American Spoken English in Real Life: Fast Natural, Urgent Survival, Foreign Accent Begone! : The Phonology of General American Colloquial

300 Pages·1993·131.71 MB·English

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American
Spoken English
*r,rrii'[h"t
Fast survivat,
Foreign Accent begone!
The Phonology of General American Colloquiai
For teaching and learning
American English
asa
Second Language
+
t
_--&t I
428,34
il[C r 3 rugb gn Accent
Anerlcan epoken Engllsh to learn to
in real llfe I tait Americans
- c1993. American
colloquial.
Vowels - See the back cover of this book and index.
Sound Changes - See the inside of the back cover.
Throughout this book the italic numbers, like 6, I8,
45 .., refer to these sound changes.
Speed of Speech - The little numbers at the end of a
line show how many times fast talking native speakers
would repeat it in l0 seconds. Saying it at a slower
speed may sound unnatural. lf you learn this fastest
speech you will understand slow speech; But if you
only learn slow speech you will not understand fast
speech nor learn it just by listening to Americans.
Specific words, structures and explanations - See the
detailed listing of the contents at the front and the
alphabetical index at the back of this book.
lf you want more details, have more or different infor-
mation about any point in this book please contact,
call or write the publisher.
D. G. Davis, Editor
American Spoken English Publications
210 West 21st Street
New York, N.Y. 10011
2r2-989-2719
Copyright@1993 D. G' Davis
All rights reserved under the lnternational Copyright Conventions.
No part of American Spoken English materials may be reproduced'
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other-
wise, nor instructional use be made of phonetic presentations and
teachiing techniquer uniquely expressed therein, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
American Spoken English
Foreword
Often speakers of other languages suddenly have
to talk to, orally communicate with Americans on
a sink or swim, do or die basis.
Refugees, itinerant farm workers, laborers abroad
or in the United States, new immigrants as well as
recently arrived foreign students have to get along
in, use, real-life spoken English now..immediately..
for urgent survival.
They may know little or no English at all. They
especially need knowledgeable American English
speaking helpers, tutors or teachers. Any native
English speaking person can be an effective tea-
cher..just follow the suggestions given here. Non-
native English speaking instructors would use re-
cordings more and learn along with the students.
lf you already know some English but have pro-
nunciation problems or are troubled by your own
'foreign' accent you can learn much about under-
standing and speaking fast American English by
using this book.
The instructions for teachers will help you un-
derstand better just what you have to do to
learn or re-learn. You will need the continued
help of a native speaker of American English to
tell you when you are saying something unna-
turally and then listen to you until you say it
acceptably well, sound natural.
All of this takes time and effort...wishful think-
ing is not enough! HopefUlly this book will be an
- effective guide to shorten the learning time and
-\ 9,--- make it easier for both teachers and learners.
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American Spoken English
CONTENTS
General
American Spoken English.. What is it? I
it
Learning and teaching 5
Vowels
17
Consonants
25
Changes
Sound 30
Sounds
Teaching 44
Accent
Foreign 64
Survival
Urgent 76
Introduction to Real Life Spoken English 90
Introductory Basics 114
Basic Course 134
materials
American Spoken English study 426
For details see the full listing on the following
pages. For specif ic items see the alphabetical
index at the back of this book.
Cassettes
Introduction to Real Life Spoken English ISE
Introductory Basics - complete seminar IBS
American Spoken English - Basic Course
Introductory Basics (short), 139.. 182 8C139
..275
183 BC183
276.. 350b 8C276
350c.. 425 BC35O
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Measurements o loot..inchq 283 Past Tense Am.Spn.Eng.materiale 426
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AMERICAN SPOKEN ENGLISH
IVhat is it?
The English language has many more words than any other
language..500,000 perhaps. But the ordinary American speaker
in daily life uses only about 1,000 different words. A house-
wife uses special words about children and the home. A bus
driver has his special words about busses, traffic and passen-
gers. A doctor talks with special words about being sick. But
everybody uses the same core vocabulary, a common group of
only some 800 words which tie together the special.words.
