Pronunciation matters

by Adrian Tennant
Pronunciation: Prescriptive or descriptive?

Level: All
pronunciation SKILLS

Target age: Adults

Summary: In this third article in the series on pronunciation we look at a number of issues
surrounding the ways in which pronunciation is dealt with in learning materials and by many teachers.
The terms prescriptive and descriptive are well known with reference to the teaching of grammar. In
this article they are used to refer to the teaching of pronunciation. The article ends with a number of
practical suggestions on how to include descriptive pronunciation in your classroom.

Introduction

One of my students recently asked me if they should say /ˈvɪtəmɪn/ or /ˈvaɪtəmɪn/. I told them they could
say either and then asked them why they wanted to know. They told me that their teacher at school had insisted

they should say /ˈvɪtəmɪn/, but that they’d heard lots of people saying /ˈvaɪtəmɪn/. This is one case where
being prescriptive in terms of pronunciation seems utterly absurd. Here the difference is simply that one is British
English pronunciation, whereas the other is standard American English. However, when it comes to choosing
what pronunciation to teach, is it as simple as deciding whether to teach Received Pronunciation (RP), Standard
American, or another ‘accepted’ native form?

For the moment, let’s put the socio-political issues to one side and focus on what we actually mean by teaching
a standard form of pronunciation. To start off with, if we take RP, only about 3% of the population of the UK
(around 58 million) actually speak with such an accent (that’s around 1½ million people) – not very many when
you take into account the number of English speakers around the world. So, should something like RP be taken
as a model? But even if we take Standard American, which is spoken by more people than RP, can this be used
as a model?

Firstly, it is probably impossible to teach a particular pronunciation unless you yourself actually speak using that
pronunciation. It may not be impossible, but unless you are using recordings as a model and not opening your
own mouth, it would be extremely difficult – even if it is seen to be desirable (which in itself is very questionable).

Secondly, is a model such as RP really desirable? I’m often amazed when I watch international gatherings
such as the EU or UN where English is frequently used as the language of communication. Quite often you’ll
see a non-native speaker using English and most of the other participants listening intently, nodding, frowning,
scribbling notes etc. And yet, as soon as the British or American representatives start to speak those same people
reach for their headphones in order to hear the translation! It may well be, that models such as RP and Standard
American are actually far harder to understand than other forms and accents of English.

Thirdly, even if we could find an acceptable model for everyone, how accurately could we describe it? When it
comes to what we teach at the moment, there are many cases where the pronunciation ‘rules’ or models, simply
do not match what is actually used by most speakers. This is not always a matter of speakers having different
accents (or not speaking RP or Standard American), but is often because the prescriptive rules are not a true
reflection of use. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Does it sound like that?

It’s not just between American and British English that there are variations in the pronunciation of sounds
within a word. In fact, there are many variations between different regions in Britain, let alone from country to
country. Even people who seemingly speak the same variety will often have slight differences in the way they
pronounce sounds.
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
O

SKILLS / Pronunciation / Pronunciation matters / Pronunciation: Prescriptive or descriptive?

T
O
H
N
•P
CA
 Pronunciation matters
by Adrian Tennant
Pronunciation: Prescriptive or descriptive?

When I look in the dictionary, I’m almost always given one phonemic transcription as though there is only one
pronunciation
subject title SKILLS

way to say a particular word. If I’m lucky, I’ll be given two – RP and Standard American. Not only is this a very
false picture, but it is even a simplification within that particular model. Here are just a couple of examples:
At the moment I live in Nottingham in central England. Here people will talk about /græs/ (grass) whereas in
Oxford they would talk about /grɑːs/, which is what my dictionary shows. In Nottingham, people take the /bʊs/
(bus) whereas the dictionary tells me it should be /bʌs/. We’re talking about a distance of around 120 kilometres
between Nottingham and Oxford and yet they seem to speak a different language!

These differences don’t arise because the words are part of connected speech. They arise simply because
people have a different accent, a different standard, a different model. It appears that the further north you travel
in the UK, the shorter the vowel sounds get in words (although this is a broad generalization).

Jokes often rely on word play, homonyms, homophones etc. Here’s one that uses pronunciation to
create the joke:

A man walks into a bar with a giraffe. They both have a drink of beer. The giraffe falls over and
goes to sleep. The man leaves the bar.
The barman runs after the man and says, “Hey! You can’t leave that lying there.”
“It’s not a lion, it’s a giraffe.” says the man.

Now, how does this work? Well, if you say the sentences at normal speed then the word lying in the sentence the
barman says comes out as /laɪn/ which sounds closer to /ˈlaɪən/ (lion) than /ˈlaɪɪŋ/ (lying).

Of course, what’s happening here is a feature of connected speech. But, this is precisely why prescriptive rules
as to how words should be pronounced are pretty much unworkable. What we need to be doing is exposing
our students to a variety of accents and ways of pronouncing words and making them aware that there
are differences.

Is it only sounds that are a problem?

No, not at all. Stress patterns, for both words and sentences, and intonation can cause serious problems.
Again, the prescriptive rules are often wrong. Usually this is due to oversimplification. A good example of this is
with intonation and questions. Reading many books, you would be under the impression that intonation always
rose at the end of questions. Some books try to be a little more specific and state that for Yes/No questions the
intonation rises, while for wh- questions it falls. However, even this is a simplification. In fact, questions are often
marked simply by the use of specific ‘question’ words or by where the stress falls. Intonation (and to a certain
extent, stress) is used to indicate other things such as mood, certainty, etc. and not simply whether the sentence
is an interrogative or a statement.

Why is this important?

The issue is not so much whether your students are going to be understood or not (although we can’t totally
ignore this), but whether or not your students are going to understand other people when they are the listener.
Simply listening to different accents is not enough – although it is certainly better than only hearing one accent,
whether that is RP or something else. What students really need is focused work where the emphasis is on
awareness and identifying differences in pronunciation. In other words, they need to be exposed to a descriptive
approach (describing through action, in this case) to pronunciation rather than a prescriptive one (this is how x
is said).
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C

SKILLS / Pronunciation / Pronunciation matters / Pronunciation: Prescriptive or descriptive?

T O
O
H
N
•P
CA
 Pronunciation matters
by Adrian Tennant
Pronunciation: Prescriptive or descriptive?
Some practical ideas
pronunciation SKILLS

Making students aware that there is not necessarily only one way to pronounce things is important. In fact, in
most languages there are variations, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are many in English. Here are
a few ideas in terms of raising awareness:

US or UK?

Either record, or write up the phonetic transcriptions, of a number of words that have sounds or stress patterns
that differ between American English and British English. Ask your students to listen to (or say) the words and
note the differences.

What do you hear?

Whenever you do a listening task, reuse the material focusing on the pronunciation aspects and not simply on
the content. There are a number of different things you can do:

1. Ask students to listen to words that sound ‘unusual’. Focus on these words and try and work out together
what is different. Is it a particular sound that is pronounced differently? Are there weak sounds, i.e. schwas?
Is the stress on a different syllable?
2. Transcribe it. Ask students to listen to a short phrase or sentence and write what they hear. If they know
how, you could get them to do it using phonetic script.
3. How else could it be said? Focus on some words or phrases that can have different pronunciation. Write
down how it could be said and then try saying it using the alternative pronunciation.

I’m comfortable with … / I like her accent

Whenever students come across alternative forms of pronunciation get them to try saying it in the way they hear
it. Ask them if they feel ‘comfortable’ pronouncing the word or phrase in that way.

Note: Nowadays coursebooks tend to have a wide range of accents in the listening materials. Use this variety to
help your students try out different accents rather than just be passively exposed to them.

D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008

M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
O

SKILLS / Pronunciation / Pronunciation matters / Pronunciation: Prescriptive or descriptive?

T
O
H
N
•P
CA