美音发音技巧.docx

美音发音技巧.docx

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美音发音技巧

CD1-1 American accent training

ReadThisFirstCD1Track1

WelcometoAmericanAccentTraining.ThisbookandCDsetisdesignedtogetyoustartedonyourAmericanaccent.We'llfollowthebookandgothroughthe13lessonsandalltheexercisesstepbystep.EverythingisexplainedandacompleteAnswerKeymaybefoundinthebackofthetext.

WhatIsAccent?

Accentisacombinationofthreemaincomponents:

intonation（speechmusic）,liaisons（wordconnections）,andpronunciation（thespokensoundsofvowels,consonants,andcombinations）.Asyougoalong,you'llnoticethatyou'rebeingaskedtolookataccentinadifferentway.You'llalsorealizethatthegrammaryoustudiedbeforeandthisaccentyou'restudyingnowarecompletelydifferent.Partofthedifferenceisthatgrammarandvocabularyaresystematicandstructured—theletterofthelanguage.Accent,ontheotherhand,isfreeform,intuitive,andcreative—morethespiritofthelanguage.So,thinkingofmusic,feeling,andflow,letyourmouthrelaxintotheAmericanaccent.

CanILearnaNewAccent?

Canapersonactuallylearnanewaccent?

Manypeoplefeelthatafteracertainage,it'sjustnotpossible.Canclassicalmusiciansplayjazz?

Iftheypractice,ofcoursetheycan!

ForyourAmericanaccent,it'sjustamatteroflearningandpracticingtechniquesthisbookandCDsetwillteachyou.Itisuptoyoutousethemornot.Howwellyoudodependsmainlyonhowopenandwillingyouaretosoundingdifferentfromthewayyouhavesoundedallyourlife.

Averyimportantthingyouneedtorememberisthatyoucanuseyouraccenttosaywhatyoumeanandhowyoumeanit.Wordstressconveysmeaningthroughtoneorfeeling,whichcanbemuchmoreimportantthantheactualwordsthatyouuse.We'llcovertheexpressionofthesefeelingsthroughintonationinthefirstlesson.

YoumayhavenoticedthatItalkfastandoftenrunmywordstogether.You'veprobablyheardenough"English-teacherEnglish"—where...everything...is...pronouncedwithouthavingtolistentoocarefully.That'swhyontheCDswe'regoingtotalkjustlikethenativespeakersthatweare,inanormalconversationaltone.

NativespeakersmayoftentellpeoplewhoarelearningEnglishto"slowdown"andto"speakclearly."Thisismeantwiththebestofintentions,butitisexactlytheoppositeofwhatastudentreallyneedstodo.Ifyouspeakfairlyquicklyandwithstrongintonation,youwillbeunderstoodmoreeasily.Toillustratethispoint,youwillhearaVietnamesestudentfirsttryingtospeakslowlyandcarefullyandthenrepeatingthesamewordsquicklyandwithstrongintonation.Studying,thisexercisetookheronlyabouttwominutestopractice,butthedifferencemakeshersoundasifshehadbeeninAmericaformanyyears.

VPleaselisten.Youwillhearthesamewordstwice.Hello,mynameisMuoi.I'mtakingAmerican

AccentTraining.

ivYoumayhavetolistentothisCDacoupleoftimestocatcheverything.Tohelpyou,everywordontheCDisalsowritteninthebook.Byseeingandhearingsimultaneously,you'lllearntoreconcilethedifferencesbetweentheappearanceofEnglish（spelling）andthesoundofEnglish（pronunciationandtheotheraspectsofaccent）.TheCDleavesarathershortpauseforyoutorepeatinto.Thepointofthisistogetyourespondingquicklyandwithoutspendingtoomuchtimethinkingaboutyourresponse.

AccentversusPronunciation

Manypeopleequateaccentwithpronunciation.Idon'tfeelthistobetrueatall.Americaisabigcountry,andwhilethepronunciationvariesfromtheEastCoasttotheWestCoast,fromthesoutherntothenorthernstates,twocomponentsthatareuniquelyAmericanstaybasicallythesame—thespeechmusic,orintonation,andthewordconnectionsorliaisons.Throughoutthisprogram,wewillfocusonthem.Inthelatterpartofthebookwewillworkonpronunciationconcepts,suchasCat?

Caught?

Cut?

andBettyBoughtaBitofBetterButter;wealsowillworkourwaythroughsomeofthedifficultsounds,suchasTH,theAmericanR,theL,V,andZ.

"WhichAccentIsCorrect?

"

AmericanAccentTrainingwascreatedtohelppeople"soundAmerican"forlectures,interviews,teaching,businesssituations,andgeneraldailycommunication.AlthoughAmericahasmanyregionalpronunciationdifferences,theaccentyouwilllearnisthatofstandardAmericanEnglishasspokenandunderstoodbythemajorityofeducatednativespeakersintheUnitedStates.Don'tworrythatyouwillsoundslangyortoocasualbecauseyoumostdefinitelywon't.Thisisthewayaprofessorlecturestoaclass,thewayanationalnewscasterbroadcasts,thewaythatismost

comfortableandfamiliartothemajorityofnativespeakers.

"WhyIsMyAccentSoBad?

"

Learnerscanbeseriouslyhamperedbyanegativeoutlook,soI'lladdressthisveryimportantpointearly.First,youraccentisnotbad;itisnonstandardtotheAmericanear.Thereisajokethatgoes:

Whatdoyoucallapersonwhocanspeakthreelanguages?

