Aspiration on Plosive Consonants
Jim gets into how plosive consonants can have varying degrees of aspiration (explosion) and how to note those with the phonetic alphabet: Read more
AccentHelp Blog
IPA Symbols for the R Sound
Jim gives an overview of the phonetic symbols that represent the various R sounds that occurs in accents from around the world: Read more
Rhoticity and the Norm in English and American Dialects
Rhoticity is all about the after-vowel R sound. Jim Johnson explores the tendency towards rhoticity in the US and non-rhotic accents in England - though both have exceptions and had even... Read more
[ɪ] to [i] Before [ŋ] and [ɚ]
--- otherwise known as KIT to FLEECE before NG and R In many parts of the US, the [ɪ] sound, as in kit, shifts upwards in the mouth towards [i], as in fleece,... Read more
Introduction to Accents 5: Helpful Hints
Often there are little shortcuts or tricks that help you to jumpstart learning an accent. Here, Jim Johnson leads you through a number of possible elements that might help you... Read more
Accents Based in British or American English
When learning the accent of a speaker for whom English is a second language, you have to consider what kind of English they learned, which can influence pronunciation, especially if... Read more
Subtle Variation in Articulation
Sometimes it's about figuring out the big sound changes for accents, but some speech variations can be tiny! Here, Jim gets into the minuscule variations of where the K sound... Read more
Merry, Mary, and Marry
Most Americans will say merry, Mary, and marry the same, but in some parts of the US - especially the northeast - and in many other countries, they each sound quite different!... Read more
