|
 |
Changing native language pronunciation | ||
Tags: Native Language | Pronunciation | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5568 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 1 of 7 02 November 2010 at 7:51am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Have you ever changed the way you pronounce your native language? If so, how and why?
I made a conscious effort some years ago to introduce the /ɔ/ ("aw") phoneme into my speech. I grew up pronouncing both "caught" and "cot" like /kɑːt/, as is typical in Canada and certain parts of the U.S. However, once I became aware of the fact that most American dialects have two different sounds, I decided to learn the rules on when to use them (consulting the pronunciation guides in my dictionaries) and began distinguishing them in my own speech, to bring my pronunciation more in line with "standard" American and the way the rest of the world speaks English. I have also changed the way I say certain words, simply on the basis of personal preference; for instance, I now say "status" and "data" with an /eɪ/ ("ay") sound instead of an /æ/ (short A) sound. Edited by Levi on 02 November 2010 at 7:57am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5174 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 2 of 7 02 November 2010 at 8:45am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I moved from Hertfordshire to Sussex, both the English places, rather than counties or towns in the US, and was rather softly spoken for here and I spoke standard English. Although here hasn't got a strong dialect, I had to change the way I spoke because I sounded funny to them and I was often made fun of. One of the first things to go was always saying "yes," rather than "yeah." For this and various other linguistic reasons I sounded a snob and different, so to fit in more I started saying things a little more like them, especially the local pronunciation of seen, which is more like "sin," a short i, although I didn't adopt the extreme way of saying been, which is "bin" here and still sounds odd to me and is only really used by country people and a few people in the towns.
Some years ago, I read a book which claimed men tended to move towards a more local way of speaking to fit in and women tend towards the prestigious standard way of speaking. An interesting, but contentious idea! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5561 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 3 of 7 02 November 2010 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
I pronounce those differently, but all the dictionaries and guides I have consulted always suggest the standard pronounciation is the same. I can never quite work out what my mouth is doing when I say "aw" (as in caught). What is the tongue and lip position? Edited by schoenewaelder on 02 November 2010 at 5:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5568 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 4 of 7 02 November 2010 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
Really? I've never seen a dictionary that failed to distinguish those two sounds. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cot http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caught
It's a back, (mostly) open, rounded vowel, though in English and Australian dialects it isn't very open and can sound more like /o:/.  Edited by Levi on 05 November 2010 at 9:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5561 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 5 of 7 02 November 2010 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Oops, I just checked a couple of dictionaries, and you're right. I guess I've just always been generally confused by these pronounciations. Or just generally confused generally. The one spelled with the "a" gets pronounced like an "o" and the one spelled with an "o" gets pronounced a bit o-ish-a-ish. I always feel as if I really am putting a "w" in when I say "caught". I'm sure my lips purse more as I say the word.
(BTW both your links point to "cot") 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| horshod Pentaglot Groupie India Joined 5771 days ago 74 posts - 107 votes Speaks: Hindi, Marathi*, Bengali, Gujarati, English Studies: German, Spanish, Turkish | Message 6 of 7 02 November 2010 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Almost everyone pronounces श and ष the same way. I started pronouncing the 'Sh' (ष) in Marathi and Hindi the way it was originally pronounced in Sanskrit (supposedly)..
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 7 of 7 07 November 2010 at 4:31am | IP Logged | |||||
Yes. By sticking more to standard pronunciation. To sound more like I 'should sound' (standard by definition) so I could be more easily understood by everyone proficient in the language and not just locals. 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
