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Speaking Standard American English

Speaking Standard American English. Presented by Dr. Leland Winters senior professor Northwestern Polytechnic University. Speech Mechanisms. 2. Pronunciation Hints. Pronunciation and intonation of your first language interferes in speaking a second language.

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Speaking Standard American English

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  1. Speaking Standard American English Presented by Dr. Leland Winters senior professor Northwestern Polytechnic University

  2. Speech Mechanisms 2

  3. Pronunciation Hints • Pronunciation and intonation of your first language interferes in speaking a second language. • Facial muscles are used more often in Standard American English (SAE) than Chinese. • Some English vowels require the speaker to open their mouth very wide as in lot, hot, spot, honest, lock, fond. • English vowels are longer than in Chinese. • The th sounds require the tongue to show. 3

  4. Pronunciation Hints • The th sounds in English are pronounced as [s] by native Chinese speakers. • [l] and [r] are often mixed up by native Chinese speakers. • [r] and the [r] vowel are difficult for Chinese who make it into a schwa sound. (river, brother, earth, restaurant) 4

  5. Regional Pronunciation Problems • The [z] (voiced consonant is a problem for some regions • Also, adjectives ad juh tiv zzz are pronounced as ad juh tiv juh • English pronounced “eng uh leesh ee” by Chinese speakers as four syllables. • “verb” is pronounced as “vervuh” 5

  6. Vowel Pronunciation Guidelines If you assume English vowels at the end of a syllable are long you will be right most of the time. Assume all other vowels are short. Thrombophlebitis Throm”-bo-fleh-bi’-tis “ is secondary stress ‘is primary stress 6

  7. Pronouncing SAE by Native Chinese Speakers • occur pronounced as ocar or ocore or ocall • cleaned cuh/lean uhd • “her” not “hore” • “It” is pronounced as “eat” or “at” • “relatives” as “rel a teev eazuh” correct is “rel uh tivz” Practice: Fora lotof people it is fun to plan a picnic 7

  8. SAE final “e” is silent • garbage not garbagee • knowledge not knowledgee

  9. Sounds in Standard American English • There are 43 distinct Standard American English sounds, 15 are vowel sounds. British English has 20 vowel sounds. California uses 13 vowel sounds. • Unique sounds to SAE • Phonetic alphabet use in the USA • Dictionaries as pronunciation references 9

  10. Vowel chart. To hear the sounds click on a symbol. 10

  11. How to Improve Your English Pronunciation Watch American TV, DVDs, and movies 11

  12. How to Improve Your English Pronunciation Call a native speaker, meet native speakers at the mall, hall or playing ball. Join a club. 12

  13. Pronouncing Vowels and Syllables • There are 15 vowel sounds in SAE • Every syllable in English must have at least one vowel • Vowels at the end of a syllable are mostly long • Vowels at the beginning or middle of a syllable are usually short • “E” at the end of a word in SAE is silent 13

  14. Vowel Length Example • Thrombophlebitis (five syllables) • Vowel stress • ‘primary stress • “secondary stress • throm”bo - fleh - bi’ - tis short long short long short 14

  15. Word Stress • Word stress does not exist in Chinese. English has stress within words and Chinese speakers must pay close attention to it. • Nouns and verbs get the heaviest stress when English sentences are read. As a general rule nouns are stressed on the first syllable and verbs on the second. 15

  16. Stress • Word stress: • locate, occur, develop, engineer, laboratory, multiplication • In speaking SAE, the stress is used to convey sentence meaning. • Sally is studying now? • Sally is studying now? • Sally is studying now? • Sally is studying now? 16

  17. Sentence Stress -Rhythm .•.•.●. She doesn’t like to hurry. . •. •. ●. Her father cleaned the basement. . •. •. ●. I didn’t want to leave her. . •. •. ●. He hasn’t even tried it. 17

  18. More Rhythm .•..•..● He wanted to help her forget. .•..•..● We needed to call them at ten. .•..•..● Its better to hide it from John. 18

