Course Catalogue

Below is a list of courses offered by Kingsfield Linguistics.

Accent Reduction Using Linguistics Principles

(As many sessions as needed - one hour per session)

Learning to speak English with a standard accent can provide great practical benefits to people who do not already use one, including helping them succeed in business, educational, and social situations. For a native speaker of a language other than English, learning a standard English-language accent amounts to learning to speak English better. For a native speaker of a variety of English that is not considered standard, learning a standard accent can help greatly in the many situations where a standard accent is better received by others than a non-standard one. This course teaches students how to speak in a standard English-language accent (either American or British, depending on student needs). This course is suitable for anyone wishing to learn to speak in a standard English-language accent, whether because English is a second language for them or because their native accent is not considered standard.

Historical Linguistics for Combating Prejudice

(4 sessions - 4 hours total)

Harmful prejudices rooted in a misunderstanding of the nature of language permeate society. This course teaches people interested in opposing language-related prejudice in daily life how language has come to be the way it is and how to use that knowledge to challenge some of the most common prejudicial misconceptions people have about language. This course is suitable for anyone interested in combating prejudice in everyday situations.

Linguistics for Persuasive Speakers

(4 sessions - 4 hours total)

From political podiums to activist meetings to boardrooms to advertisements, the ability to speak persuasively is a critical skill. The first part of persuasion is having something valuable to say, but the second part requires technical proficiency in writing, without which the valuable ideas may never catch on. This course draws on linguistic understandings of rhetoric to teach specific writing techniques that can improve persuasive speeches and texts. It is suitable for anyone interested in improving the technical side of their powers of persuasion.

Phonetics for Actors

(12 sessions - 12 hours total)

(Phonetics for Actors is also offered through its own website) The need for actors to master accents other than their own increases every year, as the world is becoming more and more globally connected and both story settings and real audiences are growing increasingly more diverse. This course teaches actors how to teach themselves accents for performance with little to no need for a dedicated dialect coach. The course presents all the information known to the science of phonetics (the study of speech sounds) that actors need to teach themselves accents directly from dialect guides, with the goal of alleviating actors’ total reliance on dialect coaches, many of whom are not trained in the science of linguistics to begin with. This course requires no prerequisite training in linguistics and is useful for stage, screen, scripted, and improvisational actors.

Phonetics for Language Learners

(6 sessions - 9 hours total)

The most difficult aspect of a new language for adult language learners to adopt is that language’s sound system. The majority of adult language learners who achieve fluency in a new language still retain an accent influenced by their first language. A technical awareness of the vast variety of possible speech sounds in the world’s languages, as is provided by the science of phonetics, can greatly assist language learners in more accurately adopting the pronunciation systems of new languages. This course teaches such an understanding and demonstrates its application to an example language. This course is suitable for anyone interested in learning new languages with an accurate accent.

Phonetics for Poets, Rappers, and Lyricists

(6 sessions - 6 hours total)

For all of human history, poetry and its most successful derivative, lyrics, have been defined by sound effects encoded into speech. Phonetics is the science of speech sounds and thus offers insight into the creation of poetry and lyrics. This course offers a technical understanding of the basics of verse writing. It is suitable both for beginning poets, rappers, and lyricists, and for more advanced writers interested in technical knowledge.

Writing Using Linguistic Principles

(6 sessions - 6 hours total)

Modern writing education is rarely informed by an understanding of language and the relationship of language to the technology of writing. This course is designed to open students’ perspectives on what writing is and how to go about writing well. Students are taught how to leverage their natural language instincts to improve their writing, instead of tripping themselves up with excessive second-guessing. This course is suitable for anyone looking to understand how to improve their writing abilities for scholarly, professional, creative, or any other purposes.