Why is English pronunciation so erratic?

English spellings and pronunciation are so strange because the language is really a mix of lots of different languages. In fact, English is made up of words taken from Latin, Greek, French and German, as well as little bits and pieces of other local languages like Celtic and Gaelic.

How do you pronounce GIF linguist?

GIF, and it has a hard G. To pronounce GIF, just say gift without the “t.”

Why is teaching pronunciation so difficult?

In general, you’ll find that English consonants and vowels are difficult to pronounce because of all the work that we’re asking your brain and jaw muscles to do at the same time! This is why training and practice are so important: You’re not just training your brain, you’re training your actual mouth muscles, too.

Is gift a hard G word?

so-called “hard g” which linguists represent with /g/. This is as in “gift”. The “French” or “super soft g”, which linguists represent with /ʒ/. It is in (some) pronunciations of “rouge”.

What is enunciation in linguistics?

Fiorin (2008) explains that enunciation is the act of producing utterances, whereas utterances are concrete linguistic achievements. Enunciation is related to the language constitution process, and not only of its study.

Why is pronunciation not an intrinsic component of the phonology?

Pronunciation is not an intrinsic component of the dic- tionary. For some languages, such as Spanish, Swahili, and Finnish, the correspondence between orthography and pronunciation is so close that a dictionary need only spell a word correctly to indicate its pronunciation. Modern English, however, displays no such consistency in sound

Is there a dictionary guide to pronunciation?

Guide to Pronunciation. Pronunciation is not an intrinsic component of the dic- tionary. For some languages, such as Spanish, Swahili, and Finnish, the correspondence between orthography and pronunciation is so close that a dictionary need only spell a word correctly to indicate its pronunciation. Modern English, however, displays no such

What is an alternate pronunciation of a word?

Alternate pronunciations, however, are a different matter from out-and-out mispronunciations. The latter, no matter how common, are incorrect, either because of the spelling that indicates another pronunciation, or because of what is widely agreed upon to be conventional usage.

Why do some people pronounce ‘w’ as ‘L’ in some dialects?

People frown on this in non-standard dialects such as cockney (“the ol’ bill”). But the “l” in folk, talk and walk used to be pronounced. Now almost everyone uses a “w” instead- we effectively say fowk, tawk and wawk.