What is ACCENT?
Intonation
(Speech Music)
Liaisons
(Word
Connections)
Pronunciation
(Spoken
Sounds)
Language Is Fluent and Fluid
Just like our own language, conversational
English has a very smooth, fluid sound.
You will also have to think about your
speech more than you do now.
A new accent is an adventure. Be bold!
Exaggerate wildly!
American Intonation
Dont move your lips.
Relate American English to music.
The speech music has become more
exaggerated thus developing a strong and
distinctive intonation.
Dictates liaisons and pronunciation, and it
indicates mood and meaning.
Intonations Dos and Donts
What Exactly Is Staircase
Intonation?
We
re
he
Were here. re.
No see
No ou seat eed
clipped Standard American clipped Voiced
Three Ways to Make Intonation
Just get louder or raise the volume.
Streeeeeetch the word out or lengthen
the word that you want to draw attention to
(which sounds very insinuating).
Change pitch
Rubber Band Practice with
Nonsense Syllables
A B
1. dud duh duh 1. la la la
2. dud duh duh 2 la la la
3. dud duh duh 3. la la la
4. dud duh duh 4. la la la
C D
1. mee mee mee 1. ho ho ho
2. mee mee mee 2. ho ho ho
3. mee mee mee 3. ho ho ho
4. mee mee mee 4. ho ho ho
A B
1. duh duh duh
1. duh duh duh
2. ABC
2. imprecise
3. 123
3. a hot dog
4. Dogs eat Bones
4. They eat bones
C
1. duh duh duh
D
2. Condition 1. duh duh duh
3. a hot dog 2. alphabet
4. They eat them 3. hot dog stand
4. Give me one.
Staircase Intonation
Up and down
High and end low.
stair
up
We and
case
go down
Statement Intonation with
Nouns
Intonation or pitch change is primarily used
to introduce new information. This means
that when you are making a statement for
the first time, you will stress the nouns.
Dogs bones.
eat
Noun Intonation Practice
1. Dogs eat bones.
2. Kenneth likes bikes.
3. Jane wants a book.
4. Adam plays pool.
5. Dennis needs some money.
6. Susie combs her hair.
7. Merza teaches Math.
8. Kathy writes articles.
9. Magno makes music.
10. Elizabeth and I fix the bikes.
Statement Intonation with
Pronouns
When you replace the nouns with pronouns, stress the
verb.
Dogs bones.
eat
They them.
Noun and Pronoun Intonation
A B
1. Bob sees Betty. 1. He sees her.
2. Betty knows Bob. 2. She knows him.
3. Ann and Ed call the Kids. 3. They call them.
4. Jan sells some apples. 4. She sells some.
5. The girls have a choice. 5. They have one.
6. The kids like the cake. 6. They like it.
7. The boys need some help. 7. They need something.
8. Ellen should call her sister. 8. She should call someone.
9. The tourists went shopping. 9. They bought stuff.
10. The murderer killed the 10. He killed a man.
plumber.
Four Main Reasons for
Intonation
New
Information
Cant Opinion
Contrast
1. New Information
It sounds like rain.
Duh ray
duh ayn.
duh
Make rain very musical and put it on two notes: ray-ayn.
Duh-duh-duh ray-ayn / It sounds like ray-ayn.
2. Opinion
It sounds like rain, but I dont think it is.
Intonation make the meaning the opposite of
what the words say.
It sounds like rain. (Its rain.)
It sounds like rain. (but its not.)
3. Contrast
He likes rain, but he hates snow.
Like and hate are contrasted and are the
stronger words in the sentence.
4. Cant
It cant rain when theres no clouds.
Contractions (shouldnt, wouldnt) and negatives
(no,not, never) are important words since they
totally negate the meaning of a sentence, but
they are not usually stressed.
Cant is the exception.
Reading with Staircase
Intonation
Hello, my name is ________. Im taking American Accent
Training. Theres a lot to learn, but I hope to make it as
enjoyable as possible. I should pick up on the American
intonation pattern pretty easily, although the only way to
get it is to practice all the time. I use the up and down, or
peaks and valleys, intonation more than I used to. Ive
been paying attention to pitch, too. Its like walking down
the staircase. Ive been talking to a lot of Americans
lately, and they tell me that Im easier to understand.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but the important thing is
to listen well and sound good. Well, what do you think?
Do I?
Regular Transitions of Nouns
and Verbs
Change the stress from first syllable for
nouns to the second syllable for verbs. This
is a regular, consistent change. Intonation
is so powerful that youll notice that when
the stress changes, the pronunciation of
the vowels do, too.
Regular Transitions of
Adjectives and Verbs
