th e Stubs; of E ngl i sh i n M i c ro b y f orei g n W omen Stub ents , et am n b b al l . Lectures in th e English La nguage a n d Litera tur e b U r L u r a n d T y nive sity ect er s utors . An Exam ination three ti m es a year a t th e e nd of h rm d d b th e s for eac te , con ucte y As ociation th e Education of Wom en in Oxford . A Libr ar y in Norham Ha ll for th e u s e of Resident Students , Dates of com m encem ent a n d all particul ar s m ay be obta ined from T E E B R H N N . U C Mrs . O A C C S , N h a m H or all , x d O for . A Va ca ti on Cou r se l a sti ng f ou r weeks i s fiel d d u ri n t/ze m om! : o u / g f j y . Pronu nc iation Of English b Forei n r y g e s. ourse o f Lectur es to th e Students O f Norh a m Ha ll h e Ph h on t ysiology of Speec . F. R. S B A D Sc . URCH M . EOR E J . O G G , xon , ® gf o r b CO . LT D . O ALDEN , BOCARD PRESS . R H HAM LT N K E N T L N D N : S M P K N A S ALL O . L T D C . O O I I , M , I O , 1 9 1 1 T MY DE WIFE O AR , Th e Pr N h a m H incipal of or all . 2 6 1 4 5 7 P R E F A C E . “ T H E SE o f lectures , under the title The Physiology Of ” o f Speech , have formed part the Courses for the Study of English in Oxford by Foreign Women Students in which f an examination is held at the end o each term . I have often been asked by students to print them , and now do so in the hope that thereby their usefulness may be increased . t However well a language may be learnt, hose whose native tongue it is c an almost always detect slight di ff er en c es o f pronunciation which constitute what is called a “ ” s foreign accent . Frequently it is po sible to tell what country the speaker comes from by the characteristics o f this foreign accent . My opportunities o f collecting material relating to this subject have been exceptionally good . After the lectures o f the students were taken in classes twelve, where each in turn read from a book or went through the exercises an d ro nu n described in the lecture, any peculiarities Of p c i ati on to were n oted down from week week , a separate - sheet of the class register being devoted to each student . 1 0 0 I These records , from 9 , when began the system , f until now, have been care ully collated and classified by an d towns , the towns by districts , and districts by countries , n a d the results incorporated in this book . O mitting on the o n e hand those whose foreign accent was negligible , and on the other hand those who through travelling about o r through living long in other lands could not be considered to represent the characteristic pron u n viii Preface. c iati on O f any particular district , there remained the records of 1 3 0 5 people which have been utili z ed in writing this book . Merely accidental mistakes have been omitted , so o f and also have been the faults beginners , for the simple reason that as all the lectures and classes are given in English , beginners do not come to these courses . The di ff erences O f pronunciation are due mainly to the fact which is Of great scientific interest—that each nation has its o wn way of managing the muscles that control the organs of speech , with the result that although the sounds n o t a n d produced may seem the same , they are identical , ff under certain circumstances the di erences are manifest . I f have tried to explain these di ferences , and to point out how they may be remedied . I have not used the phonetic alphabet , because I hold that the niceties of pronunciation of any language c a n only i be acquired by im tating people who pronounce it properly . This book assumes that the reader will either come to o n e England or learn of some who has been in England . In dealing for instance with the vowels , the teacher will an d pronounce , hear the student pronounce , the list of words given in connection with each vowel sound , until he is satisfied that i t has been correctly acquired . In those ' lists will be found the {Me-wor d s u sed i n a l l l l ze c/zze/ ' ' / i t r on ou n ci n d zrl zon a r i es so E ng {s p g , that having acquired a o f c a n knowledge the sound , the student get the correct pronunciation o f any word in the language from any one Of these diction aries . The small numb ers above the vowels used in spelling the mistakes Of pronunciation relate to these lists O f vowel sounds . They express simply the order in which those sounds were treated in the lectures , and are intended to enable the student to id entifythe sound which each mistake has to an English ear . Pref ace. i x The diagrams have been purposely kept simple so that they may be copied on the blackboard . Some o f the quaint sentences given as illustrations will l remind o d students O f their own experiences . They will recogni z e the traps set to catch them in o n e fault while f they were thinking o another . They will recall the ff o f strenuous e orts in our cosmopolitan classes , students of o ne country to surmount the difficulties peculiar to their o wn nation , and the satisfaction with which they pronounced things easy to themselves but impossibly difficult to their next neighbours from another land . And with the memories aroused by the printed words will come the memories Of the ear and of the eye , recalling the very voices and faces sat An d of those who around the table with us . they will to a s seem hear once more the tones Of the English voice, I have heard again their voices in going through the O l d class records . G . J . B . C O NT E NT S. L E CT U RE P AG E T HE PHYSIOLOGY O F SPEECH CONSONANTS FRIC ATIVES VOWELS G LI D E s E ! ERCISES NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS O N BREATHING ACCENTS E ! AMPLES F O R PRACTICE PRONUNCIATION SIGNS USED I N THIS BOO K PRON U NCIATION SIGNS USED I N THIS BOOK . SH Sherry CH cherry ZH usual I jam 1 broom = r t r u e R tom oRRO w R guttural r TH Mi n TH this G go glottal catch sing -er singer fi n g-ger finger F i n -gal Fingal gin -jer ginger 1 a father 2 a fall 3 a fat 4 a fate 5 a hare 1 e me 2 6 men 1 1 si r 2 1 pit 3 I mine 1 0 n o t 2 0 n o 0 0 fool 1 u turn 2 11 but 3 u bull 4 u tube o n o u t T H E P RO N U N C I AT IO N O F E N G L ISH . LECT U RE I . H O F T E PHYSIOLOGY SPEECH : CONSONANTS . ANATOMY describes the structure o f the body Physiology seeks to explain the manner Of its working : and as it i s i mpossible to understand the working o f a machine without. w O f i ts i s to kno ing something mechanism , it necessary begin the study o f the Physiology o f Speech with the Anatomy Of the Speech Organs . 1 - 2 These may be divided into ( ) Wind supplying , ( ) Sound - producing, (3 ) Sound modifying apparatus . - WIND SUPPLYING APPARATUS . fi vi z Under the rst head we note an important fact, — that the same organ as is so Often the case in livin g — : creatures serves two purposes the lungs , which supply breath without which the voice is silent, convey also to the o f blood oxygen without which the fire life goes o u t. And because we need n o t always speak but must c o n ti nu al l of y breathe, the voice is under the control the will , ’ W but the breathing is regulated automatically . e can o r n increase, diminish , i terrupt it, but only for a time, and i n - a very few seconds we become conscious o f a fo r n necessity taki g breath overmastering the strongest will . The proper management of the breath is as important as th e of t correct pronunciation the words , and will be deal with in a later lecture .