English Pronunciation Study What did you do Today
In this American English pronunciation exercise,
we’re going to study some conversation. Today
it’s going to be a Ben Franklin exercise,
where we analyze the speech together. Today’s
topic: what did you do today?
Great. Let’s get started.
Tom, what did you do today?
Tom, what did you do today? Lots of interesting
things happening here. I noticed first of
all that I’ve dropped the T here: what did,
what did, what did you do? I’m also noticing
I’m getting more of a J sound here, j-ou,
j-ou. Whuh-dih-jou, dih-jou. So the D and
the Y here are combining to make the J sound.
So we have wuh-dih-jou, what did you [3x].
Tom, what did you do today? The other thing
I notice is that the T here is really more
of a flap sound, a D, do duh-, do duh-, do
today, this is most definitely a schwa, so
we’re reducing this unstressed syllable to
be the schwa. Today, today, do today, to today.
Tom, what did you do today?
Tom, what did you do today?
Today? » Today.
Today I woke up…
Now here we have ‘today’ three times. Always,
the first syllable is reduced to the schwa
sound, but I’m noticing that these T’s are
all True T’s, and not Flap T’s. That’s because
they are beginning sentences. So, we’re not
going to reduce that to a Flap T. In the case
up here, ‘do today’, it came, the T in ‘today’,
came in between a vowel, ‘do’, the OO vowel,
and the schwa sound. And that’s why we made
this a flap sound. But here we’re beginning
a sentence, so we’re going to go ahead and
give it the True T sound—though we will
most definitely reduce to the schwa. Today.
Today? » Today. [3x]
Tom, what did you do today?
Today? » Today.
Today I woke up…
Everything was very connected there, and I
know that when we have something ending in
a vowel or diphthong sound, and the next word
beginning in a vowel or diphthong sound, that
we want that to really glide together, today
I [3x]. And anytime we have a word that begins
with a vowel, we want to say, hmm, does the
word before end in a consonant sound? It does.
It ends in the K consonant sound, woke up,
woke up. So, to help us link, we can almost
think of it as beginning the next word, wo-kup,
woke up. Today I woke up.
Today? » Today.
Today I woke up, and I went for a run.
And I went for a run. Tom dropped the D here,
connected this word ‘and’ to ‘I’, ‘and I’ [3x]
This was the schwa sound, so he’s reduced
‘and’. And I, and I, and I went for a run.
For a, for a. Tom reduced the vowel in the
word ‘for’ to the schwa. And we’ve connected
these two function words together, for a,
for a, for a, this is also a schwa. For a,
for a, for a run, for a run, and I went for
a run. Can you pick out the two stressed words
here? Went, run. Those are the words that
have the most shape in the voice. The most
length: and I went for a run. And I went for
a run. Again, he’s got the intonation going
up here at the end, because, comma, he’s giving
us a list here. And there’s more information
about to come.
Today I woke up,
and I went for a run. [3x]
And, um, then I just worked.
And, um… Now here, Tom did pronounce the
D, he linked it to the next word, beginning
with a vowel, which is just this thought-word
that we say when we’re thinking, and um, and
um. Again, the intonation of the voice is
going up at the end, and um, signaling, comma,
not a period, more information coming.
And, um, [3x]
then I just worked.
Worked, worked, then I just worked. Here,
finally, we have the intonation of the voice
going down at the end. So we know, period,
end of the sentence, end of the thought. Then
I: he connected this ending consonant to the
beginning vowel, the diphthong ‘ai’, I, to
smooth that out. Then I, then I, then I just
worked. Did you notice? Tom dropped the T
here. We did not get ‘just worked’, ‘just
worked’. He didn’t release it. This happens
often when we have a word that ends in a cluster
with a T when the next word also begins with
a consonant. In these cases, often, the T
will get dropped. I just worked. [3x] Do you
notice that the -ed ending is pronounced as
a T sound. That’s because the sound before,
the K, is unvoiced. So this ending will also
be unvoiced. Worked, worked.
