Greetings,

It's been some time since I sent out a newsletter, so I figured it was time for an update. I've just transferred this email list from my old pc to my new Macintosh computer, so please let me know if my information is out of date or if you receive duplicates. And, as always, if you'd like to unsubscribe or have received this message in error, please reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I'll delete you from the list (not as painful as it sounds).

In this issue, I'll briefly discuss how intonation is used in the American accent, and how with an intonation change you can create a vital element of various other dialects. In addition to a link to a web site with great videos of the voice in action, I'll also provide an update of my recent activities, including working on Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights with Patrick Swayze in Puerto Rico.

Intonation in the American Accent

Intonation is, quite literally, how the pitch of the voice rises and falls. Americans tend to use quite broad pitch variation, with strong differences between what's stressed and what isn't, with stressed words generally going higher in pitch. For example, in the following sentence, an American would stress (or pitch higher) the underlined words: Otto aims to give the class advice. "Otto" and "advice," being the nouns in the sentence are probably the most important words, and are therefore given prominence with higher pitch. Americans, for whatever reason (efficiency, being in a hurry, wanting to get quickly to the point, etc.) tend to make (and want to hear) sharp differences between what's important and what's not, and then run the less important words together.

As Americans, we also tend to keep our voices going beneath what we're saying, so the voice doesn't stop much till the end of a phrase or sentence. In the example sentence above, this could be accomplished by connecting the end of the name "Otto" to the beginning of the word "aims" using a very small /w/ sound; the end of the word "class" should also connect to the beginning of the word "advice." Connecting these words together creates an underlying drone of vocality, which sounds very typically American.

Ann Cook, in her book American Accent Training (available through amazon.com) gives an excellent (and much more thorough) treatment of American intonation.

Intonation in Some Other Accents

As you might expect, intonation is quite different in other dialects. As I'm learning, in ongoing tutorials with English linguist Derek Rogers, there are marked differences in the intonation of American speech and Received Pronunciation (RP), the dialect generally associated with upper class speakers in England. They would use even greater differences than Americans between stressed and unstressed syllables, almost (but not quite) completely eliminating the less important words in a sentence. Further, they might de-voice some voiced sounds in words, changing the the /z/ sound in “aims” to /s/ and the /v/ sound in “give” to /f/.

Native speakers of languages other than English can often be baffled by the idea of American intonation, not hearing it till they’ve been coached into doing it, and then feeling very strange when they try to use it. As with anything, I always encourage them to use it as much as possible (privately and in sample conversations at first), assuring them that it will feel much less strange the more they do it. One native Farsi speaker told me she felt like she was singing when she used American intonation, but agreed that she could hear it in Americans after we worked on it, and felt much more comfortable using it after a bit of practice.

I recently had breakthrough experiences concerning intonation with two clients, one from China, and the other from Russia: In an effort to sound “correct,” both were stressing most of the words in a sentence, many more than an American would stress. Once they learned to stress only they key words in a phrase, then run the rest of the words together, they both began to sound markedly American.

For dialects from many parts of the world, you could stress many more words than you would in American speech. Try it in the sentence, “Otto aims to give the class advice.” You could further explore the increase in stress by stressing both syllables of “advice,” instead of only the second syllable, and using the same vowel sound that’s heard in “cat,” in the first syllable, instead of reducing it to an “uh” sound as an American would.

Link to Nifty Vocal Fold Videos

Here’s a link to an excellent web site where you can watch videos of vocal folds in action. It’s not for the faint of heart (it also contains pictures of various vocal fold injuries and infections), but is very educational. This is must see viewing for the speaker, actor, singer or smoker in your life. Click on http://www.voicedoctor.net/index.html or paste the link to your browser, then click on “Vocal cord photos” and then the “Videos” tab near the top of the page. Enjoy!

My Life as a Dialect Coach

These are (fortunately) busy times, and my private practice continues to thrive. Additionally, since my last newsletter, I’ve coached several plays (Toys in the Attic at the Colony Theatre, which won Ovation and Garland awards; Romeo and Juliet: Antebellum New Orleans 1836, the inaugural production at Pasadena’s Boston Court Theatre; The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World with the Powerhouse Theatre Company; War Music at the Geffen Playhouse, with several English, Austrian, North Carolinian and French dialects; and The Spitfire Grill at Hollywood’s Actor’s Co-op, a movie-turned-musical set in Wisconsin); a short film (Magic Time, with a German dialect ); a commercial (for Head and Shoulders, with a Philippina actress that had an Australian acccent who needed to sound American); and the reimagining of the film Dirty Dancing.

The new film is called Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (http://www.dirtydancinghavananights.com/home.asp) and is due in theaters February 27th. I was on the set in Puerto Rico for additional photography, working with the lovely and talented English actress Romola Garai, helping her sound American. We shot a scene with Patrick Swayze, who starred in the original, and was a pleasure to work with.

Puerto Rico is a beautiful place, with warm, friendly people and I recommend a visit to anyone who’s never been. I had a bit of time off and got to hike in the rainforest (El Yunque) and swim in a waterfall there, as well as taking a nighttime swim in a bioluminescent lagoon, near the town of Fajardo. This was a once in a lifetime experience which I’d love to repeat, in which you get to swim in warm water teeming with millions of piroflaggelum that light up when you move through the water. It was like being in outer space, with my arms and legs covered with tiny stars. I kayaked the mile in to the lagoon through the mangrove swamp, but you can also ride in a motorboat. The outfitters who led me in were Eco Action Tours, at 787-791-7509 or 787-640-7385. Don’t miss it if you’re in Puerto Rico.

Two more things to report: a client of mine, who wanted to sound less German to an American jury, recently won an $264 million settlement against an international media conglomarate; and a phone client who’s playing the king in the musical The King and I in the San Francisco Bay area, was recently told by someone close to the Thai royal family that the Thai accent I taught him sounds “perfect.”

I’ll try to get another newsletter out before another seven months pass.

Until then, best wishes in all your endeavors--

Joel Goldes
The Dialect Coach