Trilingual.Whatdoyoucallapersonwhocanspeaktwolanguages?

Bilingual.Whatdoyoucallapersonwhocanonlyspeakonelanguage?

American.

Everylanguageisequallyvalidorgood,soeveryaccentisgood.TheaverageAmerican,however,trulydoeshaveahardtimeunderstandinganonstandardaccent.GeorgeBernardShawsaidthattheEnglishandAmericansaretwopeopledividedbythesamelanguage!

SomestudentslearntooverpronounceEnglishbecausetheynaturallywanttosaythewordasitiswritten.ToooftenanEnglishteachermayallowthis,perhapsthinkingthatcolloquialAmericanEnglishisunsophisticated,unrefined,orevenincorrect.Notsoatall!

Justasyoudon'tsaytheTinlisten,theTTinbetterispronouncedD,bedder.Anyotherpronunciationwillsoundforeign,strange,wrong,ordifferenttoanativespeaker.

vLessThanItAppears...MoreThanItAppears

AsyouwillseeinExercise1-21,Squeezed-OutSyllables,onpage18,somewordsappeartohavethreeormoresyllables,butallofthemarenotactuallyspoken.Forexample,businessisnot（bi/zi/ness）,butrather（birz/ness）.

Justwhenyougetusedtoeliminatingwholesyllablesfromwords,you'regoingtocomeacrossotherwordsthatlookasiftheyhaveonlyonesyllable,butreallyneedtobesaidwithasmanyasthree!

Inaddition,theinsertedsyllablesarefilledwithlettersthatarenotinthewrittenword.I'llgiveyoutwoexamplesofthisstrangephenomenon.Poollookslikeanice,one-syllableword,butifyousayitthisway,atbest,itwillsoundlikepull,andatworstwillbeunintelligibletoyourlistener.Forclearcomprehension,youneedtosaythreesyllables（pu/wuh/luh）.Wheredid

thatWcomefrom?

It'scertainlynotwrittendownanywhere,butitistherejustasdefinitelyasthePisthere.Thesecondexampleisawordlikefeel.Ifyousayjustthelettersthatyousee,itwillsoundmorelikefill.Youneedtosay（fee/yuh/luh）.IsthatreallyaY?

Yes.ThesemysterioussemivowelsareexplainedunderLiaisonsinChapter2.Theycanappeareitherinsideawordasyouhaveseen,orbetweenwordsasyouwilllearn.

LanguageIsFluentandFluid

Justlikeyourownlanguage,conversationalEnglishhasaverysmooth,fluidsound.Imaginethatyouarewalkingalongadryriverbedwithyoureyesclosed.Everytimeyoucometoarock,youtripoverit,stop,continue,andtripoverthenextrock.ThisishowtheaverageforeignerspeaksEnglish.Itisslow,awkward,andevenpainful.Nowimaginethatyouareagreatriverrushingthroughthatsameriverbed—rocksarenoproblem,arethey?

Youjustslideoverandaroundthemwithouteverbreakingyoursmoothflow.ItisthisfeelingthatIwantyoutocaptureinEnglish.

Changingyouroldspeechhabitsisverysimilartochangingfromastickshifttoanautomatictransmission.Yes,youcontinuetoreachforthegearshiftforawhileandyourfootstilltriestofindtheclutchpedal,butthissoonphasesitselfout.Inthesameway,youmaystillsay"telephonecall"（kohl）insteadof（kahl）forawhile,butthistoowillsoonpass.

Youwillalsohavetothinkaboutyourspeechmorethanyoudonow.Inthesamewaythatyouwereveryawareandself-consciouswhenyoufirstlearnedtodrive,youwilleventuallyrelaxanddealwiththevariouscomponentssimultaneously.

Anewaccentisanadventure.Bebold!

Exaggeratewildly!

YoumayworrythatAmericanswilllaughatyouforputtingonanaccent,butIguaranteeyou,theywon'tevennotice.They'lljustthinkthatyou'vefinallylearnedto"talkright."Goodluckwithyournewaccent!

CD1-2  A Few Words On Pronunciation

AFewWordsOnPronunciation  CD1Track2

I'dliketointroduceyoutothepronunciationguideoutlinesinthefollowingchart.Therearen'ttoomanycharactersthataredifferentfromthestandardalphabet,butjustsoyou'llbefamiliarwiththem,lookatthechart.Itshowseighttensevowelsandsixlaxvowelsandsemivowels.

TenseVowels?

LaxVowels?

Insomebooks,tensevowelsarecalledlongandlaxvowelsarecalledshort.Sinceyouwillbelearninghowtolengthenvowelswhentheycomebeforeavoicedconsonant,itwouldbeconfusingtosaythathenhasalong,shortvowel.Itismoredescriptivetosaythatithasalaxvowelthatisdoubledorlengthened. 

Althoughthismaylooklikealotofcharacterstolearn,therearereallyonlyfournewones:

.,.,.,andü.UnderTenseVowels,you'llnoticethatthevowelsthatsaytheirownnamesimplyhavealineoverthem:

[ā],[ē],[ī],[ō],[ū].Therearethreeothertensevowels.First,[.],ispronouncedlikethesoundyoumakewhenthedoctorwantstoseeyourthroat,orwhenyouloosenatightbeltandsitdowninasoftchair—aaaaaaaah!

Next,you