标准美语发音的13个秘诀 CD 2 Track 24

 

Reduced Sounds                                                    CD 2 Track 24 

The Down Side of Intonation¹ 

Reduced sounds are all those extra sounds created by an absence  of lip, tongue, jaw², and throat movement. They are a principal  function of intonation  and are truly indicative of the American sound.  

Reduced Sounds Are "Valleys" 

American intonation is made up of peaks and valleys—tops of staircases and bottoms of staircases. To have strong peaks,  you will have to develop deep  valleys. These deep valleys should be filled with all kinds of reduced vowels⁴, one  in particular—the completely neutral  schwa. Ignore spelling. Since you probably first became acquainted with English through the printed word, this is going to be quite a challenge. The position of  a syllable⁵ is more important th an spelling as an indication of correct pronunciation. For  example, the words photograph and photography each have two O's and an A. The first word is stressed on the  first syllable so photograph sounds like [fo d'græf]. The second word is stressed on the second syllable , photography, so the word comes out [f' tah gr'fee]. You can see here that their spelling doesn't tell you how they sound. Word stress or intonation will determine the pronunciation. Work on listeni ng to words. Concentrate on hearing the pure sounds, not in trying to make the word fit a fami liar⁶ spelling. Otherwise, you will  be taking the long way around and givin g yourself both a lot of extra work and an accent! 

Syllables⁷ that are perched atop a peak or a staircase are strong sounds; that is, they maintain their original pronunciation. On the other  hand, syllables that fall in the valleys or on a lower stairstep are weak sounds; thus they are reduced. Some vowels are reduced completely to schwas, a very relaxed sound, while others are only toned  down. In the following exercises,  we will be dealing⁸ with these "toned down" sounds.  

In the Introduction ("Read This First," page iv) I talked about overpronouncing.  This section will handle that overpronunciation. You're going to skim over words; you're going to dash through certain sounds. Your peaks are going to be quite strong, but your valleys, blurry—a very intuitive aspect of intonation that this practice will help you develop.  

Articles (such as the, a )  are usually very reduced sounds. Before a consonant⁹,  the  and  a  are both schwa sounds, which are reduced. Before a vowel³ , however, you'll notice  a change—the schwa of the  turns into a long [e] plus a connecting (y) —Th ' book  changes to  thee (y) only book; A hat  becomes a nugly hat. The article  a  becomes  an.  Think of [ə●nornj] rather than  an orange;  [ə ●nopening], [ ə●neye], [ə ●nimaginary animal]. 

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 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

3 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。

4 vowels   

n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

5 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

6 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

7 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 consonant   

n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的

参考例句：

• The quality of this suit isn't quite consonant with its price.这套衣服的质量和价钱不相称。
• These are common consonant clusters at the beginning of words.这些单词的开头有相同辅音组合。