LEARN ENGLISH 5

Khaliqur Rahman

In the earlier lessons we’ve seen that quite a few rules of English grammar depend on the Sounds of English (44) rather than on Letters. We must therefore learn the Sounds of English and learn to see them and the Letters of English in separate compartments.

Unfortunately, teaching of English in India generally starts with the letters. This has a very strong negative influence on most of us. In trying to pronounce an English word we are most often guided by its spelling. The result is spelling pronunciation, which in most cases is not the accepted standard pronunciation.

In Written English, we add –s  or  –es  to singular nouns to get their regular plurals. We add –s or –es  again to VbI (Verb in the first form) so that it agrees with singular subjects (except I and singular you).

Most of us, therefore, pronounce the following words with a sa- sound to mark plurality of nouns or agreement of verbs with subjects and say: cats dogs* churches* stands* hisses*. These are spelling pronunciations and far from the accepted standards.

The standard pronunciations of these words are.

Cats   dogz   churchiz   standz   hissiz

Look at the following words-

caps  bats  kicks  puffs  sheaths

These words end in voiceless consonants. There are only 9 voiceless consonants in English: pa  ta  ka  fa  tha  sa  sha   ha and cha .The –s in spelling in all cases is pronounced as  sa .

Look at these words now-

Nibs  pens  pads  bags  beams  bills  gives  booths  seas  cows  blows

These words end in voiced sounds (except the 9 voiceless consonants stated above all the other consonants and the vowels are voiced) and the –s in spelling in all cases is pronounced as za.

Look at these words too-

Misses   doses   dishes   garages   marches   judges

These words end in one of the sa za sha zha cha ja sounds and the –es in spelling in all cases is pronounced as  iz.

When you pronounce a voiceless sound you don’t vibrate your vocal cords, but when you pronounce a voiced sound you do vibrate your vocal cords, and I must tell you here that all vowel sounds are voiced and sa za sha zha cha ja  are  sibilants.

There’s another interesting pattern in pronunciation and this concerns the addition of –ed (in the written form) to the first form of the regular verbs to get their second and third forms. Here again, you’ll notice that the voiceless sounds behave in one way and the voiced sounds in another and in the spoken form, just like sa  za  iz,  ta  da  id  are added to the VbI whereas in the written form you add –ed. 

If you’ve followed the pattern, you should be able to tell me how you’ll pronounce asked  begged  wanted  and  added.

Well, if the verb ends in a voiceless sound, you’ll add ta. If the verb ends in a voiced sound, you’ll add da and, if the verb ends in ta or da, you’ll add  id.

So, you’ll hear a ta sound after ask, a da sound after beg and  id after want or land.

Aren’t you pleasantly surprised after you’ve come to know about these regular patterns in pronunciation? But do you think the English child who acquires English (its mother tongue) has to learn these rules? No! These rules are the head ache for the Second Language Teachers and can be of great help and perhaps a source of motivation for the Second Language Learners!

People say Spoken English has no grammar. Will you go by them now?