American English

How To: Learn an American Accent with Amy series
updated Sept, 2011 1) Vowels - The Flesh of the word 2) Consonants and Letter Combinations and Omissions - The Bones of the word 3) Melody - The Emotional Meaning of the word 4) Rhythm - The Contextual Intention of the word 5) The Vibe - The Feeling being expressed through the word.

Part 1: Vowels
! Schwa: (resting place of the accent; mid-vowel sound):!the,!um..., love, was, today, money, wonder, for you, word, forever, because, A long (ah, aw, all, ol, off, ough -also ): ah, all, law, talk, car, party, farm,

awesome, always, on, stop, ought, follow, offer, holiday short : grass, have, that, can, traffic, answer, ask, pass, glass, aunt, banana, bath, dance, staff, advantage, photograph diphthong (a, ai, ay, eigh...): brain, game, paper, pay, Amy, thanks, parade,

tomato, favorite, playing, weigh, eight

E! short :!left, men,!friend, went, whenever, tenth, everybody, ready,!excellent

long

(e, ee, ea, eo...)”!we, even, people, feelings, reason, scenic, read,

freedom, events, *really, *feel, (*often a diphthong) ! I short :!bit, pick, six, lift, which, tip, winter, dinner, finish,!simple, stimulating diphthong (i, y, igh...): my, find, time, child, childhood, rice, wild, finance ! O long :!room, bloom, move, true, blue, through, you, *few

short ": good, book, cook, stood, would, wooden, look diphthong :!oh, no, grow, overall, phone, home, road, golden, grown diphthong ! U/Y short :!*see schwa (up, cup, etc.) diphthong (u, you, iew...): usual, you, view, universe, human, : how, now, out, about, house, powder, shout, powerful

Part 2: Consonants and Letter Combinations and Omissions

time, tint, trick, taped, afternoon, best, between, dock, dip, dime, diamond, draft, delve, dappled, radiant Substitutions: butter, better, water, daughter, bought her, met her, met him, get it Omissions: mountain, fountain, what?, bet, met, it, I’ll do it, d’you?, wanna “th” words thought, thanks, bath, math, path, with, therapy,...