Stress refers to the emphasis placed on a word, syllable, or a phrase.  Vocally, we indicate stress by making that syllable, word or phrase a bit louder and/or longer or by slightly increasing your pitch on that utterance.  The stressed syllable of words is constant and does not change, however, the stressed words of a sentence are variable.  For example, the bold letters in the following word tell you which syllable to emphasize every time you say this word: frustrating.  It does not change.  However, in a sentence, you can change the stress depending on the message that you are trying to communicate.

In the sentence, “Bob bought a beautiful painting”, you can stress different words depending on the message that you are trying to communicate.  If you say, Bob bought a beautiful painting, stressing the name Bob, then you know that it was Bob and not Tom or John or somebody else who bought the painting.  However, if you stress the verb bought, Bob bought a beautiful painting, this implies that Bob bought the painting as opposed to receiving it as a gift or even painting it himself.  If you stress the sentence as follows, Bob bought a beautiful painting, we know for sure that it was a painting and not a vase or another beautiful object that Bob bought.  In many other languages, all words are stressed equally but in English we stress specific words to assist in getting the message across.  You may wonder, how do you know which words to stress?

For the most part, we try to emphasize content words not function words.  The content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.  These are the most important words in the sentence as they convey information.  The function words tend to be parts of speech such as articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.  These words are non-stressed words in a sentence.  They are transition words but do not carry the same information as the content words.  In addition to the difference between content and function words, there are other helpful rules for stress.

When you use a compound word, which is a word that consists of two or more elements that are independent words such as bathtub, the rule is to stress the first word.  Try saying the following words, stressing the part of the word that is bold: birthday, cupcake, earthquake, weekend, toothbrush, and thunderstorm.  Now try to maintain the appropriate stress for the following sentence: We went away for the weekend because it was my birthday but unfortunately, I forgot my toothbrush!

In addition to consistent rules for stressing compound words, there are a group of words that are spelled the same, but when they are stressed appropriately, they convey different meaning.  These words, serve as both nouns and verbs, but it is understood that when you emphasize the first syllable, the word is a noun and when you stress the second syllable, the words is a verb.  If you pronounce the word using the incorrect syllable stress, it interferes with meaning and it is confusing to your listener.  An example of this rule is as follows: His conduct was inappropriate.  He will conduct the meeting remotely via Skype.  Some other words that fall into the noun category are subject, suspect, contract, and insert.  The mates of these words that fall into the verb category are stressed as follows: subject, suspect, contract, and insert.  In the following sentence, it would be very confusing if you did not stress the appropriate syllable: I suspect that the suspect will be arrested this afternoon.

The rules for stress are not limited to the ones discussed in this blog.  There are many nuances of stress that non-native speakers learn during the conversational speech portion of a session, when they work with a Speech Pathologist/Dialect Coach who specializes in accent reduction.  This blog is intended to introduce the concept of stress and to explain how important appropriate stress is in communicating effectively in English.  If you learn to use stress correctly, you will be more effective in communicating your ideas accurately and the flow of your speech will sound more typical of the patterns of a native speaker. Remember, when it comes to speech, stress is in!

Accents are defined in their rhythm, intonation, and the length of the vowels.  The rhythm of music leads you and helps you to pronounce the words with the correct speed, intonation, and stress.  Intonation helps you to find the music of English; it allows you to stress the important words to create a certain mood or meaning for a song.  When somebody sings, they elongate their vowels.  This technique helps to create emotion and ultimately, it results in the vowels sounding more like Standard American English.

Traditionally, singers from throughout the world have wanted to have a presence in the American music world.  To do so, they often grow up listening to American singers and imitating their recorded songs. Some of these singers will produce covers of songs that were originally sung with Standard American English so that the accent pattern becomes more familiar to them and they become facile at reproducing it.  Essentially, they are training their ears to hear and their articulators to feel the difference between the sounds that they typically produce and the modified sounds that produce a Standard American English pattern.  When they move on to learn subsequent songs, the American sound becomes more and more familiar to them and easier to reproduce.  This explains why non-native speakers sound less accented when they sing, but how can this information be used to help reduce an accent?

