There are certain topics and activities that these "Family Learning" columns emphasize at certain times of the calendar year, and February is the month when we always focus on the ways that families can help improve the pronunciation habits of children, and adults as well.
Now, February is the designated month for this task because the word "February" is one that is generally mispronounced (as "feb-YOU-airy") throughout the month, so we can use all the mispronunciations we hear this month as reminders that the word is pronounced (and spelled) with two separate r's: "feb-ROO-airy." Each time we hear someone take the easy way and glide into "feb-YOU-airy," we can also remind ourselves of other similarly troublesome words - words that have a sloppy, lackadaisical pronunciation (such as "AR-tic" and "noo-KYOO-lar," instead of "ARK-tic" and "noo-CLE-ar"), and we can reinforce in ourselves and in our children the idea that precise pronunciation is an aid to precise spelling: arctic, nuclear.I recognize very well that English pronunciation (just like English spelling and usage) is always in a state of flux and that each generation creates words and spellings and pronunciations to fit its own needs, not those of generations or centuries past. But each of us has a right to create language standards for himself or herself, too, and we may not want our spelling or pronunciation standards to be determined by the illogical or sloppy usage that happens to be currently in vogue. Just because coaches and TV announcers pronounce "athlete" as "ath-UH-leet" does not mean that we or our children have to grunt that invisible syllable in our homes.
I have found that most sloppy or lazy pronunciations happen not by conscious choice but because many speakers (children and adults alike) simply never think about what they are really saying. American teenagers can slur their way through an entire conversation without recognizing any discrepancy between the words they are saying and the sounds they are using to express those words. Example: "Jeet jet?" "No, jew?" "Sgo." Translation: "Did you eat yet?" "No, did you?" "Let's go."
One of the best ways I have found for getting children to focus on pronunciation and articulation is to have them think about this truly miraculous process of pronouncing words.
Have them consider, for example, the complex work they must do to pronounce just the "l" in the word "lamp." The tip of their tongue must be placed just behind and above the back of their two front teeth; their tongue must be arched downward in the middle, allowing air from their vocal cords to flow over the top of the tongue and out the two passageways that have been created at the sides.
Or, have them pronounce the word "warmth," and ask them whether they hear themselves pronouncing the word as though it were spelled "warmPth." They will because we all pronounce it that way. The process of getting from the "m" sound to the "th" sounds requires us to close our lips as we do for the "p" sound. Try the word "something." Don't you really say "somePthing"? It is also hard for us to get from an "n" sound to an "s" sound without putting a "t" sound in between. Consequently, we say the words "dense" and "dents" in exactly the same way - and that's very natural and very normal, and there's nothing wrong with it. But when we put extraneous sounds into words for no reason ("heightH" instead of "height"), or when we omit perfectly good and pronounceable sounds out of sheer laziness or carelessness ("samwich" for "sandwich"), well, that's another matter altogether, and it's a matter that we as parents, and as learners in our own right, can be concerned about with good reason.