american accent

American Accent : 

American Accent Gyan Agnihotri

Salient Features ofAmerican Accent : 

Salient Features ofAmerican Accent The nasal twang The aerodynamic accent Elasticity Crystal clarity Wafer crispy The rolling R’s

The Nasal Twang : 

The Nasal Twang It sounds funny to produce a nasal twang. This calls for a requisite pressure of air through your nostrils. Words like neither, name, Maryland, America…

The Aerodynamic Accent : 

The Aerodynamic Accent The cushion of air that props up a speech. Imparts sheer crispness and freshness laced with clarity. The airborne words take their original shape. It gives a special shape & volume to words. Makes the speech more animated and flamboyant.

Elasticity : 

Elasticity Tongue acts like a string of rubber band and strums against the palate of mouth. It sounds stretchable and frisky. The resilience never lets words lose their original shape. Words get stretched to a breaking point and yet sound smart with a comforted speed.

Crystal Clarity : 

Crystal Clarity It is a crystal clear accent… Gives an animated outlining to the words… Use your Adam’s apple to produce a comforted shrillness… It imparts a differentiated 3-D surround quality to the speech. Makes it a predictably accurate accent.

Wafer Crispy : 

Wafer Crispy It imparts a special flavour to the speech. Makes your speech sound wafer crispy. You have to work upon the bass of your voice to develop such crispy clarity.

The Rolling R’s : 

The Rolling R’s Roll your tongue while pronouncing r’s Use your tongue like rubber and harden the tip of the tongue by rolling it a bit. Just stretch the first half of the word, and let go the other half by striking your tongue back against the palate.

To Top It All : 

To Top It All Flex your Tongue muscles. Work on nasal twang with a buzzing nose. Use the bass voice to create a crispy clarity. Strain your Adam’s apple to produce the comforted shrillness. Stretch your tongue like rubber band and strum it against the palate.

The End Result : 

The End Result You’ll feel at home with Americans. Add to the quality of call and save silly repetition. Helps you strike instant rapport.

Slide 11: 

There are some characteristic differences in the way Indians speak English versus the American way

The way Indians speak : 

The way Indians speak Presence of harder sounds Faster Speed – 220 words per minute Weak word emphasis, intonation and pronunciation on English words and phrases. This could be due to faster rate of speech and there being no stress in languages here in India Long sentences and words used Differences of syllable emphasis

The way Americans speak : 

The way Americans speak American intonations – ‘T R O L I’ concept American Reductions Speed – 140-160 words per minute Shorter sentences and words Proper Intonation

Stages of Learning American Accent : 

Stages of Learning American Accent Accent neutralization process American accent adoption Continuous Learning Process

Unvoiced & Voiced Consonant Sounds : 

Unvoiced & Voiced Consonant Sounds Unvoiced (voiceless) - The vocal cords do not vibrate. Voiced - The sound is made by vibrating the vocal cords (voice box). To test whether you are making the sound voiced, put your fingers on your voice box. With a voiced sound you should feel a vibration. All vowels are voiced.

Vowel Sounds : 

Vowel Sounds

Vowel Shades : 

Vowel Shades AA AA Aw Ae O h ee oo I

Vowels : 

Long                                     Short                         â      as in father                      a     as in cup                        ê      as in they                         e     as in pet                        î       as in deep                         i     as in dip                        ô      as in clover                      o     as in pot                        û      as in fool                          u     as in put Vowels

Diphthongs : 

Diphthongs ae        as in high au        as in how ei         as in day          eu        as in 'red-blue' oe        as in boy    ui         as in gooey

How do I sound American? : 

How do I sound American? There is an expression in America, “Go with the flow”. One really important thing is to relax when you are speaking American English. The more you try to pronounce every single word clearly, the harder it is for the average American to understand you.

The American T : 

The American T The American T is influenced very strongly by intonation and its position in a word or phrase.

1st Rule for T : 

1st Rule for T T is T at the beginning of a word or in a stressed syllable. Examples, Tina taxed Ted’s temper. Tom and Tasha were too tense to Tango in Taiwan. Tell Tyler to take two turns this time.

1st Rule for T : 

1st Rule for T Terry told Tim to take turns this time. Thirteen and fourteen and fifteen make forty two.

2nd Rule for T : 

2nd Rule for T T is D in the middle of a word. Examples Betty bought a bit of better butter. The brittle metal snapped. Put a little water in it. Eddie was a little bitter. Betty put a sweater on.

