>> Here with my friend Tom, my favorite Rachel’s English teacher, besides myself.
>> Of course. >> We’re going to have a little conversation
and then turn it into a Ben Franklin exercise.
>> Are you stressed about anything, Rach? Can I call you Rach?
>> You can call me Rach. >> Um, sort, of, but in a very good way. You
know I’m leaving for Europe. >> Yes, that’s right. How long are you going
to be gone for? >> I’m going to be gone for five weeks.
>> That’s a good long time. >> It’s a good long time. I’m leaving
in 10 days. So it feels like there’s a lot to be done.
>> Are you stressed about anything, Rach? [2x]
Are you stressed about anything, Rach? Every word there was quite fast except for the word
‘you’. It’s a little uncommon to stress a function word like this. Normally, I think
I would stress the word ‘stressed’. Are you stressed about anything, Rach? But the
reason why Tom stressed the word ‘you’ is because I had just asked him if he was
stressed about anything. So now, he was turning the question to me, and he stressed ‘you’.
Are you stressed about anything, Rach?
>> Are you stressed about anything, Rach? [2x]
A couple other things I notice about this sentence, Tom turns the T into a D, making
it a flap. About anything, about anything. He’s doing this because it’s a T coming
between two vowel sounds. Even though it’s two separate words, the T still comes between
two vowel sounds, which means it’s a great opportunity to link the two words together
with a Flap T (which sounds like the American D).
About anything [3x]. Are you stressed about anything, Rach?
>> Are you stressed about anything, Rach? [2x]
Did you notice how the intonation went up at the end? About anything Rach? Rach? Rach?
That’s because this is a yes/no question. And yes/no questions go up in pitch at the
end.
>> Are you stressed about anything, Rach? Can I call you Rach?
>> You can call me Rach.
>> Can I call you Rach? >> You can call me Rach.
These next two sentences are great examples of reducing the word ‘can’.
>> Can I call you Rach? >> You can call me Rach.
The word ‘can’ is so fast there, as if it has no vowels at all. Just the K sound
and the N sound. Kn, kn, kn. Can I call you Rach? You can call me Rach.
>> Can I call you Rach? >> You can call me Rach. [2x]
Notice how everything flows together. We don’t feel like we have five separate words in this
sentence. Can I call you Rach? Can I call you Rach? It’s just like one long word.
We do that by linking words together. When a word begins with a vowel, and the word before
ends in a consonant, this is an easy time to link. Just like up here, when we used a
Flap T to link. Can I. [3x] Linking an ending consonant to a beginning vowel helps smooth
out the line. Can I. Can I call you Rach? You can call me Rach. Again, the word ‘can’
is almost lost here. Kn, kn. You can call me Rach.
>> Can I call you Rach? >> You can call me Rach. [2x]
We reduce the word ‘can’ like this when it’s not the only verb in the sentence.
In these two sentences, the main verb is ‘call’. That means the word ‘can’ is a helping
verb. That’s a function word, it’s not as important as the main verb ‘call’.
The word ‘can’ is usually a helping verb. When you pronounce it reduced, kn, kn, it
will help you sound more American. Can I call you Rach? You can call me Rach. Kn, kn.
>> Can I call you Rach? >> You can call me Rach.
>> Um, sort of, but in a very good way.
Did you notice? Another Flap T here, linking the word ‘sort’ and ‘of’. Sort of,
sort of, sort of. So it sounded like an American D. I just said that when the T comes between
two vowel sounds, it turns into a Flap T and can link words. But R is not a vowel sound.
The rule is, if the T comes between two vowels, or after an R, before a vowel, that it becomes
a Flap T. Sort of. [3x] If we think of this as one word, stress is on the first syllable.
Sor-duv. And the second syllable is very fast. It has the schwa, not a full vowel. Sort of. [2x]
>> Um, sort of, but in a very good way.
