Welcome back! Have you checked out my Accent Reduction classes yet? This week I received LOTS of questions about the schwa vowel sound. Let me explain a few things about this KEY American English vowel sound.
In spoken English the schwa (see the image above) is the relaxed vowel sound that is frequently used to [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Syllable stress’
American English Pronunciation: Words that Begin with Schwa
American English Pronunciation for Singaporeans
Last week I had many visitors here on the blog from Singapore. Thanks for visiting, I’m happy that you’ve found my site!
Keeping in mind that Singaporeans come from many language backgrounds, here are a few problems that Singaporean English speakers often have when they speak American English.
Syllable Structure and Stress
American English pronunciation patterns are based [...]
Syllable Stress Patterns: Compound Words
Those of you who read my blog frequently know that using syllable stress correctly is one of the very best ways to improve your comprehensibility when you speak English. That said, here are a few syllable stress patterns for compound words that you may find useful.
Compound nouns are stressed on the first word in the [...]
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: Phrasal Verbs
This week in class one of my students said that he needed to catch up on his work. Uh, oh….
When I showed him this picture he understood his mistake.
In order to improve your American English pronunciation you must know how to use syllable stress and word stress. One pattern that you must follow is this: [...]
Can I Reduce My Accent?
Will you ever be able to totally eliminate your foreign accent when you speak American English? The truth is, probably not. However, you can improve the way you speak so that people will understand you. To do that you need to learn the accent reduction strategies that will help you and practice those strategies [...]
Syllable Stress in Nouns & Verbs
A couple of days ago I explained that heteronyms are two words that are spelled identically. The way the words are stressed determines the meaning.
One good example is the word: OBJECT.
The way you use syllable stress say the word ‘object’ changes the meaning of the word.
When the stress is on the first syllable the word [...]
Why You Need to Use Syllable Stress Correctly
One reason that you need to use syllable stress correctly when you are speaking is because English has many heteronyms.
Heteronyms are two words that are spelled identically. The way the words are pronounced determines the meaning.
One good example is the word: ADDRESS.
When you say the word ‘address’ the way you use syllable stress changes the [...]
Syllable & Sentence Stress in American English
One of the most notable features of spoken English is its rhythm. Native English speakers alternate between using stressed and unstressed syllables in words and sentences. They do not pronounce all words and syllables with the same emphasis.
One way that non-native English speakers can improve their accent is to learn to use the rhythms of [...]
American English Syllable Stress Patterns
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 [...]
