Monday, 9 March 2015

Some typical pronunciation mistakes by (my) students learning English

Students in my phonetics classes may choose between General American and General British pronunciation (native speakers of English are exempt).

Here are some more or less frequent mistakes which popped up in this semester's viva voces:
  1. word-final fortissification (e.g. bag -> back)
  2. the TRAP vowel is replaced by the DRESS vowel
  3. the word ending <-ction> is pronounced /-kʧən/
  4. /v/ and /w/ are mixed up
  5. word-initial /br, bl, dr, gr, gl, ʤ/ are replaced by /pr, pl, tr, kr, kl, ʧ/
  6. one man, but two /mən/ or /mɪn/
  7. he was /bjurɪd, bərɪd, bʌrɪd/ in a /tɒm(b)/
  8. determined may materialise as /'detəmaɪnd, dɪ'tɜːmaɪnd, 'diːtəmaɪnd/
  9. /dɪs'mɪʃəl/
  10. sentence-final hotel or unfair are stressed  /'həʊtəl/ and /'ʌnfeə/.
Students who claim to speak General British frequently pronounce got as /gɑt, gat/.
For some the phrase Edith's birthday poses serious problems.

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    15 comments:

    1. john maidment13 March 2015 at 15:19

      I have heard quite a few examples of "ction" → ktʃən from native speakers, but I certainly would not recommend it to NNS.

      Oh, "Edith's birthday" is cruel! ;-)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Kraut15 March 2015 at 17:01

        I guess you're familiar with the knotty phrase: King George the Sixth's throne.

        Delete
      2. Phillip Minden15 March 2015 at 17:46

        Da kratzt's ziemlich an der Zungenspitze, was?

        Delete
      3. john maidment15 March 2015 at 23:04

        gvprtskvni

        Delete
      4. Kraut16 March 2015 at 07:49

        გვფრცქვნი

        Delete
      5. john maidment16 March 2015 at 13:49

        Spot on, Petr!

        Delete
    2. Kraut13 March 2015 at 16:38

      John, I know I'm a phonetic sadist ;)

      ReplyDelete
    3. Sugarloaf14 March 2015 at 19:51

      Just a thought on these mistakes:
      The first 5 mistakes might be regarded as skills errors.
      Mistakes 7, 8 and 10 look like knowledge errors i.e. the speakers are simply unaware of the correct form, which they could doubtless produce if they were aware of it.
      Mistake 6 might be due to gap in either knowledge or skill; the listener would probably be able to distinguish, in individual cases, which of these it is.
      Mistake 9 looks mysterious: from a native speaker’s point of view, it is either Sean Connery trying to sound like an Irishman, or the speaker is drunk. Again, the listener, I imagine, will be able to distinguish.

      ReplyDelete
    4. john maidment14 March 2015 at 23:23

      It has always been a mystery to me why some NNS have such persistent mistakes. Years ago I knew a native Czech speaker who always pronounced "wrong" as [vrɒŋ]. He spoke excellent, fluent English as far as syntax and lexis was concerned, but seemed incapable of hearing that what he was saying was NEVER pronounced in that way by NS. Maybe he just didn't care.

      ReplyDelete
    5. Sidney Wood15 March 2015 at 13:03

      Most of them are what've always been called interference - we program our speech articulators as children, and then have to dit again as, adults with varying success. If we can, we try to get away with our original programs. No. 5 surprised me, does this have anything to do with your local dialect?

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      Replies
      1. Kraut15 March 2015 at 17:04

        Spot on, Sidney. Several accents display this word-initial fortissification.

        Delete
    6. Chaa00615 March 2015 at 14:20

      "Students in my phonetics classes may choose between General American and General British pronunciation (native speakers of English are exempt)."

      So all Americans get to choose but no Britons (sorry, slinks away into naughty corner hoping he won't be noticed ...).

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Sidney Wood16 March 2015 at 10:21

        Chaa006: That's life, that's our fate. Estimates suggest 3-5% of the British population speaks RP, aka GB. The rest of us do our own thing and try to get by.

        Delete
      2. Sidney Wood16 March 2015 at 23:03

        PS. Petr did say native speakers were exempt.

        Delete
    7. Ed22 March 2015 at 23:01

      The pronunciation /bərɪd/ is used in many non-RP variants of English (including my own).

      ReplyDelete

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