General American Accent

Origins and influences

The General American accent is much closer to the original British accent that
was spoken at the time of colonisation. It is suggested that it is the British
accent which has changed over the years. The General American accent has had
many influences, primarily Irish, then German, Spanish and, to the south, the
West African.

Accent1 Rhotic Zone Tone Setting Hesitation Direction

General Yes 4 (Soft Full, Slight  Jaw in a ‘AhM’ Think of
American Palate) twang. smile surround sound
position speakers in the
Bit of a back of the head
honk, like  Lips to get full oral
a duck. neutral and back nasal
resonance. Drive
 Energy the sound
in the forward and
cheeks wide in the
mouth.
 Soft
palate Action: Press
low
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Zones adapted from the Sharpe and Rowles’ book: ‘How to do Accents’. (2009)

© Salvatore Sorce/Teaching Accents/Resources

Point of difference between Gen AM and RP
If you hear the sound coming
from the front of the mouth and
you are dropping your jaw open –
you are not speaking in a
General American accent.

Penny Dyer, in her Access Accent

series2, offers a useful point to
consider. Use the geography of
the land to help you find your
way into the accent. In this
case of the U.S, think of the
wide-open spaces; the expanse
of flat land that takes forever to
cross. Now think of this in the mouth and you will find a wide smile begins
to surface. This is the perfect starting point for the Gen Am accent.

Always remember the Gen Am sound is focussed from the soft palate
forwards and the jaw remains neutral in a smile position – it is rarely
fully open.

N.B. If the accent starts to waver, always return to the placement to

reset the sound.

Examples of the General American Accent

Famous General American Accents: Bradley Cooper, Dwayne Johnson,
Tom Hanks, Chris Pine, James Earl Jones, Blair Underwood, Jennifer Aniston,
Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Zoe Saldana and Anne
Hathaway.

Films: Limitless, Star Trek (JJ Abrahams), The Hangover, The Women, Erin
Brockovich.

TV: The Good Wife, Greys Anatomy, The West Wing, The Newsroom, The
Vampire Diaries, Friends (for some characters) Arrow and The Flash.

Practice Sentence: ‘Hey. How are you? What are you doing here?’

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Penny Dyer’s 2007 ‘Access Accents’ training resources for actors.
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© Salvatore Sorce/Teaching Accents/Resources

Steps to learning the General American Accent

The Major Players3: The ‘r’sound

General American is a rhotic - pronounce the [r] -accent. It is a rhotic r

with no linking or intrusives. The General American [r] is molar with the
back of the tongue bunched back – think of a horse galloping and you pull
hard on the reins.

Practice Sentences: ‘Margaret caught her daughter pouring water over

the flowers.’

‘Margaret and Gerry were very rowdy after drinking the terrible water.’
The Mid Word R Bounce

Practice Sentence: Ve-ry, so-rry, Ha-rry, Wo-rry, Cou-rage.

R Colouring

Practice Sentence: ‘I heard the car over there.’

The Major Players: ‘l’ Sound

L sound – Dark only, no light.

Practice Sentence: Larry the lazy lamb slept peacefully in the field until
hailstones fell.

The Major Players: ‘ng’ Sound

NG sound - soft but definite inclusion in words ending with ng and ing.

Practice Sentence: ‘Running, calling and falling’.

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3
Use of Major players (consonant headings) adapted from the Sharpe and Rowles’ book: ‘How to
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do Accents’. (2009)

© Salvatore Sorce/Teaching Accents/Resources

The Major Players: ‘th’ Sound
TH sound – standard ‘TH’ sound in all pronunciation.

For the voiceless version of [th]

Practice Sentence: ‘It’s a thick pathetic broth.’

For the voiced version of [th]

Practice Sentence: ‘Where are those others bathing.’

The Major Players: ‘h’ Sound

H sound – not dropped.

Practice Sentence: I hope so. I hope you have.

I hope you have your hat. We have to.
We have to hide. We have to hide in here.

Major Changes: the ‘t’ sound

T becomes D – when voiced in the middle of a word and next to a vowel,
tongue tip hits alveolar ridge but includes voice (e.g. ‘better’ – ‘bedder’,
‘water’ – ‘wader’)

Practice Sentence: ’That writer is better after he’s had butter and water
from the caterer.’
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The mid-word ‘t’ – next to nasal consonants.

When ‘t’ occurs before ‘n’ or ‘m’ in a word of more than one syllable, then
it sounds like a glottal stop.

Practice Sentence: “I’m the certain the matinee was written in Britain.”
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Use of the mid-word ‘t’ adapted from Catherine Weate’s ‘The Real Accent App: USA’

© Salvatore Sorce/Teaching Accents/Resources

Major Changes: the missing ‘y’ sound
No yods – no gliding y sounds (e.g. dew – doo, Tuesday – Toosday,
stupid – stu:pid, suit – su:t, presume – prezu:m, nude – nu:d, attitude –
attitu:d, duty – du:ti:, lewd – lu:d, enthuse – enthu:z.)

Practice Sentence: ‘I assume you still have that stupid enthusiasm and
lewd attitude from last Tuesday.’

Word Stress

Place on the second part of a two or three syllable word (e.g.–ory, -ary.)
e.g. ‘Extr’ordin-ary’, ‘Territ-ory’, ‘Ordin-ary’, ‘Vision-ary’.

Practice Sentence: ‘Ordinarily the secretary’s imaginary stationary

accessories would be necessary for the itinerary.’

The Accent Tune5

Each accent has a specific pattern/rhythm to it and use, in musical
terminology, a major or minor key.

The General American uses a step pattern/rhythm from one word to

the next. It is very specific in this. Each word is clearly defined. Americans
generally do not glide from one word to the next (because they use their
r’s) as is the case in RP.

Because of this pattern there is a definitive quality in the tonal quality of

speech. Listen to the differences between a major or minor piece of
music and you will realise that the General American accent uses the
major key. You can clearly hear an American in any public place. Use
this ‘major key’ energy in your speaking.
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Use of the Accent tune adapted from Catherine Weate’s ‘The Real Accent App: USA’

© Salvatore Sorce/Teaching Accents/Resources

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© Salvatore Sorce/Teaching Accents/Resources