, get, end, any, fell, bread, men, said

I went to Texas for my friend’s wedding.

5. /æ/ last, apple, add, can, answer, class

The handsome man lost his baggage after
his travels.

6. /ɑ/ stop, lock, farm, want, army, possible,
got

John is positive that his car was parked in
that lot.

7. /ɘ/ come, up, jump, but, does, love, money,
about

Your younger brother doesn’t trust us, does
he?

8. /ɔ/ all, fall, author, also, applaud, thought,
fought

Paula was doing laundry all day long.

9. /oʊ/ go, slow, so, those, post, moment, drove

Oh, no! Don’t open the window, it’s cold.

10. /ʊ/ look, took, put, foot, full, wolf, cookie

He would read the good book if he could.

11. /u/ cool, soup, moon, boot, tooth, move,
true

Sue knew about the food in the room.
12. /ɘr/ her, work, sure, first, early, were, earn,
occur

What were the first words that girl learned?

13. /aɪ/ time, nine, dry, high, style, five, China

I advise you to ride a bicycle in China.

14. /aʊ/ south, house, cow, found, down, town

He went out of the house for about an hour.

15. /ɔɪ/ oil, choice, moist, enjoy, avoid, voice

Let’s avoid the annoying noise.

American Accent Training By: Ann Cook - Demo

2010-07-23T04:21:00.000-07:00

American Accent Training By: Ann Cook - Demo

American Accent Training is an audio book designed to get you started on your American accent. It has 13 lesson and the author, Ann Cook started on American Intonation Pattern. Unlike other books, everything that is written on this book is also spoken on the audio at the same time. You can listen to the author while reading the manual.

What is Accent? Ann Cook define Accent as;

a combination of three main components: intonation (speech music), liaisons (word
connections), and pronunciation (the spoken sounds of vowels, consonants, and combinations). As
you go along, you'll notice that you're being asked to look at accent in a different way. You'll also
realize that the grammar you studied before and this accent you're studying now are completely
different.
Part of the difference is that grammar and vocabulary are systematic and structured— the letter of
the language. Accent, on the other hand, is free form, intuitive, and creative— more the spirit of the
language. So, thinking of music, feeling, and flow, let your mouth relax into the American accent.

Accent versus Pronunciation

Many people equate accent with pronunciation. The author don't feel this to be true at all. According to her, America is a big country, and while the pronunciation varies from the East Coast to the West Coast, from the southern to the northern states, two components that are uniquely American stay basically the same—the
speech music, or intonation, and the word connections or liaisons. Throughout this program, you will
focus on them.

American Accent Training was created to help people "sound American" for lectures, interviews,
teaching, business situations, and general daily communication. Although America has many
regional pronunciation differences, the accent you will learn is that of standard American English as
spoken and understood by the majority of educated native speakers in the United States. Don't worry
that you will sound slangy or too casual because you most definitely won't. This is the way a
professor lectures to a class, the way a national newscaster broadcasts, the way that is most
comfortable and familiar to the majority of native speakers.

Listen to the DEMO Below

Exercise 1 -44: Building an Intonation Sentence CD 2 Track 13

Repeat after me the sentences listed in the following groups.

1. I bought a sandwich.

2. I said I bought a sandwich.

3. I said I think I bought a sandwich.

4. I said I really think I bought a sandwich.

5. I said I really think I bought a chicken sandwich.

6. I said I really think I bought a chicken salad sandwich.

7. I said I really think I bought a half a chicken salad sandwich.

8. I said I really think I bought a half a chicken salad sandwich this afternoon.

9. I actually said I really think I bought a half a chicken salad sandwich this afternoon.

10. I actually said I really think I bought another half a chicken salad sandwich this

afternoon.

11. Can you believe I actually said I really think I bought another half a chicken salad

sandwich this afternoon?

1. I did it.

2. I did it again.

3. I already did it again.

4. I think I already did it again.

5. I said I think I already did it again.

6. I said I think I already did it again yesterday.

7. I said I think I already did it again the day before yesterday.

1. I want a ball.

2. I want a large ball.

3. I want a large, red ball.

4. I want a large, red, bouncy ball.

5. I want a large, red bouncy rubber ball.

6. I want a large, red bouncy rubber basketball.

1. I want a raise.

2. I want a big raise.

3. I want a big, impressive raise.

4. I want a big, impressive, annual raise.

5. I want a big, impressive, annual cost of living raise.

Factors That Prevent You Acquire a New Accent

2010-07-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

There are two opposing views on pronunciation

The purpose of learning pronunciation is to eradicate all traces of a foreign accent through pronunciation course.
learning pronunciation is futile after a certain age due to decreasing ability among learners to develop native like pronunciation in a second language.

