美语口音训练第一册04

Chapter 1 American Intonation¹

The American Speech Music

What to Do with Your Mouth to Sound American

One of the main differences between the way an American talks and the way the rest of the world

talks is that we don't really move our lips. (So, when an American says, "Read my lips!" what does

he really mean?) We create most of our sounds in the throat, using our tongue very actively². If you

hold your fingers over your lips or clench³ your jaws⁴ when you practice speaking American English,

you will find yourself much closer to native-sounding speech than if you try to pronounce every ...

single ... sound ... very ... carefully.

If you can relate American English to music, remember that the indigenous⁵ music is jazz. Listen to

their speech music, and you will hear that Americans have a melodic⁶, jazzy way of producing

sounds. Imagine the sound of a cello⁷ when you say, Beddy bada bida beader budder (Betty bought a

bit of better butter) and you'll be close to the native way of saying it.

Because most Americans came from somewhere else, American English reflects the accent

contributions of many lands. The speech music has become much more exaggerated than British

English, developing a strong and distinctive⁸ intonation. If you use this intonation, not only will you

be easier to understand, but you will sound much more confident, dynamic, and persuasive⁹.

Intonation, or speech music, is the sound that you hear when a conversation is too far away to be

clearly audible but close enough for you to tell the nationality of the speakers. The American

intonation dictates¹⁰ liaisons¹¹ and pronunciation, and it indicates mood and meaning. Without

intonation, your speech would be flat, mechanical, and very confusing for your listener. What is the

American intonation pattern? How is it different from other languages? Foa egzampuru, eefu you

hea ah Jahpahneezu pahsohn speakingu Ingurishu, the sound would be very choppy, mechanical,

and unemotional to an American. Za sem vey vis Cheuman pipples, it sounds too stiff. A mahn frohm

Paree ohn zee ahzer ahnd, eez intonashon goes up at zee end ov evree sentence, and has such a

strong intonation that he sounds romantic and highly emotional, but this may not be appropriate for a

lecture or a business meeting in English.

1

American Intonation Do's and Don'ts

Do Not Speak Word by Word

BOB IS ON THE PHONE

If you speak word by word, as many people who learned "printed" English do, you'll end up

sounding mechanical and foreign. You may have noticed the same thing happens in your own

language: When someone reads a speech, even a native speaker, it sounds stiff and stilted¹², quite

different from a normal conversational¹³ tone.



+ Connect words to form sound groups.

This is where you're going to start doing something completely different than what you have

done in your previous English studies. This part is the most difficult for many people because it

goes against everything they've been taught. Instead of thinking of each word as a unit, think of

sound units. These sound units may or may not correspond to a word written on a page. Native

speakers don't say Bob is on the phone, but say [bbizn the foun]. Sound units make a sentence

flow smoothly¹⁴, like peanut butter— never really ending and never really starting, just flowing

along. Even chunky peanut butter is acceptable. So long as you don't try to put plain peanuts

directly onto your bread, you'll be OK.

+ Use staircase intonation.

Let those sound groups floating on the wavy¹⁵ river in the figure flow downhill and you'll get the

staircase. Staircase intonation not only gives you that American sound, it also makes you sound

much more confident. Not every American uses the downward staircase. A certain segment of

the population uses rising staircases—generally, teenagers on their way to a shopping mall: "Hi,

my name is Tiffany. I live in La Canada. I'm on the pep squad¹⁶."

What Exactly Is Staircase Intonation?

In saying your words, imagine that they come out as if they were bounding lightly down a flight

of stairs. Every so often, one jumps up to another level, and then starts down again. Americans

tend to stretch out their sounds longer than you may think is natural. So to lengthen¹⁷ your vowel¹⁸

sounds, put them on two stairsteps instead of just one.

We're here. I

We

///////// 're

///////// ///////// he

///////// ///////// ///////// re.

///////// ///////// ///////// /////////

The sound of an American speaking a foreign language is very distinctive, because we double

sounds that should be single. For example, in Japanese or Spanish, the word no is, to our ear,

clipped or abbreviated¹⁹.

No

/////////



Clipped

No

///////// ou

///////// /////////

Standard American

When you have a word ending in an unvoiced consonant—one that you "whisper" (t, k, s, x, f,

sh)—you will notice that the preceding vowel is said quite quickly, and on a single stairstep.

When a word ends in a vowel or a voiced consonant—one that you "say" (b, d, g, z, v, zh, j), the

preceding vowel is said more slowly, and on a double stairstep.

seat

////////////

Unvoiced

see

///////// eed

///////// /////////

Voiced

There are two main consequences of not doubling the second category of words: Either your

listener will hear the wrong word, or even worse, you will always sound upset.

3

Consider that the words curt²⁰, short, terse²¹, abrupt²², and clipped all literally²³ mean short. When applied²⁴

to a person or to language, they take on the meaning of upset or rude. For example, in the

expressions "His curt reply ...," "Her terse response...'' or "He was very short with me" all indicate a

less than sunny situation.

1 intonation   

n.语调，声调；发声

参考例句：

• The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
• Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。

2 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

3 clench   

vt.捏紧（拳头等），咬紧（牙齿等），紧紧握住

参考例句：

• I clenched the arms of my chair.我死死抓住椅子扶手。
• Slowly,he released his breath through clenched teeth.他从紧咬的牙缝间慢慢地舒了口气。

4 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

5 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

6 melodic   

adj.有旋律的，调子美妙的

参考例句：

• His voice had a rich melodic quality.他的音色浑厚而优美。
• He spoke with a soft husky voice in a melodic accent.他微微沙哑的声音带着一种悠扬的口音。

7 cello   

n.大提琴

参考例句：

• The cello is a member of the violin family.大提琴是提琴家族的一员。
• She plays a melodious cello.她拉着一手悦耳的大提琴。

8 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

9 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

10 dictates   

n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• Convention dictates that a minister should resign in such a situation. 依照常规部长在这种情况下应该辞职。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He always follows the dictates of common sense. 他总是按常识行事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 liaisons   

n.联络( liaison的名词复数 )；联络人；（尤指一方或双方已婚的）私通；组织单位间的交流与合作

参考例句：

• She embarked on a series of sexual liaisons with society figures. 她开始接二连三地与社会名流有染。 来自辞典例句
• One of Wentworth's favorite movies is Dangerous Liaisons. went最喜欢的电影之一是《危险关系》。 来自互联网

12 stilted   

adj.虚饰的；夸张的

参考例句：

• All too soon the stilted conversation ran out.很快这种做作的交谈就结束了。
• His delivery was stilted and occasionally stumbling.他的发言很生硬，有时还打结巴。

13 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

14 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

15 wavy   

adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• She drew a wavy line under the word.她在这个词的下面画了一条波纹线。
• His wavy hair was too long and flopped just beneath his brow.他的波浪式头发太长了，正好垂在他的眉毛下。

16 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

17 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。

18 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

19 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

20 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。

21 terse   

adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的

参考例句：

• Her reply about the matter was terse.她对此事的答复简明扼要。
• The president issued a terse statement denying the charges.总统发表了一份简短的声明，否认那些指控。

22 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

23 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

24 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。