A voiced sound causes your vocal chords to vibrate. A voiceless sound does not cause your vocal chords to vibrate.

American English has 8 voiced/voiceless consonant pairs such as /z/ & /s/ and /v/ & /f/. Here are a couple of examples:

Put your fingers lightly on your throat and say “zoo”. You should feel a vibration when you say the /z/.

Keep your fingers on your throat and say “Sue”. You should not feel a vibration when you say the /s/.

Now put your fingers lightly on your throat and say “save”. You should feel a vibration when you say the /v/.

Keep your fingers on your throat and say “safe”. You should not feel a vibration when you say the /f/.

When you are speaking English it is very important to recognize the difference between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds. If you say these sounds incorrectly it will both mark your grammar as incorrect and contribute to your foreign accent.

A great book for learning about voiced and voiceless sounds in American English is:

Pronunciation Pairs Student’s Book with Audio CD

Click on the link to see this fun and educational book for learning American English pronunciaton.

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These resources include:

• The University of Iowa Phonetics
• The Merck Medical Pronunciations
• The Color Vowel Chart
• A syllable stress game from Oxford
• The BBC page on the schwa vowel sound

These are great audio resources that you can use to improve the way you speak American English online.

To use these resources just click on the arrow next to the RESOURCES area in the middle right hand section of this blog.

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Foreign born scholars at the University of California at Berkeley may have PhD’s but they found that spoken American English is a very tricky subject.

Before the class, few of the scholars knew what their specific English pronunciation problems were. They certainly had no idea how to overcome them. That’s why they were willing to pay for American English pronunciation classes.

I haven’t used the book in my accent reduction classes but if you are a learner who likes a pronunciation book with lots of dialogs and mouth diagrams you might want to check it out. You can also download the audio files for immediate access.

Pronounce Pro American English Pronunciation Book & CD

American English Audio.

Although you can’t see syllable stress in the written form of the language, you need to know that in spoken English one syllable in each word always receives strong stress or emphasis while the other syllables are reduced.

For example- 90% of two syllable English nouns are stressed on the first syllable and 60% of two syllable English verbs are stressed on the second syllable.

The vowels in stressed syllables take on a special quality in spoken English. These vowels are lengthened and pronounced with a high pitch. This makes words sound comprehensible to American listeners. When you are speaking you really need to lengthen the vowels in stressed syllables!

The vowels in reduced syllables are not pronounced long and clear. Instead these vowels are pronounce with the “schwa” sound which is a low pitched “uh”. The symbol for the schwa vowel sound is /ə/.

That means that when you pronounce 2 syllable words such as PEN-cəl and STU-dənt, you put strong emphasis on the first syllable. The second syllable is reduced.

This combination of stressed syllables with long vowel sounds and reduced syllables with the schwa vowel sound create a speech rhythm that is very American.

To learn more on how to apply syllable stress read my article called Syllable Stress in American English.

The schwa sound is the most common vowel sound in North American English. The schwa sounds like “uh”. It is pronounced with the mouth very relaxed. The IPA symbol for schwa is /ə/.

Below are some common words that have the schwa vowel sound. You can see that there are many spellings for this sound.

• was
• done
• does
• us
• what
• tough

When you are speaking American English the vowels in stressed syllables have a long clear sound but the vowels in unstressed syllables are usually reduced. They are said quickly with a low pitch. In fact many vowels in unstressed syllables are so reduced that they sound like a schwa /ə/.

The combination of stressed syllables with long clear vowel sounds and reduced syllables with the schwa vowel sound create a distinctly American English speech rhythm.

1. Anticipate and predict what might be said

Before going into a situation where you will be conversing with a native English speaker think about the context and predict how the conversation might proceed. You should be able to anticipate many of the words and phrases that the English speaker will say.

Review those words and phrases in your head or even write them down. This way you will be more ready to hear these words and phrases should they occur.

2. Don’t try to understand every word

Don’t listen for every word! American English speakers pronounce content words and focus words with more emphasis than the other words in a sentence or phrase. That’s because content and focus words are the most important for meaning. The other words, called function words, are reduced in the spoken language.

Listening for content and focus words reduces the amount of inofrmation you have to translate and it will help you focus on the most important words. Click here to read more about content and focus words.

3. Practice listening using online resources

One of the best online resources for practicing listening comprehension is

http://www.esl-lab.com

This is how I suggest you use the listening exercises you’ll find here.

First look at the title of the lesson and make some predictions about what words and phrases you might hear in the story.

Then look at the vocabulary words in the pre-listening exercises and make a few more predictions.

Then listen to the audio without looking at the text. Try to focus on the content and focus words (the words with the most emphasis).

After that check your comprehension by listening to the audio as you read the text. Notice which words and phrases you didn’t understand and make a note of them.

One of my favorite American English pronunciation books for teachers are Teaching American English Pronunciation, by Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich. You can read my review of that book by clicking on the link above.

To read reviews of the most popular American English pronunciation books for students including Mastering the American Accent, please visit my Confident Voice Bookstore. 

Here are 2 common types of linking in American spoken English.

Consonant to vowel linking

When words that end in a consonant sound are adjacent to words that begin with a vowel sound the consonant sound becomes part of the second word. To link these words together hold the consonant sound of the first word until you say the vowel sound of the second word. 

Here are some examples:

1.. likes it = likes-sit

2. laughed at = laught-tat

3. explain it = explain-nit

In the above phrases the consonant is the last sound of the first word and the first sound in the adjacent word.

Vowel to vowel linking

When words that end in a vowel sound are adjacent to words that begin with a vowel sound  English speakers add a /y/ or /w/ sound to link them together.

Here are some examples:

1. too + early = toowearly

2. who + is + it = whowizit

3. I + am = Iyam

If you can use linking when you are speaking with Americans your accent will improve and people will understand you more easily!

Eva Easton has some nice lessons on linking in English pronunciation on her website.

You can also read and print my article called Improve Your American English Pronunciation and Reduce Your Accent With Linking.