Re: Grammar in HS (Was: Re: Argument Structures)

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, H. S. Teoh wrote:

> And of course, we also had to learn English (to various degrees of
> competency, depending on the school), so imagine my shock when I came to
> N. America and discovered that apparently students here aren't even taught
> English phonetics (don't even mention grammar), they are just taught to
> follow the "gut feeling" they get when they see a word. (This, IMNSHO, is
> probably why the schwa sound is becoming increasingly prevalent in spoken
> English. Native English speakers may not notice this, but I remember
> having a lot of trouble deciphering spoken English that sounds like a
> string of consonants punctuated by the occasional vowel which isn't
> pronounced exactly in the most intuitive way, either. I honestly won't be
> surprised that sometime in the future, the vowels in unstressed syllables
> won't even be written out anymore, since it makes no difference to the
> pronunciation. But enough of this rant, before I get flamed ;-)
Well, I have a very good vocabulary, but there are a number of words I
pronounce awkwardly because I primarily encountered that vocabulary
through reading.  I could spell it right (...better than your average
American, anyway), use it right, and tell you what it meant, but if it
wasn't used at home (a lot of words, especially all the archaic ones I
picked up from reading fantasy) I'd mispronounce it.  I got laughed at in
middle school--6th grade GT, I think--when I said poLItics instead of
POlitics, among other embarrassing examples.  :-p  As long as I'm on
email, though, y'all will never notice!...I hope.

YHL