our own thing with it. Today we're going to  study part of a scene from Friends to see:  

what are all the things that  Americans do with spoken English?  

How does Rachel Greene speak so fast? It's  all about rhythm and simplification. Studying  

spoken English this way helps my students a ton with their English listening comprehension and  

also helps them speak English that's more  smooth, natural, and easier to understand.  

Also, fresh off the press, click here or in the  video description to get a free cheat sheet, the  

sounds of American English, it's a great reference  tool and even I use it quite a bit. This is the  

scene we'll use for our analysis. Rachel has just  found out that Chandler and Monica are dating,  

and she really wants to tell Joey.

Oh, Joey. I have such a problem.

Oh, well, your timing couldn't be better. I  am putting out fires all over the place today.

Okay, okay. Joey? I have  got to tell you something.

What? What? What is it, what is it?

Oh my God. It's so huge. But you just have  to promise me – you can't tell anyone.

Oh no, no, no. I don't want to know.

Now let's do that analysis together.

Oh, Joey.

There's a little bit of stress in her voice  here. Oh. A little bit of that up-down shape, Oh,  

Joey, and then we have that very clear  up-down curve for a stressed syllable  

so the first syllable 'Jo' is what's stressed.  The second syllable which is just the e vowel,  

Joey, ee, it just comes on the way down  doesn't have it's own separate shape or feel,  

it's just falling away from that stressed  syllable so it's really smooth. Joey.

Oh, Joey.

I have such a problem.

Normally, we would say problem. Really  clear first syllable stress and a very  

short second syllable but she's bringing a lot  of stress and energy to this word, 'problem'.  

And she really holds on to that second  syllable so it also feels stressed.

I have such a problem.

Problem. So, it would be  really common for um, to just  

be like the e in Joey and just come down  away from that stressed syllable pro,  

problem. But here it's got its own  separate shape for stress and emphasis.

problem.

Problem. The letter o makes the ah as in  father vowel here and the e is the schwa,  

problem, lem, lem. But she does put  a little bit more of a vowel in there  

because of holding it out. So I think we can think  of that as the u vowel like in butter. Probleem.

Problem.

The other words definitely less stressed than our  noun here, I have such a, I have such a. But there  

is some on the word such, “I have such a”. And  notice the ch sound links right into the schwa,  

a nice smooth ending consonant to beginning  vowel link such a, such a, such a. I have such a.

I have such a--

So I in have said really quickly.  I have, I have, I have, I have.

You don't want to make more of it that.  We want the contrast of the short words,  

the short syllables with the long words  and long syllables. I have, I have, I have,  

I have such. I have such a. One down shape  of stress in those four words. I have such a.

I have such a.

I have such a problem.

I have such a problem.

I have such a problem.

Oh, well--

Oh, well. Both of those are going up. Up, well.  

The word well not pronounced too clearly. Well,  well, well, well, uhuhuhl. A little bit of a w  

maybe a schwa or an f feel with a dark l  well well. But it's short, it's not stressed.

Oh, well--

Your timing couldn't be better.

So let's just look at this part of  his phrase and I want you to think  

about what are the stressed syllables like we  had such and problem in this first sentence.  

Where do you find you want to move a little  bit? Maybe move your head a little bit.  

What do you think are the most stressed  syllables with that peak of stress?

Your timing couldn't be better.

I feel it. Your timing couldn't be better.  On this first syllable of time, your timing,  

the first syllable of timing, your timing couldn't  be better. But it's all smooth, we don't have any  

skips or break, everything's either leading up  to a stressed syllable or coming away from it.  

So the word your, that's not reduced. Said your,  your, your. Very fast, simplify as much as you  

can. Your, your, your, your timing. Now here  we have a stressed syllable it begins with a t,  

that is a true t. A lot of our t's in English  change to other sounds but this is a true t,  

your timing. And as I say that, do  you hear the melody of my voice?  

Ahh, ahh, your timing, your timing. With that up  down shape of stress for the stressed syllable.

Your timing--

couldn't be better.

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Couldn't be, couldn't be. So the  word l in the word could is silent,  

the vowel there is the same vowel that we  have in push, book, here it's spelled as 'ou'.  

In push, it's spelled with just the u,  

and in book it's spelled with 'oo'. But it's  the same sound on all of these words, uh, uh.  

Could, could, couldn't be.

couldn't be--

couldn't be better.

Let's listen to just “couldn't be better.” You  

tell me what you think you're hearing with this  n't contraction. Are you hearing tt, a true t?

couldn't be better.

