Fast speech in CNN News

[Williamyh]

Hi All Native Speakers,

I was wondering if you would speak English like CNN Anchors that fast.....I think they speak English very fast. In your daily life, would you speak English like this speed?


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WYH

[raindoctor]

It is not fast; however, i call it fast, because ESL speakers have weird notions of how English is spoken: they think it is a syllable-timed language.

You need to notice three things when you hear.

(a) some syllables are deleted (syncope)
(b) some syllables are produced fast (reduction)
(c) some are released slowly (mostly, stressed syllables, intonation nucleus and accented syllables that are not usually stressed, but are stressed as when rhythm demands).

Once you notice how all three go together, fast speech is a matter of how (c) is relative to (b), (b) relative to (a).

[Barb_D]

I actually didn't find that fast at all.

I grew up in New York. I've been told all my life that I talk quickly. I make a deliberate effort to slow my speech down.

[konungursvia]

Often it seems fast only because you're not accustomed to the accent or even the language.

[Offroad]

that's deep American English Accent...

If your name is not on the list, you kent gerin!

[Williamyh]

It is not fast; however, i call it fast, because ESL speakers have weird notions of how English is spoken: they think it is a syllable-timed language.

You need to notice three things when you hear.

(a) some syllables are deleted (syncope)
(b) some syllables are produced fast (reduction)
(c) some are released slowly (mostly, stressed syllables, intonation nucleus and accented syllables that are not usually stressed, but are stressed as when rhythm demands).

Once you notice how all three go together, fast speech is a matter of how (c) is relative to (b), (b) relative to (a).

Hi raindoctor, I was wondering if you could tell me how I can learn these three things, please provide me the CD/DVD/Book names for learning these skills if possible.

[Williamyh]

Hi All,

I'd like to know will it have different speech speed in different location? Last time, I heard some people said San Francisco Americans would speak slower than New York Americans, is it right?


WYH

[raindoctor]

Hi raindoctor, I was wondering if you could tell me how I can learn these three things, please provide me the CD/DVD/Book names for learning these skills if possible.

Well, there is no one book. If you have learned basics such as phonemes (minimal pairs), allophones (general phonological processes), focus on the meter of spoken english. Meter dictates the stress patterns; for more, check "pronouncing english: a stress-based approach". Once you are done with, ask these questions: why posterity is pronounced the way it is; why astronomy and astronomical are stressed differently, how such stress plays role in pronouncing the first syllable in both words; how do ya pronounce junk words like aptrology; why afghanistan is pronouced the way it is; focus on city names, states, numbers, months, etc, and how they are stressed.

Next focus on connected speech: try to master all reductions of all functors (him vs im, her vs her, of vs schwa, etc). Focus on permutations of functors (is +he, is + it, what + was, what +was + that), etc. "Whaddaya say" by nina weinstein contains some basic lessons.

Go to ORLAPUBS--L:* INDEX;* LANGUAGE & ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Read the material there, which is written by a phonetician. Read his book "english phonetic transcription".

There is no easy way. Always ask yourself 'why' instead of remembering all sundry details. Develop a systematic way instead of a buncha ad hoc rules.

If you have problems producing stress, read the chapter "on the power of consonants" in Voice power by renee-grant williams.

You are listening to TV and radio. That is good. Without learning foundations, you will end up asking 100 questions, which generate anotehr 300 replies. What ya gonna do with these answers: collect a million rules? That approach is not productive. Scientific approach is to solve a thousand problems with a minimal set of hypotheses.

[Offroad]

William, why don't you record 1 minute of your own voice/accent and upload an audio file?

[arbolnegro]

Hi All,

I'd like to know will it have different speech speed in different location? Last time, I heard some people said San Francisco Americans would speak slower than New York Americans, is it right?


WYH

I've heard that too. I seem to remember that is related to the life-style of the two cities: the hustle and bustle of NY versus the laid-back and calm life in California.