----- Original Message -----
From: "Barnett" <barnett@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Cockneys?
A quick reply: This is a phenomenon which I call "the floating aitch" In
Hebrew he probably doesn't pronounce the letter 'heh' (get him to read a
short passage in Hebrew and check this out), so he tends not to notice the
notice the English aitch or else considers it insignificant (i.e. not
phonemic). Teachers have probably told him to pronounce the aitch, and so
he
'hypercorrects.' Hypercorrection is what takes place when you're so
concerned to get the grammar or pronunciation right, that you get it wrong
(see http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/h.html ). He knows there
are aitches in there somewhere and flings out a few every so often just for
good measure.
A solution that I have found is to use word drills, sentence drills, poems,
and sometimes longer written texts, and get the student to concentrate on
the aitchesm exclusively. One would of course have to mention the
exceptions, when the aitch is silent, as in heir or honour. I devoted a
unit
on this in my booklet "English Pronunciation for Hebrew Speakers" but there
are other books containing such exercises, which I could also recommend.
Basically it needs to be monitored. Taping, playback and correction is one
method.
I hope this has helped.
Joe Barnett, English Department, Michlealah - Jerusalem
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?
-------------------------------------------- Visit the ETNI site - http://www.etni.org Send a message to the ETNI list: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Send queries and questions to: ask@xxxxxxxx --------------------------------------------