oyinmama:

Still excuses in my opinion!!  Since when did it become proper to use negative societal symbols as role models & justification for wrong? Same reason for all the excuses given for the sadly ever increasing failure rate in WAEC, JAMB and other exams, so tell me, Mathematics, Geography & Physics et al aren't part of our culture yes?   There is simply no excuse of mediocrity. SMH


If you have to ask this question, then I understand why this argument persists!

maclatunji:

^^^Exactly, he does not get the point.

musKeeto:

Pls, differentiate between accent and pronunciation.

Doesn't one's accent affect his pronunciation?

Afterall, not all tribes in Nigeria pronounce words the same way. I won't give examples in order to prevent an occurrence of 'tribal derailism'

Plumkin:

^^^Let them keep wallowing in their mediocrity, they might get a Nobel someday.

musKeeto:

Pls, differentiate between accent and pronunciation.

Doesn't one's accent affect his pronunciation? It doesn't have to unless you don't really care.

Afterall, not all tribes in Nigeria pronounce words the same way. I won't give examples in order to prevent an occurrence of 'tribal derailism'

Sisi_Kill:

ello, my names his hayo hand hi ham from hondo state. Hi was heducated in hanambra state, hi like to heat sicken and sips[/i][/b]  - Accent


Lizzen to me, my compura is not working because my broda poured a borru of worra on it. If you tink am not saying the trut axe him yoursef. - Pronunciation

musKeeto:

There's a difference between working with what you've got and mediocrity.

I've met Indians and Chinese who can write English essays yet don't know how to speak the language. Pronunciation of English has nothing at all to do with the failure being recorded by our students in examinations. That's another topic.

CO-SIGN, just some low self esteem bullsh**t  by the OP, The Indian and chinese that are making
millions of Naira in nigeria right now can they speak good english, lol

Nigerians are always shooting @ the wrong target bothered over trivial sh***

maclatunji:

Accent: degree of prominence of a syllable within a word and sometimes of a word within a phrase: primary accent; secondary accent.

Pronunciation: the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.

maclatunji:

Accent: degree of prominence of a syllable within a word and sometimes of a word within a phrase: primary accent; secondary accent.

Pronunciation: the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.

musKeeto:

With regards to pronunciation, what standard of correctness/acceptability do you refer to? The British or American standard?

martinosi:

DUHHH!!!! You have no idea

donclemo:

@ Poster its good to pronounce words well but my question is which pronunciation do we accept American or British or even Naija

maclatunji:

Accent: degree of prominence of a syllable within a word and sometimes of a word within a phrase: primary accent; secondary accent.

Pronunciation: the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.

Wallie:

Your accent is inherently tied to your pronunciation. Your accent is a function of your origin and/or background, and your origin is tied to your dialect which affects the syllables that you stress within a word.

I’m not a linguist but from my observations the two main issues with people of different origins speaking English are (1) stressing the wrong syllable, and (2) wrong pronunciation of a syllable.

xreal:

pleasure = pleayure

. . .   irritates me.

oyinmama:

^^^ thank you! That is willingness to learn!!!

maclatunji:

So what happened to Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Kofi Annan? None has a foreign accent but pronounce English words reasonably well.

maclatunji:

Textbook answer: The British standard obtains in Nigeria.

In reality people may speak with American or British pronunciations but this in no way excuses pronouncing 'Ask' 'Axe' and 'Session' 'Section'.  I hope you get my point; if you don't, listen to kofi Annan speak. He has no foreign accent but pronounces English words with distinction and dignity (take-that you Pseudo-Afrocentrists)

sesandavid:

Pronunciation is one of the most problematic aspect of Nigerian English. The reason being that untill lately, pronunciation was not part of curicullum in our schools, of course you can only give what you have. But beside this, our mother-tongue interference is strong and can not be ignored, studies have shown that every language group in Nigeria do have challenge pronouncing certain sounds, i.e Hausas have the peculiar difficulty of pronouncing 'f' sound, which they usually articulate as 'p', the same goes with an average Yoruba man with difficulty in pronouncing consonant 'z' and will rather articulate same as 's' or 'sh', I could go on with more examples. To overcome this, a learner of English as second language will need ear and vocal training to overcome this.
The solution I will proffer is that children should be exposed very early to correct pronunciation of English especially through their parents and teachers, while adult speakers can listen to audio version  of English dictionary, Encarta has a very good version which I believe will be of help to anyone who desires to have mastery of English pronunciation.

Wallie:

Are you pointing to the fact that they have somewhat of a neutral accent? That in itself has to do with exposure.

To play devil’s advocate, what do you say about the English language spoken by any of these countries: UK, Australia, and New Zealand? I for one will need to listen very attentively to understand half of what the Brits are saying. What does that say about their accent?

I’m not excusing Nigerians for their shortcomings but their accents and intonations have more to do with their origin than them not learning the “proper” pronunciations. How do you determine what’s “proper” anyway? Is the British way of speaking more “proper” than that of Americans?

I think your focus should be more on grammar as the rules of English language are almost universal.

xreal:

pleasure = pleayure

. . .   irritates me.

Plumkin:

Yes ooo!
Pleayure, meayure,preyyure
magikshians, musikshians,politiktishians
asshume,conshume closh-up,shoap
mutor car
The list is endless,

Wallie:

The pronunciations of magicians, musicians and politicians are actually close to your phonetic spellings except for the "k", at least in the US.

Plumkin:

Yes ooo!
Pleayure, meayure,preyyure
magikshians, musikshians,politiktishians
asshume,conshume closh-up,shoap
mutor car
The list is endless,