I'm currently taking Dr. White's Linguistics course. As I'm sure many of you know, he's a pretty big fan of phonetics and the transcription of said phonetics. He drills us constantly on how to show the pronunciation of words through use of the phonetic alphabet. I'm starting to get the hang of it, but I can't help but to constantly question how I pronounce things. Do I say them properly? What does it mean to say the "proper" pronunciation, anyway?
The word set that got me today in class was "tour, pour, poor."
Personally, I pronounce these all with the same vowels sound, making them all rhyme. Apparently, however, that's not the "proper" way to pronounce them. So I'm genuinely curious; how do you pronounce these words? Do they rhyme or not?
Also, do you think anyone should be able to label pronunciations "correct" or "incorrect?" If so, who has that power?
Obviously, there needs to be a level of congruity between speakers, but I'm curious to see what is an acceptable limit to variation. If the point is still conveyed, does it make any difference?
I'm not sure that I have any clear answers to these questions. All I know is that my mind has been tainted by studying Linguistics. I can no longer listen to a conversation with dissecting the subtle nuances of a person's speech. It's quite "interesting" as Dr. White likes to say, but at the same time, it can be tiring.
...Oh, and I have yet to figure out how to pronounce "color." No matter how hard I try, it always comes out all wonky sounding. I could use some help.
Jake, this is a really interesting post. Unfortunately I did not have to take a course in grammar or linguistics in my time, but I certainly feel cheated. Have you thought about how you will incorporate this into your own teaching? Will you? I don't see much grammar taught, but you point out that there could be some great value to it. And I agree....who gets to say what is correct, as we all come from different backgrounds with different ways of speaking. I can see how one might lose their mind. Worth exploring more, though.
ReplyDeleteI would, in fact, like to incorporate some of the things we're learning in Grammar and Linguistics in my future teaching. It may sound odd, but I've actually had a lot of fun playing around with language in the class.
DeleteI'm not exactly sure yet of how I plan on teaching the nuances of grammar, but I think it will be valuable for students to see just how much of a difference even little changes to words can make.