Thoughts From a (Somewhat) Non-Native English Speaker

This week’s readings on Kenstowicz and Gussenhoven left me with a greater appreciation for the process of human language acquisition and made me rethink my experiences learning English as a second language.

It is clear that Gussenhoven has carefully dissected and presented the mechanisms of speech production and the many resulting, often nuanced, sounds a person produces when he or her speaks. It amazes me that we all were never taught to move our tongues a certain way, much less vibrate our vocal chords at a certain frequency, beyond the simple speaking and learning by example from our parents, siblings, teachers, etc.; yet, we are able to replicate the sounds and new words we hear and understand one another with very little complications for the most part. This happens without any voice and ear training for most of the human population, unlike learning to play music by ear. Both are hearing and recreating sounds; only one is considered a rare talent if naturally born to do so. Why so?

These “internalized” “rules” as Kenstowicz puts it explains why it is so hard for non-native speakers to learn a new language. Spelling is often deceptive in providing clues for pronunciation, and the fact that English speakers interpret as many as eight different sounds to be the same letter [t] is thus rightfully and understandably a cause for confusion for those learning to speak English through studying. We see a word on paper, say “atom,” and we are expected to reconstruct a pronunciation from the limited information provided by those four letters. I continue to teach my mom pronunciations of new English words, and each time, she speaks with a proper, sharp and direct interpretation of each syllable that is written out. The intricacies of spoken language lie far beyond what is written on paper, or what is dictated by the rules we are taught. It develops and continues to evolve with the speakers, with sounds as variant as the speakers themselves. And yet, through all these differences, we somehow manage to recognize our dissimilar sounds as the same words and communicate shared meaning.