Secrets From an Accent Coach

Accent modification (AM) is an elective service sought by someone who wants to change or modify their accent (ASHA.org). There are as many styles and techniques for AM as there are professionals who do accent modification. When I first started working with clients, I wish I could get all of the secrets from an accent coach. Well, here you go!

I have been a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) for over 15 years. While working with many clients, I have developed my own techniques! I even wrote a book Speaking With an American Accent: A Guide to General American English. Let me share a few secrets about accent modification.

All vowels are diphthongs

Technically with vowels, there are monothongs and diphthongs. A monothong is one vowel sound (i.e., o as in goat, e as in face, a as in lot) and a diphthong is two vowel sounds together (i.e., ow as in mouth, oy as in choice, and ai as in price).

The first secret I want to share is that all vowels are really a diphthong. There is a whole argument that the monothong /o/ as in goat is a diphthong. People on the diphthong side of this conversation believe that the lip rounding at the end of the sound is actually a second vowel. I do agree with them.

Back to all vowels being a diphthong. Think about it. You can take any single syllable word (i.e., boat, car, my, nice) and turn it into two syllables by elongating it and changing your pitch. In fact, even without elongating it, there is usually a slight pitch change on vowels in words, especially in phrases and sentences. This is what we call intonation, which is how we convey meaning (being genuine vs. sarcastic), emotions (one’s mood such as happy or sad), and grammar (sentence vs. statement).

Try it out. Take any word, of any syllable length, and put emotion behind it. Say the word with different feelings such as happy, scared, angry, surprised, or annoyed. How does the pitch change? Although it is a subtle change, do you notice how the initial sound begins at a different pitch?

American English is lazy

Native speakers of American English smoosh and slash words. Paul Meier puts it another way, American speakers murder vowels. Most vowels become a schwa, or ‘uh,’ sound (as in the first syllable of uh-oh).  So, in the example “I went to the market,” ‘market’ is the key word and is stressed. All the other words are slashed and smooshed together, so they become “I wentuh thuh.’ All those words combined are the same length as the single key word ‘market.’

Nonnative speakers typically pronounce each syllable in a word and all the words in a sentence. With the above example, they would say each sound in “I went to the market.” They may even view smooshing and slashing as lazy or slang. It’s just the opposite. It’s what gives American English its melody, or rhythm.

Give it a try. Try substituting an ‘uh’ sound for as many vowels as possible and linking words together.

Modification is not a bad word

So far, accent professionals haven’t found a term they can agree on for that thing they do. The most popular term right now is accent modification. Here is my third secret. Modification isn’t a bad word. The word modify means to make partial or minor changes, usually to improve it. That is directly from the Google Dictionary.

If people elect to receive accent modification, they do in fact, want to change, or alter, their accent. Modification is just another word for change. Now, the word improve is also controversial. I do understand that it can be construed as a negative thing if one is implying that one’s native accent needs improving, in other words, it is inferior to another accent. However, people who elect to receive accent modification do want to improve themselves. We can all relate to wanting to improve, or change, something about ourselves for many different reasons. We should all have the opportunity to do so.

What title do you think we should use for accent modification?  Let me know in the comments below.

Resources

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Accent modification [Practice portal]. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Professional-Issues/Accent-Modification/

In a Manner of Speaking https://www.paulmeier.com/in-a-manner-of-speaking/