Musings of Harmony and Pronunciation

I have a couple interesting, but short items I would like to write about in this post.  I hope they will  be interesting to some of you as well.

I had a chance to attend an awards ceremony at the local university.  My wife received a scholarship and an award for community engagement.  I am, as always, proud of her work.  However, what struck me as a bit ironic was another situation.  There were two sisters who seemed to steal the show from all the other award winners.  Both of these young women were awarded multiple scholarships, won several awards and were generally praised throughout the ceremony.  The interesting fact was that they were adherents of the Islamic faith.  I have lived in the Middle East and I am aware of some of the issues of Islam as it relates to other faiths and cultures.  What I found a bit ironic was that the news is overloaded with instances of racism and a general xenophobia in America, especially with regards to Islam.  Yet, in the midst of all the hate and jingoism here were two Muslim women who were not only accepted by their peers but generally overwhelmingly praised by them as well.  Sadly, I looked around and saw no television crews.  I guess instances of peace and cooperation are just not as newsworthy.  I also found it interesting that in many Muslim dominated countries these young ladies may not have even had the opportunity to attend a university.  I like to think that most Americans would have been as proud of their recognition as I was and that they would have seen past race, religion and sex.  America is truly a unique and wonderful country at times.

Another issue that came up recently was a question brought forth by a student of mine.  He asked me why Americans get to mispronounce their English, but he, as a ELL student had to practice proper pronunciation.  I honestly had no real answer for him.  I told him that some of it was a simple laziness of use and ownership.  "It is our language, so we can mispronounce it if we wish," I laughingly stated.  This, of course, is not a great answer and not the answer to give.  I felt that there was really no adequate answer to give him.  However, I do have to think that my flippant response was probably the right one.  Between, the regional patterns of American English, the lack of pronunciation training, and yes, the general laziness of American English speakers, we have sort of allowed pronunciation to slip and take a back seat to general usage.  I think that I am now more certain I should endeavor to present my own speech with an ear towards proper pronunciation.  I will tell you, it is not as easy as it sounds.  I also want to encourage all my fellow instructors to be mindful of this issue as well.  I think we owe our students a bit more in this area.