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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin
The problem with this thread (unavoidable, sadly) is that there are simply too many adaptive pronunciations of words in the American version of the English language. This has recently been reemphasised to me, because I live in Panamá and am engaged a bit in helping the local students with English pronunciation.

Their teachers, Panameños all, are perfectly bright, but somehow have learned their pronunciation in an Español-ish manner. Even the teachers can not believe the number of adaptive/exceptional pronunciations in English. The pronunciation of common words such as 'woman' drives them a little nuts. I'm using the sentence, "The woman never reads a book." as an exemplar. This helps somewhat, but, brother, for a full course, the number of exemplars would be utterly enormous.

76 posted on 03/15/2015 6:48:52 AM PDT by SAJ
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To: SAJ

We all love Shakespeare’s plays but they are rarely done in the dialect of the time. Mr. Mercat and I went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream in what they said was the original dialect. It was interesting but the acting was pretty awful. And they used a rotating stage a lot and I started to smell the old oil and couldn’t keep track of where the exits were so we left at intermission.


89 posted on 03/15/2015 7:14:13 AM PDT by Mercat (forgive all your DeeDees)
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To: SAJ
What you say is very interesting, S. It would be fun to know more.

I notice that you insist on the correct spelling of Panamá and Panameños. Before I lived abroad, I was very casual about such things. E.g., I tended to pronounce Marie Antoinette's second name as if it were "Antanett". However, when one lives in another country, such errors tend to grate on the nerves. I still feel a slight dissatisfaction when Boehner pronounces his name like Baynor, though it's perfectly correct for him to pronounce it anyway he wants, or when someone asks for some au jus I tend to feel a smile coming on.

92 posted on 03/15/2015 7:19:46 AM PDT by Savage Beast (During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. --George Orwell)
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