Pres. Obama accent

[Tom Zurinskas]

I saw an article in the news about how Japanese kids are studying Pres.
Obama's speeches for English pronunciation lessons. Hear speech below.
Nomination acceptance speech by Pres Obama in Chicago
http://www.dosomething.org/voting?gclid=CNC0qYuguZgCFQrAGgodMgppbA
I'd say Pres. Obama has standard US accent.  Some predilections are below
which many of US speakers have as well
1 He  tends to say plural "s" as an ~s when sometimes it should be ~z
2 He tends to say words starting with "re-" and "de-" as ~ri and ~di
3 He tends to say some words with "t" in them as ~d
4 He tends to say words ending in "ing" a ~in, but not always
5 He tends to say "for" as ~fer
5 He said only one word with "ah" sound replacing "awe" sound, i.e., dawn
The 92 words below were of interest to me as to phoneme choice.
All the other words spoken in this marvelous speech were typical pronunciation
 tradspel truespel
1 wonders ~wunders
2 time ~taam
3 questions ~kweschins
4 democracy ~dimmaakrusee
5 tonight ~tunniet
6 hours ~aawers
7 democrat ~demukrat
8 better ~beder
9 those ~thoes
10 and ~en
11 coming ~kumin
12 election ~illekshun
13 because ~beekkuz
14 defining ~diffienin
15 moment ~moemint
16 evening ~eevnin
17 little ~lidool
18 extraordinarily ~ekstrraudinairilee
19 gracious ~graeshus
20 senator ~senider
21 imagine ~immajin
22 selfless ~selflis
23 congratulate ~kungrrajuelaet
24 governor ~guvner
25 for ~fer
26 renew ~rinnue
27 thank ~thhaenk
28 Scranton ~Skran'in
29 elect ~illekt
30 standing ~standin
31 Obama ~Oebbaamu
32 Sasha ~Saashu
33 Malia ~Mulleeyu
34 coming ~kumeeng
35 watching ~waachin
36 measure ~mezhu
37 Mia ~Mieyu
38 Alma ~Almu
39 grateful ~graetfool
40 to ~tu
41 grateful ~grae'fool
42 has ~iz
43 forget ~fergget
44 happen ~hapin
45 belongs ~billaungz
46 women ~wimin
47 strength ~straengthh
48 homes ~hoems
49 bitter ~bider
50 rejected ~rijjektid
51 not ~naa'
52 the earth ~thi
53 the people ~thi
54 you ~yi
55 election ~illekshin
56 enormity ~innormidee
57 greatest ~graedist
58 financial ~fiennanchool
59 century ~senchree
60 children ~chooldrin
61 mortgage ~morgij
62 education ~ejuekkaeshin
63 harness ~haarnis
64 repair ~rippair
65 won't ~woent
66 decision ~dissizhin
67 hundred ~hunderd
68 nation ~naeshin
69 twenty ~twunee
70 winter ~win'er
71 night ~nie'
72 spirit ~spirit
73 responsibility ~rispaantsibbilidi
74 resolves ~rizzaalvz
75 resist ~rizzist
76 immaturity ~imiccheridee
77 remember ~rimmember
78 party ~paardee
79 reliance ~rillieyints
80 liberty ~liberdee
81 unity ~yuenidee
82 humility ~hyuemmilidee
83 Lincoln ~Leenkin
84 dawn ~daan
85 defeat ~diffeet
86 security ~sikyyeridee
87 enduring ~enddereeng
88 opportunity ~aaperttuenidee
89 unyielding ~unyyeeldeeng
90 thing ~thheeng
91 times ~taamz
92 will ~wool


Pronunciation key
This story contains the 40 sounds of USA English: "That quick beige fox jumped in the air over each thin dog.  Look out I shout, for he's foiled you again, creating chaos."  Now written in truespel: ~~“That kwik baezh faaks jumpd in thee air oever eech thhin daug.  Look out Ie shout, for heez foild yue uggen, kree”aeteeng kae’aas.~~  (Note, a tilde (~) indicates truespel: a double tilde (~~) for a phrase or paragraph.)  Stress is on first syllable or after a double consonant or ".  An apostrophe or quote is a glottal stop or separater between two vowels.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com





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