4. What is ACCENT? Intonation Liaisons ACCENT Pronunciation
(Speech Music)
Liaisons
(Word
Connections)
ACCENT
Pronunciation
(Spoken
Sounds)

5. Language Is Fluent and Fluid
Just like our own language, conversational English has a very smooth, fluid sound.
You will also have to think about your speech more than you do now.
A new accent is an adventure. Be bold! Exaggerate wildly!

6. American Intonation Don’t move your lips.
Relate American English to music.
The speech music has become more exaggerated thus developing a strong and distinctive intonation.
Dictates liaisons and pronunciation, and it indicates mood and meaning.

7. Intonation’s Do’s and Don’ts

8. What Exactly Is Staircase Intonation?We
‘re
We’re here. he
re.

9. No
see No ou
seat
eed
clipped
Standard American
clipped
Voiced

10. Three Ways to Make Intonation
Just get louder or raise the volume.
Streeeeeetch the word out or lengthen the word that you want to draw attention to (which sounds very insinuating).
Change pitch

11. Rubber Band Practice with Nonsense Syllables
la la la
la la la
la la la
la la la A
1. dud duh duh
2. dud duh duh
3. dud duh duh
4. dud duh duh

12. D 1. mee mee mee ho ho ho 2. mee mee mee 2. ho ho ho 3. mee mee meeC
1. mee mee mee
2. mee mee mee
3. mee mee mee
4. mee mee mee D
ho ho ho
2. ho ho ho
3. ho ho ho
4. ho ho ho

13. D duh duh duh ABC duh duh duh 123 imprecise Dogs eat Bones a hot dog
They eat bones C
duh duh duh
Condition
a hot dog
They eat them D
duh duh duh
alphabet
hot dog stand
Give me one.

14. Staircase Intonation Up and down High and end low. stair up We andgo
down

15. Statement Intonation with Nouns
Intonation or pitch change is primarily used to introduce new information. This means that when you are making a statement for the first time, you will stress the nouns.
Dogs
bones.
eat

16. Noun Intonation Practice
Dogs eat bones.
Kenneth likes bikes.
Jane wants a book.
Adam plays pool.
Dennis needs some money.
Susie combs her hair.
Merza teaches Math.
Kathy writes articles.
Magno makes music.
Elizabeth and I fix the bikes.

17. Statement Intonation with Pronouns
When you replace the nouns with pronouns, stress the verb.
Dogs bones.
eat
They them.

18. Noun and Pronoun Intonation A B
Bob sees Betty He sees her.
Betty knows Bob. 2. She knows him.
Ann and Ed call the Kids. 3. They call them.
Jan sells some apples. 4. She sells some.
The girls have a choice. 5. They have one.
The kids like the cake. 6. They like it.
The boys need some help. 7. They need something.
Ellen should call her sister. 8. She should call someone.
The tourists went shopping. 9. They bought stuff.
The murderer killed the He killed a man.
plumber. A B

19. Four Main Reasons for Intonation
New
Information
Can’t
Opinion
Contrast

20. 1. New Information It sounds like rain.
Make rain very musical and put it on two notes: ray-ayn.
Duh-duh-duh ray-ayn / It sounds like ray-ayn.
Duh
ray
duh
ayn.
duh

21. 2. Opinion It sounds like rain, but I don’t think it is.
Intonation make the meaning the opposite of what the words say.
It sounds like rain. (It’s rain.)
It sounds like rain. (but it’s not.)

22. 3. Contrast He likes rain, but he hates snow.
Like and hate are contrasted and are the stronger words in the sentence.

23. 4. Can’t It can’t rain when there’s no clouds.
Contractions (shouldn’t, wouldn’t) and negatives (no,not, never) are important words since they totally negate the meaning of a sentence, but they are not usually stressed.
Can’t is the exception.

24. Reading with Staircase Intonation
Hello, my name is ________. I’m taking American Accent Training. There’s a lot to learn, but I hope to make it as enjoyable as possible. I should pick up on the American intonation pattern pretty easily, although the only way to get it is to practice all the time. I use the up and down, or peaks and valleys, intonation more than I used to. I’ve been paying attention to pitch, too. It’s like walking down the staircase. I’ve been talking to a lot of Americans lately, and they tell me that I’m easier to understand. Anyway, I could go on and on, but the important thing is to listen well and sound good. Well, what do you think? Do I?

25. Regular Transitions of Nouns and Verbs
Change the stress from first syllable for nouns to the second syllable for verbs. This is a regular, consistent change. Intonation is so powerful that you’ll notice that when the stress changes, the pronunciation of the vowels do, too.

26. Regular Transitions of Adjectives and Verbs