San Pedro Technological Institute: MS.

CELESTIAL Accent Neutralization

TOPIC 2: ACCENT NEUTRALIZATION

Objectives:
1. Distinguish the Filipino sounds from the sounds in American English;
2. Practice the formation and combination of American English sounds;
3. Familiarize with the jump up and step down intonation pattern inherent to American speech;
4. Apply the accent and intonation patterns of American English in dialogue and conversation drills;

Accent is a manner of speaking affected by geographical location and culture.

The difference between how the speaker produces and connects sounds and words, and the way the
listener expects it to be done is an accent. The speaker produces and connects the sounds and words using
speech habits originating from his/her first language. An accent may include detected differences in the
grammar, the vocabulary, or the way the sounds are connected. It may also include patterns such as stress,
timing, articulation and rhythm.

There are 3 main parts to an accent:

1. Intonation speech music
2. Liaisons word connections
3. Pronunciation the sounds of American Accent

PART 1: STRESS & PRONUNCIATION

Squeezed-out syllables
Intonation can also completely take away whole syllables. Some longer words that are stressed on the
first syllable squeeze weak syllables right out.
Actually {AEk-chully} Every {evhree}
Average {AEvrj} Family {fAEmlee}
Aspirin {AEsprin} Finally {fyn-lee}
Broccoli {brAklee} General {jenrl}
Business {bizness} Groceries {grossreez}
Camera {kAEmruh} Interest {intrst}
Chocolate {chAklt} Jewelry {joolree}
Comfortable {kmf-tbl} Corporal {corpl}
Mathematics {mAEthmAEdix} Memory {memree}
Desperate {desprt} Orange {ornj}
Diamond {dAImnd} Probably {prAblee}
Diaper {dAIper} Restaurant {restrAnt}
Different {diffrnt} Separate {seprt}
Emerald {emrld} Several {sevrl}
Vegetable {vej-tbl} Liberal {librl}
Beverage {bev-rij} Conference {cAnfrns}
Bakery {bAY-kree} Coverage {cvrij}
Catholic {cAEth-lik} history {hisstree}
Accidentally {AEksuh-dent-lee} Nursery {nrsree}
Onion {uhnyn} Basically {bay-suh-klee}

Stressing is giving emphasis or meaning to a syllable or word.

Components of Stress
1. Intensity or Volume (force or loudness)
2. Pitch (highness or lowness)
3. Duration (length)

Rules of Word Stress in English

There are two very simple rules about word stress:
1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear
two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some
words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long
words.)
English Proficiency
Page 1 of 7
San Pedro Technological Institute: MS. CELESTIAL Accent Neutralization

2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not
rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language
and to add the stress naturally.
1 Stress on first syllable
rule example

Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble

Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

2 Stress on last syllable
rule example

Most 2-syllable verbs to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN

There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The
word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective
(opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the
words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the
first or second syllable.

3 Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

rule example

Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic

Words ending in -sion and -tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion

Words ending in ious deLIcious, GLOrious, repeTItious

For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to put the stress. For example, some
people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.
4 Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)
rule example

Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and-gy deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy

Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical

5 Compound words (words with two parts)
rule example

For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part BLACKbird, GREENhouse

For compound adjectives, the stress is on thesecond part bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned

For compound verbs, the stress is on the secondpart to underSTAND, to overFLOW

WORD STRESS EXERCISE
On a sheet of paper, syllabicate the following words and encircle the stressed syllable:
1. Object (verb) 8. Economic 15. Tolerant 22. Indeterminate
2. Operate 9. Science 16. Refrigerate 23. Desolate
3. Systematic 10. Defend 17. Chemical 24. Survey
4. Geographer 11. Export (verb) 18. Scientific 25. Intimate
5. Friendly 12. Character 19. Reward 26. Delegate
6. Referee 13. Conditional 20. Technique 27. Graduate
7. Ambitious 14. Openness 21. Ordinary 28. Activity
English Proficiency
Page 2 of 7
San Pedro Technological Institute: MS. CELESTIAL Accent Neutralization