When I’m working with clients who have successfully learned the individual sounds of Standard American English but continue to sound accented in ongoing conversational speech because they fall into the rhythm and intonation of their native language, singing is a very useful technique.  When imitating the rhythm, intonation, and melody of a song, my clients start to understand and begin to feel the liason between words.  Picking any song melody and singing common phrases to the melody (ie. How are you? It’s so nice to see you.) helps to facilitate the smoothness of English.  Try singing a phrase two to three times and then immediately after, just say it.  You will notice that it sounds smoother and much less accented.  Over the years, singing has been used as a successful therapy technique by Speech Pathologists when working with stroke patients and with stutterers.  The power of music and its unique rhythm and intonation can also be used as a successful technique for non-native speakers who are still struggling to reduce their accents.  You may not have the vocal talents of Adele, but you can find the smooth vocal patterns that she does and sound much less accented when you speak.

Physically, the articulators – the mouth, the teeth, and the tongue – are in different positions when you articulate these two sounds.  When producing the long /ee/ sound, the lips are tense as if you are smiling, the jaw is raised, and the tongue is high near the roof of the mouth.  In addition, since it is a long sound, you must prolong it.  Conversely, the short /ih/ sound is produced by relaxing the lips, lowering the jaw slightly, and raising the tongue but not as high as you did when producing the long /ee/ sound.  The /ih/ sound is shorter in duration and it is said more quickly.  The other complicating factor in accurately producing these sounds is the variety of ways in which they are written.

The long /ee/ can be written as a single /e/ as in scene, he, these, or me.  It can also be represented by an /ee/ as in weep, need, seem, or teens, or as an /ea/ as in team, steamy, mean, or jeans.  Finally, it can be written as an /ie/ or an /ei/ as in the following words: niece, neither, piece, or belief.  As you can see, this sound is used often and in a variety of different forms.  Similarly, the short /ih/ sound is also written in different ways.  It can be represented by the letter /i/ as in the words bill, will, city, live or by the letters /ui/ as in the words quilt, guilty, or guitar.  Both the long /ee/ and the short /ih/ can be represented by the letter /y/ whose pronunciation changes depending on its location within a word.  Generally, when the /y/ is in the beginning of a word – cyst, Lynn, mystery, gym – it is pronounced as a short /ih/ and when the /y/ is at the end of a word – any, many, suddenly, history – it is pronounced as a long /ee/.  As with most vowels in English, there are always exceptions to the rules and you may find one of these sounds written with an unexpected combination of letters.  For example, in the words “women, busy, been, and pretty”, the initial vowels are all pronounced as a short /ih/.

In the following sentences, try practicing the long /ee/ sound, remembering the proper placement of your articulators and the need to prolong the sound.

-He seems to eat green beans with ease.

-She was pleased to see her niece in the scene.

-Please believe that sweet peas are good to eat.

-Meet me at the east gate at three.

-I believe that he can succeed.

In the sentences below, practice producing the short /ih/ sound , remembering the correct placement and producing the sound without prolonging it.  However, do remember to prolong the /y/ sound when it is at the end of a word.

-My sister swims in a pool in the city.

-Bill and Lilly are still ill.

-The first aid kit is missing from the gym.

-It is very windy in the city.

-Tim paid the bill for the kilt.

Some people are able to hear and produce these sounds after practicing on their own.  However, more often, non-native speakers need the help of a Speech Pathologist/Dialect Coach who can help to train your ear to distinguish between the two sounds.  You must be able to hear the difference before attempting to produce these sounds.  If one or both of these sounds do not exist in your native language, there is no auditory reference for the sound in your sound repertoire, which is why it is more difficult to create these new sounds on your own.  However, with training and the use of carefully structured drill sheets, you can learn to successfully produce a long /ee/ and a short /ih/ so that you can say the words “sheet” and “beach” correctly and without embarrassment.

Digital media allows us to communicate globally at amazingly rapid speed.  It is truly astounding when you compare the immediacy with which we can share information for either personal or professional reasons to the “snail mail” era when it took days for the same information to be communicated.  Despite the gain in speed of communication, we have lost the humanity in the way we communicate with each other.  Indeed, the ubiquitous use of texting now extends even to communication between people who are in close proximity to one another, perhaps in the same room.  People escape from eye contact and direct communication by hiding in their short, digital messages.

I recognize that there is an immediacy to texting that we find satisfying in our multitasking society.  Yet I wonder, what do we sacrifice when we are consumed with texting throughout our day?  We miss the nuances of conversation communicated through facial expressions and vocal changes.  Furthermore, the impulsiveness of texting might allow you to say something to someone that you might not have if you had thought about it for a moment or if you could see the way the recipient was reacting to what you had said.  Texting can lead to misunderstandings and miscommunication of information.  Finally,  oral communication is an art, and being able to tell a story with the appropriate intonation, to emphasize key words that help the narrative along, and to pause and phrase in order to build anticipation and suspense cannot be communicated in a text message.  Yes, you can use capitalization and bolding when writing a text message, but it is not the same as the many nuances in your tone of voice.