The main thing about spoken American English is not so
much how many different (content) words you know but how
well do you work with the relatively few (800? functional)
tie-together words and their various forms and combinations.
The slow word-by-word dictionary pronunciation of the base
forms is what you usually learn in the classes of English as a
second language. What your first see when learning written
words stays in your memory for a long, long time. This makes
it harder for you to understand and speak natural English
(erroneous initial visual imprint persistance interference).
But when speaking naturally the base forms change. The
faster and faster you talk the more they change and group
themselves together. When you know about, are familiar with,
such changes your ear begins to hear them and then you will
use them to speak naturally. Because you already speak
another language or do not speak English naturally you do not,
like little children, learn these things about fast speech just by
talking with Americans.
For example, you has 17 forms. At the start yu, ya,
yr, y'or we don't say it at all. The negative takes chu,
cha, cht but for the past and conditional ju, ja, jr. you
Not clearly said is best used for emphasis. Many yyou
learners of English as a second language don't hear yl
v:
the commonly used 3 forms of -n't. So they always
chu
cfearly say not, which disturbs native speakers. 3o-37 cha
clu
Did you not get it? Formal written ghu
8ha
Didn't you get it? Informal spoken j!uhl
didnt yu get it base forms by sounds J8
dt'ncha gettt Jl
Sound Change 18 {n,41 l+y=s,11 zhu
dtncht ge'rt 2, 3,4 u=a=t,23 vowel+/+vowel zzhhra
dichr gs'r' 37 -n't nasalizes the vowel 24 -l
chr ge'r'
38 the first sound is not said
ge'r'?
38 rising tone question s€e 24c
5
LEARNING AND TEACHING FAST NATURAL
AMERICAN SPOKEN ENGLISH
This book is about informal spontaneous American speech,
natural colloquial General American. lt shows the exact
sounds that Americans really do say, their variants and chang-
ing patterns. Also it is a guide to get ESL (English as a Second
Language) learners to catch, perceive, understand and use the
sounds and functional words the way Americans do in their
casual daily-life conversations.
Many native American speakers of English, even ESL teachers,
are not fully aware of , know, what Americans do with sounds
and words in real-life fast speech. So ESL learners should not
expect ordinary Americans to know the details about sounds.
Just ask them to help you speak naturally.
Teachers would do well to glance through this book to be
more conscious of how we really do speak English and to be
able to help the ESL learner when he doesn't speak naturally.
Look over the American vowels shown on the back cover of
this book and read through, become familiar with the Sound
Changes listed inside the back cover and detailed in point 30.
ESL learners often think that they will be able to get along
in, use spoken English to their satisfaction, or to meet their
basic needs, with much less work, effort and time than they
really want to put into leaining English. "Teach me the alpha-
bet so that I can read English." "l want to learn just by talking,
not out of books." lt's not that easy. The older you are the
more you have to study, make an effort to learn.
Not ----Plf|ttt bart ----------EN6r{€+F->l
Most ESL learners, reluctantly, are forced to study English
because they have to, must know some English just to get
through school and to have a tool to get a job and lead a better
life...whatever that might be! lt's on through English on to
the object in life. Only a few, such as would-be-teachers of
English and interpreters, are interested in the English language
itself. Always keep in mind that learning English is a means to
an end, a tool to get something, not an end within itself. So
study, say, work with something practical as you learn rather
than go through academically conditioned linguistic gymnastics.