29. Incline 30. Consecutively

PART 2: INTONATION

The English language is often referred to as stress-timed. This means that stress in a spoken sentence occurs at
regular intervals and the length it takes to say something depends on the number of stressed syllables rather than
the number of syllables itself.
A stress-timed language is a language where the stressed syllables are said at approximately regular intervals,
and unstressed syllables shorten to fit this rhythm. Stress-timed languages can be compared with syllable-timed
ones, where each syllable takes roughly the same amount of time.
A syllable-timed language is a language whose syllables take approximately equal amounts of time to
pronounce. It can be compared with a stress-timed language, where there is approximately the same amount of
time between stressed syllables.
Learners whose first language can be described as syllable-timed often have problems recognizing and then
producing features of English such as contractions, main and secondary stress, and elision.
English, German and Arabic are examples of stress-timed languages, while French, Spanish and Japanese are
syllable-timed.
English is a stress timed language
The English language is often referred to as stress-timed. This means that stress in a spoken sentence occurs at
regular intervals and the length it takes to say something depends on the number of stressed syllables rather than
the number of syllables itself.

Try saying each one of the four sentences below in 4 seconds:

1, 2, 3, 4,

1 and 2 and 3 and 4

1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4

1 and then a 2 and then a 3 and then a 4

The four sentences take the same length of time to say and you will notice the numbers are stressed and the
unstressed words in between are said much more quickly in order to keep the rhythm of the language. In other
languages, which are not stress-timed the stress would fall more equally on each word and syllable.

SENTENCE STRESS

Stress timing can help speakers communicate meaning. Learners need to be made aware of the fact that the way
they say something can affect its meaning.

Sentence stress

Sentence stress - where word stress is the accent on one syllable in a word, sentence stress is accent on certain
words within a sentence. Often considered to be the "rhythm" of English.

Sentences - two types of words

Content words the main words of a sentence that have sense or meaning
Structure words these are small, simple, not very important words that make the sentence grammatically
correct

Sentence stress - specific rules (there are many exceptions to these rules), these rules are for normal or neutral
stress

content words stressed

structure words unstressed
English Proficiency
Page 3 of 7
San Pedro Technological Institute: MS. CELESTIAL Accent Neutralization

time between stressed words always the same

Content words

main verbs sell, give, employ

nouns car, music, Mary
adjectives red, big, interesting
adverbs quickly, loudly, never
negative auxiliaries dont, arent, cant

Structure words

pronouns I, he, she, we, they

prepositions on, at, into
articles a, an, the
conjunctions and, but, because
auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must
to be as a main verb is, are, was

Exception - occasionally a structure word is stressed to correct information.

Have you seen my shoes?

No, I havent, but she has.

Example: Can you do the dishes after you have finished your lunch?

The content words are stressed.

The structure words are not stressed.
The time between each stressed word is the same.

A good exercise to demonstrate the variety of meaning through intonation changes is to take a single sentence,
try stressing each word in turn, and see the totally different meanings that come out.
1. I didn't say he stole the money.
2. I didn't say he stole the money.
3. I didn't say he stole the money.
4. I didn't say he stole the money.
5. I didn't say he stole the money.
6. I didn't say he stole the money.
7. I didn't say he stole the money.

Once you are clear on the intonation changes in the seven sentences, you can add context words to clarify the
meaning:

1. I didn't say he stole the money, someone else said it.

2. I didn't say he stole the money, that's not true at all.
3. I didn't say he stole the money, I only suggested the possibility.
4. I didn't say he stole the money, I think someone else took it.
5. I didn't say he stole the money, maybe he just borrowed it.
6. I didn't say he stole the money, but rather some other money.
7. I didn't say he stole the money, he may have taken some jewelry.

