标准美语发音的13个秘诀 CD 3 Track 5

 

 

Chapter 3. Cat? Caught? Cut?   CD 3 Track 5 

After laying our foundation with intonation¹ and liaisons², here we finally begin to refine your pronunciation! We are now going to work on the differencesbetween [?], [?], and [?], as well as [ō], [ā], and [ē]. Let's start out with the [?] sound.

The [?] Sound 

Although not a common sound, [?] is very distinctive³ to the ear and is typically American. In the practice paragraph in Exercise3-2 this sound occurs fivetimes. As its phonetic⁴ symbol indicates, [?] is a combination of [?] + [ε]. To pronounce it, drop your jaw⁵ down as if you were going to say [?]; then from thatposition, try to say [ε]. The final sound is nottwo separate vowels⁷, but rather the end result of the combination. It is very close tothe sound that a goat makes: ma-a-aa!

 Y Try it a few times now: [?] f [?]

If you find yourself getting too nasal with [?], pinch your nose as you say it. If [k?t] turns into [kε?t], you need to pull the sound out ofyour nose and down into your throat.

图片1

Note As you look for the [?] sound you might think that words like downor soundhave an [?] in them. For this diphthong, try [?] + oh, or [?o]. This way, downwould be written [d?on]. Because it is a combined sound, however, it's not included in the Cat? category. (See Pronunciation Point 4 on page ix).

The Schwa [?] Sound 

Last is the schwa [?], the most common sound in American English. When you work on Exercise 3-2, depending on how fast you speak, how smoothly⁸ you make liaisons, how strong your intonation is, and how much you relax your sounds, you will find from 50 to 75 schwas. Spelling doesn't help identify it, because itcan appear as any one of the vowels, or a combination of them. It is a neutral vowel⁶ sound, uh. It is usually in an unstressed syllable⁹, though it can be stressed as well. Whenever you find a vowel that can be crossed out and its absence wouldn't change the pronunciation of the word, you have probably found a schwa: photography [ph'togr'phy] (the two apostrophes show the location of the neutral vowel sounds). Because it is so common, however, the wrong pronunciation of this one little sound can leave your speech strongly accented, even if you Americanized everything else.

Note Some dictionaries use two different written characters, [?] and but for simplicity¹⁰, we are only going to use the first one.

Silent or Neutral? 

A schwa is neutral, but it is not silent. By comparison, the silent E at the end of a word is a signal for pronunciation, but it isnot pronounced itself: code is [kod]. The E tells you to say an [o]. If you leave the E off, you have cod¹¹, [k?d]. The schwa, on the other hand is neutral, but it is an actual sound—uh. For example, you could also write photography as phuh?tah?gruh?fee. Because it's a neutral sound, the schwa doesn't have any distinctive characteristics, yet it is the most common sound in the English language.

To make the [?] sound, put your hand on your diaphragm and push until a grunt¹² escapes. Don't move your jaw, tongue, or lips; just allow the sound to flow past your vocal¹³ cords. It should sound like uh.

Once you master this sound, you will have an even easier timewith pronouncing can and can't. In a sentence, can't sounds like [k?n(t)], but can becomes [k?n], unless it is stressed, when it is [k?n], (as we saw in Exercise 1-43 on p. 41). Repeat.

In the vowel chart that follows, the four corners represent the four most extreme positions of the mouth. The center box represents the least extreme position—the neutral schwa. For these four positions, only move your lips and jaw. Your tongue should stay in the same place—with the tip resting behind the bottom teeth.

Vowel Chart 

I can do it.  [Ik?n do it]

I can't do it.  [Ik?n't do it]

图片1

1. To pronounce beat, your lips should be drawn¹⁴ back, but your teeth should be close together.

Your mouth should form the shape of a banana.

2.  To  pronounce boot, your lips should be fully¹⁵ rounded, and your teeth should be close

together. Your mouth should form the shape of a Cheerio.

3.  To  pronounce bought, drop your jaw straight down from the boot position. Your mouth 

should form the shape of an egg.

4. To pronounce bat, keep your jaw down, pull your lips back, and try to simultaneously¹⁶ say [?] 

and [ε]. Your mouth should form the shape of a box.

Note Word-by-word pronunciation will be different than individual sounds within a sentence. That, than, as, at, and, have, had, can, and so on, are [?] sounds when they stand alone, but they are weak words that reduce quickly in speech.

 

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 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

3 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。

4 phonetic   

adj.语言的，语言上的，表示语音的

参考例句：

• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。
• English phonetic teaching is an important teaching step in elementary stages.语音教学是英语基础阶段重要的教学环节。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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

8 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。

9 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。

10 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

11 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

12 grunt   

v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝

参考例句：

• He lifted the heavy suitcase with a grunt.他咕噜着把沉重的提箱拎了起来。
• I ask him what he think,but he just grunt.我问他在想什麽，他只哼了一声。

13 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

15 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

16 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。