a simple guide to having a neutral accent.

1. NEUTRALIZING
ACCENT

2.  Write the letters of your honest answer.
There are two answers per item.
 1. Which two words have the same vowel
sound as the first a of Canada?
 a. flag b. walk c. sat d. bar e. about

3.  2.Which two words have the same vowel
sound as the vowel in book?
 a. food b. put c. clue d. could e. cute

4. 3.Which two words have the same vowel sound
as the y in gym?
 a. big
 b. freight
 c. fright
 d. been
 e. sky

5.  4. Which two words have the Z sound?
 a. boost
 b. lose
 c. loose
 d. choose
 e. goose

6.  5. Which two words have the Z sound?
 a. sure
 b. easy
 c. lotion
 d. absence
 e. cars

7.  6.Which two words have the the same sound
as the ge in garage?
 a. cage
 b. clash
 c. beige
 d. gauge
 e. pleasure

8.  7.Which two words have the same t sound as
the first t in patient?
 a. lotion
 b. city
 c. mountain
 d. twenty
 e. cautious

9.  8.Which two words have the same t sound as
the t in trial?
 a. three
 b. tree
 c. tune
 d. time
 e. talk

10.  9. Which two words have the same t sound as
the t in wanted?
 a. country
 b. center
 c. gentlemen
 d. patience
 e. better

11.  10. Which two words have the same t sound
as the t in photograph?
 a. counter
 b. written
 c. shut up
 d. butter
 e. batman

12.  11.Which two words have the same t sound
as the t in certainly?
 a. wanted
 b. written
 c. button
 d. county
 e. after

13.  12.Which two words have the same t sound
as the t in football?
 a. sometimes
 b. accounting
 c. catwalk
 d . notebook
 e. tomorrow

14. 13. Which two words have the same t sound as
the t in topic?
 a. try
 b. to
 c. this
 d. stop
 e. gentlemen

15. 14. Which two words have to be read as one
word in this sentence?Write the two words.
Mother asked my brother if he likes the gift she
has given him. He replied, “ I like it very much”.

16.  15. Which two words have to be read as one
word in this sentence?Write the two words.
 Please tell my sister to go ahead and prepare
the materials for the house project.

17.  Please count your scores. 30 items.

18.  The Americans, the British and the Aussies all
speak the same language, English. If you
listen carefully, you will find a drastic
difference in their pronunciations.This
difference in pronunciation is what brings
about so many different accents.

19.  English is spoken worldwide by around 840 million
people, and is the third most-spoken global
language after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. It's
the mother tongue of 335 million people, and a
second language for a further 505 million. As most
English speakers don't speak the language natively,
that means the most common English accent in the
world is probably what is known officially, if
imprecisely, as "international English".
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

20.  In today's world, we know that neutral
accent is good and essential for
international business, overseas
communication, for jobs abroad,
outsourcing industry, acting, voice overs
and social interaction. But how to speak in
a neutral accent?

21.  In the Philippines, our regional dialects
(Cebuano, Ilongo,Tagalog) also influence the
way we pronounce English.
 This is where neutralizing the accent comes
into play.You learn to speak not the American
or the British English, but the right way to
speak the English language.You shed all your
typical Filipino pronunciations and learn to
speak English that is neutral and easily
understandable.

22.  Drop the tune of your native tongue. English
has its own tune and voice modulation. Do
not drag the English words to the tune of
your vernacular language. If your native
tongue has a musical touch to it, lose that
while speaking English.This would be the first
step to neutralising.

23.  Listen to newsreaders.Watch how their
mouths move while pronouncing each
word. Listening and observing are the best
way to learn. Practice the mouth movements
slowly. Practice this for words used in day-to-
day conversation.

24.  Best way to improve pronunciation is not
through reading grammar books, but by
watching native English programs, movies
with subtitles and listening to English songs,
with the lyrics in front of you. Listening to the
radio is another excellent way.You have less
distraction visually and your entire
concentration is on what is being said.

25.  Use a dictionary to learn phonetics.
Phonetics is the pronunciation of letters in a
word. A letter has a certain pronunciation.
But when it comes in a word it might have a
different sound.To learn this, dictionary is the
best.The phonetic symbols will help you
learn the correct way to pronounce the word.

26.  Scarce
 Scarcity
 Patriot
 Synecdoche
 Melancholy
 Model
 Been
 Sioux Indians

27.  Stress is an important part of speech. Every
word has a certain stress given to it either at
the beginning, end or somewhere in the
middle. Shifting the stress can even change
the meaning. Learning the correct stress
points of the words is important to
communicate clearly.

