Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation » (1st Edition)

KEYBENEFIT: Aimed at enabling readers to improve theirpronunciation of English so they can be understood effortlessly bynative speakers in both formal and informal situations, this handbookteaches the vowels, consonants, rhythm, and intonation of AmericanEnglish using the principles of articulatory phonetics. KEYTOPICS: Stressing a cognitive approach to learning and providingdo-it-yourself exercises designed to put theory into practice, thereference hands readers techniques for improving their accents ...provides steps for working up from phrases to dialogues, readingpassages, and oral presentations ... includes spelling patterns forordinary words, academic words, and exceptions, as well as rules forstress placement ... offers detailed treatment of rhythm, includingreduction and linking ... and contains a diagnostic speech sample andself analysis to help readers pinpoint their own language problems.Ideal for individuals who are non-native speakers ofEnglish and want to achieve a near-native accent.

Preface. Overview and Suggested Plan. Types of Exercises. How to Use Audio Tapes. 1. Introduction. The Speech Process. Language Variation. Self-Analysis. Diagnostic Speech Sample. Analysis of Problems. 2. The Phonetic Alphabet. English Spelling. The Phonetic Alphabet. 3. Vowel Overview. Production of Vowels. American English Vowel Sounds. American English Vowel Sounds in Sentences. 4. Vowels in Details. Vowels 1-4: /i,t,et,?/. Vowels 5-8: /æ,(, ?, ?/. Vowels 9-11: /o?, ?,u/. Vowels 13-15: /at, a?, ?, I/. Same Spelling, Different Pronunciation (Advanced). Vowel 12: /?/ and Vowels Followed by /r/. 5. Review of Phonetic Alphabet and Vowels. Review Exercises. Dialogues for Vowels. 6. Stress. Stressed and Unstressed Syllables. Vowel Reduction. Dividing Words into Syllables. Stress Placement in Words of Two or More Syllables. 7. Stress (Advanced). Stress and Vowel Reduction in Noun-Verb Word Pairs. Alteration of Reduced and Full Vowels. Disappearing Syllables. 8. Rhythm. Stress in One-Syllable Words. Weak Forms: Reducing Function Words. Rhythmic Grouping: Pausing and Linking. 9. Rhythm (Advanced). Breaking the Rules. Words with Variable Stress. 10. Stress in Compound Nouns. Compound Nouns. Introduction to Intonation. Compound Versus Non-compound Construction (Advanced). 11. Review of Stress and Rhythm. Reading Passages. Review Exercises. 12. Consonant Overview. Production of Consonants. American English Consonant Sounds. American English Consonant Sounds in Sentences. 13. Differences Between Voiced and Voiceless Consonants. Aspiration of Initial Voiceless Stops /p t k/. Vowel Length and Final Consonants. Final Voiceless Consonants. North American English /t/(Advanced). Exercises for Voiced and Voiceless Consonants. 14. Consonant Groups. 15. Consonants in Detail. Fast Speech Rules. Review of Consonants. Place of Articulation. 16. Intonation. Intonation and Sentence Stress. Neutral Pitch Patterns. Moving Sentence Stress. Changing the Pitch Pattern. Choice Questions and Tag Questions (Advanced). Dialogues for Intonation. Further Reading. Glossary. Index.