PRONUNCIATION ~ PRONOUNCIATION*

Dec 07, 2013, 11:40 AM

indicates it is ungrammatical From the verb PRONOUNCE is derived the noun PRONUNCIATION with inexplicable spelling change in the second syllable. This leads many 'intelligent' users of English in India and, maybe, in the sub-continent, to come out with the fairly logical PRONOUNCIATION* from PRONOUNCE and to fall in a spelling-pronunciation trap. It is understandable and, perhaps, pardonable in the case of Learners but if it comes from teachers and senior professors, it becomes a laughing matter that is simply unpardonable because thus wrong language use is not only perpetuated but is made to spread like bad virus. Be careful, therefore, and say proNUNciAtion where the second syllable has the secondary stress and the main stress is on the fourth syllable. By the way, this afternoon on timesnow, while watching FRANKLY SPEAKING in which Arnab Goswami was talking to Arvind Kejriwal, I heard Arnab pronounce HYPERBOLE in three syllables which is very Indian even among most educated speakers of English. The Native Speakers, though, pronounce it in four syllables because they pronounce the final e. Say, therefore, hyPERbali हाइप्हःबलि with the stress on the second syllable. Notice that /p/ in the second syllable is aspirated because of the stress and /r/ is not pronounced because of the following consonant /b/.