Introduction : Introduction In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation of a language. Accents can be confused with dialects which are varieties of language differing in vocabulary, syntax, and morphology, as well as pronunciation. Dialects are usually spoken by a group united by geography or social status.
Accent is a combination of three main components: intonation (speech music), liaisons (word connections), and pronunciation (the spoken sounds of vowels, consonants, and combinations). The grammar we studied before and the accent you will be studying now are completely different.
Part of the difference is that grammar and vocabulary are systematic and structured— the letter of the language. Accent, on the other hand, is free form, intuitive, and creative— more the spirit of the language. So, thinking of music, feeling, and flow, let your mouth relax into the accent.
Development : Development Children are able to take on accents at a fast rate; children of traveling families, for example, can change their accents within a short period of time. This generally remains true until a person's early twenties, after which, a person's accent seems to become more entrenched.
All the same, accents are not fixed even in adulthood. An acoustic analysis by Jonathan Harrington of Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Christmas Messages revealed that the speech patterns of even so conservative a figure as a monarch can continue to change over her lifetime
Factors affecting Accent : Factors affecting Accent 1. Social factors
Prestige
Legal implications
2. Cultural factors
Acting and accents
Voice and Accent Training : Voice and Accent Training Voice and accent training is one of the most popular training programmes. It is designed keeping in mind the diversified globalised culture and the need of business outsourcing -- the speech skills of Indian employees are groomed and refined and they are taught how to improve their overall English conversational skills to meet international standards.
What are the basics of Voice and Accent? : What are the basics of Voice and Accent? Voice and accent these days focus on training you on having a Neutral Accent and training you about the nitty gritties of the country's accent so that you can understand the person on the call.
Generally there could be British accent training or US accent training, both are very different from one another. Also there could be extensive cultural training, so you understand the culture of the concerned country, which is again very different in US and UK.
You could also understand an accent by watching that country's movies.
But overall, you catch up on an accent or understand it much better; when you start with the calls... slowly gradually it will become very easy, when you talk to the people of that country all day long
Benefits of Voice and accent training : Benefits of Voice and accent training Voice and accent training imparts the basic concepts of the English alphabet and its corresponding letters, which further represent their respective sounds, and thereby improves overall conversational skills. A native English speaker uses vertical lip and jaw movement while speaking; on the other hand, an Indian uses horizontal lip and jaw movement while speaking. This small difference affects the overall speech clarity and the ability to pronounce a word correctly.
Besides incorrect mouth or jaw movements, several other factors like the rate of speech, pronunciation, grammar and MTI (mother tongue influence of any native language over English) are major bottle necks for an individual to overcome while he/ she goes through voice and accent training.
Overall, this training programme enables employees in an organisation to unlearn and relearn the English language in the correct way.