linguistics-y musings

[fox]

so i was thinking this morning about people who pronounce words wrong (or, to use non-judgmental language, "people with non-standard pronunciations")([rolls eyes]). three examples that leaped to mind immediately were:

• theferrett pronounced row (argument) to rhyme with "whoa" rather than with "wow"
  
• a friend of mine in junior high once said something like "innudioes" when she meant innuendoes
  
• just the other day, i heard someone say "drawt" and it took a little sorting out before it became clear to me that she meant draught, which is pronounced "draft"

i wonder if this has anything to do with how much reading people do, or more precisely how much listening they may or may not do. it seems pretty clear that children who read a great deal acquire a lot of vocabulary that way -- but while they may know a word in context, they may never have (had occasion to) hear it used, so they're more likely than less-heavy readers to pronounce things wrong.

maybe. i mean, i was thinking about this in the shower this morning. i don't know if there's ever been any sort of study made of different groups, much-readers vs. not-so-much-readers; and if there hasn't been, i wouldn't know how to put one together. i'd have to consult with someone who had more knowledge of research methods. and then i wouldn't expect it'd be as useful a thing to know about too many languages other than english, since we're the ones with kooky unpredictable correlations between spelling and pronunciation.

ellen_fremedon? therealjae? others? any thoughts?

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

I think you're really on to something here, and you've got the makings of a great hypothesis. I don't know of any studies like this, either (which doesn't mean it hasn't been done, but there's a good chance it hasn't been done well). You'd probably have to work with school-age children to minimize the influence of other variables, but it could be done.

Hee! Fox doing applied linguistics. Colour me amused. ;-)

-J