ACCENT IMPROVEMENT FOR UNDERSTANDABILITY
by Steve Whiteford 1991
It was George Bernard Shaw in Pygmalion, who first a
argued that a standard English dialect should be taught to all Englishmen in
order to unify the culture and end social prejudice based on tell-tale
dialects.
Today, in the emerging diversity of the U.S. work culture, employees
for whom English is a second language often experience prejudice because of
their foreign accent. Jobs and promotions can be denied because of a heavy
accent, and are. A 1990 Supreme Court ruling deemed that discrimination due
to accent did not violate the 1964 Civil Rights act. Realistically, it is
vital that employees communicate easily and effectively. It can be very
disconcerting for native born Americans to try to get important information
concerning banking issues, safety, directions, or telephone messages, if it's
difficult to understand the other party. Such unproductive communications
result in prejudice. It's easy in frustration to decide that the accented
employee is not interested in adapting to the host culture, are unqualified
for their job, or "just plain stupid."
Fortunately and truthfully, an accent only reflects incomplete learning and nothing integral to an individual's intelligence. Even within the United States among natives (as was true in Shaw's England), people from different regions can have problems understanding each others' regional accents. Imagine someone from rural Brooklyn talking with someone from rural Alabama. Yet everyone seems to
easily understand a "Standard American Dialect. "A standard American dialect
is most easily defined as "media speech." It's the accent most schooled
newscasters, actors, and media personalities adopt. It's a standard of
pronunciation recorded by scholars, then studied and taught as the correct
form of American speech. Once a standard American dialect is learned, it
relieves the speaker of being a target for dialect prejudice and places him
in the mainstream of understandability.
The primary goal of any initial accent improvement program for the workplace is increased UNDERSTANDABILITY. Most foreign-born Americans speak English through the physical patterns of their original language. Many learned English from others with heavy "foreign" accents. You see, each language has its own set of physical patterns of vocal production that create its unique quality of sound. For instance, in the standard American dialect we have a majority of sounds that are "frontal" -- produced with a flatter tongue and more open mouth. European dialects generally use "rounder" sounds, that are placed further back, and as a result -- sometimes more nasal. Asian dialects are largely focused at the back of the tongue. Pronouncing English through foreign physicality changes the pronunciation, and often the meaning. For example the word "pat," the flat
"a" sound being unusual to the European dialects will often be pronounced
"pot." In receiving instructions for a recipe from an accented person, the
difference between a pat of butter and a pot of butter could be disastrous.
To achieve clear American sounds a student needs to do the following:
Become aware of the specific physical differences in producing the sounds of
their original language and those of the Standard American Dialect.
Learn and practice physical vocal exercises to loosen habitual patterns
created by the original language, and create the stretch needed to reach the
physical patterns of the Standard American Dialect. Identify their individual sound substitutions (like the pat/pot example) and work to correct them.
Experience a good model of pronunciation (a teacher) and have a written
resource of pronunciation (a pronouncing dictionary and familiarity with the
International Phonetic Alphabet). Using these resources clearer speech and
increased effectiveness in communication can result in a matter of weeks. The
benefits to the employee include the alleviation of unnecessary dialect
prejudice and more promotability. The benefits to the employer are productive
communications and increased staff morale.
Some purists argue that we lose character when we lose our original dialect. As the U.S. grows into high acceptance of its increasing cultural diversity, speaking English with the flavor of one's original language may become a respected, even stylish way to maintain cultural identity. However, achieving consistent UNDERSTANDABILITY is crucial to communication and job effectiveness.
With basic classes in accent improvement, any employee who is committed to doing so can increase understandability. Any employee with the need and drive can, with consistent effort, continue to learn to speak with the Standard American Dialect as clearly as a media professional, for greater success in the workplace.
For more information on linguistics click here.
Click here for more detailed information on this course.
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