Do You Like the Way Your English Accent Sounds? How you sound in English matters. Research shows this very clearly. Native speakers judge people with clear, easy to understand accents as proficient in English (even if in reality they're only beginners). On the other hand, they judge people whose accents are hard to understand as being low-level (Even if they're
This unique book offers a complete course in how to do any accent and also gives you the tools to navigate your way through a specific accent. Using solid technical know-how, clear practical steps, real-life examples, and the occasional dose of humour, the Haydn/Sharpe System brings to the surface the underlying structure of accents. The authors share the processes that they, as specialist dialect coaches, have developed, to give you the insight, tools and confidence to work with accents. This second edition includes examples and exercises for six new accents. Includes a free online code to access detailed exercises and sample sentences – giving you the sounds you need to get your accent skills going! Also includes ready-to-use resource recordings of the following accents: Norfolk (NEW), Yorkshire (NEW), Standard Canadian (NEW), Standard Australian (NEW), Standard American, Northern Irish (Belfast), Southern Irish (Cork), Scottish (Glasgow), Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, South Wales (Swansea), West Midlands (Walsall), Cockney, Neutral Standard English, Contemporary 'Street' London (NEW), Cornish.
Since its initial publication, English with an Accent has provoked debate and controversy within classrooms through its in-depth scrutiny of American attitudes towards language. Rosina Lippi-Green discusses the ways in which discrimination based on accent functions to support and perpetuate social structures and unequal power relations. This second edition has been reorganized and revised to include: new dedicated chapters on Latino English and Asian American English discussion questions, further reading, and suggested classroom exercises, updated examples from the classroom, the judicial system, the media, and corporate culture a discussion of the long-term implications of the Ebonics debate a brand-new companion website with a glossary of key terms and links to audio, video, and images relevant to the each chapter's content. English with an Accent is essential reading for students with interests in attitudes and discrimination towards language.
Directed to speakers of English as a second language, a multi-media guide to pronouncing American English uses a "pure-sound" approach to speaking to help imitate the fluid ways of American speech.
Accents of English is about the way English is pronounced by different people in different places. Volume 1 provides a synthesizing introduction, which shows how accents vary not only geographically, but also with social class, formality, sex and age; and in volumes 2 and 3 the author examines in greater depth the various accents used by people who speak English as their mother tongue: the accents of the regions of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland (volume 2), and of the USA, Canada, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Black Africa and the Far East ( volume 3). Each volume can be read independently, and together they form a major scholarly survey, of considerable originality, which not only includes descriptions of hitherto neglected accents, but also examines the implications for phonological theory. Readers will find the answers to many questions: Who makes 'good' rhyme with 'mood'? Which accents have no voiced sibilants? How is a Canadian accent different from an American one, a New Zealand one from an Australian one, a Jamaican one from a Barbadian one? What are the historical reasons for British-American pronunciation differences? What sound changes are currently in progress in New York, in London, in Edinburgh? Dr Wells his written principally for students of linguistics, phonetics and English language, but the motivated general reader will also find the study both fascinating and rewarding.
This is a comprehensive workbook for actors, covering the key characteristics and profiles of a wide range of African accents of English. Its unique approach not only addresses the methods and processes by which to go about learning an accent, but also looks in detail at each example. This lets the reader plot their own route through the learning process and tailor not only their working methods but also their own personal idiolect. Full breakdowns of each accent cover: an introduction giving a brief history of the accent, its ethnic background, and its language of origin preparatory warm-up exercises specific to each accent a directory of research materials including documentaries, plays, films and online resources key characteristics such as melody, stress, pace and pitch descriptions of physical articulation in the tongue, lips, jaw, palate and pharynx practice sentences, phoneme tables and worksheets for solo study. African Accents is accompanied by a website at www.routledge.com/cw/mcguire with an extensive online database of audio samples for each accent. The book and audio resources guide actors to develop their own authentic accents, rather than simply to mimic native speakers. This process allows the actor to personalize an accent, and to integrate it into the creation of character rather than to play the accent on top of character.