28.  Advertise
 Advertising
 Advertisement
 Record
 Proceeds
 Produce
 Inform
 information

29.  Next thing to concentrate is diction. Diction
is articulating the words. Articulation is
pronouncing the words in the right manner.
Clarity in diction will result in clear
pronunciation of words.The pace of speech,
modulation of words and sentence
construction while speaking, mark diction.
 (www.urbanpro.com)

30.  One thing to remember is to actually learn --
not just go for classes etc. One can learn by
actually putting into practice what is being
taught, on a daily basis and on every
occasion.This gives one the confidence to
continue, and over a period of time one
learns how to have a neutral accent.
(http://www.citehr.com/)

31.  As Filipinos, we are only exposed to five
vowel sounds with no other pronunciation
options for each vowel sound. (Kung anong
baybay ay siya ring bigkas). In English, there
are as much as fifteen vowel sounds including
dipthtongs .

32.  We are also not familiar with consonants
f, v, hard th, soft th, ch, j, hw ,and z.

33. English Filipino
Father pader
Love lab
Thick tik
Easy (z) isi
Teacher titser
Juice dyus
Why wai

35.  Elizabeth has eleven elves in her very big
backyard boulevard.
 The very wary warrior veered violently where
the violets wound very wickedly.

37. Other than their brother, I'd rather
bother those
who gather worthier brethren than
these.

38.  English Phonetics: IPA vs American Heritage
Dictionary vs Merriam-Webster
 By Xah Lee. Date: 2005-01-30. Last updated:
2011-10-03.
 This page compares the pronunciation
symbols, used in American Heritage
Dictionary (AHD), Merriam-Webster (MW)
Dictionary, and the symbols of International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

39. IPA AHDMW Sample Words
ɑː ä ä dark, heart, park, car, hark,
ɑ ŏ 'ä dot, pot, hot, pop, bob,
body
æ a a as, has, at, can, have, and,
ɛ ĕ e chair, bear, pear, tear, neck
eɪ ā ā ray, A, H, eight, take,
freight, pain, café, buffet
ɪ ĭ 'i it, dig, pig, drink

40.  IPA AHDMW Sample Words
 iː ē ē eat, pee, see, heat,
beat
 o ō ō pole, dole, dough, oh
 ɔː ô ȯ walk, talk, saw, Paul
 ɝ û ə work, were, bird, dirt,
nurse, stir, courage
 ᴧ ŭ ə but, butt, bud

41.  IPA AHD MW Sample Words
 ʊ o͝o u̇ took, book, look, hook,
cook, hood, foot, good, put, could
 u o͞o ü two, spook, shoot,
hoot,goose, influence,
 aɪ ī ī die, kite, like, light, I,
high, try
 aʊ ou au̇ vow, bow, south, count

43.  Blow a short gust of air as you pronounce the
sound, even if it is preceded by an s.
 To test, put a piece of paper near your lips as
you pronounce the sound.The paper should
move as you pronounce it.

44.  Pronunciation differences start right at the alphabet
level.What we commonly say as K is pronounced as
‘Khay’ by native speakers. Same thing goes for ‘Phee’
and ‘T-hee’
 The ‘R’ is a lightly spoken letter. It is not ‘arrrr’, but
merely ‘ar’.There is no ‘ta’ sound in English. It is
‘thhought’, ‘thhink’, ‘thhank’, etc. like in the ‘th’ of
‘theta’ θ.
 The ‘P’ in words such as ‘properly’ and ‘population’
and similar words become ‘phropherly’ and
‘phophulation’ where there is more stress on the ‘p’
making it sound like ‘phee’. (www.urbanpro.com)

45.  Tell, tap, talk, today, tomorrow, to, tip
 Tall, time, turn, tide, touch, tab
 Stop, stick, stalk, stab, still, stuck

46.  Kid, cool, can, cute, corner, cold, come
 Skip, school, scan, skin, Akon
 How much caramel can a canny canonball
cram in a camel if a canny canonball can cram
caramel in a camel?

47.  Put , pure, part, pill, pile
 Spit, spell, spirit, spend
 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter
Piper picked?

48.  Sound it like a d with the tongue not touching
the alveolar ridge.

49.  Better, cavity, city, thirty, activity, motor,
bottom, automatic
 Beat it, cut it out, about it, got it, get it,
 It is, that is, put out, put it in, let it go

50.  Betty Botter bought some butter but, said
she, the butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter,
it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of
better butter will make my bitter batter
better. So she bought some better butter,
better than the bitter butter, put it in her
bitter batter, made her bitter batter better.
So 't was better Betty Botter bought some
better butter.

51.  The best way to pronounce it is by ignoring it.

52.  that was great!
 It was good!
 Is that you?
 No one but you.
 Have you seen Batman?
 Can you do the catwalk?
 Do you play football?
 Where’s your notebook?

53.  Almost a silent t when preceded by an n.

54.  Do you really want it?
 I never wanted anyone like this.
 Call center experience
 Ladies and gentlemen!
 Studio twenty-three
 Internet connection
 Entertainment
 Accountancy
 Counter-strike

55.  This occurs when t is followed by a vowel and
n. The vowel is ignored.
 Also applies on the letter d.

56.  Across the mountaintop
 It is written in the stars
 Martin , Jordan, Gordon
 Certainly burdensome
 Madison Square Garden
 Don’t click the red button
 Kindergarten cop, sentence
 Great Britain
 That’s not important.

