The (r)evolution of language: are you intexticated or a kidult? Paulo P Sanchez | August 30, 2011 at 6:59 pm | URL: http://wp.me/pMRGn-1bE An interesting fact about languages is that they evolve. New words are added each day to our vocabulary, for better or worse. Take "groovy" as an example, a slang colloquialism popular during the 60s and 70s springing out of African American culture. Unless you are nostalgic or have been frozen, like the British spy character Austin Powers played by Mike Myers, you probably would say "cool", "excellent", "fashionable", or "amazing", depending on context. How about adding a couple of new words? #1: Humble Brag Definition: a statement that conveys false humility : a brag couched in self-deprecation Example: "Facebook seems to be the perfect place for this. How many status reads have actually been humble brags?" – post on Elizabeth Runs blog, February 25, 2011 #2: Planking Defin

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Speakers and learners of English are interested in improving their ACCENT. They quite properly give importance to their pronunciation. However, making the correct English sounds is only a part of a correct accent. A native accent also depends on proper links between parts of the expressions spoken, and also the proper intonation or stress on the parts of the words in the spoken utterance. It is necessary to have the proper “music” or rhythm of the language that is spoken. You all know the following word game. What is a “zookee”? Ask this of a native born English speaker and they will not know what you mean. If you say, “It is used to open the gate to a place where animals are kept”. He or she will know that you are saying “zoo key”. You may have pronounced the sounds perfectly but your link between the two parts of the word caused your listener to not hear “zoo key”. The same thing happens with word stress. A native speaker of English knows whether you mean the place where the pr

Intonation, the "music" of a language, is perhaps the most important element of a correct accent. Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent. It may be that pronunciation is very important for an understandable accent. But it is intonation that gives the final touch that makes an accent correct or native. Often we hear someone speaking with perfect grammar, and perfect formation of the sounds of English but with a little something that gives her away as not being a native speaker. Therefore, it is necessary to realize that there are three components to an accent, pronunciation, intonation, and linking. In other places we will examine pronunciation, the proper formation of vowels and consonants, and linking, the way that syllables within a word, and the beginning and ending of words come together. But what interests us now is the issue of intonation, and in particular the difference in intonation in saying the same word (same spelling) when it is used as

You can find our other related articles in this same directory. Among them are “Intonation in English: Expressions of Two Words”, and “Intonation in English: The Noun and the Verb”. In these articles we saw that verbs of two syllables often have the stress fall on the second syllable, while the related noun has the stress on the first syllable. These cases are examples of the effect that meaning has on INTONATION in English. The present article shows how meaning has an affect on PRONUNCIATION, just as the previous articles dealt with INTONATION. In this case we will also learn a "rule". Many native speakers do not know that there are “rules” of accent, stress, intonation, and pronunciation. English is not as crazy as we think. To know these “rules” can help you in building your vocabulary at the same time as you perfect your intonation and pronunciation. We write "rules" in quotes to indicate that there are always a few exceptions to such rules. They are n

The meaning of unknown words which you come across in your reading sometimes can be known by their surroundings, that is, their contexts. The context of the sentence can tell us the part of speech of the unknown word. Using the context of the paragraph to define unknown words can also helpful. Although it takes practice, it is the easiest and most efficient way to identify words. Often, using the context is the only way to figure out the meaning of the word as it is used in the sentence, passage, or chapter. Consider the word "bar". Bar is a common word. But without surrounding words, you don't know if it describes soap, a place that serves beer, a sand formation at the beach, a way to lock the door, or... Readers often have trouble because they identify the literal but incorrect meaning of a word when they should identify the way it was used in the passage. The following sections will give you more explanation and some exercises on how to get help on the meaning o

How to Improve Your Accent Are you tired of people asking you to repeat because they don't understand you? Your friends say, "Just do this!" and they expect you to make the sound! Would you like to learn once and for all what to do with your lips, tongue and mouth to make the sounds of English? Do you feel that everything sounds the same? You know you are pronouncing the words wrong; you know that you are pausing too much; you know that when you talk, it doesn't sound like English, but you don't know what to do. Wouldn't you like to learn once and for all what are the most common errors that people make when they learn English so you could concentrate on those errors. First of all, you have to realize that an accent is made up of three parts: intonation, liaisons, and pronunciation. You have to learn the "rules" of these three components of your new language. The work "rule" is in quotes because in speech all "rules" may

Frank Gerace Ph.D has worked in Latin America in UN and national Educational and Communication Projects, and in Bolivian and Peruvian Universities. He currently teaches English in New York City. He provides help on accent reduction and the proper American English accent at http://www.GoodAccent.com You know that it is difficult to know when to pronounce the written letter "s" in English like "s", the sound of air escaping from your bicycle tire, and when to pronounce it as the letter "z", the sound of an angry bee. This problem shows up in the plural of nouns. In the same way, the written letter "t" sometimes sounds like the letter "d". This problem comes up in the past tense of verbs. There is a logic that is at work in both cases, that of the plural of the noun and that of the past tense of the verb. The two cases have a lot in common even though one has to do with the "s" sound" and other has to do with the "

Frank Gerace Ph.D has worked in Latin America on UN and national Educational and Communication Projects, and has taught in Bolivian and Peruvian Universities. He currently teaches English in New York City at La Guardia College/CUNY. He provides resources on accent reduction and the proper American English accent at http://www.GoodAccent.com Listen and Learn: The Different Intonation of the Noun and the Verb Intonation, the "music" of a language, is perhaps the most important element of a correct accent. Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent. It may be that pronunciation is very important for an understandable accent. But it is intonation that gives the final touch that makes an accent correct or native. Often we hear someone speaking with perfect grammar, and perfect formation of the sounds of English but with a little something that gives her away as not being a native speaker. Therefore, it is necessary to realize that there are three components

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Tips for teachers from Sir Ken Robinson By Janet Steffenhagen 23 Aug 2011 COMMENTS(8) Report Card Filed under: Vancouver, teachers, education, Sir Ken Robinson, heart and mind, Dalai Lama Centre I had the pleasure of interviewing Sir Ken Robinson in advance of his talk this week at the Dalai Lama Centre. (Find details here.) Anyone who has heard him speak knows he is highly entertaining and engaging. No less so during our 30-minute telephone conversation. His speech Thursday, Educating the Heart and Mind, will delve into his contention that schools kill creativity with their focus on standardization, a narrow curriculum and test results. My story, which you can find here, mentions his response to my request for three tips for teachers trying to personalize learning and encourage creativity. Here is his answer: "The first thing I always want to say to teachers, and I work a lot with school systems, is that they have more freedom than they often think. We can talk generall

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English Vocabulary Pronunciation How to improve your pronunciation in english when you dont live in an english speaking country? What english to learn? How can you improve all your skills? When you attend classes in english but by mexican teachers with bad pronunciation and boring methods of teaching. Hi I am learning. english but I want to expand more and more vocabulary, pronunciation etc. you know please tell me. good. From what I can tell… Hi there, As far as vocabulary, exposure is the key. Not exposure of your body, either. You can only really learn words in context by hearing them in context. Chatting and listening to native english speakers is a better way to increase your vocabulary than reading it from a textbook. And it's a more interesting way. For pronunciation, it depends what your native language is. If English has sounds which are not in your first language, it is a good idea to study them in detail (e. G. "th" = produced with tongue and teeth, with or w

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