Swedish Accent

Good morning, class! Today we're going to be learning how to speak English with a Swedish accent.



To start, we're going to listen to an actual Swedish person speak in English. Please click here. You'll be listening to the clip called "Sweden 3". Feel free to read along with the transcription. You'll find the link to it to the right of the link to "Sweden 3".



Don't worry if you didn't catch everything you were supposed to while you were listening to the recording. Luckily for you, we've provided you with a lovely chart explaining how to pronounce every letter with a Swedish accent.

A like in our "bar"
B just like in our English.
C can be pronounced like the c in "city" or the k-like c-sound in "cafe".
D like in our English, only with the tongue touching the upper teeth.
E like our long a ("may") or our short e ("get")
F just like in our English.
G like the g in "go" or the y in "yes".
H like in our "ham".
I is pronounced like an ee ("feet") or our short i ("icky").
J is pronounced like the y in "yes". It is never pronounced like the j in "jam"!!!
K can be pronounced like the k in "keep" or the ch in "chunky".
L is pronounced with the tip of the tongue straight and pressed close to the teeth without actually touching them.
M and N are just like in our English.
O can be pronounced like an oo ("soothe"), a long o ("donut"), or a short o ("hot").
P is just like in our English.
Q is just like in our English too, but 'q' is actually rarely to never used in actual Swedish.
R is rolled!
S is just like in our English.
T is pronounced with the tip of the tongue straight and touching the teeth.
U is pronounced like in "rude". There is no short u equivalent.
V is just like our English.
W is just like our English.
X is like in "exceed" but never like in "example".
Y sounds like the French u.
Z is pronounced with an "s" sound (as in "singer").

For actual sound files of each letter being pronounced, click here http://www2.hhs.se/isa/swedish/chap9.htm to go to the website where all this information was borrowed from.

O.K., let’s have some fun with Swedish accents.

1. Change the word “Yes” to “Yah” in this sentence.

“Yes I would like some pudding”.

2. Change the “u” sound in the first word of this sentence to the short vowel “o” sound, but elongate it like you just saw some fireworks.

“Pudding is good”.

3. Change the letter “j” to the letter “y” in the next sentence.

“You don’t like pudding, you must be joking”.

4. Change the short “I” vowel sound to the long “E” vowel sound in the word “give in the next sentence.

“Please give me some pudding”.

5. Now, try to combine all of these in a pair of sentences.

“Yes, give me some pudding, pudding is good.” “You must be joking when you say you don’t like pudding” “Give me your pudding”.

For even more Swedish fun, or if you just don't get it, here's a video for you to watch! (Just remember, you'll probably want a better Swedish accent than the Swedish chef!)


Just remember to keep practicing your Swedish accent, future actors! After all, if you don't, you might end up acting as a doctor with a fake Swedish accent on a daytime soap opera for the rest of your life. Have fun!

Donald Dinkins, Jacob Talbert, Jen Gulley, Laura Treat

Dialects, Accents, Intonation: A lesson on Homophones

When we have posted our WebQuests about "slang" on Monday, we are going to deal with a new topic: "Dialects & Accents." Today, we will introduce that topic.

In some dialects/accents, the words seem to melt together, and it is hard to tell them apart. There's a technical term for that:

Oronyms (or homophones) - these are words which sound the same. A homophone describes one word of a pair or group of words that have the same sound (like "prince" and "prints"; "allowed" and "aloud"), while oronyms are strings of words (phrases) such as iced ink and I stink.

A definition of oronyms can be found in the book The Language Instinct by psycholinguist Steven Pinker:

[In speech] it is impossible to tell where one word ends and the next begins. The seamlessness of speech is... apparent in "oronyms," strings of sound that can be carved into words in two different ways:

• The good can decay many ways.
  The good candy came anyways.
  
• The stuffy nose can lead to problems.
  The stuff he knows can lead to problems.

TASK 1:

As a small exercise, pick one or two partners, and try to translate the following story.

It is made up entirely of homophones, and was written in 1940 by a professor of French named H. L. Chace, who wanted to show his students that intonation is an integral part of the meaning of language.

Write down only ONE translation per group on a piece of paper. It is easier when you read the text out loud. The group who finishes first has won.



LADLE RAT ROTTEN HUT

Wants pawn term, dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter murder inner ladle cordage, honor itch offer lodge, dock, florist. Disk ladle gull orphan worry putty ladle rat cluck wetter ladle rat hut, an fur disk raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

Wan moaning, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut's murder colder inset. "Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, heresy ladle basking winsome burden barter an shirker cockles. Tick disk ladle basking tutor cordage offer groinmurder hoe lifts honor udder site offer florist. Shaker lake! Dun stopper laundry wrote! Dun stopper peck floors! Dun daily-doily inner florist, an yonder nor sorghum-stenches, dun stopper torque wet strainers!"

"Hoe-cake, murder," resplendent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, an tickle ladle basking an stuttered oft. Honor wrote tutor cordage offer groin-murder, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut mitten anomalous woof. "Wail, wail, wail!" set disk wicket woof, "Evanescent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut! Wares are putty ladle gull goring wizard ladle basking?"

"Armor goring tumor groin-murder's," reprisal ladle gull. "Grammar's seeking bet. Armor ticking arson burden barter an shirker cockles."

"O hoe! Heifer gnats woke," setter wicket woof, butter taught tomb shelf, "Oil tickle shirt court tutor cordage offer groin-murder. Oil ketchup wetter letter, an den - O bore!"

Soda wicket woof tucker shirt court, an whinney retched a cordage offer groin-murder, picked inner windrow, an sore debtor pore oil worming worse lion inner bet. En inner flesh, disk abdominal woof lipped honor bet, paunched honor pore oil worming, an garbled erupt. Den disk ratchet ammonol pot honor groin-murder's nut cup an gnat-gun, any curdled ope inner bet.

Inner ladle wile, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut a raft attar cordage, an ranker dough ball. "Comb ink, sweat hard," setter wicket woof, disgracing is verse. Ladle Rat Rotten Hut entity betrum an stud buyer groin~murder's bet.

"O Grammar!" crater ladle gull historically, "Water bag icer gut! A nervous sausage bag ice!"

"Battered lucky chew whiff, sweat hard," setter bloat-Thursday woof, wetter wicket small honors phase.

"O Grammar, water bag noise! A nervous sore suture anomolous prognosis!"

"Battered small your whiff, doling," whiskered dole woof, ants mouse worse waddling.

"O Grammar, water bag mouser gut! A nervous sore suture bag mouse!"

Daze worry on-forger-nut ladle gull's lest warts. Oil offer sodden, caking offer carvers an sprinkling otter bet, disk hoard hoarded woof lipped own pore Ladle Rat Rotten Hut an garbled erupt.

Mural: Yonder nor sorghum stenches shut ladle gulls stopper torque wet strainers.

(source)



TASK 2:

Invent your own short paragraph that's made up of homophones (= one word) and/or oronyms (= string of words), and post it on this blog as a comment!