English Pronunciation
Workshop
Anita L. Maloney, MSCCC/SLP
Agenda
1. GO FISH
2. MOUTH YOGA
3. DIFFICULT SOUNDS
5. STRESS
GO FISH RULES
A.
B.
“Do you have the letter ______?”
“NO, GO FISH” (Next person asks)
OR “YES” - give A the card and
A.
gets another turn and asks a different
person.
WINNER: Person who gets the most
matches.
AMERICAN ENGLISH
“Y”
e
a
Vowels
u
i
o
AMERICAN ENGLISH
CONSONANTS
BCDFGHJKLMNPQ
R S T V W X “Y” Z
Mouth Yoga!
TAKE NOTES!!!
SIMILARITIES
We are born with the ability to learn any language
• We all want to communicate and be understood
• We all want to share
• We all communicate
• We all have ideas and our own way of presenting information
• We all speak (there are others that are unable to use their voice
to speak but communicate in other ways)
CELEBRATE DIVERSITY
TOGETHER WE ARE ONE
DIFFERENCES
American English has sounds in it that your language may
not have. This makes it difficult to hear and produce some
of the sounds
Your language has a different music to it than American
English
An American adult English speaker will have the same
difficulty learning your primary language for the same
reasons
Voicing
Different set of consonants
Overview of the
Differences between
English and Tamil
“Borrowed” words from
English
Nasal Production
Stress Differences
SOUND DIFFERENCES
ASIAN LANGUAGES
•
•
•
•
•
May not have a letter system - the word is the picture
Meaning may be conveyed by tone
American English may have more vowel sounds
The sounds /l/, /r/ and /n/ may be difficult to perceive or hear
The sounds TH sounds, /b/ and /v/ may not exist
SPANISH LANGUAGE
• Vowel production is different and there are more vowel
sounds in English than Spanish
• Similar consonant difficulties with TH, /f/, /v/ and /b/
• Voicing differences of consonants
TAKE NOTES!!!
TH Words
Initial Position (Voiceless)
Thought
Think
Thousand
Thirty
Threat
Thin
Through
Three
Thief
Thumb
Initial Position (Voiced)
The
There
Though
Their
Then
Them
They
That
Medial Position (Voiced)
Weather
Father
Mother
Brother
Leather
Bother
Other
Another
Bathing Suit
Medial Position (Voiceless)
Birthday
Toothbrush
Bathtub
Bathroom
Toothpaste
Mouthwash
Earthquake
Wealthy
Healthy
Toothache
Final Position (Voiceless)
With
Myth
Moth
B at h
Mouth
Pat h
Te et h
To o t h
Both
M at h
Final Position (Voiced)
Bathe
Smooth
Breathe
Soothe
Tongue Twisters!!!!
TONGUE TWISTERS - TH
1. The thirty thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout
Thursday
2. Something in a thirty acre thermal thicket of thorns and thistles
thumped and thundered threatening the three-D thoughts of Matthew
the thug- although, theatrically, it was only the thirteen-thousand
thistles and thorns through the underneath of his thigh that the thirty
year old thug thought of that morning.
th - Tongue Twisters Continued
3. I thought a thought. But the thought I thought I thought wasn’t the
thought I thought I thought.
4. Three thin thieves thought a thousand thoughts. Now if three thin
thieves thought a thousand thoughts how many thoughts did each thin
thief think?
5. Father, mother, sister, brother - hand in hand with one another.
TAKE NOTES!!!
WHAT IS STRESS ?
STRESS when speaking is what we give emphasis or importance to.
At the single word level and single syllable level there is stress only in one
place or on the whole word.
For Example:
Cat
Milk
Read
Write
Run
Play
• Stress at the word level is generally on the first syllable of the
word. This is due to the Germanic language base to English.
However, due to other language influences such as French,
Latin,Greek, etcetera the
stress in an English word may vary
• eager engineer
unique
Egyptian
Examples of suffixes creating
movement of stress.
democrat
empath
empathy
sympathy
photograph
democratic
empathic
empathetic
sympathetic
photographic
democracy
photography
Suffixes create
movement of stress
or a change in the
melody/rhythm of
the word.
Tips at the word level



For two syllable words the stress is at the beginning for NOUNS
and ADJECTIVES and on the second syllable in VERBS.
For words with suffixes* (-er, -est or -es, -ed, -ly, -ite) the stress
usually stays with the first syllable
Also for words with -ia, -ial, -ible, -ify, -logy, -ify, -ual the stress
stays with the first syllable

For suffixes* -ate, -ize, -ist and -ous the stress is on the second
syllable before the suffix (amputate, mysterious congratulate)

The stress is before the suffix* -ic as in optic, electric, basic

Suffixes* -tion, -ian, -ity create stress in the syllable before
(vacation, librarian, necessity)
*suffix - a word ending
**prefix - a syllable or sound at the beginning of the
word
EXAMPLES OF NOUN VS. VERB STRESS IN 2 SYLLABLE
WORDS REVIEW
NOUNS
VERBS
SUSPECT
SUSPECT
PRESENT
PRESENT
CONFLICT
CONFLICT
PROJECT
PROJECT
PERMIT
PERMIT