Second recording

Link to recording

I have been working on voice quality settings this week. First, I reviewed an article on voice quality settings to learn what this meant and to find guidelines for practice.

I practiced keeping my jaws and lips more open when pronouncing the vowel "o" as in job, prom and gonna. I practiced omitting word final sounds where necessary, such as in /t/ in "date" and not releasing /t/ in interview and important. Also, I practiced retroflexion whereby I tried to curl my tongue tip backwards when pronouncing prom and  product.

While some of these voice quality features are easier to produce (e.g. retroflex "r" and a more open "o"), some features are quite difficult to learn and require more practice especially omission of sounds. In my current recording, I feel that my pronunciation f the retroflex "r" and open "o" have improved.

In the coming week, I will practice more on voice quality features as  I focus more attention to consonant deletion or modification in pronunciation.