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TROUBLE WITH ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION? WHO DOESN'T?

TROUBLE WITH ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION?

Who doesn’t? Even native speakers hesitate. What about spelling? It’s a nightmare;  neither foreigners nor native speakers can cope with the chaotic English orthography. 

As a matter of fact, Pronunciation and Spelling are a couple on bad terms. They don’t  understand each other and the relationship is impossible. Pronunciation has developed,  changed along centuries and adapted to the circumstances and requirements of our time, whereas Spelling wears the ancient  heavy, hard, over-ornamented dress of former times, an  impediment  getting through in our speedy world.

Since we have no authority to change this undesirable estate of affairs, and it seems nobody has, the only thing  to be done  is to use strategies to manage to get by. This is what I offer in my blogs.

SURE OF THE PRONUNCIATION OF THESE?

SURE OF THE PRONUNCIATION AND MEANING OF THESE WORDS??

TROUBLESOME  -OU

SPELLING	PHONETICS ¿?	SPELLING	PHONETICS ¿?
course count court though tough trouble cousin rough couple country courage thought through thorough throughout drought enough coupé coupon courteous		bough brought counter doubt bout bounce bouncer bound  for couch council counsel bourbon bourgeois bourgeoisie pronunciation bouquet boutique couchette could thoroughly

    

BOLD TOM STORY SOUND suffx -OU correction

BOLD TOM

                        Although

                        this sea is rough,

                        Tom  is stout

                        and brave                                       

                       enough

                        to go fishing

                        on a frail boat

                        along the coast.

                        Tom rows

                        through

                        the waves

                        to bring home

                        enough

                        food

                        for his couple,

                        their four

                        sons,

                        a young

                         cousin,

                        and an old

                         uncle.

                       

                        Though

                        he is getting old,

                        he takes

                        the trouble

                        to go fishing

                        without 

                        a complaint

                        or doubt.

                       

                        Today

                        a strong gust

                        drove

                        the boat

                        off the coast

                        but Tom’s courage

                        managed

                        to go

                        home

                        safe and sound

SOUND -TURE suffix STORY

PRONUNCIATION STORY –TURE suffix

 RICHARD

Rachel

and Richard

are neighbours.

They meet in the orchard.

Richard

used to play truant

and skip lectures

when he was at school;

his mother would say

to his classmates:

-Tell the teacher,

 Richard

 can't go to the lecture

 because he has a temperature.

Eventually,

Richard

improved

and graduated

in literature.

He became a teacher

of literature

and currently lectures

at the University of Chester.

Rachel

studied sculpture

and architecture.

Actually,

she is a good sculptor.

She made the sculpture

of the vulture

and of the other creatures

with ugly features

that are in the pasture.

Rachel

is also very handy;

she can make a sculpture

as well as mend a puncture.

Their son Dick

likes machinery

and studies technology.

He is quite a character.

They love nature

and all  creatures

whether snakes

or teachers.

They like adventure

and are in the departure

lounge

bound for China.

They stand a chance

of visiting  Chile,

in the future;

they’ll have to save up money

for it requires

great expenditure.

More stories...

plus audio!

BOLD TOM -OU suffix SOUND STORY

Transcribe from phonetics:

BOLD TOM

PRONUNCIATION of misleading SUFIX -ture

WHY ENGLISH LOST ITS TAIL

Oh, it’s a long story. Ignorance and hesitation did it.

English originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to England in the 5^th to 7^th centuries AD by Germanic invaders and settlers from northwest Germany, west Denmark and the Netherlands.

Eventually Old English developed from them. It was a very complex language with inflections, declensions, first written using a runic script. Luckily  Irish missionaries introduced the Latin alphabet  in the 9^th century.

The Norman Conquest in 1066 brought the French language to England. French, with a flourishing literature, was the language of the court, the aristocracy, the church  and the administration. Whereas, English was relegated to the common people, mainly uneducated. This, eventually, resulted in lost of inflexions, declensions and to the SVO word order.

Long words were shortened for the same reason. The need to communicate led speakers to put the emphasis on the lexeme syllable, while relaxing the pronunciation of the rest of the vowels to a shwa [E], which caused the lost of the tail, and abundance of monosyllables.

Luckily, that creole spoken by commoners simplified English.

. 

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