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ACCENT NEUTRALI
OVERVIEW
PURPOSE
This lesson focuses on pronunciation and how to improve telephone communication so that the American Customer can clearly understand what the agent is saying. This lesson enhances conversational English Skills by incorporating intonation, word liaisons, and proper English pronunciation.
OBJECTIVE
This module is designed to further enhance your communication skills and teach you how to adjust from the commonly accepted English to the Global Language that we speak in the Call Center Industry, which is the typical American Accent..
What is
ACCENT ?
A distinctive manner of expression i.e. an individuals distinctive or characteristic inflection, tone, or choice of words, or way of speaking typical of a particular group of people residing in a specific region. (Webster Dictionary) Is the combination of three main components: intonation (speech music), liaisons (word connections), and pronunciation (the spoken sounds of vowels, consonants, and combinations)
TENSE VOWELS
Symbol Sound Spelling Example o ee i ou ooh ah + +o take eat ice hope smooth [tak] [et] [is] [hop] [smuth]
LAX VOWELS
Symbol Sound Spelling Example i eh ih ih+uh uh get it took some [gt] [it] [tk] [sm]
SEMIVOWELS
r er ul her dull [hr] [d]
TENSE VOWELS
long vowels requires the use of a lot of facial muscles especially lip and mouth muscles
LAX VOWELS
short vowels or reduced vowels you relax your mouth and lip muscles
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The A and E combination sound. Although not a common sound, it is very distinctive to the ear & is typically American. - To pronounce it, drop your jaw as far down as it will go. The final sound is not two separate vowels, but rather the end result of the combination. It is very close to the sound that a goat makes: ma-a-a-a!
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- the A and O combination sound. - to pronounce, relax your tongue & drop your jaw. Its the sound you make when the doctor wants to see your tongue, so open up & drp your jw. ex. Water, daughter, caught
Ou
own bone cone coat dont phone goat hotel Joan loan moan motor known note
aint bane cane Kate Dane feign gain hate Jane lane main made name Nate
end Ben Ken ketch den fend again het up Jenny Len men met nemesis net
Ann on unban bond bun can con come cat caught/cot cut Dan Don/dawn done fan fawn fun gap gone gun hat hot hut Jan John jump lamp lawn lump man monster Monday matter motto mutter Nan non~ none/nun Gnat not/knot nut
15. pan 16. ran
pawn Ron
pun run
Ou
pony Roan
pain rain/reign
pen wren
17. sand
18. shall 19. chance 20. Tack 21. van 22. wax 23. Yam
sawn
Sean chalk talk Von want yawn
sun
shut Chuck tuck vug one young
sewn/soan
show choke Token vogue wont yo!
sane
Shane change take vague wane Yea!
send
Shen check tech vent when Yen
24. Zap
czar
result
zone
zany
zen
i
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. It Fit This Bit Sit Nit Pit Is Sick Lick Sin
eat feet/feat these beat seat neat peat ease seek leak seen 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
i
Sim Dim Kin Hill Sill Pick Gin
CONSONANTS
are sounds that cause two points of your mouth to come into contact, in three locations - the lips, the tip of the tongue, and the throat.
VOICED Consonants
/ b, d, g, v, , z, 3, d3, m, n, , l, r, w, y / example: / b / - bad / m / - man / d / - did / n / - no / g / - gave / / - sing / v / - voice / d3 / - judge / / - that / l / - leg / z / - zoo / 3 / - vision / r / - red / w / - went / y / - yacht
VOICELESS Consonants
/ p, t, k, f, , s, , t , h / example: / p / - pot / s / - sun / / - she / t / - chat / f / - if
The American T
4 Basic Rules
[ T is T ]
[ T is D ]
[ T is Silent ]
[ T is Held ]
[ T is T ]
If the T is at the beginning of the word, it is a strong T sound.
1. In the beginning of a word: Table, Take, Tomorrow, Teach, Ten, Turn, Tired
It took Tim ten times to try the telephone. 2. with a stressed T in ST, TS, TR, CT, LT and sometimes NT combinations: STeak, traiTS, TRain, taCT, beLT, conteNT
3. In the past tense, D sounds like T, after an unvoiced consonant sound f, k, p, s, ch, sh, th picked [pikt], hoped [houpt], raced [rast], watched [wcht]
[ T is D ]
If the T is in the middle of the word intonation changes the sound to a soft D. Letter sounds like [ledder].
Water, daughter, bought a, lot of, got a, later, meeting, bedder
[ T is Silent ]
T and N are so close in the mouth that the [t] can disappear.
interview international advantage percentage center internet twenty [innerview] [innernational] [dvnj] [percenj] [cenner] [innernet] [twenny]
[ T is Held ]
If the T is at the end of the word, it is held back that you almost dont hear it at all. put, what, lot, set, hot, sit, shot, brought Thats quite right , isnt it?
[ T is Held ]
With tain, -tten and some TN combinations, the T is held. The held T is, strictly speaking, not really a T at all. Remember, [t] and [n] are very close in the mouth. If you have [n] immediately after [t], you dont pop the [t] the tongue is in the [t] position, but you release the air for the [n] not the [t]. Make sure you dont put the Schwa before the [n]. An important point to remember is that you need a sharp upward sliding intonation up to the held T, the a quick drop for the N. Written, certain, forgotten, sentence, bitten, curtain, mountain, mutant, button Hes forgotten the carton of satin mittens. Shes certain that he has written it. Martin has gotten a kitten.
The VOICED TH is like a D, but instead of being in the back of the teeth, its inch lower & forward, between the teeth. The UNVOICED TH is like an S between the teeth. ***Most people tend to replace the unvoiced TH with an S or T & the voiced one with Z or D. Instead of thing, they say sing or ting. Instead of that, they say zat or dat.
