American Accent

Rolling the R

R the roller

rrrrrrrr
rrr.. rrr

Peters runnin

The Rolling Rs
like a vowel because it does not touch anywhere in
the mouth.

Korean,
Japanese,
Spanish,
Italian,
Greek

R is a consonant because it touches

behind the teeth.

The American R is produced deep in the throat.

Lets compare ah and r sounds

Hold your hand out in front of you
with your palm up, like you are holding a tray on it.
Slightly drop your hand down, and say ah, like
you want the doctor to see your throat.
curl your fingers up slightly, and say r.
Your tongue should feel in about the same position
as your hand.

r at the end
Runner player
helper brother
worker singer
My mother, father, sister, and brother
thank you.
The runner staggered away.
Esther was a talker who never wrote letters.

Lets roll the Rs.

Error
erase
morning
print
record
Right
wrong
harbor

reach
Rome
are
Sir
Master
product
profit

Now lets look at some words from your script

Manufacturer
October
November
Considered
Purchased
September
December
Confirmation
Order
Record
Standard
Warranty

Reminder
America
American
Were
number
Year
confirm
before
product
Career
Certificate

r with ea sound
Ear; jeer; weird; clear; here; appear
Never fear; the wheel to steer is near
gear box.
Be sincere, my dear; its a queer world.
I sincerely want the deer to appear.

r with o:uh sound

Tour; sure; cure; poor
Youre sure you can endure the long
tour?
Im secure the velour will lure him.

r with aa sound
March; heart; scarf; bar; guard
He disembarked from the sparkling car.
Charles argued with the guard.
Park the car in Harvard yard.

The American T
The American T is influenced very strongly by
intonation and its position in a word or
phrase
It can be a little tricky if you try to base your
pronunciation on spelling alone.

The American T
There are 4 basic T rules:

T is T
T is D
T is N
T is Held

T is T
If the T is at the beginning of a word it is a
strong, clear Tuh sound.

table
take
tomorrow
teach
ten
Turn
Thomas tried two times

Examples from your script

Today
Ticket
Taxes

Telephone
Tomorrow
Texas

Tims telephone will tinkle today and tomorrow for the

taxes on the tickets from Texas.
Tiery took ten tickets from Texas through the telephone
for todays show.

T is D
If the T is in the middle of the word,
intonation changes the sound to a soft D.
For example:
Betty bought a bit of better butter = (Beddy Bd bida bedder
budder)
= (Paedd sidn laep)

Pat ought to sit on a lap

Examples
Put it in a bottle.
Write it in a letter.

T=D

Set it on the metal gutter.

Insert a quarter in the
Put all the data in the meter.
computer.
Get a better water heater.
Let her put a sweater on.
T=D
Bettys at a meeting.

Examples from the script

Located
Department
Bottom

Contact
Quality
Item

Please contact the quality department for Betty who is

located at the bottom of all the items.

D is T
In the past tense
D sounds like T
after an unvoiced consonant sound
f
-s
k
- ch
P
- th (but not T).
sh

picked [pikt],
hoped [houpt],
raced [rast],
watched [wcht],
washed [wsht]

The Silent T
T and N are so close in the mouth that
the T can simply disappear.

Interview
innerview
Internet
innernet
Interrupt
innerrupt
Interactive
inneractive
Advantage
dvaenj
Twenty
twenny
Printer
prinne
Enter
enner / ender

T=N
interface
innerface
interstate
innerstate
interfere
innerfere
International
innernational
Percentage
percenj
printout
prinnout
winter
winder, winner

T=N
He had a great interview.
Try to enter the information.
Finish the printing.
Shes at the international center.
Its twenty degrees in Toronto.

T=N

MORE PRACTICE
They dont even want it. She invented it in
Santa Monica.
Whats the point of it?
Wont he?
Hasnt he?
He cant even do it.
Isnt he?
I dont understand
it.
Arent I?

Examples from your script

Currently
Department

T is Held
With -tain, -tten and some TN combinations,
the T is held.

The "held T" is, strictly speaking, not really

a T at all.

Remember, [t] and [n] are very close in the

mouth.

If you have [n] immediately after [t],

you don't pop the [t]
the tongue is in the [t] position
but you release the air for the [n] not the [t].
An important point to remember is that you
need a sharp upward sliding intonation up to
the "held T," then a quick drop for the N.

Now Practice..

Written, certain, forgotten, sentence:

He's forgotten the carton of satin mittens.

She's certain that he has written it.
Martin has gotten a kitten.

The Silent T: Numbers

38
73
89
43
80
1987
1976
1962

Y-Glide before Long oo

Tuesday
Substitute
newspaper

newspaper
duke
Pursue the duke

Wed like to introduce you to a great

promotional offer

Words where s before tion is pronounced

Suggestion
Congestion
Indigestion

The suggestion from the doctor was that he was

suffering from indigestion.

Words where the ai sound changes to i

Mobile; sterile; servile; virile

The mobile phone was ringing.
The sterile man was virile after having his
dose of Viagra.

The sound
Drop your jaw and
Make the a sound
Now make the e sound
Mster
Plster
Glss

Stndard
behlf
Pst

Could you repeat the lst 4 numbers

In the pst 3 years

Reductions
Reducing of

The word of is usually reduced to a schwa when it comes

before a consonant.

One of them is a lawyer.

I need ten of these.

For example:

"Uh" Schwa

I want a cup of coffee.

He spends a lot of money.

Reductions
Reducing of
He makes a lot of
money.

Order three of the

new ones.

Id like a cup of soup

Id like a cup of tea.

I need one of those

manuals.

I want five of those

systems.

The word of is usually

reduced to a schwa when it
comes before a consonant.

Reductions
Reducing of
When of comes before a vowel it sounds like

ev

For example:

Give me a can ev oil.

apple juice.
I want a carton ev eggs.
effort.

I want a drink ev
It takes a lot ev

Reductions
Reducing of
How many shares of Apple do you own?
I need three of each.
The ribbon is out of ink.
They have lots of orders for their new product.
She has a lot of energy.
He knows a lot of artists.

When of comes before a vowel

it sounds like ev

ev

American States

American States
AlaBAma
NebRASka
ARkansas
New MExico
ConNEcticut
North CaroLIina
GEORgia
ORegon
ILlinois
South CaroLIna
KANsas
TENnessee
Maine
VirGInia

MIchigan
WisCONsin
MisSOUri
MonTAna
AriZOna
New JERsey
ColoRAdo
New York
FLOrida
OklaHOma
Idaho
Rhode ISland
Iowa
TEXas

RECAP
Courtesy
Siddharth Datta