[etni] Re: Cockneys?
- From: Sergeiy Sandler <sergeiy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:31:46 +0300
Hi,
Greek lost its aspiration (that's the H-sound) in the first centuries AD (so
Homerus became Omeros, as in modern Greek). Hebrew is clearly loosing the same
sound as we speak. For most young Hebrew speakers there is no longer a
difference in the pronunciation of an Aleph and a Heh, just as there is no
longer a difference in the pronunciation of an Aleph and an Ain (or a Kaf and a
Kuf).
Language changes.
So, in the case of English, we are 'suffering' from the results of this process
in Hebrew. I'm not sure there's much to be done about it in most cases. If an
H-sound is no longer phonemic (Joe is absolutely right about it) then, in most
cases, the pupil will simply fail to perceive the H-sound with a vowel after it
as different from just the vowel. Sensitivity to speech sounds usually develops
in infancy, and without such sensitivity there might well be no way to make
sure the sound is pronounced. The 'Cockney' effect will simply become part of
the Israeli accent.
Compare the situation of Russian immigrants (here I am bragging about those
Russians again...). There has never been an H-sound in Russian (actually,
that's because Greek has lost its aspiration in the first centuries AD; some
languages related to Russian, such as Ukrainian, do have an H-sound, though,
but, as a result, no G-sound). So you would see most of your Russian immigrant
pupils pronouncing the English H as a 'kh' sound (like a Het in Hebrew - a
sound that does not exist in English, and any native English speaker will have
serious difficulties pronouncing it properly as a result). I'm not sure there's
much to be done about it.
Thanks,
Sergeiy.
----- Original Message -----
From: David Guy - deegee.plus@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Cockneys?
One of my pupils has developed an interesting vocal quirk. Like the Cockneys
out of 'My Fair Lady" he adds an 'h' to words beginning with vowels and
forgets to pronounce the 'h' in words beginning with that letter. 'He'
becomes 'ee'; 'him' becomes 'im', etc. He has no disabilities and can
pronounce properly if corrected.
Any suggestions in dealing with the problem?
David Guy
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