N't contractions, we have three possibilities  there. We have the least common true t, couldn't,  

couldn't be. That's not what we hear. Then we  couldn't be. Couldn't be with a little break,  

a little stop of air, that's the stop  t. That's fairly common. Couldn't be.  

But actually, what I'm hearing is the  third pronunciation which is no t at all,  

t dropped right from n smoothly into b  with no break. Couldn't be, couldn't be.

couldn't be better.

So keep that in mind when you're  looking at n apostrophe t words,  

the least common pronunciation by far is a true t.

couldn't be better.

couldn't be better. Ahuhuh. Two  up-down shapes of stress, the tt  

here is a flap t, the tongue just  flaps against the roof of the mouth  

[flap], better, better.

couldn't be better.

Some students find it tricky to  go from flap t into the schwa r  

which is the ending of this word, better.  So the tongue bounces against the roof of  

the then the tip pulls back a little bit  so it's not touching anything. Be-tter.  

I always encourage students  to hold out the sound before  

and after a flap t to help them focus on that  clean quick movement holding out that errr,  

r schwa combination, errr will also help  you focus in on that sound. Be-tter. Better.

couldn't be better.

I am putting out fires.

I am putting out fires. So it's very  common to speak with the contraction  

'I'm' but here he is stressing I so he  doesn't make that a contraction. I am.

I am--

I am putting out fires all over the place.

I am putting out fires. So we have an idiom  here. We have stress on the stressed syllable  

of pudding. Put now fires all over the  place. First syllable of over also stress.

I am putting out fires all over the place.

So the flap t just like in better. This sounds  like the d between vowels in American English  

so this word actually sounds just like  this word “pudding” which is a dessert.  

Because d between vowels sounds the same  as t between vowels, we call that a flap t,  

now he doesn't say pudding with  the ing ending, he actually  

switches the ing to an in ending puttin, puttin.

I am putting out--

And when we do that, it changes actually  the t pronunciation if you can believe it.  

Changing the ending actually changes  how we pronounce the middle consonant  

I'm not getting into all the details that has  to do with the sounds in between but basically  

it turns into a flap t into a stop t. Puttin,  puttin. So I'm going to go ahead and erase  

flap t because I don't want to confuse anybody  when you're going back looking at it. So putting  

ing ending we're going to make that a flap t.  

But if we make that an in ending then we change it  to a stop t, putting, putting. I am putting out.

I am putting out--

I am putting out fires all over the place.

Actually I would say we have some stress on out as  well. Putting out, another stop t. Fires all over.  

Why is this a stop t? Well, the t is a stop t, the  general rule is when it's followed by a consonant  

so here it is followed by a consonant  so we're going to make that a stop t,  

putting out fires, putting out fires. Now, the  ending z sound of fires links into the next word.  

This is the ah as in law vowel and it's  really common to link ending consonants  

into beginning vowels so it almost sounds like  the ending consonant begins to the next word.  

So you could think of the as zall, zall,  zall, zall, zall. Fires all, fires all over.

putting out fires all over the place.

And that's how we get that really smooth character  of American English. Fires all over the place.

fires all over the place.

Here again we have an ending consonant and  beginning vowel. Vowel or diphthong in this  

case the o as in no diphthong so we want to take  the l, lover, lover, allover, all over the place.

all over the place.

all over the place today.

all over the place today. Then again a little  bit more stress on the second syllable of  

today. A few things, the most stress here  really is in the vowel or the diphthong o  

and you can see he moves  his head on that all over.  

Sometimes Americans will add a physical gesture  to our most stressed syllable for emphasis.  

That's a good clue that that's the syllable  that you want to put your energy towards.

all over the place--

all over the place today.

All over the place today. I want to talk to  a second about the last word. People see to  

when they want to say to. But this is always  tt with a schwa, don't make the u vowel make  

it much faster to, to, today. And this t can be  a trues t or a flap it, he is making it a true t.  

So this word is today. Not  today but today, today, today.

all over the place--

all over the place today.

The syllable er plus the words the in place,  they're unstressed, they're said more quickly.  

For the place, for the place, for the place.  So you need to take some of the clarity out,  

some of your voice out some of the energy out  in order to be able to make them that quickly  

so we have that important contrast of stressed and  unstressed. Now the word 'the'. I'm going to give  

you a trick, a tip for a word like the that  starts with the voiced th and is unstressed.  

We have the, this, these those, that,  quite a few common words that follow  

this pattern of unstressed and beginning with a  voiced th. For those words, you don't actually  

have to bring your tongue tip all the way through  the teeth. The, you don't have to make