[etni] Fw: re: The strange language of English...
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorothy Herron" <dherron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Subject: RE: The strange language of English...


Hi Henry,
Not only are many English words spoken contrary to the way they are spelled, 
but they are spoken differently in different parts of the country in both
the U.S.A. and England.  It is interesting that "off the top of your head"
you pronounce calm (carm) and balm (barm) which are not standard American
English pronunciations for the words, but how the words are spoken in New
England, or the north west U.S. And may I guess, possibly in England?

I definitely allow time for this phenomenon to be discussed, because the
students themselves bring it up.  Students from China, Turkey, Mexico, and
many other countries recognize that I do not speak with a southern accent
like they hear from others here in Texas and they ask where I came from.  It
was funny to me to think that I speak with a west coast accent and a tribute
to their ears and hearing abilities that they recognized this. We embrace
the fact that English is a marvelously complex language.  A language that is
alive, growing, changing, and still borrowing shamelessly from other
cultures and languages.  I encourage my students to learn to speak standard
American English (the current politically correct term) because I believe it
will help them to be better understood.  And that is what language is
about...communication.
Finally, yes there are lists of these inconsistencies and I'm sure they have 
made it to the internet, but it is more fun to read the poems pointing out
the absurdity of the language.  I wish I knew where to direct you to find
them.

Dorothy


Henry wrote:

Hi there ETNIERS:
I must say that I have strong feelings of support for all  you teachers of
English. I was wondering how you cope with the following phenomenon: There
are many (quite common) words in the English language in which their
spelling is contrary to the way the word is pronounced. Here are some
examples of what I mean, 'off the top of my head'. I shall include the
pronunciation for the benefit of those who are not English experts.
balm [barm], buoyant [ boyant], cabaret [ cabaray], calm [carm], column
[kollum], cough [ koff], crumb [krum], damn [dam], diaphragm [diafram],
doubt [dowt], fasten [farsen], gnat [nat], gnome [nome], guinea [ginnee],
hasten [haisen], honor [onner], hymn [ him], knapsack [napsack], knee [nee], 

knight [nite], knit [nit], listen [lissen], numb [ num], phlegm [flem],
pneumatic [numatic], psychology [sykology], receipt [reseet], rheumatic [
roomatik], straight [strait], subtle [suttle], thistle [thissle], though
[tho], thumb [thum], thyme [time], tomb [toom], whistle [wissle]. wrap [
rap], wrinkle [rinkle]
In some cases the letter is not pronounced at all and in others, the sound
is changed. I was wondering whether, as teachers of English, if you allot
any time to a discussion of this phenomenon. Also, is there a collection of 
these inconsistencies on the Internet?



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