57.  Lotion, caution, ambitious, nutrition

58.  This usually occurs when t is followed by a
long u sound or by an r.

59.  Try it!
 Youtube
 Name that tune
 Tell me the truth
 True or false
 Trust me
 Tremendous
 Free trial
 fortune

60.  A tree toad loved a she-toad,
Who lived up in a tree.
He was a three-toed tree toad,
But a two-toed toad was she.
The three-toed tree toad tried to win,
The two-toed she-toad's heart,
For the three-toed tree toad loved the ground,
That the two-toed tree toad trod.
But the three-toed tree toad tried in vain.
He couldn't please her whim.
From her tree toad bower,
With her two-toed power,
The she-toad vetoed him.

61. PART II.

62.  A. VOICELESS - are consonants produced
without vibrating the vocal chord.
 Eg. T , P, K, soft th, f,
 If these letters are followed by an s, then the
s should be pronounced as s.
 Words that end in ce, se, or ss should be
pronounced as s as well.

63.  Paths, moths, myths
 Speaks, attacks, cracks
 Thoughts, spots, sports
 Coughs, handcuffs, cliffs
 Shops, corpse, cops
 this, us, loose
 Dose, goose , lice, juice, kiss
 thesis,

64.  B. VOICED - are consonants produced by
vibrating the vocal chords.
 All vowels are voiced .
 When a word ends in s preceded by a voiced
consonant or vowel, the s should be
pronounced as z.

65.  Boys, cows, cords, dogs, dolls, storms,
guns, things, cars, clubs,
 Easy, theses, please, pleasure, treasure,
 Closure, leisure, wisdom, lose, hose, eyes,
 As, is, these, has, was, does

66. Part III.

67.  Connect the word that ends in a consonant
sound (not the spelling) and the word that
begins with a vowel (sound) to make a liaison
.

68.  About it, got it, because of, sound of, I
heard of it. Love of God, it is, is it, bring it on
 If I had a chance, I’ll move on. Game over
 Please tell her I love her.
 Tell him to come over.

69.  Connect the word that ends in a vowel sound
and the word that begins with a vowel to
make a liaison .
 Use a y or a w to connect them.

70.  Let’s do(w)it.
 Go(w)ahead, make my day.
 My heart will go(w)on.
 I(y)am 20 years old.
 He(y)is my boss.
 Thank you for your co(w)operation
 We(y)are God’s cre(y)ation.

71.  Table 1. Connected speech forms taught at an EFL program
in China (Adapted from Brown & Hilferty, 1982, 1995)
 Greetings Other CombinedWords Question Forms
 Howarya (How are you?) c'mon (come on) Howza (How
is the)
 Howdy (How do you do?) g'won (go on) How d'ya (How do
you)
 gedouda (get out of) How'd ja (How did you)
 Farewells wadda (what a) How'ja (How would you)

72.  G'bye (Goodbye)
 Jawanna (Do you want to)
 'bye (Goodbye) ShortenedWords
Yawanna (Do you want to)
 Seeya (See you) 'bout (about)
 Whaddya (What do you)
 S'long (So long) 'nother (another)
Whatduzzee (What does he)
 'round (around) Whaja (What did you)

73.  Modals +TO
 'cause (because) Whaja (What would you)
 goin'ta (going to) in' (-ing) Whad'll (What will)
 gonna (going to) jus' (just) Whatser (What is her)
 gotta (got to) ol' (old) Whatsiz (What is his)
 hafta (have to) yu (you) Wheraya (Where are you)
 otta (ought to) yer (your) When d'ya (When do you)
 wanna (want to) Where j'eat (Where did you eat?)

74.  Words + OF
 J'eat jet (Did you eat yet?)
 Modals + HAVE kinda (kind of) J'ev (Did
you have)
 coulda (could have) sorta (sort of)
J'ever (Did you ever)
 mighta (might have) type-a (type of)
Wouldja (Would you)
 shoulda (should have) a lotta (a lot of)
 in fruna (in front of)

75.  The Problem of Pronunciation

 When the English tongue we speak,
 Why is break not rhymed with freak?
 Will you tell me why it's true
 we say sew, but likewise few,
 And the maker of the verse
 Cannot cap his horse with worse?

76.  Beard sounds not the same as heard;
 Cord is different from word;
 Cow is cow, but low is low;
 Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
 Think of hose, and dose and lose,
 And of goose,and yet of choose.
 Think of comb and tomb and bomb,
 Doll and roll, and home and some,

77.  And since pay is rhymed with say
 Why not paid with said, I pray?
 We have blood and food and good;
 Mould is not pronounced like could.
Therefore done, but gone and lone?
 Is there any reason known?
 and, in short, it seems to me
 Sounds and letters disagree.