  19. Stress Problems for Chinese Speaking English - Sounds staccato; too many syllables stressed. - - - - - - Joining / Linking words - Sentence rhythm - Reduced vowels; weak forms - Surprise; contrastive stress 19

  20. Linking One: links consonant to vowel • one apple (napple) Two: links rounded vowel to vowel: • two apples (wapples) Three: links spread vowel to vowel: • three apples yapples) Four: links /r/ to vowel: • four apples (rapples) 20

  21. Linking Consonant Groups Sometimes adding <ed> or <s> to the end of a word can result in a very long consonant sequence. Sometimes as many as four are seen at the end and three at the beginning of a word pair in English. We glimpsed strangers. He exchanged scrapbooks. 21

  22. Linking Problems for Chinese Speakers No final voiced consonants are allowed in Chinese such as: /b, d, g, th, v, z, zure, juh/ so you tend to make them voiceless. This results in poor rhythm and grammar. There are several ways to make consonant groups easier to pronounce in fluent speech. 22

  23. Making Consonant Groups Easier to Say 1. Link the final consonant to a vowel. 2. Hold the final consonant sound. 3. Pronounce final /t/ as a stop when . ..followed by a consonant. 4. Omit one consonant, but not final ..<ed> .or <s>. 5. Slow down and pause after the word. 23

  24. 1. Link the final consonant to a vowel gets_up most_of them find_out first_of_all toldher changed_his mind grabbed_it picked_up-his date thanks_him kept_her promise loves_it words_are hard 24

  25. 2. Hold the final consonant sound and go …on to the next consonant sound. Three methods. Method 1. Same Place of Articulation A hard_day we watched_television Help_bob they served_dinner The first_time the birds_sing 25

  26. 2. Hold the final consonant sound and go …on to the next consonant sound. Method 2. Different Place of Articulation answered _correctly works_fine called_Bill saves_money crisp_toast learns_German walks_slowly storms_threaten 26

  27. 2. Hold the final consonant sound and go …on to the next consonant sound. Method 3. Linking onto voiced th /ð/ since_then explained_that hits_them kept_them fails_the test failed_the test returns_the book returned_the book serves_the wine served_the wine changes_the tires changed_the tires 27

  28. 3. Pronounce final /t/ as glottal stop …when followed by a consonant. it was nice sent one it shrank hurt the dog buiIt the house short sleeves felt fine doesn’t think so can’t remember aren’t closing 28

  29. 4. Omit one of the consonants, but …not final grammatical <ed> or <s> ducts  ducks ducked acts  axe  axed  asked guests  guess guessed 29

  30. 4. Omit one of the consonants, but …not final grammatical <ed> or <s> Pronounce all the consonants, then try without the middle consonant acts accepts tests months asked consists lifts lengths fifths depths 30

  31. 5. Slow down; pause after the word. • Not all consonant groups can be made easier to pronounce. You can’t drop any of the consonant sounds in words like: wasps, marched, changed, girls, world • To make it easier to pronounce, you can pause or lengthen the end of the word. • Don’t rush through or chop off part of a word that is difficult for you to pronounce, this destroy the rhythm and makes it harder to understand you. • If you really have a problem pronouncing a word, skip it and use a synonym you can say. 31

  32. Linking Where__ are__you? That’s__kind__of nice__of your_relatives. For__a lot__of people it’s fun to plan _a picnic. Have__an _apple. Who’s__it? Are__all__your__relatives rich? She’s__not one__of your__relatives. She’s rented__a car. 32

  33. More Linking Will_it_open_at _10? Bob_ate_all _of the fish_soup. Where_are_you? I want a bath_after dinner (th-linking) Both_of them came.(th-linking) When_is the store_open? (continuant sound + vowel) 33

  34. Schwa /ə/ Linking My uncle, Allen Martin, will arrive at seven. There are only eleven students in our class. It is quite common to hike across the countryside. They probably will come if we stay awake for another hour. 34

