British English accent and secondary stressed syllables?
Question by Gary B: British English accent and secondary stressed syllables?
I’m an American trying to learn to use a passable English pronunciation. I have two questions. First, what is a good accent to learn? I am currently learning the “Received Pronunciation”. I realize there are a large number of different English accents, but I need to concentrate on one at a time.
Second, it seems to me that there are very few secondary stresses in the British pronunciation. For example, in the phrase “secondary accent” we Americans would say “SEC-on-Dar-y ACC-Ent”, where “SEC/ACC” are primary stresses and “Dar/Ent” are secondary stresses. It sounds to me that in the RP there are virtually no secondary stresses: “SEC-on-d-ry ACC-ent.” Is this a correct observation?
Is there a single modern “Londoner accent”? From what I’ve read the RP is widely considered old-fashioned; so what would be considered an upper middle class London accent? Where would I hear it? The movie idea is good, but there are many different accents represented and I would not know which one to imitate. Thanks for the help.
Best answer:
Answer by Aliciakid
Hello there, I am English and I don’t know much about phonetics! It is true that we hardly pronounce some of the syllables while some are strongly stressed. Also, you’d have to start writing ‘realise” instead of ‘realize’;)
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Tags: Accent, British, English, secondary, stressed, syllables
you should learn the Londoners’ accent. yes there are a lot of different accents. for example in north England the accent is “heavier”. In Scotland it is very difficult to understand…. I would suggest you to watch British movies so you can learn the accent with an interesting and less boring way. The spoken language will help you understand. You can choose epic movies or those based on classic literature.
As far as your observation is concerned, it is correct. Same goes about laboratory
good luck pal!
If you want to speak English English, speak like Queen Elizabeth, it doesn’t get more English than that! I’m English and have no accent except “English” – partly due to my parents. watch DVDs like “The Queen” they should give you a clue. I may be wrong, but I believe there are 2 London accents, the “queen” version (whenever I visit posh friends/relatives in London, that’s how they talk) and then Cockney. Why not listen to English radio, such as radio 1, that may help?