Spoken English is best learned most effectively, economically
and fastest as a by-product of doing something tangible while
repeating aloud what you do many times..something which is
of practical use in everyday life. What you learn should be
something you can immediately use at work, in the street or at
home. In learning, do English rather than just study about it!
i0
Learning-Teach ing
l0 You learn, and teach, better if you are physically active. lt is
better to stand than to sit when learning or teaching. Do the
action or make a suggestive gesture of the meaning everytime
something is said. Just the movement of writing helps you to
learn better. Walk around the room as you repeat aloud. Learn
to talk while you are standing or walking. Students are not to
just sit still and listen. They must react physically in some way
to everything said..talk, repeat what is heard, make a gesture,
write, do something!
ll When you learn something will you remember it? Not forget-
ting is even more important than initial learning. Paper remem-
bers..even years later. So write down in a
good notebook anything that you feel you
should remember, know and use years later.
L2 ESL learners may come to only a few classes, maybe just one.
So they should learn well something that is by itself of practi-
cal use. And it is better to learn one each of several separate
different structures, thought patterns, than to learn several va-
riations of the same basic
thing. lt is better to have
one each of several tools
rather than several kinds 8qP
of the same tool. lt's bet-
ter to have a knife, fork 6$ il
and spoon rather than 3
kinds of spoons!
So go through this book studying each key sentence well and
then quickly go on to the next. Learners should get an over-all
view, a general idea, of spoken English as quickly as possible.
They might never study English again and may well be faced
with the totality of spoken English immediately and have to
go at it all alone on their own.
13 To learn to understand and to speak American English well
youhaveto i,ee
I Hear, catch and say the exact sounds of natural speecn. f'l'?l
a Of first importance are the 12 basic simple vowels. You
have to know exactly each one and how they are to each
other and to the vowels of your own language. see 17.
b Some consonants that are not in your language need spe-
j
cial attention, zzzz th ch sh zh wh, and especially the 3
forms each of r and I - before, between and after vowels. r'
.r- .r, l-.-l- -l See 25 ... 28,
2 Be familiar with, know how the sounds change. Learn the
Sound Changes as they come up in the study materials. The
little cursive numbers refer to the Sound Changes inside the
l4
Vowels
back cover and in point 30.
Don't you want to sit down? OtO traditional spelling
dont yu wqnttusttdoun Slow base forms
41 2 I 2 10 41 l+y=c,lr,9 t+t= 't
doncha wonta gr'doun 2 u=a,.t0 t+d='d,6 tr
37 4 18 6 37 ont=6,4a=t,18nl
d6chr wona stdqun
3 Hear and say a grouping of little words like one longer word.
OCOO:@
Don't you want to?
"Doncha u)anna" ddchr wona
4 Physically practice much. Just knowing it in the head does
not get the tongue to wiggle-waggle, move properly. lt takes
much physicai practice over a long time.
*tlt's like learning to play the piano or to
---pffi skate beautifully on ice. Every day do 15
?,rl;- to 20 minutes of special physical prac-
t'21/4
- tice of reading, talking aloud until they
=)l* think that you are an American.
T4 Learning to hear and say the new sounds correctly
Little children can learn new sounds, forms and expre-
sions just by hearing them but older learners need special in-
struction.
a First you should know the meaning of what you are trying
to learn to hear and say. Seeing something and moving your
own body in some way as you say what you do is the best
way to learn the meaning. see 4o-1.
15 b Get into you head, imprint on your mind, put into your
memory exactly what each sound is. When you know exact-
ly what you are trying to hear or say you will begin to hear,
catch the new unfamiliar sounds of English. Because your
ear does not yet hear some English sounds correctly it is
better to use the eye to learn, come to know exactly what a
target sound is. see 18.
There are 7 waysto see a sound: a mouth movement, moving
hand signs, geometic designs, drawings, etc. See 46.
16 Vowels General American English has 12 simple basic vowels
and oi works like a simple vowel. See the back cover of this
book. Little by little the mouth opens. The lips make smaller
and smaller circles like for a kiss. Then 2 sounds are made in
thecenterof themouth. <zZZl/_OOo " ? e
L7 Several of the English vowels are the same, or are almost the
same as some vowels in your own language. Under the English
vowels write in your language the English vowels which are in
your language.