Accent Reduction

Accent Reduction
Emma Williams
Carrie Anderson
Mollie Nelson

Everyone has an
Accent
There is no such thing as
unaccented English, or any
language.

What is Accent Reduction?
Accent Reduction is a type of speech
therapy wherein a speaker’s accent,
whether the result of their regional
dialect, or the result of their first
language, is altered to aid in
communication.

What is an accent?
Prosodic features
Segmental
features
According to Lippi-
Green (1997)
“Accents are loose
bundles of prosodic
and segmental
features distributed
over geographic
and/or social space”
(p. 42)

Accent Reduction Processes
Prosodic
Features
Muscularity
Pronunciation

Prosodic Features
The acoustic properties of speech
• Rhythm
• Stress
• Pitch

Prosody
Standard Pattern: Jump Up and Step
Down Formation
• Context Words
• Function Words
ve-
ry hap- py to
meet you
I’m

Prosody, cont.
Stress
• I didn’t say he stole the money.
• I didn’t say he stole the money.
• I didn’t say he stole the money.
• I didn’t say he stole the money.
• I didn’t say he stole the money.
• I didn’t say he stole the money.
• I didn’t say he stole the money.

Synthetic and Analytic
Languages
Analytic Languages are languages in
which word order signifies meaning
Synthetic Languages are languages in
which suffixes and prefixes are used to
signify meaning

Muscularity
Which muscles do
you use to create
language?
Places of Articulation
Mid-Tongue Circular
• How American
sounds are created

Pronunciation
Familiarity with IPA
Familiarity with
target language
sounds

‘Standard English’
A myth and misconception

Why Reduce or Eliminate
an Accent?
Discrimination as a result of an accent
• Lippi-Green (1997) uses the term “litmus
test for exclusion” (p. 123)
They don’t want to appear uneducated
Success in career

Do accents render a speaker
unable to communicate?
Lippi-Green (1997) Listeners: Accepting
or rejecting the “act of communication”

Does the language
background of the
English L2 speaker
make it easier for
them to
communicate with
a speaker with a
similar language
background?

Derwing and Munro’s (2006)
three dimensions of L2
communication
Intelligibility
Comprehensibility
Accentedness

The Mutual Intelligibility of
L2 Speech (Derwing and
Munro, 2006)

Foreign Language, Comprehensibility,
and the Intelligibility in the Speech of
Second Language Learners
Derwing and Munro (1995) found, “that
even heavily accented speech is
sometimes perfectly intelligible and that
prosodic errors appear to be a more
potent force in the loss of intelligibility
than phonetic errors” (p. 73)
Segmental errors then, are less
important than prosodic errors to the
comprehensibility of speech

What does this mean for
TESOL teachers?
Intelligibility
Grammar/vocabulary
Grammar/Vocabulary

Accent Reduction
Techniques
Speech Language Pathology
Models and Applications
• Compton P-ESL: Pronouncing English as a
Second Language
• Reverse Accent Mimicry: An Accent
Reduction Technique for Second
Language Learners

Compton P-ESL: Pronouncing
English as a Second Language
Target Pronunciation
• Prosody
• Voice Projection and Intonation
• Tone and Volume
Non-Verbal Skills
• Body Language
• Eye Contact

Examples of Pronunciation
Errors
The English letters ‘L’ and ‘R’ are often
confused by L2 Asian Speakers
The English sound ‘th’ often gets
pronounced with an ‘S’ and ‘Z’ for many
different speakers
Phonetic vowel sounds

Reverse Accent Mimicry
Model
Accent Reduction Therapy
• Founded by Laurence M. Hilton, Speech-Language
Pathologist (University of Nebraska)
• Pronunciation and Prosody
“Humans possess an innate biological capacity
to hear, differentiate and mimic fundamental
prosodic and phonological characteristics of
any language” (Rizzolatti, Fadiga, Gallese, &
Fogassi 1996; Skoyles, 1998, as cited in Hilton,
2005)

Reverse Accent Mimicry,
cont.
Step 1: Identify or Provide a Desirable
Reverse Accent Model for each Speaker
• Real Persons: friends, teachers, neighbors
• Media Models: Speakers from movies,
television, etc.

Reverse Accent Mimicry,
cont.
Step 2: Triggering the Holistic Mimicry
Effect in L1
• Direct Mimicry
• Native Language

Reverse Accent Mimicry, cont.
Step 3: Transitioning to L2 Reverse
Accent Mimicry

Reverse Accent Mimicry, cont.
Step 4: Guided Use and Generalization

Conclusion
Everyone has an accent! ☺
Accents are personal reflections of who we
are– our culture, our background, and our
individual expression and communication
Accent Reduction techniques are often used to
increase the effectiveness of communication,
but also often utilized by people to overcome
discrimination that arises as a result of the
negative connotations associated with a heavy
accent.

The End
El Fin
La Fin
La Fine
Das Ende
Конец
終 わり
終 止

References
Hilton, L.M. (2005). Reverse Accent
Mimicry: An Accent Reduction
Technique for Second Language
Learners. The Internet TESL Journal,
Vol. XI, No. 1. http://iteslj.org/ Lippi-
Green, R. (1997). English with an
Accent: Language, Ideology, and
Discrimination in the United States. New
York: Routledge.

References, cont.
Munro, J.M. and Derwing, T.M. (1995).
Foreign Accent, Comprehensibility and
Intelligibility in the Speech of Second
Language Learners. Language Learning,
vol. 45 no.1 p73-97.
Munro, J.M. and Derwing, T.M. (2006).
The Mutual Intelligibility of L2 Speech.
New York: Cambridge University Press.

References, cont.
Sacks, T., personal communication, May
11 th , 2007.
Skillman, T., personal communication, May
14 th , 2007
Stern, D. (Producer & Director). (1991).
Breaking the Accent Barrier [Video
Recording]. Available from Video
Language Products).