Let’s go back for a second. I left something important out. The word ‘um’. This is
the word we use when we’re thinking. Um or uh. These thinking sounds use the UH as
in BUTTER vowel. Uh, uh. I call this the core sound of American English. Everything in the
mouth, face, neck, throat is extremely relaxed. Uh, um. That allows the placement to be lower
in the body, less in the face. Very American. Um, uh.
>> Um, sort of, but in a very good way. [2x]
The first syllable of the word ‘very’, ver-, and the word ‘way’, but in a very
good way, are the most stressed. Do you hear how fast this string of function words is?
But in a. [4x] But in a very good way. They all link together. Again, we have ending consonant
linking into a beginning vowel, ending consonant linking into a beginning vowel. Both of these
links help to make it sound like one word, very smooth. But in a, but in a. Again, this
T is turning into a Flap T, or, a D sound. But in a, but in a. But in a very good way.
>> Um, sort of, but in a very good way. You know I’m leaving for Europe.
You know I’m leaving for Europe. What do you hear as the most stressed syllables in
this sentence? I hear ‘know’, ‘leav-‘, ‘Eur-‘. You know I’m leaving for Europe.
>> You know I’m leaving for Europe. [2x]
These are all the most important parts of the sentence, the content words. Content words
are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Here we have verb, verb, and proper noun.
You know I’m leaving for Europe. Notice that in a content word, for example, leaving,
that only the stressed syllable is stressed. Even though this is an important word, and
it’s a stressed word in the sentence, the unstressed syllable, the –ing ending, is
not stressed. So, unstressed syllables, even in stressed words, are still unstressed syllables.
>> You know I’m leaving for Europe. [2x]
Notice I use the contraction I’m. Some of my students don’t like to use contractions
because they don’t think they’re clear enough. They will say ‘I am’. You know
I’m leaving for Europe. But using a contraction, like I’m, is just like up here, where we
took these three words and linked them together and made them very fast. But in a. So, contractions
are words we reduce and link together in writing and in speech. I’m, I’m.
>> You know I’m leaving for Europe. [2x]
Reducing and contracting words will help you sound very American. There’s actually one more
example of a reduction in this sentence. It’s the word ‘for’. For Europe. For Europe.
I reduced that vowel to the schwa. And the schwa-R together make one sound, rr. Rr, rr,
fr, fr. For Europe, for Europe. And again, here we have an ending consonant linking into
a beginning vowel. For Europe. [3x] So those two words glide together very easily. For
Europe, for Europe.
>> You know I’m leaving for Europe. >> Yes, that’s right. How long are you going
to be gone for?
This was all very fast. Yes, that’s right. How long are you going to be gone for? Wow.
Tom didn’t even really finish the word ‘right’. Yes that’s right how long? He certainly
didn’t pronounce a full T. He moved on to the next sentence before he even finished
that word.
>> Yes, that’s right. How long are you going to be gone for?
So there was no real break here between sentences. You probably noticed he took ‘going to’
and turned it into ‘gonna’. How long are you gonna? You gonna? [3x] How long are you
gonna be gone for?
>> Yes, that’s right. How long are you going to be gone for? [2x]
Did you notice Tom did not reduce the word ‘for’ to the schwa. Well, I just said
that that’s something that we want to do with this word in order to make it sound more
American. But, I do need to add: we don’t reduce words like ‘for’ when they’re
at the end of a sentence.
>> Yes, that’s right. How long are you going to be gone for?
There, they need to be fully pronounced. Even though it was still very fast, it wasn’t
a stressed word, it did have the full vowel.
>> Yes, that’s right. How long are you going to be gone for?
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks.
I’m going to be gone for five weeks. [2x] Again, I used ‘I’m’ instead of ‘I
am’. That helped me make it fast and less important, compared to the more important
words in the sentence.
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. [2x]
You also may have noticed, I also took ‘going to’ and pronounced it ‘gonna’.
I’m gonna [3x].
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. [2x]
How do you hear this word ‘for’? Listen again.
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. [2x]
You’re right, it’s reduced. For, for, for, for five, for five. For five weeks.
