Good Pronunciation Leads to Literacy

Sloppy conventional pronunciations -- those that are "correct" -- have eroded mass literacy.

My children have a phonics program that includes these words in the 'silent L' section:
walk
talk
calm
palm
The former pair of these words could be pronounced with at least some of the L to aid in understanding; but, I am almost angry with the suggestion that calm and palm should be pronounced sans the "L" sound. Later in the same booklet, the program suggests that "often" has a silent "T". I don't think so!

But even conventional toughies could be rendered tame with a little care. /wens-day/ could be pronounced /wed'ns-day/ and both the etymology and the presence of the "nes" in the middle of the word could be more easily remembered. If we pronounced the word /marr-y-aj/ rather than /marr-ij/, it would be easier to teach its meaning, its spelling, and the function of the "-age" suffix to a verb.

If we enunciated more clearly in society generally --or at least at home and in schools -- would it not be easier to educate (ed-yu-cate rather than ej-a-cate) children in spelling and vocabulary?

A little extra (ek-stra not eggs-tra) effort in speaking could reap dividends in literacy.

Yer Kiddin'

Speaking of “yer”, I just came across the entries for “your” and “yourself” in Webster’s Pocket Dictionary. The pronunciations suggested were “yer” and “yer-self”. They are just kidding aren’t they? Is this word no longer supposed to rhyme with bore “bōr”? Or have I just lived plum too far from where they’s all fixin’ to go down “chonder”?
Of course, that isn’t to deny that different pronunciations of words are acceptable in different parts of the country. We all have accents and no one is exempt from having them. But the range of somewhat acceptable possibilities should not replace the standard.

Is Shakespeare really so great?

William Shakespeare is taught as the pinnacle of the Elizabethan era and as an unequalled master of our language. Is it so? Specifically, are his plays all they are cracked up to be?

In what ways is Shakespeare tops?

In what ways is Shakespeare merely prolific?

Is it pure laziness...?

Well, this may or may not be a momentous start for our Blog, my fellow umm-egos, but I thought it apt since I recently witnessed its use in a Vlog on YouTube. In this video, a young man, who, I hope, is playing a character that he has created, used the word ‘supposebly’ at least once.

Now, I have never officially investigated the proliferation of this misuse of the word ‘supposedly,’ but I think we might further delve into this magnification of its wrongfulness. How, linguistically, does this translate in our society? Is it laziness; does a bi-labial ‘b’ sound seem so much simpler than the (and I forget the actual term for where a ‘d’ is formed in the mouth) unaspirated ‘d’ sound?

I think that there’s this ‘slacker’ quality for some people who find certain linguistic feats to be too difficult (too much of a mouthful, so to speak), prompting them to seek an easier way around their message. I find it to be pure laziness, in other words.