LETTER A IN UNSTRESSED AND STRESSED SYLLABLES

LETTER A IN UNSTRESSED AND STRESSED SYLLABLES

Khaliqur Rahman

Let's have a look at the words in Group A and Group B.

Group A

about account address

afar ago ally (v)

amiss amount annoy

appear arrive assist

attest atone away

Group B

absolute accent (n) adjective

after agent aggravate

alter ambit anchor

apparatus aristocrat ascertain

atom avid azure

You must have noticed that all the words in Group A and Group B start with letter a. But the difference is that letter a is unstressed in Group A but it is stressed in Group B.

Unstressed letter a, when it is a syllable, as well, is pronounced as schwa, that is, /ə/ or अ (for Hindi speakers). But it is observed that many Hindi and Urdu speakers use the most common

pronunciation of letter a, that is, /e:/ or ए.

Listen to the recording:

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1797419-letter-a-in-unstressed-and-stressed-syllables

SPELLING PRONUNCIATION

SPELLING PRONUNCIATION

Khaliqur Rahman

It is a pity that the sub-continent learners start learning English with learning the English Alphabet. No wonder they depend on the spelling of a word for its pronunciation. That is why you will hear most educated speakers of English in this area pronounce common words like VILLAGE, PLUMBER and RECEIPT as villAGE, plumBer and receiPt and uncommon words like INDICT, VICTUAL and CHICORY as inDIKT, viKchual and CHIkori.

It is a common practice among scholars to give the tag of SPELLING PRONUNCIATION to non-native speakers. But this myth was well and truly exploded when during my PhD programme at CIEFL Hyderabad, I got a few native speakers of English from Britain, States and Canada to read (in the language laboratory for recording) my list of words meticulously prepared for Informants. The list had words like CHASSIS and PHTHISIS and Prof Eric Mottram (who taught English Literature in London), Sheila Wilkinson (the feminist writer from Canada) and the American Director of ASRC (American Studies Research Center) Hyderabad had to resort to spelling pronunciation because they hadn't listened to these words before. It is, indeed, noteworthy that the Dean, Medical College Raipur pronounced PHTHISIS correctly because he happened to have listened to this word before pronounced by an English doctor; similarly, a businessman from Raipur pronounced CHASSIS correctly because he had heard this word before pronounced by his French teacher who had taught him some French.

Conclusion: No matter whether you are a Native Speaker or a Non-native Speaker, you'll resort to spelling pronunciation, if you haven't listened to the word before.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1792716-spelling-pronunciation

PRONUNCIATION ~ PRONOUNCIATION*

* indicates it is ungrammatical

Khaliqur Rahman

From the verb PRONOUNCE is derived the noun PRONUNCIATION with inexplicable spelling change in the second syllable. This leads many 'intelligent' users of English in India and, maybe, in the sub-continent, to come out with the fairly logical PRONOUNCIATION* from PRONOUNCE and to fall in a spelling-pronunciation trap. It is understandable and, perhaps, pardonable in the case of Learners but if it comes from teachers and senior professors, it becomes a laughing matter that is simply unpardonable because thus wrong language use is not only perpetuated but is made to spread like bad virus.

Be careful, therefore, and say proNUNciAtion where the second syllable has the secondary stress and the main stress is on the fourth syllable.

By the way, this afternoon on timesnow, while watching FRANKLY SPEAKING in which Arnab Goswami was talking to Arvind Kejriwal, I heard Arnab pronounce HYPERBOLE in three syllables which is very Indian even among most educated speakers of English. The Native Speakers, though, pronounce it in four syllables because they pronounce the final e.

Say, therefore, hyPERbali हाइप्हःबलि with the stress on the second syllable. Notice that /p/ in the second syllable is aspirated because of the stress and /r/ is not pronounced because of the following consonant /b/.

APARTHEID | SAY APART+HATE

Khaliqur Rahman

This word is most often mispronounced as अपारथाइड اپارتھائڈ in the sub-continent. If you wish to pronounce it the way it is pronounced by Native Speakers, say apart and hate in succession without any pause in between. Say अप्हाटहेइट اپھاٹہیئٹ.

The stress is on the second syllable PART. So, say aPARThate. Most Native Speakers nowadays are pronouncing this word as aPARTheight.

Very soon, you'll be able to listen to the audio-recording exclusively of this site. For the present listen to the audioboo.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1781124-apartheid-say-apart-hate

COPE WITH vs COPE UP* WITH

Khaliqur Rahman

Sheila Dixit, in an interview to toi, says "cope up* with" instead of the correct phrase "cope with". 'Cope up* with' is an Indianism that many educated users of English in India speak or write and, as the asterisk of ungrammaticality suggests, it is a deviation from Standard British English.

During her interview, she also points out that she takes European food and she's seen at her dining table with the toi correspondent. You can see the left-over food and lazy knives and forks in their plates.

That brings me to my favourite topic, English and Englishness. I pity, as I always do, the children and grandchildren of dad and grand dad Macaulay who, I believe, has given himself immortality of sorts in the sub-continent.

I don't know what Mulayam Singh eats but he is a hater of English, at least at election times.

We, as a nation, have, it seems, always chosen what is unprofitable. We love Englishness and hate English. We try hard to look Occidental and be perfect in the little Englisnesses that we've fondly clung on to like knife and fork, suit and tie, etc ... and we don't care if our English is imperfect. We want to retain our national identity in the the use of English and lose it almost completely in adopting the cultural Englishness.