AAU28D: Voice Study and Production Lesson Five

We started the day with some heavy theory and as we got to the part about accent, I could not help but think about the differences between a dialect and an accent. Turns out, an accent shares the vocabulary with the main language itself and some different pronunciation. A dialect, on the other hand, is a variety of language differing in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Being an Asian, I am exposed to a multitude of spoken dialects that are so different that they may almost be a whole new language (Bolotnikov, 2015). Each dialect came from a different part of China, influenced by all the factors unique to the region and it helped me with understanding how there can be so many variations of accents in the United Kingdoms. The need for the creation of a standard English was thus highlighted to me as well, and here the IPA played a huge part. At the same time, I wondered if there are PA created specifically for each different accent as well since there are people who are fascinated with accents and it is vital for actors to learn how to portray themselves as any character needed in the play.

IPA Chart

Consonant Chart

We moved on into learning how the IPA chart is constructed, which was also very interesting because we can see that much thought was placed into its creation. By learning how each sound is articulated properly made it easier to move our vocal apparatus correctly. By combining the proper action and pronunciation, we are learning how to use our voice in the right manner as well. I found that making each sound separately was easier and does not strain the voice, and in combining the sounds to form words and forge sentences created the accurate unaccented standard English.

Guides to practising each sound accurately can be found online, but I found a video by linguist Evan Ashworth, PhD to be particularly useful. He showed how the articulators in the vocal tract work together to produce each speech sound by using a video to demonstrate voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation (Ashworth, 2015). I was having trouble with producing the ‘th’ sound properly in words like ‘think’ and ‘thought’ but sounded more like ‘sink’ and ‘sought’ but a visual representation of how the tongue should move helped.

Ashworth (2015, January). Affricate pronunciation picture.

We were then placed into groups to transcribe 5 sentences into the IPA form and it was quite fun because each time we were stuck with the transcribing, there is always a different member in the group who had the right idea. We were like different gears of a whole system and we worked in harmony to churn out the right result.

Personally, I felt that we were placed together on purpose to create a spectrum of different characters because everyone notices different things at the same time. It gave a good range of ideas from which we were then able to complete our task successfully. It can be something to look out for when creating a group for a group project because it will maximise the result with lesser effort!