Word Stress and Vowels
he biggest difference between English and most other languages is the timing. In many languages stress is evenly place on each syllable of a word. Except for Chinese where each word is only 1 syllable, but this results in the same rhythm issues when speaking in English. It is hard to know where to stress a multi-syllabic word when you have no experience with multi-syllabic words.
English is called a stress timed language. An undescriptive term if there ever was one. It does nothing to help draw a clear picture of how the timing is different.
Other languages that stress specific syllables use accents or they use predictable patterns. For example French always stresses the final syllable.
American English uses what is known as alternating stress pattern. In a word we give primary stress to one syllable. Depending on the word we may have secondary stress, and always one syllable that is unstressed.
The Most Commom Vowel in English!
The Schwa. This tiny, reduced vowel is most commonly heard in English. And guess what, there is no written symbol for it in the English alphabet. It can be represented by any vowel.
Look at these three words
cabage…….cotton……..sentence
In these 2 syllable words the same vowel is used twice. However, the pronunciation of each vowel is quite different.
That is because one syllable is stressed and one is not. The vowel that is in the stressed syllable receives its “full” pronunciation. It is longer and louder then the vowel in the unstressed syllable. In fact the vowel from the unstressed syllable is reduced to the schwa sound.
So in those examples the schwa sound is represented by an a, o, and an e. In the following examples the schwa is underlined
* atlas
* palace
* illness
* purpose
* minute
Don’t Slow Down, Just Pause!
How many times have you heard the advice “slow down”. It is said in a helpful tones, and impatient tones and sometimes in a condescending tones. No matter what the tone it is still relatively unhelpful. Slowing down by itself will do nothing for you. People do not want to hear Hi…..my…….name……is…….Jared. Speaking one word at a time drives the listener crazy, reduces your intonation, and completely rids your sentence of any emotion.
Better advice is to use pauses between thoughts. Pausing helps on two levels. It gives your listener a chance to “catch up” to what you are saying, and it gives you a chance to begin a new intonation curve.
Pause wherever there would be a period or a comma. The more complex your subject and the less familiar the listener is with you or with the content matter, the more pausing you want to do. You will pause more of less depending on the speaking situation, your personality, and audience.
5 Habits to Shake When You Want to Improve Your Spoken English!
1. Mumbling: People will mumble when they are unsure either about the word they are using or how to pronounce the word. So they say it too quietly or quickly or without moving their mouth a lot. This contributes to your listener’s challenge in hearing and understanding what you are saying. In the the end the strategy does not work because you will either be dismissed, misunderstood or forced to say it again.
2.Not Pausing: This is sometimes a nervous habit, like mumbling or a language flow difference. In either case, incorporating pauses into your verbal communication will increase others ability to understand you dramatically.
3.Not engaging native English speakers in conversation: Okay it is intimidating, however it is necessary. Ask for information, especially when you don’t need it! This will take the nervousness out of your listening. For example you know where your bank is, but ask someone anyway. You know where the towels are located in the store but ask a sales assistant for additional practice