Try this: that these those they them their thought think through thing threat thieves
Thirty thousand thoughtless boys, Thought theyd make a thundering noise; So with thirty thousand thumbs, They thumbed on thirty thousand drums
The American R
The American R is like a vowel because the tongue does not touch anywhere in the mouth.
r
Earn Hurt Word
r
art heart lark
er
air hair flair
or
or horse course
eer
ear here clear
or
hour power our
The American L
The American L has different pronunciations in English. In the beginning of a word, the tongue tip touches just behind the teeth on those hard ridges.
In the beginning of the word:
belly, alley
At the end of the word (a little Schwa):
ball [b-uhl]
Silent L
Already
Alright
Almost
Stressing the correct syllable is as important as pronouncing the sounds correctly. Words & phrases can have different meanings depending on which syllable is stressed.
1. 2. invalid invalid August august - a sick person - not correct - the eighth month - majestic or grand
3.
4.
5.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Word type
Two Syllables Nouns Verbs Nouns
Examples
center, objects release, admit, arrange desktop, pencil case, bookshelf, greenhouse well-meant, oldfashioned, hard-headed understand, overlook, outperform economic, geometric, electric technician, graduation, cohesion photography, biology, geometry parameter, thermometer barometer
Compound
(N+N) or (Adj.+N)
Adjectives
(Adj.+P.P.)
Verbs
(P+verb)
Word with -ic the syllable before the added ending ending -tion, -cian, -sion the syllable before the ending -phy, -gy, -try, the third from the last -cy, -fy, -al syllable -meter the third from the last syllable
When nouns are used as adjectives (before other nouns), the stress is retained on the first syllable
Example: 1. Contract negotiations were completed last night. 2. The project engineer has been waiting for two hours already.
When ing or ed are added to verbs to make adjectives, stress remains on the second syllable
Example: 1. The recording studio is closed every Sunday. 2. He made the presented output.
When other endings are added, such as er or or, the stress tends to be the same as the most closely related word.
Example: 1. The presenter is the one who presents the minutes of the meeting.
Disappearing Syllables
The vowel immediately after the stressed one is usually reduced. In some very common words, when two or three unstressed syllables follow a stressed syllable, the unstressed syllable immediately after the stressed syllable is dropped altogether. This is specially common before <r>. Example: 1. Interesting intresting 2. Temperature tempreture 3. Favorable favrable 4. Miserable misrable 5. Laboratory labratory 6. Separate seprate 7. Elementary elementry 8. Favorite favrite 9. Beverage bevrage 10. Restaurant restrant
The adverb ending in ically is usually pronounced as /ikli/ Example: 1. Physically physiclly 2. Practically practiclly 3. Economically economiclly
STRESS PATTERNS
ACRONYMS - Stress is on the last letter IBM BCC MI5 CIA FBI ASPCA TWO-PART WORDS 2-PART NOUNS -Compound Nouns stress the first part a tkeover milman a gtup grenhouse a ltdown freman a lftoff htdog a prntout rommate
TWO-PART WORDS
2-PART VERBS -Phrasal verbs stress the preposition to take ver to get p to print ut to let dwn to lift ff
2 SYLLABLE NOUNS
NOUNS -90% stressed on the first syllable nswer sthma cstle slmon cho nighbor Chrstmas ktchen clmate chrus chir dughnut knwledge mther stdent chos chcken sland hnor
Compare -ain
Verbs to complan to entertin to explin to maintin to remin Nouns muntain funtain
NOUNS
-Foreign borrowings stressed on the last syllable -French Origin Silent t ch ge ballt champgne barrge bufft crocht corsge fillt chatau grarge gourmt chiffn massge
HOMOGRAPHS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. The farm was used to produce produce. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. The soldier decided to desert in the desert. This was a good time to present the present. I didnt object to the object. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. The drug addict was addicted. His conduct was awful. We hope hell conduct himself better in the future. They signed the contract. They contracted to do 3 jobs. The convict was finally caught & convicted. He projected that his project would be done by next year. He recorded his new record. The rebels rebelled against the government. They were insulted by the mans insult.
HOMOPHONES
same pronunciation different spelling different meaning
d dam damn dear deer dew do due doe dough ducts ducks e earn urn f flea flee fill Phil find fined flea flee flew flu flour flower for four fore forth fourth freeze frees frieze g groan grown h hair hare heard herd here hear heed hed hi high him hymn higher hire hole whole hoarse horse hour our
k Knight night knit nit knot not know no l lead led liar lyre m meat meet moan mown mode mowed morning mourning n need kneed night knight Nome gnome none nun not knot o oar or ore one won
p pain pane pear pair pare peace piece peak peek pique per purr peer pier pudding putting r rain reign rap wrap read reed read red right rite write road rode rose rows rote wrote s sea see seas sees seize scene seen sell cell shone shown shoe shoo sight site cite slay sleigh some sum stair stare stationary stationery steal steel straight strait t taught taut their there theyre threw through thru throne thrown to too two
u u ewe you v vale veil vial vile w wail whale wait weight war wore ware wear where warn worn way weigh whey weal wheel wine whine wrote rote y Your youre
Silent B
Crumb Thumb Lamb Comb dumb plumber climb debt numb tomb bomb doubt
knelt Knowledge
know knife
gnash Sign
Campaign diaphragm
Honest
exhibition
Honor
Graham
Hour
Linking him, her They called h/im They called h/er Afghanistan Rhetoric Silent L Calf Chalk Could Colonel Almond aghast rheumatism Ghana Rhode Island ghetto rhyme
palm
Silent M Mnemonic
Silent N Autumn Silent S Aisle Island
damn
government
solemn
hymn
Arkansas
bourgeois
debris
Silent TH Asthma
Silent W Answer Whole Wrote Wrestle