Welcome back! Have you checked out my Accent Reduction classes yet? This week on the blog there have been a lot of you looking for information on American English intonation patterns.
One of the best books for learning and practicing the rhythms and intonations of spoken American English is Ann Cook’s American Accent Training.
American Accent Training [...]
Posts under ‘Intonation Patterns’
Learn the Intonation of English with American Accent Training
Thought Groups in Spoken English
When Americans speak they divide longer sentences into sections called thought groups. In each thought group we emphasize the focus word and then briefly pause before the next thought group begins.
Many non-native English speakers have never learned to use thought groups when they speak English. For some people this causes their speech too sound too [...]
Teaching Pronunciation: Free Downloadable Books
Are you a pronunciation teacher?
Cambridge English Language Teaching offers some FREE downloadable books for teaching English pronunciation and listening skills.
One of these free books is Judy Gilbert’s book: Teaching Pronunciation: Using the Prosody Pyramid. This is a great resource for teachers of American English pronunciation because it explains the importance of teaching students how to use [...]
American English Pronunciation: Question Intonation Patterns
When I was teaching one of my pronunciation classes this week I found out that my students did not know about the two different intonation patterns for questions in American English. Here they are:
1. Use rising intonation when the question can be answered with a “yes” or a “no”.
2. Use falling intonation when the question [...]
American English Intonation Patterns
In spoken English intonation refers to the rise and fall of your pitch over the length of a thought group or sentence.
Using the correct intonation is very important because the rise and fall of your pitch conveys meaning to your listeners.
Many linguists say that spoken English has four levels of phonetic pitch: 1-low, 2-middle, 3-high, [...]
Intonation Patterns in American English
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 [...]
Using Nursery Rhymes to Teach American English Pronunciation Patterns
Nursery rhymes can be fun and effective way to teach American English pronunciation patterns.
That’s because nursery rhymes can be used to model the syllable stress, sentence stress and intonation patterns of spoken English. The repetitive nature of rhymes can help adults learn the rhythm of the language that is so important for a natural sounding accent. Rhymes [...]
American English Intonation Patterns
Perhaps you have heard people say that intonation is the melody or the music of spoken American English. That’s because English speakers use different types of intonation or pitch patterns in phrases and sentences.
These intonation patterns are extremely important because they convey meaning. If you are not aware of how Americans use these pitch [...]
