it's so damn difficult to unlearn what you have learned (& pronounced) for years...
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Wednesday September 3, 2008
Don’t pronounce everything!
By LUKE TEOH
It is very common not to hear some of the vowels when we pronounce some words. These are called unstressed vowels.
A MALAYSIAN man who was on holiday at his sister’s in Toronto asked for an envelope from his niece but she could not comprehend what he wanted.
He repeated the word “envelope” a few times, yet his niece did not know what he wanted so he enunciated, “En-ve-luhp.”
But the Canadian-born girl was still puzzled so she went to ask her Malaysian-born mother what her uncle wanted.
The lady said, “He’d like an onv-luhp.”
What had confused the niece was that her uncle was unaware of the unstressed vowel in the word envelope and had pronounced it giving the word three syllables instead of the usual two.
What are unstressed vowels?
It is very common not to hear some of the vowels when we pronounce some words. These are called unstressed vowels. Such a vowel is shown in dictionaries as an italicised schwa or a bracketed schwa which tells you that the vowel is not usually pronounced in the word.
Here are examples of some words with the unstressed vowel missing in each word.
1. bre_kfast
2. veg_table
3. bus_ness
4. diff_rent
5. int_rest
6. myst_ry
7. sep_rate
8. choc_late
9. di_mond
10. ev_ry
11. hist_ry
Here are the pronunciations of some words with an unstressed vowel missed out in each word. Did you know the words? Check in a dictionary for the italicised or bracketed schwa.
1. temprature
2. mathmatics
3. camra
4. factry
5. poisnous
6. cemetry
7. Wensday
Here are some common phrases with an unstressed vowel in each phrase:
1. sister-in-law – sistrin law
2. mother-in-law – mothrin law (_thrin assimilated and pronounced as _drin)
3. father-in-law – fathrin law
4. brother-in-law – brothrin law
5. daughter-in-law – daughtrin law
6. Mr & Mrs – mistruhn misiz
Silent letters
Some letters in certain words are not pronounced, i.e. they are silent. Here are some common silent letters, showing where they occur:
1. b
o plumber, plumbing
o bomber, bombing
o climber, climbing
o debt, debtor
o subtle
o doubt, doubting
2. c
o scent
o science
o scythe
o rescind
o sceptre
o descend
3. k
o knob
o knack
o knight
o knuckle
o knell
o knead
4. g
o gnat
o gnash
o sign, design
o align, alignment
o gnaw
o gnarled
5. h
o exhibit
o exhaust
o heir
o honour, honourable
o honest, honesty
o vehicle
6 . l
o salmon
o almond
o yolk
o walk
o alms
o palm
7. w
o wrath
o writhe
o wreck
o wracking
o wriggle
o answer
8. p
o raspberry
o pneumatic
o psychology, psychiatry
o pneumonia
o pseudonym
o psalm
9. s
o isle
o aisle
o viscount
o debris
o island
10. t
o fasten
o listen, listener, listening
o often
o glisten
o christen
o jostling
11. u
o guitar
o circuit
o guillotine
o guilt, guilty, guiltless
o biscuit
o guard
Elisions
Elision – the ‘missing out’ of a consonant or vowel or both is also very common in informal speech.
1. elision of a vowel
o go away (go way )
o try again (try gain)
o run along (run long)
o may as well (may-s well )
o get another (get nother)
2 . elision of a consonant
t
o must be
o left turn
o next day
o post office
o went up
d
o stand still
o a thousand ringgit
o could be
o bold face
o found out
o loved traveling
This is just a very simple and rather superficial explanation on the eliding of sounds in pronunciation as I am unable to use the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) on the computer.
For a more detailed explanation, one can refer to books on spoken English or pronunciation.
I have referred to Modern Spoken English by Thomas Lee Crowell, Jr (Late Professor of English,
A dictionary is one of the most frequently used books for getting information and I have found the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English quite adequate for everyday use. Should you have any questions on the pronunciation of English or phonetics, do contact me – luketeoh2@yahoo.com
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