Let us see if either of these views are correct but let us first consider the factors affecting acquisition of the sound system of a second language.

Biological factor

Some believe that adult learners of a particular language tend to have a foreign accent and child learners tend to attain a native-like pronunciation. This is because of the "critical period hypothesis that states, languages are learned differently by children and adult and that this is a direct result of the maturation of the brain.

Some adult learners do have difficulty in acquiring native like pronunciation in a second language but some adult learner do achieve native-like pronunciation and among other adult learners, the degree of pronunciation accuracy varies considerably from individual to individual.

Socio-cultural

Researchers conclude that it is socio- cultural that largely determine the success or or lack of success in acquiring a native- like pronunciation. The more the second language learners identify themselves with that of the second language, and the member of it , the more likely they are to sound like members of that culture.
Students may wish to improve their pronunciation in order to make themselves more comprehensible but at the same time may not interested in sounding like native- speakers of the English. This very fact about some second language learners is the reason why a foreign accent exist.

Personality factors

out going,confident, and willing to take risk person probably have more opportunities to practice their pronunciation. Simply because they are more often involve in interactions with native speakers , on the other hand, learners who are introverted, inhibited and unwilling to take risk lack opportunities to practice.

The role of the native language

foreign accent is determined buy the learner's native language. this is an indication that sounds pattern of native language are being transfered into the second language.
Adult learners may be unable to produce new sounds because they have never exercise their mouth in the particular way required to pronounce certain English sounds.
Difficulties arise because the rules for combing sounds into words are different in the learners native language

neither of those views are incorrect. It is possible to acquire a new accent if you are serious about it and if you take action in improving your pronunciation. The pronunciation is simply the way you use the sound pattern of a particular language and it is impossible not to learn pronunciation at the same time that you learn the grammar. When learning a new language, keep in mind that the sound pattern of that language is different from your native language that's why you create a foreign accent. What to do is to familiarize your self in the sound production of that particular language.

A-store

2010-07-16T23:46:00.001-07:00

Accent English: Sounds of American Speech for French Speakers Accent English: Sounds of American Speech for Greek Speakers

Written and Spoken English: A Course in Composition and Rhetoric, Book

Ford Language Demo: American Accent Program

2010-07-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite self help tutorial when it comes to learning proper pronunciation is The Ford’s American Accent Program.

Be low is the free sample of this product with audio and script. You can get your own full copy at Amazon.com

Congratulations! You are about to begin an exciting course of study. Master8ing the pronunciation and intonation of any language will result in “fluency” while speaking that language. In this course, you will work to ward becoming a fluent English speaker.

If you have taken other coursed in English, you probably touched only briefly on pronunciation and intonation. These elements of second language learning are extremely important and challenging. Your pronunciation and intonation determnone hoe will you are understood.

The ford Language Institute American Accent Program is completely devoted to the pronunciation of American English, rather than to grammar rules or vocabulary.

Getting the Most from This Program…

Practice several times every day. Many people listen to the tapes in their cars, or while exercising. If your schedule does not allow daily practice, you can still achieve satisfactory progress, although at a slower rate...

The small mirror we have included with these cassettes will help you produce the sound s of American English more quickly and accurately. As you practice each exercise, look at the way you form the sounds and compare it with the diagrams in the book.

A word of caution. Follow the course format even if you don’t believe that a certain subject is important to your speech improvement. When you learn a second language, you many hear pronunciation differences until you are sensitized to the /

Good luck... And good speaking!

The International Phonetic Alphabet

English spelling is not always phonetic. One consonant or vowel may have several sounds associated with it. As a result, it is often difficult to know how to pronounce a word from the way it is spelled. In a phonetic alphabet, each letter or symbol represents only one sound, not several.

For instance, “p” refers to the alphabert letter “p”, whereas /p/ refers to the sound the letter “p “makes in a particular word. When a word is spelled using these symbols, there is no confusion about its pronunciation. Whenever the phonetic alphabet is used in this course of study, the word or symbol will appear in brackets. The phonetic symbols for vowels and consonants are presented in tyher corresponding sections.

