Of the two, the first is of vastly greater importance. Few people have a thorough mastery of foreign words, proper names, or technical terms. There may be some excuse for this, but there is little excuse for any educated person's being deficient in the pronunciation of the common words of our language. For the public speaker a complete mastery of these words is essential.

How to become proficient in pronunciation. The attempt to gain proficiency in pronunciation may be greatly facilitated by a familiarity with the diacritical marks that are used to indicate how words are pronounced. For this purpose different lexicographers employ different symbols, those of the Standard Dictionary being very different from those of Webster, for example. It is rather awkward to be obliged to consult the table of vowel and consonant symbols in order to determine the pronunciation of every word. It is desirable, therefore, that one be more or less familiar with the diacritical marks used in different dictionaries, and thus avoid much annoyance and unnecessary time.

In the following treatment of errors of pronunciation, the aim is not to give lists of words for the student to memorize, but rather to present in clear manner the most common mispronunciations of the ordinary everyday words that we all use constantly. The words of these lists illustrate mistakes of pronunciation that have been observed in my own classes during the past ten years.. The most significant thing about them is the fact that they are mispronounced over and over every year in almost every class, which goes to show that they need special attention by most students.

It would be a waste of time for the student to make a systematic attempt to learn the pronunciation of all the words of these lists. They are placed here in the hope that they will serve to accomplish two things:

I. To call attention to the most common cases of mispronunciation.

2. To furnish lists that will prove of value to one who desires to check up his own pronunciation.

The student can make these lists very practicable by running through them rapidly and checking up his pronunciation, noting carefully all the words that he has been accustomed to mispronounce. In this way he can, in a very short time, discover his own weaknesses in pronunciation, and do more to improve it than he could accomplish by months of study of the dictionary.

In making a study of pronunciation, the student should keep in mind the four essentials laid down at the beginning:

Correct vowel sounds

Correct consonant sounds

Correct accent

Correct division of words into syllables

Common errors of pronunciation will be taken up and considered under each of these four heads. Careful attention should be given to the principle involved in each case. It is helpful to observe that if one is accustomed to the use of a wrong sound in one word, the same error is almost sure to occur in all other words in which

that sound appears. Thus the person who pronounces daughter” “dotter" will in all probability call "water wotter," and so on throughout his entire vocabulary.

I. COMMON ERRORS OF PRONUNCIATION DUE TO

INCORRECTNESS OF VOWEL SOUNDS

Misuses of the sounds of "a"

"at." This error is common also in the following:

1. Long a in "data

data" mispronounced short a, as in

2. Long a in "say" mispronounced long i, as, "Did

4. Short a in "land" mispronounced Italian a, as in "arm." This is usually something of an affectation. It is permissible in song where the more open vowel is desirable, but not otherwise.

In some words, however, this error is not an affecta

tion, but a common mispronunciation, as in

་་

5. Short a in catch" mispronounced short e, as in "fetch," resulting in the unpleasant pronunciation "ketch." 6. Italian a in "calm" mispronounced short a, as in 'am," ""calm" thus becoming "cam."

7. The sound of a in "was" mispronounced short u, as in "buzz," was" thus becoming "wuz."

8. Italian a in "father" mispronounced broad a, as in "all," "father" thus becoming "fawther."

gaunt
half

laugh

launch

stanch

9. Broad a in "daughter" mispronounced Italian a, "daughter" thus becoming "dotter."

10. The sound of a in open, unaccented syllables mispronounced short i, as in "ill," extra thus becoming "extry." extry." This pronunciation is common particularly among uneducated people, but is heard sometimes also among students.

II. The sound of a in open, unaccented syllables mispronounced long a, as in "day," with the final syllable unduly stressed, thus:

1. Long e in "penal" mispronounced short e, as in "pen."

amenable
inherent

2. "Either" and "neither," commonly pronounced in this country ether and nether, are pronounced by some people ither and nither. In regard to this pronunciation Richard Grant White says:

For the pronunciation ither and nither there is no authority, either of analogy or of the best speakers. It is an affectation, and in this country a copy of a second-rate British affectation.

Webster gives both pronunciations, with preference for ether and nether.

3. Long e in "serious" mispronounced short i, "serithus becoming "sirious."

ous

4. Short e in "discretion" mispronounced long e, as in "see," "discretion" thus becoming "discreetion."

amenity
precedent

presentation

reconciliation