Many American English pronunciation courses focus on how to articulate the individual vowel and consonant sounds in the language. Learning to articulate vowel and consonant sounds correctly can be very useful and will help you reduce your accent.
However, learning to use American English stress and intonation patterns can really help you improve the way you speak. Stress and intonation patterns are often easier for students to learn and apply than individual sounds.
Here are a couple of key intonation patterns that you need to learn in order to improve your American English pronunciation.
1. Rising Intonation-When American English speakers ask questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no” the pitch rises as their voices go up at the end of the question.
For example: Are you going to schOOL? or Do you like to eat french FRIES?
2. Falling Intonation-Alternately when American English speakers ask questions beginning with who, where, why, when and how the pitch lowers as their voices fall at the end of the question.
For example: Where is your HOMEwork? or When are they coming Over?
Before you buy a pronunciation or accent reduction course make sure that the course includes lessons on stress and intonation. These topics are sometimes overlooked but they make a huge difference in the way you speak American English.
One of the best book & CD sets for learning about American English intonation patterns is The American Accent Guide, by Beverly Lujan.
You can read about the book here.
The American Accent Guide, Second Edition: A Complete and Comprehensive Course on the Pronunciation and Speaking Style of American English for Individuals of All Language Backgrounds / book and 8 CDs
The reviews of this book are excellent!
Tags: Accent Reduction Techniques, american english intonation, American English Pronunciation, american english stress patterns, learn american accent
