consider-conflict-content These three words can be pronounced 5 different ways

in , , , , , /by

Use English melody and pronunciation at the same time.

Let’s concentrate on a few words that begin with the letters con. To understand how to pronounce these con-words, it is best if you first understand whether the word is going to be used as a noun or a verb.  Let’s just say that you can

1. predict which syllable to stress and

2. choose how to pronounce the vowel O in words that begin with C-O-N

First you need know if the word you want to pronounce is being used as a noun (a person, place, or thing) or a verb (the action).

Listen to this week’s  Pronounce English with Pam Podcast episode 80 for your lesson about the American English melody and pronouncing the letter O.  This week’s lesson is filled with great ideas to help you sound natural and be better understood. Use the words below as a guide while you repeat after me on the podcast!

Melody is what the listener is listening for!

Melody is the movement of a language. One of the ways to understand American English melody is to understand how to use stress in each word. Here we are talking about stress to raise and lower your pitch, specifically in the syllables that are written in large print below. CONcert means to stress the first part of the words  CON.  Or in the verbs conVINCE means to stress the second part of the word.

Nouns

Stress the first syllable.  Practice the O with the  vowel sound /a/. Open your mouth!

CONcert

*CONtest

*CONflict

*CONtent

CONcept

CONgress

 

Verbs

Stress the second syllable .  Practice the O with a reduced vowel sound /ə/

conFIRM

conVINCE

conFESS

conTROL

* conDUCT

conFUSE

conSENT

 

*These words can be used as either nouns or verbs. Put stress on the 1st syllable when saying a noun. Put stress on the 2nd syllable when saying a verb.

noun  contest   /kan-tɛst/ – verb   contest /kən-tɛst/

noun  conflict /kan-flikt/- verb  conflict  /kən-flikt/

noun  content   /kan-tɛnt/- verb content /kən-tɛnt/

noun conduct  /kan-dʌkt/- verb  conduct  /kən-dʌkt/

Questions? Comments?

CONtact me anytime! Now you know how to say “contact” too.

 

Listening For Distinct English Conversation

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Finding a Good Speech Example

Understanding the American English accent requires you to listen to other American English speakers because how else will you know how to improve your pronunciation and melody unless you have a good role model.  In this podcast episode, you will find one of my favorite links for listening to other American speakers. NPR.org  so that you can hear timely news stories about any topic that you choose.  Be sure to find a speaker that is using the English pronunciation and melody.  If you are planning on making some changes in your current talking skills- then choose someone that is speaking in the style that you would like to imitate.

Once you have found a good role model and an interesting story- play the story. Listen to it. Enjoy the story. Learn something. Then it’s time to go back and make that story work for you!

Listening (again) is hard

Learning the English rhythm requires you to do some work on your own, unless you hire a coach.  As a coach, I find the right samples and practice work for you.  But repeat listening to the news story is the hard part because it takes your time and effort.  Take the first 4 or 5 sentences and write them down word-for-word. It takes forever I know. This is what I do for my clients/students. If there is not a transcript written for you, you must write down every word that you hear the speaker say. I guarantee you that the action of writing down each sentence (and listening to the speaker repeatedly)  will help you improve your listening comprehension as well as your appreciation of the vocabulary words and the grammar that the speaker is using.

Also, the act of writing (can you find a pen and paper anymore?) will help you concentrate on how that speaker is pronouncing each word.

Understanding the Speaker’s Rhythm

After you listen to this week’s podcast, go back to your written transcript and find the main words in the sentences. These are the content words and they carry the real meaning of the message. Underline these main words. Hint: the main words are the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. They are the “meat” to the message.

Now look at the small words that are not underlined. These are called the function words. They are the small words such as pronouns (I, you, they), conjunctions (and, but, or) and articles (the, a/an) to name a few. The commonly reduced words in English are among the 100 most frequently used words in the language. So we have a lot of reducing to do!

PROnouncing American English Like A Pro!

Now you can practice saying the main words with emphasis while reducing the smaller words. Don’t forget to link the words to the rest of the message group.  Listen to this week’s podcast for further instruction how to raise and lower your voice to express your message.

Do you have any words that you are not sure if they should be reduced? Let me  know in the comments (You can find the comments section directly below the title)

Credit Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash