Some tips on pronunciation
and the dictionary
Some tips on pronunciation
and the dictionary
PJH Titlestad
Retired Professor of English
Longman Dictionaries
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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
contradiction.
for
special
emphasis
or
to
express
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!