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Accent FamiliarizationVBC T4/M16 Kausar Abdullah
May 2007
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Accent familiarization
Everyone speaks a language with an accent.
A particular accent essentially reflects a person's linguistic background and there are noticeable differences.
Virtusa’s head office is in the US and has a clientele spread across the US. The case is similar with our office and clients in the UK.
This means there will be Virtusan interaction with a wide range of accents.
This module will assist you in familiarizing yourself with these different accents.
The sound clips enable you to get an idea of the differences between the American and the British accents - start sharpening your hearing skills.
TIP - Every time you say something to someone and they look blankly back at you, know that both of you are about to have a language learning experience!
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Accent familiarization
The main differences in English Standard and Variant language are:
1. Pronunciation of words
2. Vocabulary usage + Spelling
3. Stress patterns
4. Intonation
5. Idiomatic speech
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Main differences
1. Pronunciation of Words
This part will help you understand a few of the differences between pronunciation in the US and UK accents
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Pronunciation
United States
The different dialects cannot be simply divided into the Northern American and the Southern American accents
There's also a New Jersey (or should I say "Noo Joisey") accent
There's also a New England accent, a Californian accent, the Southern drawl and lot more variations in between
Here are a few examples:
• Americans usually pronounce the letter "u" as oo, so "duty" (which in UK would be "dyuty") comes out as "do-tee" and "tune" is " toon “. Mind you, this isn’t applicable to all "u" words.
• “often” US – of-tin UK - of-fin
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Pronunciation
Dialects and accents vary not only between the countries in the
United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales)
but also within areas of these individual countries.
Just some of the different ‘British’ accents:
– Northern England – Geordie; Lancashire; Yorkshire; Cumbrian, etc.
– The Midlands – Birmingham; Leicestershire; Derbyshire, etc.
– Southern England – Cockney; ‘Estuary’; Cornish; Somerset; Bristolian, etc.
– Wales – South coast; Valleys; North coast, etc. + Welsh language
– Scotland – West coast, East coast, Highland; Isles, etc. + Gaelic language
– Northern Ireland
– Eire// Southern Ireland + Irish Gaelic language
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Pronunciation
United Kingdom
A few examples of UK pronunciation vs. US pronunciation
• A word with "er/ar" at the end - "runner"
UK – run-na US – run-err (more emphasis on the –er- sound)
• The commonly used word “schedule”
UK – shedyul US – skejyul/skedyul
• Yet another very different sound in the pronunciation of the prefix “anti-”
UK – ant-ee US – ant-eye
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2. Vocabulary usage + Spelling differences
This part will show you different words used for a common object and some slight variations in spellings
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Vocabulary usage
American (AE) British (BE) Notes
apartment flat
A flat occupying more than one floor is called a “maisonette in BE and a “duplex” in New York. AE uses “townhouse” to refer to a multi-level apartment.
appetizer starter, hors
d'oeuvre But "hors d'oeuvre" is rather posh.
area code dialling code Telephone. The obsolescent BE phrase STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling) code
may be encountered.
bathroom toilet Especially in a domestic context. In BE a bathroom is a room in a private
house or a hotel that contains a bath.
bell pepper
red pepper, green pepper Yellow ones are also available. A variety of capsicum.
Brit Briton
The word "Brit" is rapidly coming into popular usage everywhere but Britain! The correct adjectives for things from Scotland are: "Scottish" for most things, "Scots" for the people and a sort of pine tree, and "Scotch" for the whisky.
busy signal engaged tone Telephone system. In India either 'busy' or 'engaged' is used for the same.
cell phone, cellular phone mobile phone Often just called “a mobile" in BE and "cell" in AE.
eraser rubber Used to remove marks made by pencils.
faucet tap
gas petrol
high school secondary
school
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Vocabulary usage
American (AE) British (BE) Notes
hood bonnet car
line queue Group of people waiting in an orderly fashion. AE "waiting in line" is equivalent to BE "queueing".
mail post
movies films The productions themselves. In BE you go to the cinema; the theatre (UK spelling) is for plays. US ‘theater’.
number sign hash mark On the computer keyboard and telephones.
outlet socket Power points.
pants trousers
private school public school
public school state school
rain check no equivalent A ticket for re-admission at a later date. Also used to indicate "Can we do it later?"
résumé curriculum vitae (CV) AE pronounced as -re/za/may-
sidewalk pavement or footpath
soccer football Do not confuse with American football.
stop lights traffic lights
stove cooker, oven AE pronounced as -st[ou]ve-
washroom toilet
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Spelling differences
Here are some words with different spellingsAmerican British Notes
aluminum aluminium AE pronunciation – eloominum BE pronunciation - aleminiyum
boro borough
"boro" is informal and is sometimes seen in British road markings. In Scotland the word is "burgh" but it is pronounced "burr-ah" NOT "berg“, e.g. Edinburgh = E-din-burr-ah
center centre
curb kerb Edge of roadway or pavement. To "curb" in the sense of "restrain" is used in British and American English.
license licence British usage is license for the verb and licence for the noun
program programme British usage is "program" for computers and "programme" for television or radio.
