Quote:
Originally Posted by Hayseed  One thing that stands out, and it`s a BIG pet peeve of mine, is the pronunciation (or lack of it) of the lax "i". Many non-native speakers pronounce words such as "hit-heat" or "bit-beat" the same. It`s not quite as pronounced with you as with others, but it is there nontheless. Another "problem" I hear is pronouncing the vowel sound in "up" and "back" the same.... Your accent sounds alot like a Castilian Spanish one to me, and Spanish speakers always use a rhotic accent when speaking English.... Also, try not to talk so fast. You`ll sound more natural.  |
Thanks for taking the time to listen to my links and offer comments on my pronunciation, Hayseed.
I find your observation of my proclivity for rhotic articulation intriguing, given that, due to my exposure to British English in my initial learning process, I tended to omit pronouncing the 'r' after vowels, even after living in the US for many years, and have only recently--in the last year or so--worked on mastering American rhoticity. I am conscious of over-accentuating the 'r' in my second link, since I do so deliberately to see whether my enunciation is accurate/native. Is my rhoticity excessive/unnatural in the first link also when reading text?
I'm also acutely aware of my smudging of [i] and [ee] and of overindulgent resort to a 'schwa' (i.e., turning full sounds into muffled, undifferentiated ones). Both patterns are due to my fast speech, I think, because I seem to have few problems with them in controlled settings, e.g.
http://h1.ripway.com/nosceteipsum/pronunciationaid3.mp3. Does that sound okay?
I wish to improve my pronunciation because very soon I plan to teach in an American university and don't want my students to be distracted by my accent, so that they can devote full attention to content.