What are the other perils of texting?  The use of “techspeak” relies on homophones such as “gr8″ for “great” and “wud” for “would”.  It does not use capital letters or periods to end a sentence.  We have to be concerned that developing language, specifically spelling and grammar skills, are being corrupted.  We now hear people communicating verbally in “techspeak” by saying “OMG” or “TTYL” (Oh My God and Talk To You Later).  Articulation skills needed to communicate effectively are eroding.  This is worrisome for younger generations who need to develop good speech habits; speech skills that are necessary later in life when these individuals enter the business world.

To be fair, texting can be a useful tool for someone who is shy, to reach out to someone whom they may be unwilling to approach in person for fear of rejection.  It can be a more considerate form of communicating on a crowded train or bus so that other passengers are not bothered by your phone conversation.  It can be a quick and efficient way of communicating essential information when you are pressed for time.  For example, “Arriving on 5:45 train”.

Perhaps the solution to the texting problem is finding the right balance between using technology in an efficient and productive way while still preserving the art of verbal communication.  Sometimes, we need to take the time to “unplug” and interact verbally so that we do not lose the subtleties of interpersonal communication.  Perhaps instead of sacrificing the art of communication, we can enhance our ability to communicate with the well-used text message.

SYMPTOMS OF GLOSSOPHOBIA

Glossophobia is considered to be one of the most common phobias.  The comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, has joked that at a funeral, “most people would rather be lying in the casket than delivering the eulogy”.  The manifestations of glossophobia can be both physical and verbal.  The physical symptoms may include feelings of panic, a rapid heartbeat, perspiration, a dry mouth, nausea, increased blood pressure and/or tension in the muscles of the face, neck, or upper back.  Verbal symptoms may include a weak voice, a quivering and/or a tense voice, or an excessively rapid rate of speech.  The questions is, what can you do to alleviate these symptoms and overcome the fear of public speaking?

WAYS TO REDUCE THE FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

First and foremost, practice and prepare.  Make sure that you are completely knowledgeable about the topic you are going to present.  Anticipate questions that the audience may ask you and prepare your response.  Verbally rehearse your presentation aloud with the goal of speaking clearly, smoothly and knowledgeably.  Record yourself after you have “presented” your speech a few times and assess how successful your preparation has been to that point.  If you were an audience member, how would you react to the speaker?  What can you do to make the presentation sound better?  Experienced speakers develop an effective cadence, knowing when to emphasize words for greatest impact and how to verbally frame the concepts that they are trying to communicate.

CHANGE YOUR INTERNAL CONVERSATION

Most importantly, switch the focus from you and your anxiety to your audience.  Change your internal conversation.  Instead of saying “I am so nervous that I think I will be sick”, say “I think I can really help these people with the information that I am going to share”.  The goal of your presentation is to have a positive impact on your listeners such that they leave your presentation with new information that they can implement in their lives.  To remain focused on this goal, think about a time where you succeeded in helping others to learn new and valuable information and how powerful it felt to be able to share your knowledge with others.

WORKING WITH A SPEECH PATHOLOGIST CAN BE HELPFUL

You can work with a Speech Pathologist who can guide you through the process of decreasing your fear of public speaking.  A therapist experienced in the art of communication can teach you where to pause and phrase, what words to emphasize for the greatest impact, how to eliminate distracting fillers such as “um, so, like, you know”.  When you are in control of your speech, you are more in control of the situation.  Don’t let your fear of public speaking limit your career opportunities and social interactions.  Master your fear so that you will have enough adrenaline to be energized but not too much anxiety that nerves will inhibit you.  Learn to reduce the stress!  Nobody will know that it took you “more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech”.

GOOD SPEECH CRUCIAL FOR PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS

For a physician, precise and intelligible communication skills are crucial for their professional success.  When communicating with colleagues, if a physician’s speech is hard to understand, there is an increased chance of miscommunication and this can have serious consequences.  When a physician is consulting with another physician about a patient’s care, an accurate and well-articulated history, treatment plan, and prognosis need to be communicated.  This process can often be hindered by a strong accent, marked by many sound substitutions, which cause words and/or phrases to be unintelligible.  When a physician, who is a non-native speaker, is communicating with staff, misunderstandings can result in inaccurate medication instructions which can be life threatening for a patient.  Staff may be unwilling to question the physician, even if they are having trouble understanding his or her speech.

