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Pronouncing American English

Pronouncing American English. ● If you ask me what is standard American pronunciation and how to pronounce it, then I’ll have to say, “Sorry, I don’t know”—because there is NO standard American pronunciation.

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Pronouncing American English

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  1. Pronouncing American English ●If you ask me what is standard American pronunciation and how to pronounce it, then I’ll have to say, “Sorry, I don’t know”—because there is NO standard American pronunciation. ●There are various regional accents in the U.S., and none of them is considered to be “standard.” ●You will notice that a New Yorker speaks English quite differently from a Midwesterner, and the accent of a guy from Texas is totally different from that of a guy from New Orleans.

  2. ●What we are talking about here is the variety of English spoken in the nation’s Midland areas that sounds most neutral or “mainstream.” It’s frequently identified as the “speech of broadcasters”, the dialect most frequently heard on TV, on radio, in classrooms, in business communities, and among people that have proper education. ●A rule of thumb: Imitation and immersion are, and always will be, the best ways to learn spoken English. ●Remember: Learning spoken English involves much painful and time-consuming practice. It is very demanding but can also be very rewarding and a lot of fun. You will get as much out of it as you put into it!

  3. ●Read to go? Let’s start with some vowels and consonants. ●The distinctive /r/. Whenever there’s the letter r, roll up your tongue and pronounce a soft and natural (and pretty) /r/, as in car. Video /r/: 05:54 /r/ in words: army party car/ order horse core/ earth skirt her/ ear weirdhear/ air hairy rare/ poor tour lure/ teacher brother reporter carver/ room rare railroad/ tree train treat/ drag dream dragon/ yesterday wonderful /r/ in sentences: When you’re far from parents, friends and relatives, don’t forget to keep in touch with them by letters, post cards, short notes or phone calls.

  4. ●The obvious . The long vowel / / is changed into . in words: in sentences: Exceptions: ar (car, party, start…), father, calm ask fast can’t path pass glass answer dance chance half demand command broadcast The policeman asked the driver, “ It’s already half past nine, so don’t drive too fast at the pass. And you can’t listen to the weather broadcast, drink a glass of water, and drive your car at the same time. I will not give you a second chance if you fail to obey my command!”

  5. ●The noticeable / /.The British / / is pronounced as / /. / / in words: / / in sentences: The long/ / has to be changed in the same way. Exceptions: or (core, horse…) on odd hot pot got God rod box job sorry stop John bottle follow spot crop polish doctor pocket ironic office object popular holiday respond probably John, why did you spend your holiday at such a hot spot! My God! I’d rather stay in my office, drink a bottle of pop, and polish my boxes spotless! jaw raw hawk draw straw crawl flawless haul overhaul hall small gaunt taught daughter naughty

  6. ●The in-between /t/. When placed between two vowels, the consonant /t/ is sort of pronounced like a sound between /t/ and /d/. Video voiced /t/: 14:37 Exceptions: When pronounced slowly and very clearly, the sound is still /t/. /t/ in words: letter better writer party pretty latter water lettuce little sweeter sweater waiting invited celebrated repeating typewriter beautiful forget about it /t/ in sentences: Forget about it! It’s not important anyway. He’s just a little potato. We’ve invited better writers to our parties. Hey, look at that sweater! Isn’t it beautiful?

  7. ●The shortened / / and /ei/. These two diphthongs are pronounced shorter than, and not as flat as, the British counterparts. / / in words: / / and /ei/ in sentences: no OK old hold cold home coal boat road hello oakwood Joe holy going overall local low blow radio hostess suppose borrow tomorrow San Francisco /ei/ in words: say hey gate cake sway fade hate sale plane eight shake shame favor change nation always cocktail celebrate amazing situation roommate statement Hey, are you gonna stay here all day today? Could you bake a cake for me? What? Oh, no, I am gonna go home soon. Old Joe’ s going to San Francisco, and I am going to see him hit the road, I suppose.

