Speaking American English Part I for DiWan University

1. Speaking American EnglishPart Ifor DiWan University Presented by Dr. Lee Winters senior professor Northwestern Polytechnic University

2. Speech Mechanisms

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 than Chinese. • Some English vowels require the speaker to open their mouth very wide as in lot, hot, spot, got, honest, lock, fond, apple, Ed. • English vowels are longer than in Chinese. • The th sounds require the tongue to show.

4. Pronunciation Hints • The th ( and ) 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 (ə) sound. (river, brother, earth, restaurant)

5. 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”

6. Pronouncing SAE by Native Chinese Speakers • occur pronounced as ocar or ocore or ocall • orange pronounced as oran-gee • George, advantage • 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. Sounds in Standard American English • There are 43 distinct SAE sounds, 15 are vowel sounds. • Chinese has 37 sounds and 5 tones or (185 possible words) • Unique SAE sounds include [th] • IPA, International Phonetic Alphabet is not used in the USA • Dictionary pronunciation guides vary

8. SAE Alphabet

9. How to Improve Your English Pronunciation Watch American TV, DVDs, and movies, or listen to quality radio programs.

10. How to Improve Your English Pronunciation Listen and speak to as many native speakers as you can.

11. 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. Generally, nouns are stressed on the first syllable and verbs on the second.

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

13. Sentence Stress –Rhythm… .•.•.●. She doesn’t like to hurry. .•.•.●. Her father cleaned the basement. .•.•.●. I didn’t want to see her. .•.•.●. He hasn’t even tried it.

14. ... and more rhythm .•..•..● He wanted to help her forget. .•..•..● We needed to call them at ten. .•.. •..● Its better to hide it from John.

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

16. Linking Words 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)

17. 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 consonants are seen at the end and three at the beginning of a word pair in English. We glimpsed strangers. He exchanged scrapbooks.

18. 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.

19. Consonant Problems for Native Chinese Speakers • b / v • d • g / k • th ( and ) • z / s • zure • juh

20. [b] versus [v] Pronounce these words being careful to say the letter b with closed lips and an explosion of air and saying the letter v with your upper teeth on your lower lip. baste - best - vest berry - very boat - vote banish - vanish bail - vale base - vase bat - vat bowel - vowel

21. [t] and [d] • teen dean • tear dear • tame dame • bat bad • mat mad • note node • metal medal

22. [g] is voiced and [k] is voiceless • kill gill keel steel/steal • rack rag • coat goat • luck lug log • core gore • knack nag • cap gap • lack lag

23. [th] (voiceless and voiced) InitialMedialFinal theme thimble nothing something bath breath thank thought ether author cloth both think thick faithful bathtub month oath thing three healthy pathetic south moth that thisanother brotherbathe breathe the they father mother smooth clothe those these either rathertithe teethe them though without gather with loathe

24. Pronounce [z], not [s] whose easier pause praise desire design poise zeal museum poison rising noise polarize cause visit prize business hose close zero leisure pleasure closure vision

25. [] Zuh Zuh sound made by su, si, ug, ag, ig, zu, ge, zi, g MedialFinal • measure usual garage mirage • regime vision beige rouge • invasion pleasure prestige • casual explosion camouflage • azure brazier corsage

26. Juh [] glide sound InitialMedialFinal Jim gelatin wages bridges lodge age jar jay educate soldier orange juice joke adjoining region ridge gem jet adjust engine huge jam just Joe judge Jill George

27. Consonant Cluster Problems • pr price tr trace fr freeze • th three sh shred br break • gr grow dr dress pl play • tl Atlanta cl clock fl fly • sl sleep bl blue gl glue • qu quit tw twin sw sweet • wr wrist

28. Making Consonant Groups Easier to Say in Fluid Speech 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 the final ..<ed> .or <s>. 5. Slow down and pause after the word.

29. 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

30. 2. Hold the final consonant sound longer and go on to the next consonant sound. There are three methods you can use: Method 1. Same Place of Articulation A hard_day we watched_television Help_bob they served_dinner The first_time the birds_sing

31. Method 2. Different Place of Articulation answered _correctly works_fine called_Bill saves_money crisp_toast learns_German walks_slowly storms_threaten

32. 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 change_the tires changes_the tires changed_the tires changing the tires

33. 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 don’t need I want four

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

35. 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

36. 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 for people to understand you. • If you really have a problem pronouncing a word, skip it and use a synonym you can say.

37. Linking Words 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.

38. More Word Linking Will_it_open_at _ten? 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)

39. Schwa /ə/ Linking ə ə ə ə ə My uncle, Allen Martin, will arrive at seven. ə ə There are only eleven students in our class. ə ə ə It is quite common to hike across the ə countryside.

40. Schwa /ə/ Linking ə ə ə They probably will come if we stay awake ə for another hour. ə ə ə ə A medical attendant agreed to utilize the ə ə second telegraph. ə ə ə ə Don’t complain about the problem.

41. Schwa /ə/ Linking My favorite color is lavender, and I like banana sodas. Zebras, pandas, and elephants are my favorite animals. Which country is closest – China, Cuba, Australia, or America?

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

43. 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 sustain these sounds, especially at the end of words.

44. Timing continued • Some English vowels are very long sounding for Chinese such as leek, moon, lay. • No vowels in Chinese are said as long as in English. • The i, u, and ei in Chinese are much shorter than in English.

45. 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, and movies in English. These are professionals who must speak clearly so they are great role models for improving pronunciation.

46. 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 • When you are tired or just got through speaking Chinese, you will encounter greater interference.

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

48. Silent Letters in English • chords cords • comfortable comterbul • cupboards cubards • deliveries delivries • evening evning • mechanical mecanical mechanism • nursery nursry • sign sine • superficial superfical

49. SAE Vowels 15 Vowels 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.

50. 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