The Vowel System of American English

Introduction

One of the essential components of clear communication in any language is the crisp product ion of its vowels. Contrary to what you may think, it is usually the vowels, not the consonants which help us recognize the words e hear.

The first unit it will cover the vowel system of American English. You will begin with a review of the basic components of vowel production, followed by an introduction to the phonetic symbols for vowels. Then, for each vowel, a pronunciation description is given followed by sound, word and sentence exercises. Finally, the intonation rules for vowels in running speech are described and then practiced.

The Basic Components

The areas we will cover include: 1) tongue, jaw and lip position; 2) tongue tension; 3) vowel duration; and 4) compound vowels.

Instruction: As the basic of vowel pronunciation are presented, repeat the vowel sounds when indicated. This will improve your firsthand understanding of the mechanics involved. Learn to listen and correct yourself as you practice and later while you speak. This is very important because you must rely on what you hear to tell you when you are saying the vowels correctly.

Tongue Position

First, we’ll examine tongue position. When you say a vowel, the tip of your tongue should always be behind the lower teeth. The rest of the tongue my change position but the tip will always be down. This is the same for all vowels. Is the tip of your tongue in the right position when you repeat these vowels: /ae/, /a/, /u/? Again: /ae/, /a/, /u/.

The rest of your tongue changes position depending on the vowel you are saying. While keeping the tongue tip behind the lower teeth, the body of the tongue may be high in the mouth or low in the mouth. Try these vowels comparing the height of your tongue as you say them: /i/, /a/, /i, /a/ Yu should feel the tongue bunch high in the mouth for /i/ and flatten low in the mouth for /a/.

The tongue also presses forward in the mouth or back in the mouth or back in the mouth, depending on the vowels being said. For example, the body of the tongue is pulled back when saying /u/. It is pushed forward when saying /i/. It isn’t pushed forward or back when saying /a/, but rather remains in the center of the mouth. Repeat each three- vowel set and feel the movement of the tongue from front to back across the sounds:

/i/, /a/, /u/; /i/, /a/, /u/; /i/, /a/, /u/.

Lip Position

Next, let’s discuss the position of the lips when saying the vowels. When saying /u/, the lips are very round. When saying /i/, the lips are pulled back similar to a smile but without drawing up the corners of the mouth. When saying /a/, the lips are in a neutral position. They are neither drawn back nor puckered. They simply held in the normal position and parted slightly.

Using the neutral lip position for all vowels results in vowels that are not clear and distinct. This is a very common error., It is very important at this time to be sure that you round you lips or pull your lips back sufficiently when appropriate. Use a mirror as you practice alternate between /u/ and /i/, watching your lips pucker and then drawing you lips back.

Repeat: / i/, /u/, / i/, /u/, / i/, /u/, / i/, /u/, / i/, /u/,

Jaw Position

We have discussed lip position. Your jaw poisoning is also critical for clear and precise vowel pronunciation. Your bottom jaw drops down to varying degrees depending on the vowel being said. When saying /a/, the haw is lower that when saying /i/. Note the changes in jaw position as you repeat: /a/, /i/ /a/, /i/ /a/, /i/.

Tongue Tension

Tongue tension is another factor. Some vowels are said with the tongue tense, such as /i/ and /u/. Others are said with the tongue relaxed, such as /i/ and /u/ Repeat this group of vowels, comparing the degrees of tongue tension:

/i/ /I/ /u/ ,

It's Tee Time!!! The mystery behind "T" sound

2010-07-13T02:29:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to pronounce the letter "t" . You will be shock by this but "T" has like, six pronunciation!

Why is it, I don't know. But Americans has many ways to make things simple in their everyday conversation.

