Re: Re: Pronunciation

As usual I bow to the wisdom of Dick Tibbetts.  Yes, I
have my American accent (and he, his British) as a
model for our students, but both of us, he in Macao
and me in Wuhan or wherever, will still end up
producing students with a Chinese accent.  I do tend
to use recorded English to supplement my own oral
production, some of which may be culled from the BBC
or Australian sources, and I am aware that the few
months I have these students will be supplemented by
many months with other instructors who do not share my
accent.  So I focus on the r/l confusion common to
Chinese rather than trying to correct those who say
t'die, rather than tuh-d'Ay.

And on another tack, I am also sensitive, and try to
sensitize my students to the role of register in
pronunciation.  The same phrase may be pronounced 'Ay
dew knot no' to your boss, 'Ay dough-nt no' to your
peers, 'ah dunno' to your intimates, and 'ah-uh-oh' to
your spouse.  While the students may use the
peer-directed level three exclusivly in their
production, they must be exposed to the other levels
for purposes of comprehension.  Indeed, most movies
are in intimates-directed level two.

Mert


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