What is an accent?

Everyone has a unique way of speaking. An accent is how the sounds, syllable stresses, intonation and melody of a language differ between someone who is a native speaker and a non-native speaker. When a non-native speaker learns a new language, they take the sounds of the new language and substitute them with the sounds of their native language. I break this down into the form, function and flow of American English.

Form: Sounds and pronunciations

An accent is NOT a disorder. It is a difference in speaking. Sometimes this can make someone hard to understand or a confusing speaker because they use the incorrect word or change a sound in a word so that it means something else, like saying “bed” instead of “bad”.

American English has unique consonants like /th/ and vowels like /ae/ that don’t exist in other languages, so they get replaced. When a non-native speaker replaces these sounds, it highlights their accent.

Function: Connecting sounds and sound families, liasons

American English also has different rules for combining or connecting sounds that some language learners find difficult. These are referred to as liaison as they blend sounds together. In American English, the end of one word attaches the beginning of the next. For example, “what are you doing” is said “Wuh-CHOO doin”.

The reason why this can be confusing is because the sounds in American English do not match the letters. There are 44 sounds and only 26 letters. But also, talking is not reading. We speak in sounds, not in letters.

Flow: Stress, rhythm and intonation - melody

But an accent is more than just pronouncing and connecting sounds. There is a melody to American English that is a result of stressing syllables. The difficulty most people face here is like trying to learn to sing by reading lyrics. They may pronounce the words right, but the melody is off, so they sound robotic or out of tune.

Remember, an accent is NOT a disorder. Everyone has one. When we think about an accent, we are focusing on how the way you speak differs from the neutral way a language is typically spoken. Notice the word neutral and not normal. Normal sets an unrealistic standard because everyone has an accent by nature, but we differ by degree. The Neutral American English Accent, or General American Accent, is taught, it doesn’t exist on it’s own. This is great for non-native speakers because they can modify the way they speak to sound more neutral. I can help you.

You can make the choice to improve the way you speak so you can communicate with confidence and clarity. This is what I specialize in. I help my clients unlock their most powerful voice so they can master their personal and professional goals. So if you are serious and committed, sign up and let’s get started.

As the Chinese proverb goes, “the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” The journey to accent modification starts with a single sound.

As we finish, let’s do a brief review.

-Accents relate to how we speak a non-native language, NOT a disorder.

-We consider our accent as it compares to the neutral way of speaking a language.

-There are lots of different factors that contribute to an accent, but we are simply focusing on how you sound.

-Words sound differently from how we speak them and not how we read or write them.

-Accents are made up of the form (sounds/pronunciations), function (sound links/liasons) and flow (intonation/melody) of a language

-The goal is to get you flowing in American English with confidence and clarity.