Executives and professionals who speak with poor diction may be missing out on opportunities and promotions within their company. Any voice or speech habit that draws attention away from the message undermines the ability to reach listeners. Good diction and pronunciation are two elements of speech that can be easily changed to produce more credibility.
The acceptable pronunciation of any word is determined exclusively by its usage in the general population. But a dictionary can be a valuable tool to learn how to pronounce words. Pronunciation in the dictionary is represented by symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The IPA can be confusing.
The IPA uses symbols for every sound in English. This is different from our regular alphabet in which one symbol stands for many sounds. For example, the letter /e/ can be pronounced as a long or short /e/ (beet vs. bet) with multiple spelling variations. Many dictionaries use the IPA system to help readers figure out how to pronounce words.
Evaluating your pronunciation and diction is important. You may need to adopt new speech habits which will require perseverence and determination. Here are some common mistakes:
1. Omitting /l/ "Already"="awready"
2. Substituting /t/ with /d/ "letter"="ledder" "quantity"="quanidy"
3."Our"='r' "R boss is a really nice guy."
4. Reducing words by eliminating sounds. Here is a short list of some commonly shortened words. Sharpen your pronunciation and diction by practicing the correct pronunciation (you may have many others to add):
5. Shortening/changing vowels in running speech. For example: a. "For"="fer" "The phone is fer you." b. "To"="tuh" "I'm going tuh the store." c. "Just"="jist" "Jist a minute..." d. "you"="ya" "I'll see ya at the meeting."
What can be done to ensure that correct pronunciation of words? There are a few simple things to try to speak more clearly. Here are some suggestions:
1. Put endings on words. 2. Lengthen the vowels of stressed words. 3. Exaggerate your mouth opening to articulate more precisely. 4. Practice saying tongue twisters to "warm-up" your articulators:
a. Rubber baby buggy bumpers. b. Greta grabbed Greg's grater and grated greater green grapes. c. Can cotton candy coat clean cold combs? d. A noisy noise annoys an oyster.
Practice these tongue twisters and gradually increase the speed until are every sound and word is precisely pronounced even at a faster rate. As you go faster, notice how exaggerated mouth movements are key to hitting the sounds accurately.
A great way to get feedback about your speaking skills is to tape record your end of a phone conversation. Keep the recorder at your desk and when you make a call, hit the record. After the conversation, listen to the recording. Listen to your diction and pronounciation of words. Is your speech clear and precise? This can be a humbling experience but it is often motivates one to make changes.
Copyright (c) 2008 Lynda Stucky
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Lynda Stucky is an expert at working with people who want to speak with clarity, credibility, and influence. President and owner of ClearlySpeaking, her background in speech pathology offers unique skills for consulting business professionals on communication skills including accent modification (regional and foreign), voice care, vocal dynamics, diction, grammar and how to speak concisely. http://www.clearly-speaking.com
» left by Hannah from Australia (1 year 167 days ago.)
Lynda,
This is a terrific article, and painfully (to the ear) true! One of the things that annoys me the most, at the moment, is people - especially the youngers - putting a /k/ on the end of an /ing/ word, e.g. nothink instead of nothing. I don't know if it is as common in your country as mine, but its highly irritating. Worse, many people say Austrayah instead of Australia. If you can't pronounce the name of your own country, things are 'crook' (to use an Australianism - meaning not good).
Thanks for one of those articles you read and think, 'Hm, wish I'd written that!'
Cheers, Hannah Respond to this comment
» left by Lynda from Pittsburgh PA (1 year 167 days ago.)
Thank you so much, Hannah! I agree with your comment about about /ng/. It's done here too. Sometimes I wonder, where did that little habit come from?! Hope you are well in Australia. Thanks again. Lynda
» left by Dianne Lehmann(5,189) Dianne Lehmann (1 year 167 days ago.)
Hi Lynda. This is a great article. But I'm in the choir on this one. One of my pet peeves is the word "comfortable." When did it become "comfterble?"
As a child I never had trouble with "r" thank goodness (Around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran). I did know a lot of kids who would say "wooster" for "rooster." But I did have a lisp, which I worked very hard during my freshman year of high school to eliminate.
I do believe how well you speak creates an image in the listener's mind of how intelligent you are. And this is especially important when your only contact is over the phone. But because the meaning of words and how they are spoken is determined by usage, I fear the language I love so much will just keep changing in ways with which I am not comfortable.
And yes, this is one of those articles I wish I had written.
Dianne
» left by Anonymous (1 year 167 days ago.)
Hi Dianne, Thanks for your comment! I agree that lots of words get shortened unnecessarily but on the other hand, sometimes it is necessary. For example, in the English language, shortened words are sometimes necessary to keep a smooth conversational flow which in turn, gives a natural sound to speech. With some of my non-native English speakers, I teach them to connect words and sometimes even reduce syllables for a natural smooth flow. Otherwise, the speech sounds stilted and unnatural. There is a balance though. Our language is certainly evolving slowly. I loved the tongue twister--never heard that one before. Thanks again for your comment! Lynda
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