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3. Stress Patterns
This part will explain the two types of Stress Patterns – Stress in a Word and Stress in a Sentence.
Relax, as this has nothing to do with the stress in life!
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Stress Patterns
Stress in a Word is also called Syllable Stress.
A syllable is a word or part of a word and always contains a vowel sound. Most syllables have consonants associated with the vowel.
The stressed syllable in a word is usually given more emphasis with your voice, i.e. a higher pitch, e.g. I am HA-ppy today! You raise your pitch upwards on the 1st syllable.
This helps you add expression in your speech – it eliminates a monotonous tone.
Applying stress on the appropriate syllable also helps the listener understand the meaning of the word/s.
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Examples of Stress Patterns in a Word
Noun Verb Word
RE-cord ri- CORD record
CON-tent cn- TENT content
OB-ject eb- JECT object
1st syllable is stressed in nouns 2nd syllable is stressed in verbs
• Do you still have the Elvis records? (noun)
• I have to record tonight’s show. (verb)
• I was not very content (v) with the book’s contents. (n)
• The lawyer objected (v) to the object (n) used for murder.
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Stress Patterns in a Word
Base WordSyllables in bold have to be stressed
Word + suffixSyllables in bold have to be stressed
de/mo/crat de/mo/cra/cy
e/lec/tric e/lec/tri/ci/ty
a/vai/la/ble a/vai/la/bi/li/ty
in/form in/for/ma/tion
mil/lion mil/lion/aire
pro/duct pro/duc/tion
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Stress Patterns in a Word
Here a few examples of words that have different syllable stress in the US and UK
America British
lab/ra/to/ryla/bo/ra/tory - the last syllable is
pronounced as trih
man/da/to/ry man/da/tory
a/lu/mi/num a/lu/mi/ni/um
ad/dress (noun) ad/dress (noun)
ga/rage ge-raaj ga/rage ga-rij
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Stress Patterns in a Sentence
When you speak English, the words you stress can change the underlying meaning of a sentence. Let's take a look at the following sentence: I don’t think he should get that job
Stressing on ‘I’ means: Somebody else thinks he should get the job
Stressing on ‘should’ means: In my opinion it's wrong that he's going to get that job
In this way, stressing on each word has a different meaning.
Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDS such as:
Nouns / verbs / Adjectives / Adverbs
Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDS such as:
Determiners / Auxiliary verbs / Prepositions /Conjunctions / Pronouns
TIP - Your true meaning can only be conveyed when you put the stress on the correct word
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4. Intonation
Intonation is the tone of voice. Tone is the pitch variation in your voice that serves to distinguish words & their meanings
In this part you will learn the importance of Intonation in your speech
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Intonation
English has a number of intonation patterns which add meanings to the utterance:
in a statement, question, surprise, disbelief, sarcasm, teasing
An important feature of English intonation is the pitch at the end of a sentence
Examples: the arrow indicates the pitch
1. You were late. (can indicate statement/sarcasm)
You were late? (can indicate question/surprise/disbelief)
2. We will complete it in 10 days. (indicates assurance)
Now imagine the same sentence with a tone. Try it.
It would completely reverse the tone from assurance to more like, “Are you sure we will complete it in 10 days?!”
TIP – when you ask a question, along with your grammatically correct question structure, remember to raise your pitch at the end.
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5. Idiomatic Speech
What are Idioms? Why are idioms used? How do we understand their meanings? Do we have to use them in our speech?
This part will answer these questions for you
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Idiomatic Speech
Idiom use acts as a kind of shorthand in cultures. The phrases are based on connections that local people understand because they share the experiences on which idioms are based.
Similarly, cultural traditions, citizens’ habits, geographical features, racial idiosyncrasies, the cuisine and even weather conditions – all of these provide common sharing within a country’s regions.
To be able to understand regional idiomatic speech, one must be aware of all of the above, so it is extremely difficult to pick up quickly. Try to pick some of them up, slowly!
These links will help you understand some idiom meanings by showing usage examples: http://www.paulnoll.com/Books/Clear-English/English-idioms-01.html- (US) http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-british-idioms- (UK)
NOTE: Please do not use these in your regular speech (specially the region specific ones). If you use them incorrectly, the meaning might just turn out to be nonsense!
TIP – Stick to your standard English – that’s what this is all about!
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Quick Quiz
You might want to re-read this module, ensuring you have memorized anything new to you.
Next, complete the quiz (available on your local VBC server).
If you reach 60% or above in the test, congratulations – you have passed this T4 module!
If you do not achieve 60%, you need further help and will be guided to the VBC team for assistance.
Please feel free to contact your local VBC staff via [email protected]
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