PATIENTS MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING PHYSICIAN

Quite often when a patient visits a physician, they are not feeling well; they may be anxious about their health and distracted by concerns about their medical condition. Medical terminology is often overwhelming for patients, even under the best of circumstances.  However, when a physician – who is a non-native speaker with a strong accent pattern – attempts to communicate a diagnosis and treatment plan for a patient who is ill, there is a greater chance that the patient will be confused, unable to process the information and have difficulty accurately understanding treatment instructions. The patient may be embarrassed  or unwilling to ask the doctor to repeat what they have said. In the case of elderly patients, who may also have hearing problems in addition to their infirmity, trying to understand  the physicians’ accented speech patterns can be especially challenging. The results of miscommunication in this situation can be dire.

SPEECH PATHOLOGIST CAN HELP INCREASE PHYSICIANS’ INTELLIGIBILITY

Working with a Speech Pathologist/Dialect Coach who specializes in accent reduction can increase the chances that a non-native physician can increase his or her speech intelligibility.  A phonetic analysis by the Speech Pathologist/Dialect Coach can isolate the sounds that are contributing to the accent pattern.  Working on each sound, starting with those that are obviously contributing most to the physician’s unintelligible speech is the first step in reducing a strong accent.  However, to see more immediate results, the Speech Pathologist can target the professional vocabulary that the physician uses on a daily basis.  The Speech Pathologist will train the physician to hear the difference between his or her incorrect pronunciation and the correct pronunciation of the medical terms that are crucial in their communication with staff, colleagues and patients.  By recording the session, the physician can practice the standard pronunciation of these medical terms on a daily basis.  During the speech improvement sessions, the physician will be asked to use specific medical terminology in structured conversations in role-playing situations that accurately reflect the manner in which the physician would use these terms during the course of his or her day.  Using this method, the physicians’ intelligibility will increase rapidly and listener comprehension will improve significantly.  Good speech can be life saving.

Contractions Facilitate Smoothness

Americans do not use contractions when they are writing formally, however, when writing casually and when speaking conversationally, we always shorten our sentences with the use of contractions.  The use of contractions facilitates a smoother link between words and allows us to sound more casual.  When we do not use contractions, we sound more formal and the smooth flow of speech is interrupted.

What Is A Contraction?

A contraction is formed by combining two words into one and by using an apostrophe to substitute for the letter or letters that have been omitted.  The following is a list of the more frequently used contractions:

I’ll               I will

I’m              I am

Can’t          Can not

Won’t         Will not

Isn’t            Is not

She’ll          She will

He’ll            He will

He’s             He is

Wasn’t         Was not

Weren’t       Were not

Shouldn’t    Should not

Wouldn’t     Would not

Now try using some of these contractions in the following sentences:

• I’ll call you if she isn’t able to do it.
• Wouldn’t it be better if you arrived at an earlier time.
• He’s very friendly now but he wasn’t always this nice.
• I won’t be able to stay late today.
• He’ll choose from this selection, but she’ll choose from those

To appreciate the difference between the more casual, friendlier tone of the contractions and that of the more formal, choppier non-contracted sound, try saying each sentence twice.  The first time, say the sentence without the contractions – I will call you if she is not able to do it.  The second time, listen to the contrasting sound and smoother rhythm that you are able to produce when using the contractions – I’ll call you if she isn’t able to do it.  Repeat this procedure for all of the sentences.  Then create some of your own sentences and practice saying them smoothly and fluently to produce a less accented pattern.  You will also notice that using contractions helps to shorten  the amount of time it takes you to produce a sentence.

Using Contractions Sounds Wrong to Non-Native Speakers

In my practice, most non-native speakers tell me that they feel as if they are making a grammatical error when they use contractions in ongoing conversation.  It sounds wrong to their ear and they are very self-conscious about speaking with contractions.  As with any speech habit, the more often you use it and the more familiar your ear becomes to the new sound, the more successful and comfortable you will be using it.  For less accented sounding speech and a more easily understood intonation pattern, don’t be afraid to “contract” it!

Foreign Accents Can Be Frustrating

Overwhelmingly, people are trying to tell me that they are frustrated with their speech.  They are tired of people asking them where they are from.  Repeating what they have to say over and over again because they are misunderstood or not understood at all has become tedious.  For non-native speakers, missing out on professional or personal opportunities because of unintelligible or difficult to understand speech is all too familiar.  in some cases, their speech has put them in very embarrassing situations.  Perhaps those of you with this accent pattern…substituting the long “eee” and the short “ih” for each other…have had problems when you’ve asked for a “sheet of paper” or a “piece of pizza”.  Oops…not exactly what you intended!

