What is the term for pronouncing something as it's written?

Question

Hello everyone,I'm currently writing an essay on accents & dialects pertaining to the English language, and general pronunciation within different regions of the world (Australia, Canada, The United States of America, etc.) in reflection of Standard English. In doing so, I had hoped to include a certain term that is used to describe the function of directly pronouncing words as they are written on paper. To further elaborate, this is a process in which people typically pronounce words in ways that deviate from their intended pronunciation (quite common in the use of nouns) based on their perception of the words as text, which is subsequently based on the pronunciation guidelines of their accustomed lexicon (e.g. pronouncing the German name 'Friedrich Nietzsche' in a way that mirrors English pronunciation, such as 'Fried-Rich Nee-Et-Zchee').If anyone would happen to know of this term for pronunciation, I would appreciate your response.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

If someone pronounces a foreign word or name in an English way, I would say they are anglicizing the word. English people commonly do this.

Is this what you mean?

Or do you mean the way that some people pronounce an English word one way in a conversation and in a different way if they are reading it aloud?

An example of this is the indefinite article 'a'.

People will in conversation say eg 'I bought a chair', pronouncing 'a' as 'ah chair'.

But they quite often would read it by pronouncing 'a' as 'eh chair'.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Hey there, Clive,

Thanks for the reply. I'm familiar with the process of Anglicizing words, but I believe the term I have in mind is broader than English denominations of foreign words (whereby English pronunciation is adapted to non-English words). The term I have in mind is more general, transcending any fixed pronunciation rules that may pertain to a specific language or dialect.

It could have more to do with the latter suggestion you made, of people pronouncing words in certain ways that differ from the ways in which they're read, but I believe it has more to do with taking unfamiliar words at base value and exclaiming them as they're written in the most stringent way possible, overlooking the approved pronunciation rules pertaining to the word (e.g. silent characters; accented letters; emphasis; rules for the pronunciation of certain characters, based on their placement [such as the Spanish language rule in which the usage of the letter 'J' within a word can often represent the same value as 'H' in terms of pronunciation]; and the way in which vowels and consonants are declared).

I hope this gives you a better idea of what I'm getting at, and thanks again for the response.

Mister Micawber · Answer

I would think that the speakers were simply pronouncing the words phonetically, i.e. according to the accepted phonetics of their own language.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Perhaps the OP can offer us an actual example to consider.

Clive

What is the term for pronouncing something as it's written?

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