Welcome back! Have you checked out my Accent Reduction classes yet?
If you are a frequent reader of my blog you know that one of the best ways to improve your American English pronunciation is to use syllable stress correctly.
In spoken English words with multiple syllables, one syllable is always more prominent than the others. We call this the stressed syllable.
Stressed syllables are pronounced:
- with a higher pitch
a bit louder in volume
with a lengthened vowel sound
OK, so how does a person know which syllables to stress? This is a really important question! There are some patterns you can use to help you.
Click on the link below to discover some syllable stress patterns.
And remember, the vowel sounds in unstressed syllables are frequently reduced to a schwa sound. This combination of stressed and reduced syllables is key to the rhythm of spoken English!
Tags: Accent Reduction Techniques, American English Pronunciation, learn american accent, Syllable stress
