A Great Strategy for Pronouncing the American way

In last week's lesson, the focus was on Syllable Stress and how working on this can bring rapid results in your spoken American English. I also explained that in every English word with two or more syllables, one syllable receives strong emphasis. We say that these syllables have major stress. Syllables with major stress are pronounced louder and with a higher pitch than the other syllables in a word. The vowel sounds in stressed syllables are long and clear.

Many of my students understand that they must use syllable stress if they want to speak like an American. The problem is that when they see a word, they don't know which syllable in a word receives the major stress. 

Although English syllable stress may seem random to you, it does follow some predictable patterns. I teach a lot of these patterns in my pronunciation courses. One great strategy you can use to predict which syllables receive major stress is to use suffix-based patterns. Let me describe one of these suffix based patterns here. 

Pattern 1: Suffixes with Major Stress

In some cases the major stress will fall on the suffix itself. This
is often true when a suffix of French origin is added to English
words. Here are some examples:

• enginEER
• boutiQUE
• picturESQUE
• chaufFUER
• vaLET
• VietnamESE
• refuGEE
   

Listen to how these words are pronounced by clicking the play button below:

Take a minute to think of other English words that have these suffixes. They will be pronounced in the same way, with the major stress on the suffix.

Using suffix-based patterns is just one strategy you can use to determine which syllable receives major stress in English words. I present many more syllable stress rules, patterns and practice activities in Confident Voice's course on Syllable Stress in
English Words. (Click here to find out more about our online American English courses).

Mini Lesson: Words with Dropped Syllables

In many common 3-syllable words, the second syllable is dropped in spoken American English. Most American speakers do not pronounce these syllables when they speak.

Read the words in the chart below and drop the syllable as indicated in the second column. If you can remember to drop these syllables when you speak, your speech will sound much more natural. 

Practice saying these words aloud, then click below to hear the correct pronunciation. 

Click 'Play' to hear the correct pronunciation:

Featured Learning Resource: Eva Easton

This website contains information about English pronunciation organized under a variety of topics such as: calendar, greetings, irregular verbs and numbers. Many topics include a pronunciation pattern, practice activities and a quiz. There is no advertising on this website.      Click on the image to go to the site now.

Insight: Add a new Heteronym to your vocabulary - 'OBJECT'

Heteronyms are two words that are spelled identically. The way the words are pronounced indicates the meaning.

This week's heteronym is: OBJECT.

When you say the word 'object' the syllable stress changes the meaning of the word. When the major stress is on the first syllable the word is a noun. When the major stress is on the second syllable the word is a verb. 

Examples:

1. There are many beautiful OBjects in the National Museum.
   ('Object' is a noun-the major stress falls on the first syllable). 
2. Many Americans obJECT to the high tax rate.
   ('Object' is a verb-the major stress falls on the second syllable). 

Listen to the audio below: