Pronouncing American English: Sounds, Stress, and Intonation by Gertrude F. Orion, Gertrude F. Orion

Pronouncing American English: Sounds, Stress, and Intonationby Anonymous

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August 30, 2004: I use this textbook for my accent reduction course at a local community college. As the publisher states, it is extremely comprehensive. The explanations and illustrations are very clear. Two comments: First, whether this book is used with a teacher or without, it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to have the audio tapes that accompany the text in order to form an 'auditory picture' of the sounds of English. Second, although the author provides excellent drills contrasting accented English with standard English, there is not enough concentrated practice of words containing any of the target sounds. Third, the book presents stress and intonation BEFORE articulation of the speech sounds. Although she has a point (i.e., stress and intonation is more important to a listener's comprehension than specific speech sounds), the fact that stress and intonation patterns are ingrained in a fetus' brain wiring beginning when hearing is developed (prenatally, at about 5 months of gestation) makes it very difficult for the student to unlearn. A newborn is exposed to the 'music' of it's 'mother tongue' before it has learned the language itself; it's a matter of instinct, and is therefore governed by the non-intellectual portions of the brain -- in any case, by the Right Hemisphere. So until there has been some instruction in the articulation of American English (a Left Hemisphere activity), the foreign-born student is not ready to learn the stress and intonation of American English, no matter how well-taught it is via the Orion text and tapes. My first semester of teaching, I went along with the order in Orion. At first there was general confusion and bewilderment, and then comments like 'Why are there so many rules?!' I replied, ''They're not 'rules'; they're _explanations_'.'' And as explanations, the students are better served by learning consonants first, because they are easily 'placed' in the oral cavity; next, the front vowels and 'uh'; and then Stress and Intonation, which actually synthesizes their comprehension and articulation studies.