Accents Can Cause a Breakdown in Communication

When people focus on how you are speaking and less on what you are saying, there is a breakdown in communication.  Unfortunately, there are also stigmas associated with foreign accents and people who speak with an accent are often considered to be less capable, less knowledgeable and even less credible.  The listener is often unwilling to take the time to understand an accent pattern and automatically dismisses what the speaker is saying.  Listeners may also become anxious when they are unable to understand a foreign accent.  This causes them to end the conversation or to avoid discussing difficult topics as they feel that it will add to the communicative stress of the interaction.  I’ve also had clients report to me that people mistakenly speak to them using a louder voice, assuming this will aid the communication process.  When the attempt to communicate becomes such a challenge, people often give up and limit their verbal interpersonal interactions.

Accent Reduction Classes

The ability to speak and to interact with others on a verbal level is very important to our daily existence.  Accents can interfere with our speech in our business lives, in our educational lives and in our social lives.  Accent reduction classes are for those who have reached the point where their accent has become a burden and a hindrance to their communication skills.  To those who have withdrawn from speaking because they feel that their accent will cause them frustration or embarrassment, there is hope!  Working with a Speech Pathologist/Dialect Coach who specializes in accent reduction will allow you to learn how to speak Standard American English.  Through a carefully crafted process of ear training, you will learn to:

• Identify the difference between your accented production and the more intelligible sounds of Standard American English.
• Produce the correct sounds in isolation, in words, and then in sentences.
• Carry-over correct production of these sounds in conversational speech.
• Use correct sound production for the vocabulary that is relevant to your profession.
• Learn to speak English with the appropriate rhythm and intonation.
• Feel confident and comfortable so that you no longer avoid speaking situations.

Accent reduction classes allow you to replace the anxiety, frustration and disappointment of speaking with a feeling of satisfaction and a sense of success.  I am always delighted when my clients report that they are speaking more and that they are really enjoying their new found ability to communicate with clarity, precision and success.  If you can identify with any of the feelings in this blog, you are a prime candidate for accent reduction!

The Voiceless and The Voiced /th/

There are two /th/ sounds – the voiceless /th/ and the voiced /th/.  It’s important to understand the difference between the production of the voiceless and the voiced /th/ sound.  When you make a /th/ sound, your tongue tip is resting against the lower portion of the back of your upper teeth and the tongue tip protrudes slightly between your teeth.  When you produce the voiceless /th/, you are simultaneously blowing out a stream of air but you do not feel a vibration of your vocal cords.  Conversely, when you produce the voiced /th/, you do not produce a strong stream of air and you do feel a vibration of your vocal cords.  You can feel this vibration by placing your fingertips on the front of your throat.  In some cultures, it is embarrassing or rude to protrude your tongue while speaking, but in Standard American English, this is a perfectly acceptable occurrence.

Typical Errors Made By Non-Native Speakers

What are the typical errors that non-native speakers make when producing the /th/ sound?  Most non-native speakers will stay within the appropriate sound category so they will substitute the voiceless /t/ or /s/ for the voiceless /th/, and they will substitute the voiced /d/ and/z/ for the voiced /th/.  This can lead to the following erors and confusion in articulation:

• Mouse for mouth
• Tree for three
• sink for think
• Bat for bath
• Dare for there
• Ladder for lather
• Bat room for bathroom

TH is The Most Consistent Sound in English

For the most part, /th/ is one of the most consistent sounds in English.  When you see a /th/, you pronounce a /th/.  However, since English is not a phonetic language, there are exceptions to this rule.  So words such as “Thailand”, “Thomas”, and “Thames”, are pronounced by using a /t/ instead of the /th/ in the initial position of these words.  Also, there are times when the /th/ is really a cluster of two consonants and is not pronounced as a /th/.  This occurs in the following words: lighthouse, anthill, knighthood, and lightheaded.

Work With a Speech Pathologist/Dialect Coach to Improve /th/

Working with a Speech Pathologist/Dialect Coach can help make production of this sound clearer and easier for you.  Consistently producing an accurate /th/ sound, particularly in the frequently used words “the, their, them, that, those, these, and this” will make you sound much more articulate and will decrease listener confusion.  When I begin working with my clients, we always start by correcting the /th/ as changing this one phoneme, makes a tremendous difference in the way that you sound.  Begin your journey to accent reduction and improved speech by producing a reliable and consistent /th/.