E-02.10 Perceive & Produce the Regular Rhythm of American English

Accent Activities: Pronunciation Supplement to Speaking. Part Three: Focusing on Focus (Regular Rhythm of American English), pages 31-38 (+ pages 83-84 of Answer Key for Text Exercises)

8 + 2 (10) pages  

Who It’s For: Intermediate & Above English (as a Second Language) Teachers, Helpers,  & Learners Wanting to Pay Reinforcing Attention to Speech Rhythm

Why It’s Useful: Sequences of Stressed (longer, clearer, higher, louder) vs. Unstressed (shorter, lower in pitch, softer) Syllables produce “the Regular Rhythm of American English.” Illustrated with musical dots (l) over spaced-out print, here are Proverbs (sayings) & Verses (rhymes) that illustrate the concept. There’s also directed practice in the minimization of “Reduced Forms” in the Rhythm of Relaxed, Natural Speech.

What You’ll Do: 

[1]  Using easily comprehensible talk to present, practice, and assess ability to use an American-English accent, learn “How Stressed & Unstressed Syllables Produce Regular Rhythm in Fluent Speech.”  Enjoy practicing these techniques with phrasal or sentence-based “Folk Wisdom” to repeat, compress, and/or expand.

[2] Examine function words and phrases that are typically “reduced” in everyday talk.  Fill them into the blanks of practical proverbs and quotes.  If it helps, check your analyses of cadence with those in the 1.5 attached Accent Activities Answer Key pages.  Enjoy and “sing”  rhythmic Nursery Rhymes & children’s songs. 

[3] Incorporate “Regular Rhythm” into everyday verbal interaction.  More material for “Talking About Anything” is in Download E-10.03, Part Three of  Speaking: Oral Language Skills for Real-Life Communication.