  35. Schwa /ə/ Linking A medical attendant agreed to utilize the telegraph. My favorite color is lavender, and I like banana sodas. Don’t complain again about the problem. Zebras, pandas, and elephants are my favorite animals. Which country appeals to you most – China, Cuba, Australia, or America? 35

  36. Phrasing • Chinese use shorter sentences than in Standard American English. • Both English and Chinese use pauses for meaning. • Phrasing is not a problem for native Chinese speakers of English. 36

  37. Timing • Chinese and American English both blend a lot of sounds together. • In American English some of the sounds of words are omitted in speaking, and sentences are shortened by blending sounds. • SAE prolongs the sounds m, n ,ng which gives it its characteristic sound. Chinese speakers need to hold these sounds longer, especially at the end of words. 37

  38. Timing continued • Some English vowels are very long sounding for Chinese such as leek, moon, lay. • No vowels in Chinese are sustained or prolonged as long as those in English. • The i, u, and ei in Chinese are pronounced relatively shorter than in English. 38

  39. Personal Tips • Try to learn to think in English. If you think in Chinese and then translate to English, you lose the fluency or smoothness that conveys much meaning (rhythm and stress). • Listen to radio, TV (educational and documentaries), and movies in English. These are professionals who must speak clearly so they are great role models for improving pronunciation. 39

  40. More Personal Tips • Be careful not to add the schwa sound to words that end in consonants such as dog, bark, job. (dogə, barkə, jobə) and between words as: “last uh for” or “last uh session” • Chinese speakers add “oh” to the “l” sound as: sell, ball, meal, selloh, balloh, mealoh • When you are tired or just got through speaking Chinese, you will encounter greater interference when you switch to SAE. 40

  41. Silent Letters and syllables bomb bombard crumb crumble thumb thimble damn damnation condemn condemnation sign signify design designation know acknowledge muscle muscular 41

  42. Silent Letters and syllables Silent LettersSilent Syllables rate vegetables answer, write chocolate buy, build preference talked travelling silent interest, interesting debt, doubt, thumb generally muscle national sandwich business natural

  43. Silent “e” • hope • drive • gave • write • site

  44. Add the missing letter which is spelt but not pronounced. w_ite-collar worker resi_n wei_hting _holesale office _ours ve_icle gover_ment enviro_mental ha_f-time job hi_hly recommended ex_ibition dis_onest whis_le-blowing

  45. Standard American English Vowels 15Vowels in English, 9 are Stressed Confusing for Chinese speakers are short “a” and long “e.” • Mid-front vowels short and long “a” and short “e” give Chinese speakers the most problems. • Also, low back vowel long “o” such as lot, hot, spot, honest, lock, fond. 45

  46. Tongue Position for Vowel Sounds Can be high or low ex: see and cat, too and hot (high) (low) (high) (low) Can be front or back ex: see and cat, too and hot (front) (front) (back) (back) Practice: apple - hot, big - you Can be central ex: sit, up, good, us, of, does, but, luck The tip of the tongue is usually down, but in some it is raised up and pulled back as for “r.” Practice: her, hurt, were, sir, bird, better 46

  47. Lip Position The lips can be • rounded, such as in too, you • un-rounded, smiling such as in see Practice: eat • neutral, such as in bus, up, the 47

  48. Minimal Pairs of Vowels • Words differ by one vowel sound (phoneme) I.e., sheep - - ship • First listen to the sound, then repeat it. • The following are the only vowels Chinese speakers have problems with in Standard American English 48

  49. Minimal Pairs for stressed SAE vowels /iy/ /I/ sheep ship green grin least list deed did meet mitt seat sit 49

  50. Minimal Vowel Pairs Practice of Difficult Sounds for Chinese Speakers Speaking American English Repeat the following: green least meet deed seat peat sheep grin list mitt did sit pit ship Reference: Gray folders, vowel sounds 1-46 50

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