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A good conversationalist will make it a point to be correct in his pronunciations. One phase of pronunciation is its level of refinement and culture. This is largely a result of background and social strata. Further discussion of it will occur in the chapter on voice. But there is also the more obvious phase of pronouncing words correctly, according to the dictionary. This, too, is important, for a flagrant error can divert a whole conversation, and arouse pity or ridicule for the speaker. Once in class a student offered a most interesting comment on a topic, when toward the end he mispronounced EuropEan as European. This one blunder nullified his whole talk and stood out as the proverbial sore thumb. Sometimes a doubtful pronunciation will throw a good conversation into a verbal quibble. If, saying, "Data pointing to Shakespeare's Catholic background is piling up," you pronounce the first a of data as in hat, instead of as in gate, someone devoid of St. Paul's graciousness can be so disturbed by the faulty pronunciation as to ruin the whole conversation by questioning it. It is, therefore, a good avocation to keep up on the accepted pronunciations of words which are frequent stumbling blocks. It takes little time, and pays good conversational dividends, now and then to glance through lists of ''Words Often Mispronounced." |
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