Received Pronunciation has been chosen because I was taught mostly by lecturers who spoke British English when I was in my undergraduate study; yet, I could not really speak English using this dialect of English, and it is quite a challenge for me to try to speak English in a Receipt Pronunciation. Also, I am now exposed to American English since I am currently studying in the United States, and learning another dialect of English will certainly broaden my knowledge of English. I would like to learn the differences in terms of various segmental and suprasegmental features between American English and British English. I hope that this would also be beneficial for my students back in Indonesia.
The target sample or archetype for this deliberate practice is taken from International Dialect of English Archive (IDEA). The audio features a 24-year old white female who was born in North London, but once lived in Scotland for four years. She describes her speech as "Estuary-flavoured RP." She noted that her accent is quite a fluid accent which is common for young people living in the south of England. In this audio recording, she is reading a passage entitled Comma Gets a Cure, and the overal recording lasts for 3:51. However, for this practice, I will only take one minute of that recording from 00:14 to 01:14. Here is the link to the archetype: http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-72, and here is the transcription of the scripted speech:
Sarah Perry was a veterinary
nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the
territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private
practice in North Square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer
for her and more to her liking. Even so, on her first morning, she felt
stressed. She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror and washed
her face in a hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress and a fleece jacket,
picked up her kit and headed for work.
When she got there, there
was a woman with a goose waiting for her. The woman gave Sarah an official
letter from the vet. The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from
a rare form of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising, because normally
you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat. Sarah was sentimental, so
this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird.
Before long, that itchy goose began to strut around the office like a lunatic, which made an unsanitary mess.
The following is the video of my initial attempt in imitating the archetype:
It was not easy for me to do this initial attempt, and I realize that there are so many things that I need to work on in order to properly imitate the archetype. I certainly need to work on my vowel production, some consonants that are very distinctive in British English, the stress, rhythm, and intonation. In this initial attempt, I can hear that I did not sound like British people at all. When I tried really hard to sound like them, I still feel very strange. It was almost like as if I could not speak English. I am sure that there are more things that I need to work on that I have not been able to detect for the moment, but I will try to find them out over the course of this deliberate practice. For next week, I will try to work on voice quality setting.
Good start, Mariska. You are right that there is a lot to think about and when you start working on details beyond the content of the message, it's hard to get them all :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Dr. O'Malley. It was quite overwhelming for me at the beginning since even though I was exposed to British English, I never really learn the accent in a deliberate manner. I am very excited to learn, however.
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