better spoken english prof. shreesh chaudhary …nptel.ac.in/reviewed_pdfs/109106067/lec34.pdf ·...

Better Spoken English

Prof. Shreesh Chaudhary

Department of Humanities & Social sciences

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Some “consonants” in English

Lecture 34

Good morning.

Good morning, sir.

OK, this, today, may be the last lecture for me and today, I am going to draw your attention to

some consonant sounds, some of those sounds that are produced generally with obstruction in

the oral passage. Now, we do them alright, but there are some times, there are some sounds

occasionally, where we do not get them as correctly as we ought to.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:59)

And I have been drawing your attention to sounds, that are written with…From day one, I

have been drawing your attention to sounds like /v/ as in give me a word: five, this sound,

ok? Or this, as in, ok, lovely. May god give you a loving one or shall I say pretty one, they are

not contradictory, ok? Right. How these sounds are produced, how if if you do not already

have them, how we can have them. There is a second point, I want to make today, ok, before

we close. It is good to have appropriate and correct pronunciation, but it’s not enough. It is

also important to have socially appropriate language. Even, if you have very good

pronunciation, can you use bad words in public? Say yes or no. obviously not, it does not

require a three credit course at IIT, Madras to tell us that we cannot do that, you know, that is

commonsense.

So, we have been, you know watching this video by Bernard Shaw sorry the film, My Fair

Lady. Actually, this was not a film, he wrote it as a play Pygmalion and he has, in a certain

sense made fun of the British society, British upper classes that they are very particular on

dress, very particular on courtesies, etiquette you know and on pronunciation, it must be

spoken only in this manner, only at this tempo, only with this amplitude. There are so many

only’s that after some time, it becomes ridiculous. Looks like you don’t have freedom, you

don’t have choice. And actually in all civilized societies, if you look at the history, then you

know all civilized societies start controlling your behavior and there comes a point of time

when they control it so much that people start rebelling. Then begins the decline of

civilization. Actually, if you ever get time, and if you study subjects like anthropology, have

you heard of that subject? How do you pronounce it? How do you pronounce it? Everybody

please.

Anthropology

Anthrop is man; this is man, the science of …

O is missing.

Sorry. Did I miss something? So sorry. Anthropology. OK? The science of civilization of,

how it studies. It’s a very complex inter disciplinary subject. Some day if you have time, you

can look at some books in this area. Even in the British society, you know, because of,

because they have been in power for three four hundred years: rising country, rich country. In

their culture, there is a lot of emphasis upon what they call, how do you pronounce it?

Etiquette.

Etiquette, how do you pronounce it?

Etiquette.

Etiquette. What is etiquette? You must do certain thing, only in a certain manner, when you

greet somebody in English, don’t greet him with left hand, unless you are a lefty. OK, people

who write with left hand, OK? Or you know, you must bend at a certain degree, or you know,

you eat in a certain, when you eat, you should eat noiselessly in their community. Among us,

we can eat and talk, but not in the British community, you know, when they have party, the

invitation card also tells you what kind of dress, formal, casual, smart casual, you know they

go to great details.

Actually, if you eat, you must not, your spoon must not be, you know your spoon must not

touch the plate in such a manner that it produces noise. It’s a matter of practice, you know,

you can acquire it, but sometimes, one thinks, it is ridiculous to have so many rules. When

you eat, no food particles should stick to your lips, and if it does, use a napkin or use a, you

know, tissue, you know that, paper towel to wipe your lips. There is also a rule about, how to

wipe your lips, don’t wipe your lips like, you know, we do in India. Not in this manner, it

should go from gently from right to left, ok? Or from left to right, not like you know, you

were going to take your lips out and put them away. Similarly, when you drink soup and soup

is not drunk in English. Soup is eaten in English. You see, it is liquid, but they eat it. They

don’t eat other liquids but they eat soup and soup should not be eaten with a spoon like we

put the entire spoon into our mouths, not that way. Soup like boat should come sideways to

your lips, ok? And then, gently without producing, don’t produce that kind of noise. Ok? Lots

of rules, lots of you know things so much so that sometimes one feels that the entire

community is behaving like a robot. And what does literature do, literature exaggerates any

aspect of the culture to draw your attention that look this is what you are becoming, the

substance is disappearing and form is becoming the model. And Bernard Shaw, I told you

about Bernard Shaw yesterday. Did anyone look up; did anyone Google Bernard Shaw

yesterday? Don’t raise your hands, don’t answer it. Did any one? OK, doesn’t matter. You

know, as a teacher, you know, my job is to continue to be hopeful, some things will attract

you today that I tell you, some things that I tell you today, you will do tomorrow or you may

do five years later, but you will do it. I am very confident, you know, I remember sometimes

my teachers talking to me. And they spoke to me 50 years ago, ok? But even now sometimes

I remember. OK. So, you know this is education. Education does not change your behavior

entirely in one day. It’s not like a laundry in shopping, you know, washing machine. You put

the shirt in it and you take it out, dry, cleaned and all that. But sometime, when you have

time, look up people, you know, some of these people. See what kind of people they were.

