HOPE U'LL ENJOYY THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE


25. Fatal. The great majority of Nigerians
pronounce this word just the way it’s
written: “fa-tal.” I had thought that our
pronunciation is close to the preferred
British pronunciation, but I found out that
both British and American speakers
pronounce the word as “fey-tl.” The “a”
sound between the “t” and the “l” in the
word is never articulated. The “ey” sound
is also preferred in the word’s other
derivatives such as fatalism (“fey-ta-li-
zm”), fatalistic (“fey-ta-listik”), and fatalist
(fey-ta-list). Nevertheless, forfatality both
“fey-ta-liti” and “fa-ta-liti” are socially
favored in British and American
pronunciations.
26. Fuel. While Nigerians pronounce this
word like “fu-el,” native English speakers
pronounce it something like “fyool.” A
related one is “oil” which Nigerians,
especially southern Nigerians, tend to
pronounce like “o-yel” or “o-yil” but
which native speakers pronounce as “oyl.”
27. Gear. Like most Nigerians, I used to
pronounce this word as “jia” until I came
to America. Native speakers pronounce it
something like “gia(r).” The first “g” in
the word has the same sound as the “g”
in “girl.” This is also true of the verb form
of the word: geared. It’s pronounced
“giard.”
28. Google. I have no clue why Nigerians,
especially young Nigerians, pronounce
this word as “go-gu.” The “go” in the
popular Nigerian pronunciation of
“Google” usually sounds like the “go” in
“God.” But that’s the pronunciation of
“goggle,” which means to look at
somebody or something stupidly—like
villagers do when they come to the city
for the first time. The proper way to
pronounce Google is “guu-gul.” That
shouldn’t be hard to figure out because
any word that has two “o’s” usually
requires us to have a long “u” sound
when we pronounce it. Examples: cook,
book, look, crook.
29. Gigantic. Both American and British
English speakers pronounce this word like
“jai-gan-tik,” but Nigerians pronounce it
like “jai-jan-tic.” Note that native
speakers sound the middle “g” like you
would the “g” in “goat.”
30. Gnash/gnarl/gnostic. The “g” in these
words is silent. So the words are
pronounced “nash,” “na(r)l,” and “nostik.”
Many Nigerians tend to sound out the
“g’s” in the words.
31. Hoarse. Nigerians pronounce this
word like “ho-as,” but native speakers
pronounce it exactly like they (and we)
pronounce “horse.” So, while British
speakers pronounce it “hos” (with a long
“o” sound) Americans pronounce it
“hoRs” (also with a long “o” sound but
with the “r” rolled).
32. Honest/honor/honorable/hour. The
first “h” in these words is silent, but many
Nigerians sound out the “h.” So the
words are pronounced “onist/onur/
onureibl/aw-a(r).”
33. Hyperbole/epitome/litotes/simile.
While Nigerians sound out the last “e” in
these words, it is silent in native-speaker
pronunciations. So hyperbole is not
pronounced “hai-pa-bol”; it is pronounced
“hai-pa(r)-boli.” Epitome is not
pronounced “epi-tom”; it is pronounced
“ipi-tomi.” Litotes (the figure of speech)
is not pronounced “lai-tots”; it is
pronounced “lai-tow-tees.” Simile is not
pronounced “si-mail”; it is pronounced “si-
mu-lee.” But the rule doesn’t apply to
“academe.”It is not pronounced “aka-
demi”; it is pronounced “aka-deem.”
The reason these words’ pronunciations
are atypical is that they have retained
their original pronunciations from the
languages through which they came into
the English language.The last “e” in many
Greek and Latin words is sometimes
articulated and at other times silent. In
French loanwords, as you saw from
previous weeks, the last letters of many
words are silent and English sometimes
retains these original phonological
features. English sure embodies many
mutually contradictory linguistic
heritages.
34. Issues. Most Yoruba English speakers
pronounce this word as “izhus.” Other
Nigerians pronounce it as “i-sus.” But the
word’s “proper” pronunciation is “i-
shoos.”
35. Library/librarian/secretary/
secretariat. Nigerians leave out the
middle “r” sounds in these words. Library
is often pronounced as “lai-bri” in
Nigerian English. But native speakers
pronounce it “lai-bre-ri.” The “r” is
usually articulated. It is worth noting,
though, that “lai-bri” is a legitimate
variant in British pronunciation; it is not in
American pronunciation. What of librarian,
which Nigerians pronounce like “lai-be-
rian”? Well, both British and American
pronunciations articulate the middle “r” to
have something like “lai-breh-rian.”
Similarly, unlike Nigerian English
pronunciation that elides the middle “r” in
secretary and secretariat, British and
American pronunciations sound it out.
Instead of “se-ke-tri,” British speakers say
“se-kri-tri” and Americans say something
like “se-kri-tari” (the last “a” is soft). This
also applies to secretariat. While
Nigerians pronounce it “se-ke-tey-riat”
native speakers pronounce it something
like “se-kri-tey-riat” with subtle
differences in how the vowels are
articulated, which I am not interested in
exploring here.
36. Liaison/liaise. Nigerians pronounce
this word like “lai-ason.” We also
pronounce liaise like “lai-as.” But British
speakers pronounce liaison like “li-ey-zn”
and Americans pronounce it like “li-ey-
zon.” Both British and American English
speakers pronounce liaise as “li-eyz.”
