• Some tips on pronunciation and the dictionary

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    Some tips on pronunciation and the dictionary

     PJH Titlestad

    Retired Professor of English


         Longman Dictionaries

    Longman dictionaries have played a significant role in the development, analysis and teaching of English since

    1755. Longman has a comprehensive list of dictionaries available for Grades 4 to 12.

     Longman South African School Dictionary plus CD-ROM Suitable for Grades 4 – 9

    The interactive CD-ROM allows learners to:

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    9781408202630 Longman South African School Dictionary with CD-ROM

     

    LONGMAN HAVE DONATED 10 OF THESE DICTIONARIES TO READERS WHO SEND AN EMAIL TO THE EDITOR (DR MALCOLM VENTER, drv@worldonline.co.za) GIVING,  IN NO MORE THAN 50 WORDS, A TIP ON HOW TO USE DICTIONARIES IN THE CLASSROOM.  PLEASE INDICATE WHAT GRADE LEVEL THE TIP IS AIMED AT. THE FIRST TEN TO SEND IN THEIR ENTRIES WILL RECEIVE A FREE DICTIONARY AND CD ROM.  PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND POSTAL ADDRESS.

     

    The pronunciation of English is not easy. The spelling system is far from phonetic. The spelling of Afrikaans and the          indigenous African languages gives a much clearer indication of pronunciation.

    Another feature of English is the stress system and its effect on pronunciation. English is a stress-timed language. Sometimes the vowel sounds in totally unstressed syllables change, whatever the spelling. This is called vowel reduction. It is also often difficult to know on which syllable of the word to put the stress.

    However, sometimes it is easy. English is a bouncy language. This is often indicated in children’s songs:

    Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

    Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,

    All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

    Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

    Poetic metre depends on the distribution of stressed and unstressed syllables. In the first line, the second syllables  of the name are totally unstressed and “on a’ are also totally unstressed. If they were not, the line would not go with a swing but would plod. The same applies to ordinary sentences.

    Afrikaans is also a stress-timed language, although there is not the same vowel reduction in unstressed syllables. The African languages are syllable-timed. There are no completely unstressed syllables.

    The right kind of dictionary can give one the pronunciation of a word but dictionaries do not always use the same system. The Penguin dictionaries try to use an adapted form of spelling, which is easy to follow but is not completely accurate. The Oxford dictionaries and others use the phonetic alphabet, which is precise but which requires a little knowledge to manage. There is usually a list of the phonetic symbols with illustrative words in the front of the dictionary. The trouble is that one may not know how to pronounce the illustrative words correctly and hence not get the right sound for the phonetic symbol.

    All dictionaries mark the stress when giving the pronunciation of a word. This is done by putting a little, thick, vertical line in front of the syllable that has to be stressed and above the line of print. There is always a main stress in a word of more than one syllable. Sometimes, with longer words, there may also be a syllable that takes secondary stress. This is less important. Secondary stress is shown by a thick, little line below the line of print.

    Usually, computers do not have this symbol, so in this article the sign ` will be used. Go to a dictionary and acquaint yourself with the proper sign.

    There are three features in particular of the representation by the phonetic symbol method that are essential. One is the main stress. The second is the symbol for the “reduced” vowel that may occur in completely unstressed syllables. Thirdly, there is the mark to indicate whether a vowel is long or short.

    The phonetic symbol for the reduced vowel is an e that is upside down and back to front. Look in a dictionary to identify this most important feature of the phonetic alphabet. The textbook name for this symbol and sound is schwa. The complicated origins of this name need not be explained here. It is sometimes also called the neutral vowel. The sound is a vague “uh.”

    The mark to indicate a long vowel is a colon [ : ] after the vowel. The distinction between long and short vowels is very important in English. Failure to get this right can result in severe disruption. N.B. A short vowel is not a reduced vowel. A short vowel can be stressed.

    `freedom.

    The stress is on the first syllable and the second syllable is unstressed, hence the vowel is schwa. The vowel in the first syllable is long. The phonetic symbol is [i:].

    `diesel.

    The first vowel is again [i:] and the second vowel is again schwa because the syllable is unstressed. At the petrol pump you might hear something different; the stress on the second syllable and a shortened vowel in the first, [i]. Perhaps the vowel in the second syllable will be lengthened, as well.

    Please note that [i:] is not the only long vowel. There are five in English and they are always long and should not be short.  The computer has not got the symbols for all of them, so find them in the list of symbols in the dictionary.

    a`greement.

    Here the stress is on the second syllable. The vowel in this syllable is again [i:]. The vowels in the first and third syllables are both reduced to schwa as these syllables are unstressed. One frequently hears this word pronounced with equal stress on all syllables and no reduction anywhere.

    Some pairs of words are distinguished by different stress:

    `convict (noun)

    con`vict (verb) (schwa in first syllable)

    Sometimes there are alternatives:

    con`troversy (schwa in first syllable)

    `controversy

    The first used to be the required form, but now the second is frequently heard. Things do change.

    con`tribute

    `contribute

    The same applies.

    There are traps:

    me`chanic

    me`chanical

    but

    `mechanism

    e`conomy

    eco`nomics

    Note, therefore, that the stress can shift around in rather confusing fashion, partly  because of prefixes and suffixes.

    Be careful of endings and of spelling. There is a phenomenon called spelling pronunciation which is the misguided attempt to allow spelling to determine pronunciation. For example, does the pronunciation of “Wednesday” follow the spelling? How is “boatswain” pronounced? It is part of the traditional language of the sea. It should be pronounced something like “bo’sun.” The stress is on the first syllable, and there should be schwa in the second syllable.

    Here are some other traps. “Russia” should have only schwa at the end, despite the spelling. “Parliament” should have only schwa in the middle. “Contributory” should have schwa for the o near the end. In fact the o could be completely slurred i.e. not pronounced. “Manage” should have schwa in the last syllable, despite the e at the end.

    “Marriage” and “carriage” should have only schwa at the end, whatever the spelling might seem to require. As a refinement, they could be pronounced with the short, so-called “barred I”, which is not as long or as sharp as [i].

    It won’t be a stylish marriage,

    I can’t afford a carriage,

    But you’ll look sweet, upon the seat,

    Of a bicycle made for two.

    Up to now, we have been discussing  word-stress and not sentence-stress. The small words in a sentence, especially prepositions, “and,” “is,” “are,” “was,” “will,” and the indefinite article “a,” are usually unstressed. They are stressed only for special emphasis or to express contradiction.

    SABC announcer: “The table tennis championships WILL be played next month.”

    This intonation implies that somebody had said that they would not be played next month. In a plain statement of fact, the will is unstressed and the intonation of the voice is not raised.

    Airways pilot on landing at O.R.Tambo: “We are glad to welcome you TO Johannesburg.” Did he mean that the passengers should have been glad that they were not going FROM Johannesburg? The “to” should have been unstressed for a plain statement of fact, and the vowel should be schwa.

    Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

    The “on a” should both be completely unstressed. There is a ghastly tendency ,on the SABC and elsewhere, to always pronounce the indefinite article a as in “say” or “day.” This interrupts the flow of the sentence. The article is given undue prominence and stress. This is done only for satirical purposes or to convey doubt. A useful subtlety in English is becoming blurred and so the language becomes a little poorer.

    Above all, don’t plod!

     

    Categories: Volume 3