Here are the list of the ways to pronounce the "t" sound:

The easiest and most obvious T is at the beginning of a word: Twice, ten, tintinnabulation. ok, that's one is hard to pronounce!It's a clear, sharp popping almost enough to put out a match or at least make it flicker.
The middle T turns into a D, so that's nice and easy: water, better and meeting sounds like wader, bedder and meeding. The only tricky part is that you have to use this with word connections, as well: Let her and letter both sounds like ledder. You'll hear it a lot with that, what and but followed by pronouns or articles- actually anything that starts with a vowel: that i (the dye); what he (whadddee); but he (buddee), get a (gedda) etc. This is why lot of sounds like lotta (llaadda)
There is a truly silent T in listen, wrestle, Christmas, and usually silent one in twenty or internet. It looks illiterate to spell it as twenny, but listen carefully- 95% of time, that's how it's pronounced.
The held T is actually every easy. It shows up in words ending in - tain, -tant, such as gotten, written, certain or important. The easiest way to make this sound is to say the first part . got ( don't pop the aier out) and then just um the N sound: gotnnnnnn.
The final T must be handled carefully. Normally, it's not popped at all ... unless you are angry, impatient or making a point that you listener isn't very smart. Ouch. if you say, Clint is not a secret agent, with held Ts it's fine. However , if you say, Clint is nottt a secrett agenttt !! with popped Ts . your listener is going to infer a great deal of attitude on your part.You can almost feel your teeth clenching to say it this way. this shows up a lot in the question,. what . which ca be a reasonable query - a request for further information or explanation. or an indication that you hadn't quiet heard and would like to hear again. Or it can be a popped T explosion of surprise, anger , disgust or any of the many negative emotions that evoke surprise " What?! You are myu Twinkie?!
T is usually formed when the tip of the tongue touches the bumps on the top of the mouth. However, the glottal T is produced in the throat It occurs before W,R,K,G and Y. Very slowly say what was, not right, dot com, get go, that year and notice that the tip of the tongue doesn't move. Instead, the back of the tongue blocks the air and forms the T in the throat. This is actually kinda Britannic.

American Accent Training By: Ann Cook Review and DEMO

2010-07-09T02:42:00.000-07:00

American Accent Training - A Guide to Speaking and Pronouncing American English (2) is an audio book design for foreign born student of English and professionals who want to improve their American pronunciation skills. This book is accompanied with Five audio CD and every word the speaker said is written and can be heard at the same time.

The book is very advance. The author is actually a native new yorker. I have a copy of this audio book that's why i am glad to share with you my experience in this material.

Unlike the Mastering the American Accent with Audio CDs authored by Ms Lisa Mojsin, the author of American Accent Training is speaking herself only. So this is very useful for female readers out there.

I recommend this audio book because of it's very advance lesson. You will really learn how to speak with an American Accent naturally as native speakers do. As I've mention, the speaker is a native born New yorker so expect a very fast English! This book is for those who want to sound like an American and speak in a fast spoken English manner.

Actually, the accent the author is teaching here was kind of "slangy" . This is ideal, I believe for everyday conversation and not for business environment. But I think it's worth having a copy of this.

I will give you the DEMO of this material in my blog. I will try to follow up more post about this.

American Accent Training - A Guide to Speaking and Pronouncing American English (2)

First DEMO (I'll follow up the audio I kind of running out of time.)

Exercise 1-38; Consistent Noun Stress in Changing Verb Tenses CD 2
Track 7

This is a condensed exercise for you to practice simple intonation with a wide range of verb tenses.

When you do the exercise the first time, go through stressing only the nouns Dogs eat bones.
Practice this until you are quite comfortable with the intonation. The pronunciation and word
connections are on the right, and the full verb tenses are on the far left

eat 1. The dogs eat the bones. the däg zeet the bounz

ate 2. The dogs ate the bones. the däg zεit the bounz

are eating 3. The dogs're eating the bones. the däg zr reeding the bounz

will eat 4. The dogs'll eat the bones (if...) the däg zə leet the bounz (if...)

would eat 5. The dogs'd eat the bones (if...) the däg zə deet the bounz (if...)

would have
eaten
6. The dogs'd've eaten the bones (if..) the däg zədə veetn the bounz (if...)

that have
eaten
7. The dogs that've eaten the bones (are..) the däg zədə veetn the bounz
(are...)

