Listening Samples
HAITIAN CREOLE
HAITIAN ACCENT IN ENGLISH
ORAL POSTURE
Oral posture refers to a dialect or accent's "home base" in terms of articulatory settings - specifically the jaw, the lips, the tongue, the cheeks, and the velum (soft palate).
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RAISED JAW
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VERY ROUNDED LIPS
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ACTIVE TONGUE TIP
PRONUNCIATION
For each sound, I’ve included audio examples and practice phrases. Unless otherwise indicated, practice phrases are excerpted from Lexical Sets for Actors by Eric Armstrong under a creative commons license.
VOWELS
Words that sound like KIT
This vowel begins to raise a bit and merge with FLEECE.
Words that sound like BATH/TRAP
An open vowel sound, targeting towards [ a ].
Words that sound like LOT/CLOTH/THOUGHT
This is a rounded, back, open sound.
Words that sound like FOOT
This vowel is raised and back, with lip rounding.
Words that sound like GOOSE
This vowel is realized as very raised and rounded.
Words that sound like FACE
This vowel is fairly raised, and is realized as a pure single vowel.
Words that sound like GOAT
The back body of the tongue will be fairly arched for this pure single vowel. Lips will be rounded as well.
CONSONANTS
TH Sounds
Words that begin with a voiced TH sound will become more like D's.
R dropping
There is a tendency to drop medial and final R's.
PROSODY
Quite mobile and moving with purpose. Pay attention to syllable timing.