THE ROLE OF PRONUNCIATION IN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION FOR SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS (Pages 21-25) by K. Ramakrishna Rao in THE ENGLISH INDIA / ISSN: 2321-1172 (Online); 2347-2634 (Print)

English is a romantic language, and it is unphonetic in nature unlike other languages. Pronunciation of /f/ and /v/ and /θ / and / ð / sounds do not exist in Telugu/Hindi , and that is why second language learners encounter pronunciation difficulties with the words that include the sounds and thus never obtain a native-like accent, so they produce the sounds under the influence of their mother tongue. Many of the high school students and second language learners were identified struggling with the above mentioned sounds and with many others which made me concentrate on the pronunciation aspect. The purpose of this paper is to help the learners of English language to speak English well with correct pronunciation which can be easily understood both by our countrymen and native speakers. Correct speech depends on correct pronunciation, and correct pronunciation depends on correct listening. To catch correct pronunciation, it is better to listen carefully and accurately the same passage a number of times, instead of listening a number of different passages. The most significant factor in learning English language is learning correct pronunciation. This is the most complex area in English, unlike the other languages; English does not have fixed phonetic rules. This is partially because of the fact that English has borrowed words and expressions extensively from many languages. The pronunciation of the word has naturally changed when borrowed into English. Some examples of such changes in the pronunciation can be taken from French: restaurant, café, garage etc.. The French pronunciation of these words is different from that of English. Again, guessing the pronunciation of a word in English is equally difficult and dangerous as in many contexts the original spelling is retained though the pronunciation has been changed. So, the pronunciation of English words has to be learnt with the help of teachers or a dictionary, and should never be guessed. The very feel-good-factor of the language rests on the correct pronunciation. Hence, the paper concentrates on the pronunciation aspect.