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. [2x]
So, the most important words there, the loudest, the clearest, are ‘gone’, ‘five’,
and ‘weeks’. Those are the words that carry the actual meaning of the sentence.
So, we don’t reduce these more important words. But if we say all the other words fast,
reduce them, then it makes these more important words stand out the most. I’m going to be
gone for five weeks.
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. >> That’s a good long time.
That’s a good long time. Tom didn’t really pronounce the TH here. He reduced the word
‘that’s’ to just the schwa-TS sound. Utsa, utsa, utsa good long time. [2x]
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. >> That’s a good long time. [2x]
We reduce that’s, it’s, what’s, at the beginning of a sentence like this a lot. And
look, we have an ending consonant beginning vowel to link. That’s a, [3x]
that’s a good long time. He stressed the last three words.
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. >> That’s a good long time. [2x]
We have adjective, adjective, noun.
The three content words are stressed, longer, clearer.
>> I’m going to be gone for five weeks. >> That’s a good long time.
>> It’s a good long time. I’m leaving in ten days.
I reduced the word ‘it’s’ by dropping the vowel. Tsa, tsa, it’s a good long time.
>> It’s a good long time. I’m leaving in ten days.
It’s a good long time. Linking the TS cluster into the schwa. Tsa, tsa, it’s a good long
time. It’s a good long time. Again, these three words are stressed, good long time.
I stressed the word ‘good’ the most. It’s a good long time. It’s a good long time.
Just like Tom did earlier, I didn’t really leave a sentence break here, did I? I went
straight on to my next thought.
>> It’s a good long time. I’m leaving in ten days.
Look. Another contraction. The most important syllables in that sentence: leav-, ten, days.
I’m leaving in ten days. [4x] Again, they’re the most important parts of the sentence for
content. The verb leaving, and the time amount, ten days.
>> I’m leaving in ten days, so it feels like there’s a lot to be done.
I notice the word ‘it’ is not very clear. So it feels. [2x]
>> I’m leaving in ten days, so it feels like there’s a lot to be done.
So it feels like. The word ‘it’ begins with a vowel. Here, the word before ends with
a vowel. So we can link vowel to vowel. So it. [3x] So it feels like. It’s a very smooth
transition. And it can feel like I go through the glide consonant W. So it. [3x] That helps
me link them together. So it feels like.
What’s happening with the T in ‘it’? It’s a Stop T. So it, so it, so it feels.
So it feels like. The T is not fully pronounced, tt. So it, so it. But instead, I stop the
air. So it. In general, we pronounce T’s this way when the next sound is a consonant.
So it feels like there’s a lot to be done. And the ending Z sound of ‘there’s’
links right into the schwa sound uh. There’s a, there’s a, there’s a lot to be done.
>> There’s a lot to be done. [2x]
How are these two words pronounced? Lot to, lot to. This is clearly not an ‘oo’ vowel,
it’s a schwa. Lot to. But what about the T’s? Lot to. I’m making the first T a
Stop T. Lot. So I’m just stopping the air for a second—lot to, lot to—before releasing
to make the second T. There’s a lot to be done.
>> There’s a lot to be done. [2x]
We use these three words together, a lot to, quite a bit. Let’s do a quick comparison
to ‘a lot of’, which we also use together frequently. Here we have an ending T consonant
and beginning vowel. The T comes between two vowels, so it’s a Flap T or a D sound. A
lot of, a lot of. So the T in ‘lot’ is pronounced one way in this phrase, a lot to,
and a different way in this phrase, a lot of. Let’s listen to the whole bit of conversation
one more time.
>> Are you stressed about anything, Rach? Can I call you Rach?
>> You can call me Rach. >> Um, sort, of, but in a very good way. You
know I’m leaving for Europe. >> Yes, that’s right. How long are you going
to be gone for? >> I’m going to be gone for five weeks.
>> That’s a good long time. >> It’s a good long time. I’m leaving
in 10 days. So it feels like there’s a lot to be done.
Even with just a little bit of speech, there’s a lot to study. Thanks for studying with me.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.