After you have mastered first-word or second-word stress, you can go on the more complex intonation:

It's a pot.
It's new.
It's a new pot.
It's brand new.
English Proficiency
Page 4 of 7
San Pedro Technological Institute: MS. CELESTIAL Accent Neutralization

It's a brand new pot.

It's a tea pot.
It's a new tea pot.
It's a brand new tea pot.
It's a tea pot lid.
It's a new tea pot lid.
It's a brand new tea pot lid.

Intonation refers to the tune or melodic flow of pattern of what we say. There is a notable rise and fall of the
pitch level. This is determined by the mind and attitude of the speaker, and partly by the grammatical structure
of his speech. The low, normal and high are most commonly used tunes in intonation patterns of Standard
American English. Extra high tune is used only when expressing extreme fear, anger, surprise or excitement.

A shifting occurs when there is a movement from one tune to another that takes place between syllables.
Sometime the voice slides from one tune to another while a syllable are spoken. This movement is called a
glide.

The Basic Intonation Patterns

Rising Falling Intonation or 2-3-1

Rising Intonation or 2-3-3
Non-final Intonation or 2-3-2

Rising Falling Intonation or 2-3-1

The tone of the rising-falling intonation moves from normal to high and then moves down to low as in
the following patterns:

high
normal
low

There are two types of rising-falling intonation:

a) shift the movement from one tone to another;

- indicated by a straight vertical line
- it is shift when the stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable or syllables.

high
normal 3
2 low
1

Ex. Where is your sons office?

2 3 1
Glide movement within a syllable is marked by a diagonally- curbed line called inflection. When the stressed
syllable is the last words in the sentence, inflection is used. The vowel is prolonged in an inflection in order that
the pitch change may be distinctly heard.

Hes in town
2 3 1
This type of intonation patter is normally used at the end of the following sentences:
Declarative sentences
This is my sister.
2 3 1

Imperative sentences or commands

Close the window.
English Proficiency
Page 5 of 7
San Pedro Technological Institute: MS. CELESTIAL Accent Neutralization

2 3 1

Special questions that begin with interrogative words such as what, who, why, etc. are used in questions that
cant be answered by yes or no.
Who is coming?
2 3 1

Rising Intonation or 2-3-3

The tone of voice moves from normal to high.

This is used at the end of questions which do not begin with interrogatives, but which may be answered by yes
or no.
Are you ill? Will you come?
2 3 2 3
Slow and deliberate counting
One two three
2 3 2 3 2 3
Enumeration
Amy Lady
2 3 2 3
Falling Intonation or 3-1
Begins with a high a tune (3) and ends on a low one (1). This pattern is used in one word and short
command and in counting off numbers.
Example:
Dive run get it
3 1 3 1 3 1

Non-final Intonation or 2-3-2

Non-final intonation varies from speaker to speaker with little corresponding variation in meaning.
In normal speech, intonation is heard not only at the end of the sentence but also in the sentence itself.
The non-final pattern may be used in the situation below in the combination with the rising-falling (2-
3-1) or rising (2-3-3) intonation patterns.

In a function or content words which are specially stressed that precede the last stressed word.
Example:
Are they ready to sing?
2 3 2 3
In comparison and contrast
Example:
Im looking for a blue book not a red book.
2 3 2 3 1

On sentences where two or more thought groups are divided by short pauses.
Example:
If she leaves now, you have to go with her.
2 3 2 3 1
Exercise:

Mark the intonation of each sentence. First put the high note in proper place; then fill in next the rising-
falling pattern.

1. The lady smiles enigmatically. 6. May I see the menu?

2. Let us meet at the canteen. 7. Will you have an appetizer?
3. What shall we order? 8. Ill take the regular dinner.
4. Where is the waiter? 9. We have enough time to finish.
5. Do you know what you want? 10. Bring us the bill later.

English Proficiency
Page 6 of 7