…and I went for a run.
And, um, then I just worked. [3x]
So, where do you run?
So, where do you run? Now, this is a question,
but did you notice the intonation went down
at the end? Run, run. That’s because it’s
a question that cannot be answered with just
‘yes’ or ‘no’. Yes/no questions go up in pitch
at the end. All other questions tend to go
down in pitch at the end. Where do you run?
Do you hear the stressed words in that question?
Where, run. So, where do you run? Longer words,
more up/down shape of the voice. Where, run.
So where do you run?
So, where do you run? [3x]
I run in Fort Greene Park.
What do you hear as being the stressed syllables
there?
I run in Fort Greene Park. [3x]
I run in Fort Greene Park. I hear da-da-da-DAA-DAA-DAA.
Definitely I hear ‘Fort’, ‘Greene’, and ‘Park’
all being longer, all having that shape in
the voice. I run in Fort Greene Park. Also,
‘I’ is a little more stressed than ‘run in’.
I, I, DA-da-da, DA-da-da, I run in, I run
in, run in, run in. So those two words are
really linked together because we have and
ending consonant and a beginning vowel. Run
in, run in, I run in, I run in Fort Greene Park.
I run in Fort Greene Park. [3x]
In Brooklyn.
In Brooklyn. Brooklyn, a two syllable word.
One of the syllables will be stressed. What
do you hear as being stressed? Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
Definitely it’s that first syllable. Brook-,
Brook-, Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
In Brooklyn. [3x]
So, what are you doing after this?
So, what are you doing after this? How was
I able to say so many words quickly, but still
be clear? First of all, I’m dramatically reducing
the word ‘are’ to the schwa-R sound, er, er.
That means the T here is now coming between
two vowel sounds, and I’m making that a flap
T sound, which sounds like the D between vowels.
What are [3x]. Also the word ‘you’ is unstressed,
so it’s going to be in that same line, what
are you [4x], very fast, quite flat, lower
in volume. What are you doing? Now here we
have a stressed word, do-, doing. Doing, what
are you doing? Do you hear how the syllable
‘do’ sticks out of that phrase more than anything
else? What are you doing? [2x] After this.
Another stressed word here.
So, what are you doing after this? [5x]
After this, nothing.
Tom’s speaking a little bit more slowly than
I am here. After this, nothing. We have two
2-syllable words here. Which syllable is stressed?
Let’s take first the word ‘after’. If you
think you hear the first syllable as being
stressed, you’re right. Af-, after, -ter,
-ter, -ter. The second syllable: very low
in pitch, flat, and quick. After. What about
the word ‘nothing’? Again, it’s the first
syllable. ING endings, even though this isn’t
an ING verb, will be unstressed. Nothing,
no-, no-, nothing.
After this, nothing. [3x]
No plans. » No plans.
Nothing reduces in this phrase. I’m really
hearing this as two different stressed words.
They’re both one syllable, no plans. No plans.
No plans. » No plans. [3x]
Should we get dinner? » Yeah.
Should we get dinner? One of the things that
I notice is that I’m dropping the D sound:
should we, should we. Should we get [3x].
That’s helping me say this less-important
word even faster. Should we get dinner?
Should we get dinner? [3x]
I notice that the T here is a Stop T, I don’t
release it. It’s not ‘get dinner’, it’s get,
get, get, get dinner, get dinner. Should we
get dinner?
Should we get dinner? [3x]
Do you notice, in this question my voice does
go up in pitch at the end. Dinner, dinner.
That’s because this is a yes/no question.
Pitch goes up. Should we get dinner? Yeah.
As you probably know, a more casual way to
say ‘yes’. Should we get dinner? Yeah.
Should we get dinner?
Yeah.
Working this way with any video or audio clip
can help improve your listening comprehension
and your pronunciation.
That’s it, and thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.