2nd Rule for T : 

2nd Rule for T Let him wait a little bit. Go get a letter opener. The meeting was at one.

3rd rule for T : 

3rd rule for T T is held at the end of a word. Examples: Take it. It’s hot. It’s what they wanted to get. Put them back in the pot. Set the clock back at the event. What did you find at the site?

4th Rule for T : 

4th Rule for T T is held before N in -tain and –ten endings. Examples: We tried to shorten the class. Betty had written about the fountain of youth. The sumo wrestlers had eaten well to fatten up.

4th Rule for T : 

4th Rule for T Whitney’s rotten kitten has bitten Martin. The mountain peak was invisible.

5th Rule for T : 

5th Rule for T T is silent after N with lax vowels. Example: Don’t interrupt him. Why are you interfering in our matter. Is he going at the center? Where is the enter key?

O becomes A : 

O becomes A God Contact Broad Policy Shopping

The American ou & ow : 

The American ou & ow [ow] cow, bow, powder, chowder [ou] sound. Loud, louder, cloud

Letter ‘L’ Emphasis : 

Letter ‘L’ Emphasis

Slide 35: 

Letter ‘I’ Emphasis

The ‘ae’ sound : 

The ‘ae’ sound Transfer Change Past Last Can’t

The ‘ae’ sound : 

The ‘ae’ sound Last Saturday, on the last day January, we planned a national travel package to Los Angeles.

Slide 38: 

Understanding Syllables

Try pronouncing these words : 

Try pronouncing these words Great Paula Put Copy Cut Gorgeous Flat Problem Rule Promote Mine Content Oak Travel Have Layout

Now try these words… : 

Now try these words… Abdomen Energy Holiday Beautiful Promotion Computer Microchip Deposit

Dictionary Definition : 

Dictionary Definition A unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound formed by a vowel, diphthong, or syllabic consonant alone, or by any of these sounds preceded, followed, or surrounded by one or more consonants.

Stressed Syllable : 

Stressed Syllable The emphasis placed on the sound or syllable spoken most forcefully in a word or phrase.

Slide 44: 

A one-syllable word is never divided. For Example boat good Knelt Cut

Syllable Rules : 

Syllable Rules 1. To find the number of syllables: ---count the vowels in the word, ---subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent "e" at the end of a word or the second vowel when two vowels a together in a syllable) ---subtract one vowel from every dipthong, (diphthongs only count as one vowel sound.) ---the number of vowels sounds left is the same as the number of syllables.

VCCV Rule : 

VCCV Rule When a word contains more than one vowel, it could follow the VCCV or vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel pattern.  Divide the word into syllables by drawing a dash between the two consonants. These are called Closed Syllables.

Some examples : 

Some examples Nap-kin Pic-nic Doc-tor Den-tist Exam-ple For-mat En-ter In-sert

VCV Rule : 

VCV Rule When a word contains a vowel, consonant, and a vowel it will be divided based on the sound the first vowel makes.  If the first vowel is long, divide after that vowel.  These are called Open Syllables.

Some Examples : 

Some Examples Ra-dar Ba-ker Ho-tel Pu-pils Coo-ler Ma-ker Mo-tel

Slide 50: 

If the first vowel is short, divide after the consonant. For Examples Cab- Fif- Shiv-er Riv-er

Compound Words : 

Compound Words Divide compound words between the two words which forms the compound word. For Example Home-work Foot-ball Dog-house Soft-ware Car-pool Rail-road Gate-way

Slide 52: 

When a word has an affix, it is divided between the root and the affix. Re-run Soft-ness, Cry-ing Re-play Great-ness

Slide 53: 

Divide between two vowels when they are sounded separately. [di et, cru el]

Slide 54: 

Vowels that are sounded alone form their own syllable. [dis o bey, a live, u ni form]

Slide 55: 

When a word ends in l-e preceded by a consonant, divide before the consonant. For Example Tur-tle ca-ble this-tle Cas-tle

The logy rule : 

The logy rule Bi-ol-ogy Psy-chol-ogy Phy-siol-ogy

The Graphy rule : 

The Graphy rule Photography Geography Lithography

The tion rule : 

The tion rule Nation Dictation Completion Situation Modulation Communication Notation Systemization

The ity rule : 

The ity rule Simplicity Electricity Complexity Formality Nationality Possibility