Devoicing for Emphasis
I commented to a client about a tendency to devoice when emphasizing a word, and I thought I pass the clarification on to everybody on the blog. Th... Read more
Nasality and the Soft Palate or Velum
More on the concept of “flat” with regards to voice and accents. Commenting on a question about the “Flat-A” sound and why even good speakers fro... Read more
What does “flat” mean?
I got an email from a customer with a question about the concept behind the descriptive word flat: I’ve recently bought your Boston accent guide an... Read more
Thick Vocal Folds vs. Thin Vocal Folds
AccentHelp coach Jim Johnson talks through the basics of how the vocal folds work, what impact this has on honesty, and how it affects some accent... Read more
Love Me Some Pittsburghese!
In the summer of 2011, I spent five days in hot pursuit of the Pittsburgh accent, and I think I’m in love. I had low expectations of this city over... Read more
Gullah Accent Grub & Gab
I had the honor of meeting and speaking with Joseph Legree, Jr., a 2009 South Carolina Folk Heritage Award winner. Mr. Legree has been making casti... Read more
Flat Accents and Round Accents
A follow-up question from a reader about the varied ways that “flat” is used to describe accents: “Are there any accents for which the key concept ... Read more
Lifting the Soft Palate – Reducing Nasality
AccentHelp coach Jim Johnson goes further into how the soft palate (velum) works, and tricks and tips on how to lift it: The soft palate is especi... Read more
Learning Accents: Nasality or Twang?
A lot of people think that an accent or dialect is nasal when it isn’t necessarily so! Often times we interpret twang in a voice as being a nasal s... Read more
Listening to Cockney Accents
It’s a bit of a challenge to base dialect work in a play fully on accurate, native-speakers’ accents. This is a challenge with more working-class d... Read more
