Mr Gradgrind in Dickens’ Hard Times states that, ‘Facts alone are wanted in life’. We tend to disagree. While learning facts around the anatomy of speech can be incredibly useful, the process of accent acquisition is primarily an experiential process.
The consonant chart within the IPA offers information on three features of speech: point of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing. The vowel chart guides us as to the degree to which the front, middle or back of the tongue (or any part in between) are close to the roof of the mouth, or dropped open to the bottom of the mouth, alongside whether we are to round our lips. Diacritics and suprasegmentals help guide us closer to our precise point of aim. These are fantastic tools for accent acquisition, but a cerebral understanding of the process will ultimately end in failure.
Alongside an exploration of the IPA, we explore the practical journey of our vocal tract articulators, both listening and feeling to the changes that occur. Listening is vital, as if we are able to identify small differences between sounds of ourselves and others, we allow ourselves the opportunity to make changes. Feeling is essential, as if we are aware of the possible movements of our articulators, and can feel change as we make it in real time, we can begin to guide away from our habitual vocal tract movement, opening up the possibilities for speech sounds we never knew we could create.
We often hear clients say, ‘I can’t do it’, ‘my tongue doesn’t move that way’ or ‘I can do it in isolation, but not when speaking normally’. We invite you to adjust the language you use around your own learning. Perhaps: ‘I find it challenging’ would suit better? If we tells ourselves the story that we can’t do something, this self-fulfilling prophesy is likely to play out as such. But if we hear that we have a challenge coming our way, we will often set ourselves up in readiness to complete it.
A word on failure.
Once a client has accepted the challenge, we have found that their progress increases exponentially if they fail plenty along the way. This is not a new concept. It’s a simple concept. But it can be hard to live through. By facing failure with a sense of play instead of frustration, and freedom as opposed to tension, and a willingness to make changes accordingly, we allow ourselves to face the work like curious children, enjoying the process, rather than aiming only for the result. By enjoying the process, the results appear more quickly, and have longevity as they are embedded in our vocal tract’s muscle memory, rather than in our minds alone.
Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
(Samuel Beckett)