Hi everybody! There's a great new podcast up over on the right hand side of this blog. The podcast deals with intonation. Intonation refers to the way American English native speakers indicate emotion when they speak. It's a very important part of understanding and expressing yourself with American English.

Essentially, American speakers indicate emotion by stressing certain words within a sentence and changing the musical pitch of parts of a given sentence. Sometimes an American will speak part of a sentence in a higher pitched voice than other parts. Unlike Mandarin Chinese speakers, who change pitch to change the word used, an American speaker changes pitch to change conveyed emotion. It's the difference between what is said directly in words and what is said "between the lines" or indicated without using words.

The podcast explains a basic rule of intonation, which is to emphasize the important words in a sentence. There are some examples. Give it a listen, and remember, if you have any questions or want to call me for your free phone consult and to set up a free trial lesson, give me a call at (732) 618-4135. Hope everyone is enjoying this moody, rainy day!