Re: Why can't daddy?

"Ruud" == Ruud Harmsen <realemailseesite13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Ruud> Wed, 10 May 2006 12:04:16 +0200: Claudio Grondi
Ruud> <claudio.grondi@xxxxxxxxxx>: in sci.lang:

>> In my own case it turned out, that I haven't got the time to
>> get my second language pronunciation perfect /

Ruud> Possibly. OTOH, I think some people with an accent simply
Ruud> don't know what they are doing wrong.

I can't agree more. They simply can't perceive the subtle differences
between the right and wrong sounds. There is usually a pattern for
speakers of various languages learning a target language. This makes
it possible for one to tell from another's accent what that other
person's native language might be.


Occasionally, there are native speakers who have such a problem.
These people can be found as patients of speech therapists. One of my
primary school classmate is an example. He couldn't pronounce /s/
(whether it's Cantonese or English) and always use [f] instead. I
don't know if that's a perception problem, or just he couldn't control
his tongue properly. I had observed that he spoke like that for 5
years. In the six-th year -- the last year of primary school, he
suddenly changed... He could suddenly pronounce ass /s/ as [s] and
all /f/ as [f] (both Cantonese and English). Overhearing his
information chat with a teacher, I guessed that he had been to some
expert during the previous summer vacation, and this expert was able
to teach him how to correct his problems. Either he himself was aware
of the problem, or others (e.g. parents, relatives, friends) have
pointed out the problem to him.



>> /and it would even not make much sense to try it, as there is
>> no advantage worth the effort /

Ruud> Right, that is also a factor. Speaking a foreign language
Ruud> following the fonological systematics of another one, one
Ruud> can reach a level of being understand. Many find that
Ruud> acceptable, and stop trying to improve themselves.

I would say "most" instead of "many". :)


Ruud> Others continue and het much better.

"Few". :)



Ruud> A child is never presented with that choice, because it has
Ruud> no other alternative than to pronounce the language like
Ruud> everybody around it does.

See my example above. That classmate pronounced Cantonese (native)
and English (learnt) differently from all other classmate.



--
Lee Sau Dan 李守敦 ~{@nJX6X~}

E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee
.

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