We have discussed language evolution in the past, but I see an increasing trend, in the mass-media, toward novel pronunciations.
In the past, we have heard two main pronunciations of February. There are those who say “Feb-brew-ary,” and those who say, “Feb-you-ary.” This year, I observe an increasing number of announcers and such saying “Febberrary.” It is distracting.
Just as when certain news readers decided t pronounce harrassment as “harrisment,” these mispronunciations are bound to spread, like a viral epidemic.
“Wh” is rapidly being replaced, by television and radio speakers, with a plain “w,” so that, with their typical accent, “when” becomes “win,” and “whale” becomes “well.” Listening to this sort of talk becomes an exercise in decipherment.
It is not entirely a literacy issue, for example, pronouncing a central “e” in the word “aren’t,” which is, in fact, supposed to be a contraction of a"re not," in which the only “e” is silent. This clearly comes from reading the word, at some point.
Finally, I will mention one more word that is being widely replaced by a variant. The word “strength” is being pronounced as if it were “strenth,” though, thankfully, I have not noticed anyone pronouncing “length,” as “lenth.”
Am I opposed to dialect? No. I am just distracted by these changes, which, increasingly, are being noted by lexicographers, and, in some cases, even included as alternate pronunciations, in modern dictionaries.
But not as distracting as “nukeler” for "nuclear’.
Just as when certain news readers decided t pronounce harrassment as “harrisment,” these mispronunciations are bound to spread, like a viral epidemic.
Are you referring to the placing of the main accent on the first syllable? That’s what my 37-year-old American Heritage dictionary shows as the only pronunciation, so the version with the accent on the second syllable (which is what I have) is presumably the “mispronunciation”. So, are you willing to change your pronunciation to bring it into accord with the standard?
“Wh” is rapidly being replaced, by television and radio speakers, with a plain “w,” so that, with their typical accent, “when” becomes “win,” and “whale” becomes “well.” Listening to this sort of talk becomes an exercise in decipherment.
I’ve had simple “w” all my life, so I’m glad to see the rest of the country catching up. I originally had every case of accented “en” rhyming with “in” (and “or” rhyming with “ar”), but have modified my pronunciation of these as an adult. I’ve never rhymed “well” and “whale”, however.
It is not entirely a literacy issue, for example, pronouncing a central “e” in the word “aren’t,” which is, in fact, supposed to be a contraction of a"re not," in which the only “e” is silent. This clearly comes from reading the word, at some point.
It’s not a literacy issue at all. The US has never had a nationwide pronunciation standard–although the broadcast industry has actively tried to promote one through schools for announcers. What you’re seeing is local standards that you are not personally familiar with. Even pronunciations that seem quite “substandard” to most of us, like “ax” for “ask” often have a very long history. Your own pronunciation of “harassment” (unlike your spelling of it ) is not substandard, it’s just nonstandard.
Finally, I will mention one more word that is being widely replaced by a variant. The word “strength” is being pronounced as if it were “strenth,” though, thankfully, I have not noticed anyone pronouncing “length,” as “lenth.”
I can’t do that one, because I pronounce them as “stringth” and “lingth”.
Am I opposed to dialect? No. I am just distracted by these changes, which, increasingly, are being noted by lexicographers, and, in some cases, even included as alternate pronunciations, in modern dictionaries.
It’s been a long time since lexicographers thought that they could prescribe pronunciaiton. All they do now is note trends. If only the US had a nice Academy to dictate language, as France does, perhaps we’d soon hear everyone speaking the dialect of some small town in Iowa. (You know, I tried and tried, but I couldn’t come up with the name of even one city in Iowa–not even the capital. Fortunately, my granddaughter is still in high school and was able to name Des Moines on demand.)
Of course, that’s not how the spoken language works. It’s a very complex process, and has little to do with official standards–even when such standards actually exist–which they do not in the US.
There are some very interesting changes going on right now in places like Boston and Philadelphia. There are even changes that are increasing pronunciation differences between central Philly and the suburbs. If you’re interested in some of the causal factors, R.L. Trask’s Historical Linguistics has some interesting info–especially on William Labov’s study of internal linguistic changes in the speech of Martha’s Vineyard in the '60s. Lyle Campbell’s book of the same title also contains lots of relevant data. If you’re brave and own flame-retardent garments, you could even bring this up on the sci.lang newsgroup.
There is a lot of room between “official standards” and denying the existance of mispronunciations, which is what “noting trends” really means, I guess.
I get a kick out of correctly pronouncing words like dour (rhymes with tour, not with sour) or flaccid (flak-sid, not flassid).
By the way, I was talking to my old Okie grandma one time about her wheat, and she couldn’t figure out what I was talking about. She asked me, “Weet? What is that, a bird? Oh, you mean ‘hweet’…”
In American English, the T in often is silent. In fact, it’s a case of what is called “hypercorrectness” to pronounce it. Same hypercorrectness occurs in pronouncing “clothes” with a th-sound followed by the s-sound. The accepted pronounciation is “clohz” (in the same vein, there is no th-sound in “months”).
I generally dislike “at this time” or “at this point in time” for “now.” I don’t mind flying but always want to stuff my ears. Airline English is the worst there is. Give me dock workers any day.
Some cliches I hear around school are beginning to annoy me.
Engage: Becoming the most versatile non-coarse word there is.
Various forms of “to tie in to”: Intellectually-Correct term for “perhaps has something to do with”
Aware(ness): Apparently means something more than simply knowing the existence of something. Has been used to mean everything from “sympathy for” to “agreement with”
I’ve had simple “w” all my life, so I’m glad to see the rest of the country catching up. I originally had every case of accented “en” rhyming with “in” (and “or” rhyming with “ar”), but have modified my pronunciation of these as an adult.
The matter of “w” being substituted increasingly for wh has been noted by linguists, in recent years.
I’ve never rhymed “well” and “whale”, however.
Nor should you. Even if the “h” were knocked off, there is generally a distinction between Wales and wells.
It’s not a literacy issue at all. The US has never had a nationwide pronunciation standard–although the broadcast industry has actively tried to promote one through schools for announcers. What you’re seeing is local standards that you are not personally familiar with.
Familiar with? Yes, I have been for some time familiar with these erroneous local standards. I lost a point on a spelling test, in grade two, when some teacher mispronounced which as witch.
Even pronunciations that seem quite “substandard” to most of us, like “ax” for “ask” often have a very long history.
Indeed, it is thought that “aks” may predate ask. I read an interesting article, written in the 1940’s, on some of these dialectical peculiarities.
Your own pronunciation of “harassment” (unlike your spelling of it > > ) is not substandard, it’s just nonstandard.
You caught me on the spelling.
Either way, it’ll make somebody giggle.
By the way, I was talking to my old Okie grandma one time about her wheat, and she couldn’t figure out what I was talking about. She asked me, “Weet? What is that, a bird? Oh, you mean ‘hweet’…”
Etymology: Middle English whete, from Old English hw[AE]te; akin to Old High German weizzi wheat, hwIz, wIz white – more at WHITE
Then there was the newscaster who said something about a “renn dez vauss”…but that was North Dakota, and many moons ago. “Rendezvous” was probably a tad snooty in some circles.
) is not substandard, it’s just nonstandard.
