Issues that Surround Pronunciation

Paper submitted by

Geetha M

Ph: 9884277010

E-mail: [email protected]

The desire to learn English is not something very new. It has been one of the top

priorities of every Indian. Parents are always proud when their children address them

‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ which is not the case if the same is done in their mother tongue. They

prefer to put their wards in English medium schools hoping the children would be taught the

popular language of the age. Learning a language is nothing but imitation of sounds. Children

imitate what is taught to them in schools. The English teacher plays a vital role in introducing

and teaching the new language. In order to train the child’s ears to accept the new language,

they begin with teaching simple, yet interesting method – rhymes recitation. What the child

grasps at an early age is developed over years, with constant drilling and usage. At later

stages, at the time of stepping into their career, children realize the importance of knowing

English. Children, who miss out on learning the language to the fullest possible extent at the

early stages, find themselves in a fix later. Every company today demands candidates who are

fluent in speaking English. Though they do not expect candidates to speak like an

Englishman, but they expect them to have a neutralized accent. Thus comes in the importance

of pronouncing words properly, if not accurately, for words mispronounced will always lead

to misconception, misinterpretation and even ridicule.

Appropriate usage alone will not make the communication effective. The words used must be

pronounced appropriately too.

For example: The teacher beat the student.

If the word ‘beat’ is not properly pronounced; if the /i:/ sound is not elongated, then it will be

conveyed as ‘The teacher bit the student’, which not only is ridiculous, but also absurd and

conveys a very violent meaning.

Though a person at work might be efficient in typing out letters and memos, if he fails

to address a group efficiently, he is looked down as an inefficient person. Speaking with

appropriate pronunciation is a must for teachers, help-desk executives, call-centre executives,

public speakers, telephone operators, public announcers and everyone in general. In the case

of professionals who need to constantly interact with native English speakers, it becomes

more than necessary to pronounce words to the perfection, for what sounds perfect to us,

might sound odd or misappropriate to a native speaker of English.

For example: The following conversation between a call-centre executive and an American

client illustrates the same –

Client: Don’t you guys make any of those special model equipments anymore?

Executive: No sir. The demand for the equipment has down of late. So we make no more of

it.

In the above conversation, the client mistook the phrase ‘of late’ as ‘half plate’. He was not

able to comprehend why the executive mentioned half plate.

English is only taught as a second language, the learners tend to connote the language to their

mother tongue. The mind, as and when English is spoken, does a quick translation and makes

sense to the listener who is a non-native speaker of English. Hence, whatever amount of

English is understood and spoken by a non-native speaker is nothing but the result of the

mental translation that went on earlier. Therefore, every non-native speaker tends to lean over

his mother tongue for support. Though the leaning-over-mother-tongue factor helps a learner

get into the language quickly and effectively, it hinders his spontaneous learning to a certain

extent. It prevents the learner from thinking in English. It provokes him to translate whenever

possible. Sometimes this practice makes the learner to use wrong sentence patterns or misuse

words and expressions, thereby degrading his English to a considerable amount. The mother

tongue not only hinders learning of words and sentence patterns, but also pronunciation. Not

all the languages have got the same set of speech sounds. What is present in one language

might not be available in other languages.

For example: the sound /ʃ/ is not available in Indian languages. Hence it is always substituted

with /z/ or /s/

Education, /edjʊkeiʃәn/ is often pronounced as /edjʊkeizәn/ in North India and

/edjʊkeisәn/ in South India.

The vowel sound /ӕ/ as in ‘apple’ is often pronounced as /ei/ as in ‘ape’ in North India and

as /a: / as in ‘arm’ in South India.

Pronunciation is one of the most difficult areas for Indian Students. All Indian

students find it difficult to produce certain individual sounds, both vowel and consonant.
For example: the pronunciation of ‘z’ is also difficult for an Indian. A North Indian

pronounces ‘zoo’ as ‘joo’, whereas a South Indian pronounces it as ‘soo’.

They also find it difficult to differentiate between ‘v’ and ‘w’. All these problems arise

because there are no such sounds in any of the Indian languages.

For example: the words like ‘which’, ‘wear’, ‘where’, ‘what’ are pronounced as ‘vich’,

‘vere’.

A minority of Indian students also find it difficult to differentiate between voiced and

voiceless consonants.

Another major challenge in pronunciation is word stress. Indians invariably stress the

wrong syllable in a word, which makes it difficult for a native English speaker to understand

them, and vice versa.

For example: the words like ‘photographer’, ‘photography’, ‘psychology’ are stressed on the

second syllable. But Indians tend to stress the first or third syllable of these words.

Any of the native varieties of English is a stress-timed language, and word stress is an

important feature of Received Pronunciation. Indian native languages are actually syllable-

timed languages. Indian English speakers usually speak with a syllabic rhythm. Further, in

some Indian languages, stress is associated with a low pitch, whereas in most English

dialects, stressed syllables are generally pronounced with a higher pitch. Thus, when Indian

speakers speak, they appear to put the stress accents at the wrong syllables, or accentuate all

the syllables of a long English word. The Indian accent is a ‘sing-song’ accent.

The TESOL teacher should have a good knowledge of how the suprasegmentals are

employed in English. Suprasegmentals are those sounds which are overlaid on segmentals.

These do not occur without segmental which carry them.

system used in English.

Some syllables may be pronounced with more force or intensity than others. This is

called stress. English is a free stress language, unlike French in which the stress always falls

on the last syllable of utterance. In English the stress can be placed on any syllable of the

utterance in order to achieve a variety of purpose. The meaning of single words can be

changed by shifting the stress. Words which are not ordinarily stressed may be stressed for

emphasis.

Problems surrounding pronunciation are common among non-native speakers. But the

problems are not too complex. Constant drilling and practice can surely bring in notable

improvement in the learners’ language. Initially the use of words and their pronunciation

must be made consciously. Later on it will become a part of speaking trend. If errors from a

part of our language, even if we consciously try to rectify them, we will not be able to do it

efficiently.

Exercises, tests, speech therapy, etc. are few techniques that will ensure good

pronunciation. In order to master a language, the learner must not only speak, read and write

it, but also must think using the language. Mental translation is something done

unconsciously. But conscious avoidance of the same will ensure we think only in English,

thus helping us master the language.