wrod as a wlohe

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1、September21,2004PronounciationLanguageLoghasapostabouthowtheWorldTennisAssociation's(WTA)officialpronunciationguideforRussianwomentennisplayersismostlyincorrect.IncommentingonthepostLanguageHatcomments:Thekickeristhat"theWTAstandsbyitspronunciationguide

2、"andsuggeststhat"manyplayersmightadoptAmericanizedpronunciationswhentheyspeakwithforeignreporters."Ashameiftrue;it'snotreallyanyhardertosaysha-RAH-pavathan"Sha-ra-POH-vuh,"andwhywouldn'tyouwantyournamesaidcorrectly?Itis,ofcourse,sillyoftheWTAtocontinuet

3、ostickbyanincorrectguide,butIthinktheissuehereisnotreallyaboutpronunciationasitistranscription.Linguistsknowhowtoproduceanaccuratetranscription(whetherusingtheIPAorotherwise),mostnon-linguistsdonot.TheWTAallowedthetennisplayersthemselvestosubmitthepronu

4、nciations.MyguessisthattheerrorsarelessfromtheirdesiretoAmericanizethepronunciationthanitissimplyignoranceofthebestwaytotranscribethepronunciationoftheirownname.InTaiwanIwassurprisedhowmanypeoplemisspelledthephoneticsoftheirownnames,evenonofficialdocume

5、nts.Thesewerenotnecessarilyissuesrelatingtovariouspronunciationsofthesamecharacter,butsimplyinsensitivitytotheexistenceofafinalnasalvelar.So"lin"林[lin]and"ling"凌[liɤŋ]wouldbothbewrittenbymanypeopleas"lin,"eveniftheythemselvespronouncedtheirname"ling"凌[l

6、iɤŋ].ThisispartiallybecauseTaiwanhassuchamessofdifferentphoneticsystems,andmostpeoplewerenottaughtanyinvolvingtheuseoftheLatinalphabetuntilrecently.Iquicklylearnednevertotrustnativespeaker'sowntranscriptions.Itisworthmentioningthatthereareacoupleofitems

7、onBarbaraPartee'scorrectedlistwhichmightbeacceptable"Americanizations"sincetheyinvolvephonologicaldistinctionsnotpresentinAmericanEnglish.Iknowmywife,Shashwati,oftenhastomakesuchadjustmentsbecauseEnglishlackstheaspirateddentalsoundfoundinhername,andsosh

8、emustpronouncethe"t,"[t]asopposedto"dh"[notsureontheIPAforthis]inordernottohavetorepeatherselfnumeroustimes.Ittakesconsiderablepracticetolearntomakesoundsnotinyourownlanguage'sphonologicalrepertoire,butIthinkitisfairtoexpectnewsc