Week 4: Voice Quality

After reading our article for Wednesday and discussing in class how to alter speech, I had a much better idea of what to focus on for this week's recording. I spent about 40 minutes re-watching the archetype video and spent the first two times just watching her mouth as she spoke. Although she did round her lips multiple times, I also noticed her pronunciation seemed to be in the front of her mouth. After realizing this, I practiced once without recording myself. I then listened to the video 4 more times, alternating between reading the script I had written and watching the video. I also tried to imitate some of the words/sounds as I heard/saw her produce them.

After doing this, I looked back at the voice quality article, which had mentioned some aspects of French pronunciation. I noticed it also said that French speakers generally utilize rounding, but also tend to have a fronted tongue and blade articulation, as well as a slightly open mouth. My archetype displayed all of these things, and so I decided I would try to emulate them in my audio file.

For the next 30 or so minutes, I practiced imitating my archetype and produced 3 audio files. I then listened to my previous recording from last week and determined I had very obviously not been rounding/fronting when pronunciating. After this, I recorded one last recording, which can be heard here.  As I was practicing, I found myself having to restrict air in order to make sure I was mostly using the front of my mouth to speak. I also constricted my mouth so as not to open it as wide (I guess I am a loud mouthed American after all!). I noticed that this caused me to speak quieter and more breathy, which might(!) make me sound more French but not by much. Certainly, I still need to work on some things but I think it is a definite improvement.

I also found a website called French Crazy which has many helpful tips about French pronunciation, such as this one about French phonetics and this one about how to lose your foreign accent as a speaker of French. I'm really excited to use this website in the following weeks as I work on French pronunciation.

For next week, I want to continue working on the fronting/rounding of sounds, as well as working on vowels. The latter article I linked to has some really helpful tips/insights in regards to French vowels and their difference from American English ones. I'm really excited to improve my pronunciation and learn the aspects of teaching it as well!

Week 2 & 3: Archetype & First Recording

The first minute is the clip that I am using. The last line is, "they were in some frightening trees."

I chose this as my archetype because, in most ways, she really pronounces the sounds of the words clearer and slower than an adult might. Also, the video is so close to her face, which helps to see how she pronounces the words.

As for my own pronunciation, I need to work on pronouncing /r/. I also need to work on the vowels, although to be honest I'm not exactly sure what aspects at this point (which is part of the problem).

Here is my first recording.

The things I will first focus on will be my pronunciation of /r/s.