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Accent Breakdowns Production Materials University of Michigan

Barbadian

For the character of George in Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage

Please see How to Work on an Accent for advice on using this breakdown.

Listening Sample Subjects

A range of sample subjects is offered here, intended to represent options for:

  • The eloquent George of the Act 1 letters–the George of Esther’s imagination
  • The rougher, less educated, real-life George of Act 2
Wayne ‘Poonka’ Willock
Winston ‘Iston Bull’ Branch
Trevor Prescod
Austin Husbands
Hadley Bourne

Key Sounds

For each sound, I’ve included audio examples and a dropdown section of practice phrases.

Unless otherwise indicated, practice phrases are excerpted from Lexical Sets for Actors by Eric Armstrong under a creative commons license.

Key Consonant Sounds

TH-Stopping

TH sounds are pronounced as D and T (e.g. “these things”–>”dese tings”.)

  • Neither his father nor his mother bothered to clothe him, though they thought he was thoughtless about his appearance.
  • Length, width, and breadth are the three fundamental measurements lathe operators can’t do without.
  • As the throng gathered together, they withered at the sight of the thing’s clothing.

*Practice phrases adapted from Speaking Clearly by Hahner, Sokoloff, and Salisch.

Glottal Stops

The T sound at the end of a word is pronounced by stopping the air at the vocal folds rather than with the tongue. This can also apply (but less consistently) to P and K sounds.

  • The bat hung upside down in the tree.
  • He has a pain in his back.
  • They went out on the boat for a day of fishing.
  • The cat was going to sneak away.
  • The coat is for sale.
  • The flashlight lit up the room.
  • The baby goat stayed by it’s mom.
  • She left her hat in the barn.
  • She is too sick to go to work.
  • She wore a rain jacket in case it rained.
  • The kite flew high.
  • I have a bad headache.
  • Turn the light on please.
  • How does a parrot talk?
  • I need to shop for groceries.
  • He took off the peanut shell.
  • He has nothing in his pocket.
  • Let’s go on a hike in the mountains.
  • Be quiet so we don’t wake her up.
  • I see a rabbit in the grass.
  • Wash your hands with soap.
  • The rock is heavy.
  • She would sit and wait every day for the bus.
  • She writes in her journal every week.

*Practice phrases from https://www.home-speech-home.com/

Other Consonant Features

Cluster Reduction

Partly as a result of glottalization, final consonant clusters may be simplified. For instance, words ending in “-nd” may pronounce only the N.

G-Dropping

Words with the -ing suffix are pronounced -in’.

R-Coloring (Rhoticity)

Barbadian English is rhotic, meaning that R is generally pronounced in all positions. (This is different from some other Caribbean accents.)

Palatalization of Open Vowels After Velars

This feature doesn’t show up that often, but it’s an interesting detail. After K and G sounds, open vowels such as AH will receive a little Y-glide, so “car” may sound like the middle of the word “bacKYARd”.

Vowel Sounds

Words like FACE and GOAT

FACE
GOAT

These words tend to use a single steady vowel quality or an opening diphthong, rather than the closing diphthong heard in many other varieties of English.

  • A great place to stay.
  • The rail at the tail of the sailboat.
  • Today’s the day!
  • No pain, no gain.
  • Don’t cut the main brachial vein!
  • They’ve won the space race.
  • He claims to feel ashamed
  • Why did he call the investigator A Famous Shamus?
  • Drain the rain gauge.
  • A strange pain in my brain.
  • The baby’s name is April.
  • Be patient while I’m shaving.
  • They satiated their hunger by eating voraciously.
  • Acacia trees make up 8% of Australia’s forests.
  • They call Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay “Ray Jay”.
  • Don’t go home.
  • Row, row, row your boat.
  • Moan and groan on the phone.
  • Toby’s bespoke smoking jacket.
  • Onyesha loves coconut crab from Mozambique.
  • Moe totaled the Toyota he got in Tokyo.
  • If I sew the rosehips, will they grow?
  • The Edo shogunate lay siege to Osaka.
  • I was thrown by your iPhone’s ringtone.
  • Sophie went clothes-shopping in Barcelona.
  • Tyrone and Logan are in a romantic relationship.
  • Can Jodie do yoga poses in the snow?
  • When does José go to Oman?
  • The sparrows and the swallows on the magnolia.
  • James Earl Jones played Othello and Oberon.

Words like NEAR and SQUARE

The vowel sound in words like NEAR and SQUARE are pronounced similarly.

  • Clare wasn’t clear that she cut her fair hair here; that’s what I fear.
  • The dear pair of Kieron and Karen dare to cheer from their chairs on the pier.
  • “I swear I can hear a bear that way,” Jabby said as he steered us away from the woods.
  • The cashier had to prepare to appear on a news story because of a recent lottery-ticket-winner-turned-billionaire.
  • Even though they were scared, Valentina was proud to share she was queer after waiting many years to come out.

Words like PRICE

The PRICE vowel starts in a fairly central place similar to the unstressed syllable in “commA”.

  • High and dry.
  • In spite of myself.
  • The spice of life.
  • Fine Key lime pie.
  • A bright night light.
  • Your guide to Fine Dining .
  • Your final lifeline.
  • Wild Mountain Thyme was on Prime.

Words like MOUTH

The MOUTH sound starts fairly far back in the mouth, with some degree of lip rounding from the outset.

  • The wallflower hid in the clock-tower.
  • The cowboy planted the sow-bread cyclamen.
  • Get out of town!
  • Somehow they allowed those eyebrows.
  • The rowdy crowd cheered for the driver Niki Lauda.
  • The turnout for the workout was outrageous.
  • Say howdy to the cowgirl on the loudspeaker.

Words like TRAP and BATH

The vowel sound in words like TRAP and BATH is quite open and central.

  • The cat’s father can’t catch half the mice it will have to.
  • Patrick sat in the enchanting bathroom in the aftermath of dancing with the daft actor.
  • The montage of the masked man in the last scene was masterfully performed by the acting class.
  • Actually, Dad’s Newcastle Brown Ale, served in dirty glasses, tasted rather ghastly.
  • It was laughably bad casting to choose Wolfgang to play the Nazi commander.
  • The ample free samples of veggie lasagna were an example of the chancellor’s substantial bravado.
  • My father made travel plans to Yokohama to visit my aunt in the last week of July.
  • This afternoon, Nadia built a panda sanctuary on Minecraft Java Edition.
  • The soprano jazz singer demanded half of the solos as she claimed to have the best vibrato.

Words like LOT and THOUGHT

This vowel sound is open, back, and has some lip rounding.

  • Saul didn’t wash the soft cloths with his laundry.
  • The cost to install the hot water softener in the office was appalling.
  • Rob saw that frothing milk for coffee is not easy.
  • Shawn was appalled by the strong taste of guava in the sauce.
  • Tawny took off her uncomfortable bra and thong, and tossed them away.

Syllable Rhythm

Minimize Vowel Reduction

Unstressed syllables keep some of their full vowel quality, resisting the tendency to “reduce” toward schwa. As a result, syllables may sound more evenly weighted than in some other varieties of English. Practice giving some extra length to unstressed syllables or keeping an evenly-timed syllable rhythm throughout.

Intonation

This accent favors downward pitch inflections. The following pitch and rhythm information is extracted from the Austin Husbands clip above. Notice the absence of rising pitch contours.