Saturday, December 29, 2007

Commonly mispronounced English words in Singapore

One of my pet peeves is the way many common words are mispronounced in Singapore, even by teachers of the English language. By mispronunciation, I mean the way the Singaporean pronunciation of a particular word diverges from that as prescribed in dictionaries. While learned opinion may remain divided as to how a particular word is to be pronounced (e.g. 'schedule' or 'often'), it is fairly safe to say that the Singaporean pronunciation of a common stock word would often be at variance with any of the established standards.

The reason for this state of affair is that reading was and still is not emphasized in English lessons in Singapore schools. I don't recall ever having a class on phonetics or on reading in secondary or primary school and I suppose this is probably true for most Singaporeans of my generation. Many older English-educated Singaporeans do however speak the language with a pronunciation scheme that conforms closely to the prescriptions in dictionaries. Two such speakers who come to mind are Lee Kuan Yew and Eugene Wijeysingha, if any RI alumnus still remembers that old dodderer. Younger Singaporeans, even the English-educated ones, have a more colloqualized pronunciation scheme.

Of course, there will be those in Singapore who will lambaste me for insisting on a foreign pronunciation standard. Afterall, it is the Singaporean-accented English that distinguishes the true sons and daughters of Singapore from foreigners. The same people also say that pronunciation should be descriptive, not prescriptive, and we should stick to the vulgar standard, if one can ever call it a standard. Strangely, no one has ever suggested that we should teach the grammar of Singlish instead of proper grammar. The consensus is that we have a linguistic diglossia in Singapore for grammar. The grammar of educated language should conform to that as prescribed in (British) English textbooks but the grammar of colloquial Singaporean English retains its distinctive character. The same goes for spelling - few in Singapore believe that we should have a uniquely Singaporean orthography. So, why should we reject the pronunciation scheme as prescribed in the same dictionaries from which we learn our spelling?

I think that it is important for educated Singaporean English speech to be less divergent from more established varieties of English such as Received Pronunciation (RP) or General American (GA). Afterall, it is the prevalence of the usage of the language that has contributed to our competitiveness in the global economy. This prevalence has enabled Singapore to position itself as a financial centre. Because English is the language of education, government, commerce and law, Singapore is able to import large numbers of workers from Australia, Britain, India, the Phillipines, the US, etc as well as to export hordes of Singaporean workers to the aforementioned countries. Even if their governments wanted to, countries like Japan and South Korea can't do that, at least to the extent Singapore can, because English is not their official medium. There is simply no reservoir of Japanese-speaking or Korean-speaking labour for them to draw upon.

This is not to say that Singlish should be eradicated but we should recognize that there are established pronunciation norms the same way there are established grammatical norms. At a time when millions in China are trying to learn English, an established English variety without any idiosyncratic pronunciations, it is highly inadvisable for Singaporean schools not to arrest this divergence in Singaporean English speech lest Singapore loses the competitive edge the prevalence of English has given it.

Anyway, here's an incomplete list of commonly mispronounced words that I can think of. The pronunciation scheme follows that of dictionary.reference.com (with slight modifications since the former approximate GA as its idea). Stresses are highlighted in bold while the differences are underlined.

WORD

CORRECT PRONUNCIATION

SG PRONUNCIATION

Calendar

[kal-uhn-duh]

[kuh-len-duh]

Compete

[kuhm-peet]

[kom-peet]

Complete

[kuhm-pleet]

[kom-pleet]

Compare

[kuhm-pair]

[kom-pair]

Comparable

[kom-pruh-buhl]

[kom-pair-uh-buhl]

Committee

[kuh-mit-ee]

[kom-mit-tee]

Complication

[kom-pli-key-shuhn]

[kom-pli-key-shuhn]

Compliance

[kuhm-plahy-uhns]

[kom-plahy-uhns]

Condemn

[kuhn-dem]

[kon-dem]

Condemnation

[kon-dem-ney-shuhn, -duhm-]

[kon-dem-ney-shuhn]

Compose

[kuhm-pohz]

[kom-pohs]

Composition

[kom-puh-zish-uhn]

[kom-poh-zish-uhn]

Concept

[kon-sept]

[kon-sept]

Conceptual

[kuhn-sep-choo-uhl]

[kon-sep-choo-uhl]

Colleague

[kol-eeg]

[kuh-leeg]

Cylinder

[sil-in-der]

[sil-in-der]

Excuse

[v. ik-skyooz; n. ik-skyoos]

[ek-skyoos]

Exclude

[ik-sklood]

[ek-sklood]

Extra

[ek-struh]

[ek-stra]

Estate

[i-steyt]

[es-steyt]

Especially

[i-spesh-uh-lee]

[es-spesh-uh-lee]

Establish

[i-stab-lish]

[es-stab-lish]

Excite

[ik-sahyt]

[ek-sahyt]

Excitation

[ek-si-tey-shuhn]

[ek-sahy-tey-shuhn]

Excel

[ik-sel]

[ek-sel]

Excellent

[ek-suh-luhnt]

[ek-suh-luhnt]

Japan

[juh-pan]

[juh-pan]

Japanese

[jap-uh-neez, -nees]

[juh-pan-ees]

Privilege

[priv-uh-lij, priv-lij]

[priv-i-leyj]

Second

[sek-uhnd]

[sec-kend]

Pressure

[presh-uh]

[prezh-uh]

Rectangle

[rek-tang-guhl]

[rek-tang-guhl]

Rectangular

[rek-tang-gyuh-luh]

[rek-tang-gyuh-luh]

Ticket

[tik-it]

[ti-keyt]

Triangle

[trahy-ang-guhl]

[trahy-ang-guhl]

Triangular

[trahy-ang-gyuh-luh]

[trahy-ang-gyuh-luh]

Wednesday

[wenz-dey, -dee]

[wen-uhs-dey]

Monotone

[mon-uh-tohn]

[moh-noh-tohn]

Monotony

[muh-not-n-ee]

[moh-noh-tohny]

The

[before a consonant/vowel thuh/thee]

[thuh]

Vehicle

[vee-i-kuhl]

[vee-hee-kuhl]

Vehicular

[vee-hik-yuh-luh]

[vee-hee-kyuh-luh]

Position

[puh-zish-uhn]

[poh-zish-uhn]

Potent

[poht-nt]

[poh-tuhnt]

Potential

[puh-ten-shuhl]

[poh-ten-shuhl]


Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all readers of this blog. More than 2000 years, the greatest story ever told began on this very night.



Oops. I meant the greatest action story ever told. ;)