have eaten 8. The dogs've eaten the bones. the däg zə veetn the bounz

had eaten 9. The dogs'd eaten the bones. the däg zə deetn the bounz

will have
eaten
10. The dogs'll've eaten the bones. the däg zələ veetn the bounz

ought to eat 11. The dogs ought to eat the bones. the däg zädə eat the bounz

should eat 12. The dogs should eat the bones. the dägz sh'deet the bounz

should not eat 13. The dogs shouldn't eat the bones. the dägz sh'dn•neet the bounz

should have
eaten
14. The dogs should've eaten the bones. the dägz sh'də veetn the bounz

should not
have
15. The dogs shouldn't've eaten the bones. the dägz sh'dn•nə veetn the bounz

could eat 16. The dogs could eat the bones. the dägz c'deet the bounz

could not eat 17. The dogs couldn't eat the bones. the dägz c'dn•neet the bounz

could have
eaten
18. The dogs could've eaten the bones. the dägz c'də veetn the bounz

could not have 19. The dogs couldn't've eaten the bones. the dägz c'dn•nə veetn the bounz

might eat 20. The dogs might eat the bones. the dägz mydeet the bounz

might have
eaten
21. The dogs might've eaten the bones. the dägz mydəveetn the bounz

must eat 22. The dogs must eat the bones. the dägz məss deet the bounz

must have
eaten
23. The dogs must've eaten the bones. the dägz məsdəveetn the bounz

can eat 24. The dogs can eat the bones. the dägz c'neet the bounz

can't eat 25. The dogs can't eat the bones. the dägz cæn(d)eet the bounz

American AccentImitation Exercise: I shouldn't be bragging

2010-07-09T02:31:00.000-07:00

Have you watch all the American Accent Video Training Program? If not you may want to finish all the video I provided in this blog to help you improve the way you speak English.

This exercise is a follow up program for American Accent Video Training Program. It is design to help you apply what you've learn in the training program.

The purpose of this exercise is for you to learn how to speak in an American intonation. The sound of American English is very different from other languages. As you notice when you listen to native Americans, they kind of speak like they sing!

In this exercise, I do not encourage you to repeat every word the speaker says. Instead, I encourage you to "Imitate" the way they speak. Try to listen very carefully on how they put music in their speaking. Then, repeat it. Just repeat the sound not the words.

Are you ready? here it is...

Smart Accent Pronunciation Tips

2010-07-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

Observe the mouth movements of native speakers and try to imitate them.

If you want to improve your accent, you need to work very hard to change the way you move your tongue. This is very critical for those who are just starting out especially for those who came from countries like China, Korea, and Germany. Some of the sounds of English do not exist in their language! A good way to practice is by watching American movies. When you watch American movies, try to listen to the sounds, rhythm and the way they stretch out their words. That’s is, “looooonnngggggg” instead of just a short “long”

Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of English, slow down your speech.

When you are watching T.V. look at the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are saying, imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech. If you speak too quickly with the wrong intonation and rhythm, native speakers will have a hard time understanding you. Don’t worry about your listener getting impatient with your slow speech – it is more important that everything you say be understood.

Listen to the “music” of English.

That is, just listen to the way native American speak if you want to improve the way you sound. Notice the way they add music to their speech. Whenever you hear a native speak their language, try to imitate not the words or the sentence, just the sounds. Remember, we are talking about accent.

Use your dictionary.

Don’t use the music of your native language when you are speaking English. Each language has its own way of “singing”. Become familiar with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary and look up the correct pronunciation of words that are hard for you to say.

Make a list of frequently used words that are difficult for you to pronounce and ask a native speaker to pronounce them for you.

Buy books on tape.

Record these words, listen to them and practice saying them. Listen and read at the same time. Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare the sound of your English with that of the speaker from the book on tape.You can check out our recommended books for additional information.

Pronounce the ending of each word.

Pay special attention to “s” and “ed” endings. This will help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English. Research has shown that it takes about three months of daily practice to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language.

Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.

Be patient.

Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid having to listen to themselves speaking. However, this is a very important exercise because doing it will help you become conscious of the mistakes that you are making. You can change the way you speak but it won’t happen overnight. People often expect instant results and give up too soon. You can change the way you sound if you are willing to put some effort into it.

The American Accent Imitation Excercise # 1

2010-06-25T00:46:00.000-07:00

Now that you've finished the whole "American Accent Video Training program" I'd like to introduce you to the next video. It's called " American Accent Imitation Exercise".
In this video, you won't see any script or I won't write a text version for you work harder to understand the sound of American English. The video will repeat the native speaker's words and you will be given three chances to repeat what has been said.

This is an imitation exercise for American English Accent Training. The goal here is to mimic sounds, don't worry if you don't understand every word you say! There is no transcript attached for this very reason. As you might have ideas attached to certain words that are wrong, this exercise focuses simply on imitating.

10 points for those who can guess what Bella said while Jacob was carrying the motorcycle!