Re: Pronunciation

I think that spelling systems that attempt to provide a phonetic
version of English while using only the 26 letters of the alphabet at
present in use in English suffer from some limitations when used for
TEFL purposes. These problems can be illustrated by looking at novels
written in dialect, where a similar system is used to give readers an
idea of how the characters sound.

Here's a passage in Glaswegian form Anne Donovan's Buddha Da. I might
have chosen V S Naipaul's House for Mr Biswas (Trinidad), Ming Cher's
Spider Boys (Singapore) or other works by Catherine Lim and other
"Commonwealth writers" but this was to hand.

As soon as we were oot the hoose John says 'Jimmy, am ah mistaken or
are things a bit chilly between yous two?'
'How d'you mean?'
'Well, Liz seems tae think that there's sumpn gaun on between you and
thon Barbara wumman.'
You know that's shite, John.'

There is one major difference and that is that Donovan and most other
dialect writers don't transcribe every word. They pick on those that
the reader will see as having major differences from more standard
English. But when they do alter the spelling of words they use common
English spelling conventions to let the reader know the sound. Donovan
uses "oot" for "out". We all know that the "oo" here is going to be
like the "oo" in boot, not the less common "oo" in book. 

Phonetic spelling systems use the same approach. They work when the
reader is aware of these common spelling conventions and they work
better when the reader has some knowledge of the spoken form of the
language being transcribed. People who have never heard Glaswegian may
find it harder to hear the accent in Donovan's book than those who
have heard it before. If you go back further to Robert Burns, our
ability to hear his poems depends to some extent on our knowledge of
present day Lowland Scottish accents and we use this to interpret his
phonetic spelling.

Going back even further, Chaucer's written English was far more
phonetic (Well, OK, sometimes a bit erratic, too) than present day
spelling but because we are not familiar with the sound of his dialect
it takes experts to interpret his language and present probable oral
versions of the Canterbury Tales.

For these reasons I think that such phonetic systems are more suitable
for those who already have a good knowledge of English spelling
conventions and of the sounds of spoken English. Once EFL learners
have achieved this I think they might as well carry on and cope with
English as she is spelled since they've been doing just that for quite
a while.

Dick Tibbetts








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