37. Listen/fasten/hasten. The “t” sound
in these words is silent in native-speaker
pronunciations. Listen is pronounced
something like “lisin,” not “listin” as
Nigerians pronounce it. Fasten is “fasin.”
The elision of the “t” sound also occurs in
the word’s other derivatives such as
fastener (“fasna”), fastening (“fasnin”),
refasten (“rifasin”), unfasten (“on-fasin”),
etc. And hasten is pronounced “heisin.”
38. Machete/ matchet. Nigerian English
speakers pronounce these words alike,
that is, “ma-chet.” But machete, which is
the more modern form of the two words,
is “properly” pronounced “ma-she-ti.”
Machet, the older word, is pronounced
“ma-chit.”
39. Plagiarism/plagiarize/plagiarist. Many
Nigerians pronounce the first “a” in these
words like the “a” sound in “attack” to
have something like “pla-gia-ri-zm,” “pla-
gia-raiz,” and “pla-gia-rist,” but in all
native-speaker pronunciations, the first
“a” after “l” sounds like the “a” in ape. So
it’s “pley-gia-ri-zm,” “pley-gia-raiz,” and
“pley-gia-rist.” In other words, the first
“pla” in the words sounds exactly like the
word play.
40. Plumber. The “b” in the word is silent
in native-speaker pronunciations unlike in
Nigerian pronunciation where it is usually
articulated. Instead of “plom-ba” native-
speakers say “ploma” with a soft “a”
sound at the end. The “b” is also silent in
these derivatives: plumb (“plom”),
plumbing (“plomin”), plumbable
(“plomeibl”).
41. Poignant. Although this is not a usual
word in Nigerian conversational English,
the few Nigerians that I’ve heard
pronounce this word often sound out the
“g” in it. In native-speaker
pronunciations, however, the “g” is silent.
It is not “poi-gnant”; it is “poyn-yont.”
42. Pivotal. Nigerians pronounce this
word as “pai-vo-tal.” That’s the
pronunciation I grew up hearing from my
elementary school teachers who attended
“pivotal teacher training colleges,” a sort
of stopgap teacher certification for
secondary school leavers who desired a
career in elementary school teaching. It
wasn’t until much later in life that I
discovered that the word is pronounced
“pi-vo-tl” in the dominant varieties of
English pronunciation.
43. Ritual. This word is often pronounced
“ri-twal” in Nigerian English. But native
speakers pronounce it like “ri-choo-al.”
44. Statute. This word sounds like “sta-
choot” in native-speaker pronunciations,
but many Nigerians pronounce it like “sta-
tiut.”
45. Stipend. It is pronounced “stai-pend”
by native speakers. Many, certainly not
all, Nigerians pronounce it “sti-pend.”
46. Sword. The “w” in sword is silent in
native-speaker pronunciations. It is
pronounced “sod” in British English and
“soRd” in American English. Nigerians
sound out the “w.” Interestingly, the “w”
in sward, which is often confused with
sword in written English, is articulated. It
is pronounced “swo(r)d.”
47. Towel. Many Nigerians pronounce this
word like “to-wel.” Native English
speakers pronounce it something like
“taw-ul”
48. Tortoise. Nigerians pronounce this
word like “to-tois.” I met a Nigerian
woman in Louisiana in 2005 who had
great difficulty making her American
friends understand what she meant by
“to-tois.” They were by a swamp in the
middle of a campus and she was telling
them something about tortoises, but they
had no clue what she was talking about.
She was frustrated. It was because, first,
Americans are more familiar with “turtle”
than “tortoise” and, second, they
pronounce the word like “toRtis.” The last
“o” in the word is kind of silent in all
native-speaker pronunciations.
49. Verbatim. Almost every Nigerian I
have met has pronounced this word like
“va-ba-tim.” But it is pronounced “va(r)-
bey-tim” in native-speaking
pronunciations.
50. Wednesday. Nigerians pronounce this
word “wed-nes-dey.” But in all socially
favored native-speaker pronunciations the
“d” is silent. So it’s “wenz-dey” or “wenz-
dee.”
I will conclude this series next week with
bonus words and other great suggestions
I received from readers.

http://www.sundaytrust.com.ng/index.php/politics-of-grammar/12436-top-50-words-nigerians-commonly-mispronounce-iii

Nice and very educative piece. Keep it up!

Wow this is wonderful. thanks man

Wow! Nice. Now i can pronounce gigantic, pivotal, stipend and machete correctly

27. Gear. Like most Nigerians, I used to pronounce this word as “jia” until I came to America. Native speakers pronounce it something like “gia(r).” The first “g” in the word has the same sound as the “g” in “girl.” This is also true of the verb form of the word: geared. It’s pronounced “giard.”

The emboldened is common among the yorubas. #no offence meant#.
I recall when a yoruba friend of mine was teaching another friend of mine how to drive, he told him (in his dialect) "when the car is stationary, u engage jia 1 to get it rolling." I was like WTF did he just say??

Its indeed educative....tnk u

And the same even applies to singing. the way we open our mouth to pronounce some words. http://www.newscabal.com/2015/09/09/proper-pronunciation-and-communication-while-singing/

I remember one guy giving us a tutorials about pronunciation in music and one of our ladies were called to sing a song:
she goes:

This is d day
This is d day
that d lord has made


It was so hilarious

She was told you dont open ur full mouth to say 'the' in music. use 'da' instead of the.