  8. ●The conditional /ju:/. When placed after /t/, /d/, /n/, /l/, the sound /ju:/ is pronounced closer to /u:/. /ju:/ in words: new newspaper nude nudity numeral numerous lure allude elusive aluminum lucrative illuminate tune tube tumor tutor tutorial Tuesday tuna fish due duty dew during reduce dubious durable super ●The regional /hw/. In some areas of the U.S., especially in southern U.S., /w/ in “wh-” is pronounced as /hw/. /hw/ in words: why what when where which whale white wheat

  9. 1. -ary is often pronounced as /eri/, -ory is often pronounced as / ri/: 2. -ile is often pronounced as / l/ instead of / l/: ● Some other rules: stationary secretary dictionary necessary ordinary history factory laboratory preparatory dormitory docile fertile fragile hostile missile juvenile senile Video /l/: 00:58 3. /l/ is often pronounced as the dark /l/: police million slick player delay belong below 4. Nasal Sounds: Video /th/: 02:21 Video voiced /sh/: 15:06 Video tongue twisters: 00:53 Video phrase reductions and intonation: 00:43

  10. ● Some words that are pronounced differently from their British counterparts: Z ate been clerk either neither mayor often schedule thorough tomato courage hurry record hero semi- anti- interest kilometer… ● Do not abuse the /r/ sound! There are no /r/ sounds in words like China, because, method, focus, etc. ● Be sure to use American vocab and spelling. See if you know the following words: sports meet, underpants, apartment, elevator, basement, dresser, sneakers, bar, cab, cop, corn, cracker, candy, can, glasses, check, railroad, movie, garbage can, sidewalk, truck, gas, store, eraser, drug store, fall, motor, principal, mailman, faucet, mad (angry), flashlight, semester, vacation, sick, crazy (mad), guy…

  11. ●Immerse yourself in the following resources: http://www.voanews.com VOA official website http://www.listeningexpress.com/ It is a very good website to download wonderful materials to listen to and imitate. TV series: South Park, Two and A Half Men, Two Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory…

  12. VOA Special English News Item One: European security experts say the conflict in Chechnya has grow too large to stay an internal problem for Russia. An observer from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe spoke after visiting the refugee camps in Ingushetia across the border from Chechnya. The official told reporters there is a serious humanitarian problem in the camps. Cold weather, poor housing and a lack of food are making life difficult for thousands of Chechen refugees there. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will report its findings during a meeting in Istanbul next week.

  13. VOA Standard English News Item One: Baton-wielding police in Belgrade clashed with hundreds of student demonstrators trying to march to parliament to support demands for early elections. The student leaders say 50 people were injured as police intervened to keep the marchers away from the parliament. State-run television accused the students of provoking the officers. Opposition parties later staged a separate march, but police used cordons to block those demonstrators from marching to the assembly.

  14. TOEFL passages, both listening and speaking, are also very good materials for you to imitate: Ok. In the last class we talked about the classification of trees. And we ended up with a basic description of angiosperms. You remember that those are plants with true flowers and seeds that develop inside fruits. The common broadleaf trees we have on campus fall into this category, but our pines don’t. Now I hope you all followed my advice and wore comfortable shoes because, as I said, today we are going to do a little field study.

  15. Some other wonderful materials to imitate: VOA Special English: Words and Their Stories. Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories. Each week, this program explains the many meanings of English expressions. Today’s expressions include a very important word–heart. We will try to get to the heart of the matter to better understand the most important things about words and their stories. So take heart. Have no fear about learning new expressions. Besides, popular English words can be fun. There is no need for a heavy heart. Such feelings of sadness would only break my heart, or make me feel unhappy and hopeless.

  16. The Making of a Nation: This is Sarah Long. And this is Rich Kleinfeldt with the Making of a Nation, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States. Today, we present the first in our series of history programs. We tell about the first peoples to arrive in what would become North America. Scientists and history experts say the first people to ever come to the western hemisphere arrived between fifteen-thousand and thirty-five-thousand years ago. They may have come in several different groups. No one is really sure who they were or where they lived before.

  17. If you need the materials, you can get a copy from me after the lecture. Thank you!

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