PRONUNCIATION

Pronunciation of English, like other languages, is subject to change from time to time and from place to place. If you listen to elderly people converse, you may find that many,of them often pronounce words quite differently from current usage. Also, if you travel in different sections of the country, you will hear different pronunciations as well as different idioms. To illustrate, the pronunciation of as simple a word as after will not be generally the same in the southern part of the United States as in the eastern, and neither form will be heard commonly in the middle west.

Oftentimes even within a community, varying pronunciations may be heard. Despite these divergences there are certain standards that are accepted in the main for cultured and effective speech. In the first place, a pleasant quality of voice is a requisite. Secondly, dialect pronunciation and expressions are not permissible. For example, it would not be correct to say tidy (i as in tidy) for lady, wit or wid for with, git for get, even if the voice is well modulated and pleasing.
Furthermore, although a stilted and affected manner of speaking is considered poor form, it is not good English to run words together as this’ n for this one; gimme for give me; th’ snoon for this noon; haryu for how are you; ’sneedless for it’ .r needless. Moreover, in standard and correct English, it is not good usage to substitute one sound for another as, dooty for duty; singin’ for singing; yu for you; hat for had; dontchu for don’t you; latter for ladder; luf for love. One should also avoid omitting sounds as in kep’ for kept; an’ for and; ‘em for them; ’bout for about; pome for poem.