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The Nature of Pronunciation

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English Pronunciation Teaching and Research

Part of the book series: Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics ((RPAL))

Abstract

Pronunciation is a component of language and communication that conveys many different kinds of meaning and encompasses linguistic competence at micro and macro levels for both production and perception of speech, comprising (i) the segmental level of individual phonemes (consonants and vowels) and (ii) the suprasegmental or prosodic level of connected speech that includes linking and coarticulation, tone and intonation, stress and rhythm, and voice quality and articulatory setting. Terms and concepts are introduced, and examples illustrate the multiple functions conveyed in communication by pronunciation, including speaker identity, and the potential for serious misunderstanding caused by pronunciation errors or differing conventions. It is seen how pronunciation goes far beyond correct articulation to incorporate multiple layers of language proficiency and types of communicative competence.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For discussion, examples, and references, see Pennington, 1996, p. 155; Pennington, Lau, & Sachdev, 2011, pp. 184, 189–190.

  2. 2.

    http://wenger-trayner.com/resources/what-is-a-community-of-practice/

  3. 3.

    The concept of metamessage, which Tannen (2014) intends as a level or type of meaning different from that of strictly denotative or referential meaning, when connected to pronunciation suggests a distinction between phonology proper and metaphonology, or between phonology proper and some senses of paraphonology (see below), that may conflict with our broad conception of pronunciation in communication.

  4. 4.

    This is a term used in psychology to describe a subjective feeling of familiarity that results from “mere exposure” (often quite brief) to something, creating “perceptual fluency” in the sense of processing fluency or automaticity, and influencing people’s attitudes and affective judgements to what they have been exposed to (e.g., Bornstein & D’Agostino, 1994)—in particular, in a positive way (e.g., Reber, Winkielman, & Schwarz, 1998). Although this is rather different from the way we are using the term, we suspect that interesting connections could be made between perceptual fluency in our sense, which requires long and repeated exposure to a language, and positive attitudes to that language.

  5. 5.

    Ur (2012) relates the stereotype of America as the only country in which people can largely get by as monolinguals, though whether the extent of monolingualism is any higher in the United States than in Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom can only be determined by empirical investigation.

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  1. SOAS and Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK

    Martha C. Pennington

  2. English, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Pamela Rogerson-Revell

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Pennington, M.C., Rogerson-Revell, P. (2019). The Nature of Pronunciation. In: English Pronunciation Teaching and Research. Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47677-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47677-7_1

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