LISTENING & LEARNING AMERICAN & BRITISH ACCENT

- Introduction

Section 1: OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEECH PATTERNS

INTONATION & STRESS

- Intonation

- Stress

- At the word level

- Beyond the word level

- Falling and rising inflection

- Primary stress and final inflection

- Stress for emphasis

- Stress for emphasis and final inflection

RHYTHM

- Reductions

- Liking

- Practicing rhythm and stress

Section 2: THE ENGLISH VOWELS

Introduction to English vowels and diphthongs

The IPA symbols for vowels

Production and classification of vowels

Lengths of vowels and diphthongs

- The simple vowels /ʌ/, /ə/, /i/, /ɪ/, /ε/, /æ/, /ɑ/, /ɔ/ /ʊ/, /u/, /ər/, /ʌr/

- The diphthongs /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /oʊ/, /au̇/, /ɔɪ/

- Bonus exercises

- Minimal pairs – Vowels / Diphthongs

Section 3: WORD STRESS

STRESS AND MEANING

- Compound words

- Two- part verbs

- Two – part verbs and idioms

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

- Prefixes and word stress

- Suffixes and word stress

- Meaning determined by stress on the suffix

- Suffixes and word stress placement

- Proper names, titles, times

- Abbreviations

- Times and dates

- Bonus exercises

- Practice Word Lists: abbreviations, common prefixes

- Compound words: verb & noun stress patterns: two –three syllable words; three –four syllable words; three – five syllable words

Section 4: THE RHYTHM OF AMERICAN ENGLISH

IDENTIFYING SPEECH RHYTHM

REDUCED FORMS AND RHYTHM

- Reducing function word

- Simplifying vowels

- The English articles

- Simplifying consonants

- Bonus exercises

- Reduced word groups

- Combining consonants

- Linking with the tapped t

- Common Two-Word Reductions

- Bonus exercises

- Omissions of h and t

- Contracted forms

- Bonus exercises

- Reduced segments with contracted forms

- Putting it all together

- Conversational Exercise

Section 5 THE AMERICAN ENGLISH CONSONANTS: The stops & The continuants

INTRODUCTION

- The IPA symbols for consonants

- Classification of consonants

. Tongue Tip Placement

. Use of Voice for Consonants

. Aspiration

/ p, b/ /t, d/ /k, g/ The stop consonants

- Initial stop consonants

- Final stop consonants

- Middle stop consonants

. Middle t, d

. The Glottal stop

. The Tapped t

- Linking: Stop consonants – Vowels

- Linking: Consonants – consonants

- The suffix – ed

. Stop consonants + Suffix -ed

. Contrast: Voiceless –ed – Voiced – ed

. Linking: Suffix – ed – consonants

- Bonus exercises

- Minimal pairs – Final stop consonants

- Silent spellings: - p, b t, d k, g

The continuant consonants

/ θ, ð/ ( thin, then)

- Contrast: / θ/ - /t/ Contrast / ð/ - /d/

- Contrast / θ/ - /s/ Contrast / ð/ - /z/

- Sound clusters / θ, ð/

- Practice words

- Bonus exercises

/f, v/ (fine, vet)

- Contrast /f/ - /v/

- Contrast /f, v/ - / θ, ð/

- Suffix –s, suffix –ed

- Contrast /v/ - /b/

- Irregular plurals / lvz/

- Practice words

- Bonus exercise

Section 6 THE AMERICAN ENGLISH CONSONATS: The Sibilants

/s, z/

/ ʃ, ʒ/ (share, ruge) / tʃ, dʒ/ (chair, jam)

- Initial sibilant sounds

/s/ blends

Final sibilant sounds

. Contrast: /s/ - /z/

. Contrast: / ʃ/ - / tʃ/

. Contrast: / tʃ/ - /dʒ/

. Contrast / ʒ/ - other sibilant sounds

STOP CONSONANTS + S

Suffix – s

Contrast: Suffix – s Voiceless - Suffix –s Voiced

CONSONAT CLUSTERS WITH /s/

Contrast /s/ clusters

. /ps/ - /bz/

. /ks/ - /gz/

. / ks/ - /sk/

. / ts/ - /dz/

Suffixes

-es –ize – tion, sion, cian

- cial, -tial, cious, tious, xious

-sian, sion, geous, gious

- est

- ist

SIBILANTS + Suffix –ed

- Contrast: /st/ - /zd/

- Linking sibilants – other sibilants

- Linking sibilants + suffix –ed – vowels

- Conversational exercise

- Silent spellings of S

- Spelling “ch” pronounced / ʃ/

- Minimal pairs – final sibilant sounds

Section 7 THE AMERICAN ENGLISH CONSONATS: The Glides & The Nasals

/r/

/r/ BLENDS

- Contrast /r/ blends: voiceless – voiced

MIDDLE /r/ blends

FINAL /r/ Blends

- Contrast /rt/ -/rd/

- Contrast /rs/ - /rz/

- More Practice Words - /r/ blends

- Bonus exercises

/l/

THE CLEAR /l/

- Long vowel + /l/

/l/ BLENDS

- Contrast /l/ blends: Voiceless – Voiced

FINAL /l/

- A final consonant + /l/

THE BACK /l/

- Contrast: /l/ - /r/

- Contrast: /l/ blends – /r/ blends

- The suffix –ly

- Conversational exercise – sounds /r/ & /l/

- Silent l

- More practice words - /r/ & /l/

- Bonus exercises

/w/

- Contrast /v/ -/w/

- Bonus exercise

/j/ (yet)

- Contrast /j/ - /dʒ/

/h/

- Silent h

- Bonus exercise

THE NASAL SOUNDS

/m/, /n/

- Contrast: /m/ - /n/

- Contrast Voiceless – Voiced Endings

- Contrast: /l/ -/n/

/ŋ/

- Contrast /n/ - /ŋ/

- Contrast /nk/ -/ŋ/

- Contrast suffix endings –s,-d

- The suffix –ing

- Contrast endings –nking – nging

- Bonus exercise

Section 8 MORE ON STRESS AND INTONATION

INTONATION AND MEANING

- Polite Tones

- Mildly rising inflection

- Sharply rising inflection

- Swinging pitch inflection

- Sharply falling inflection

VARIATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS

- Yes / No question form with falling inflection

- Declarative form with rising inflection

- Wh questions with rising inflection

VARIATIONS IN STRESS

- Stress on descriptive words

- Degrees of stress

- Conversational exercise

- Stress with lower pitch

PRACTICING STRESS FOR EMPHASIS

- Clarifying and explaining

INTONATION AND PAUSES

- Messages that require pauses

. Addressing the listener by Name

. Responses beginning with Yes or No

. Messages with tag forms

- Pauses in longer sentences

. Compound sentences

. Parenthetical statements

- Stating options – two options

. Conversational Options

. More than two options

- Stating items or sequences

. Indefinite listings or choices

. Conversational Exercises

- Descriptions, directions or instructions

. Conversational Exercises – Putting it all together

. Bonus exercises

Resources:

- The American Accent Guide

- Pronounce It Perfectly in English

- Rosetta stone Version1 level 1, 2, and 3

- Clear Speech (from the start)

- Clear speech (pronunciation…)

- American Accent Training

- English Tutor: The ultimate way to learn English faster

- In Charge 1: an integrated skills course for high level students