Somebody like Bernard Shaw, born so poor and he made so much money, out of his plays, his

lectures. You know, people were admitted to his lectures if you paid for it, a very powerful

speaker and a very entertaining speaker, not like us. Not boring, you know, very entertaining,

you felt like listening to him on and on. Very witty, very well read and hard working.

But, he spent, in spite of the fact that he made so much money, he did not spend money on

himself. Throughout his life, he wore only one jacket. Even when he was almost a billionaire

before he died. He married at the age of 64 or 65. There are, you know, lots of quotes from

him. Can I tell you one? OK? You know, when he was very popular, his stage plays were

booked six months in advance or one year in advance, ok? Entirely all shows booked for next

6 months. OK? So One actor, one female actor or actress as they were called proposed to

him, Mr. Shaw, why don’t you marry. It was partly, you know, joke, partly in humor that lady

told him and Bernard Shaw said ok, but why should I marry you? She said, Well, if you and I

marry, then our child would be yes, can be pretty like me and witty like you. Yeah, right. Tell

me, complete the rest, yeah! And Bernard Shaw said suppose he becomes pretty like me and

witty like you. OK? You know, there are all kinds of things attributed to Bernard Shaw.

Somebody asked him, where did you learn all this. I said, you know, he said, I learnt all my

life except when I was in school. You know, there are this kind of witty things. Don’t take

them very seriously. Because, they are partly cynical, partly in humor, but here is someone,

you see, when a great scientist works, a great scientist does not work in isolation, when a

great literature works, it does not work in isolation. He has a great poet, he has a story writer,

a great painter, a great… a society is great when everyone is great. It is not that you have lots

of wonderful sciences and nothing else. It just does not happen. Imagine your body; can you

have the right hand of Cassius Clay and the left hand of Shreesh Chaudhary? Is it possible? It

doesn’t. It’s an organic rule. It happens together.

Now, I gave you such a long introduction before the two clippings I am going to show you

from this video. We will watch the clippings and then I will ask you after each clipping one

question. OK? Shall I give you the question now? After that or take the question. Is

pronunciation enough? Or is the correctness of social correctness also desired. You know,

what we call etiquette. OK? Look at this and see where Eliza Dolittle do little succeeds and

where Eliza Dolittle does not succeed. OK? Are you ready? Are we together? Everybody

please. I see some people still sleeping, you know. How many of you came without

breakfast? OK, great! So, you have 9 clock class, you have time for breakfast. Marvelous.

OK, Let me.

One each. One on each bench.

Every duke and earl and peer is here

Everyone who should be here is here.

What a smashing, positively dashing

Spectacle: the Ascot opening day.

At the gate are all the horses

Waiting for the cue to fly away.

What a gripping, absolutely ripping

Moment at the Ascot opening day.

Pulses rushing!

Faces flushing!

Heartbeats speed up!

I have never been so keyed up!

Any second now, they'll begin to run.

Hark! A bell is ringing,

They are springing forward

Look! It has begun...!

What a frenzied moment that was!

Didn't they maintain an exhausting pace?

'Twas a thrilling, absolutely chilling

Running of the Ascot opening race.

Did you get the words of the song? I’ll play it once again. And now have I given you the text.

So listen to the song and then, next time, I’ll play it again and I’ll ask you to sing with the

you know, the singer, the play back singer here and then maybe I will ask you to do without

them. You know, without them. This is a chorus, everybody singing together. OK? So now

listen to it with, I have given you the scripts. Is that Ok? Shall we do that? OK, let me rewind

it.

Your eyes to the text now. Look at the text and your ears to hear. Your eyes to the text and

your ears to the music, sorry, yeah, your ears to the music and your eyes to the text. Correct?

Did I get it right? OK, Lovely! Sometimes I get, where should eyes be, where should ears be.

But, human beings have that capacity. They can distribute their attention part-wise. Have you

heard of someone who could dictate two letters at the same time? We’ll talk about that. Right,

Shall we continue? OK, so your eyes to the text and your ears to the. Now you have seen. We

will watch it once again, but may be this time, you know, pay attention to the text.









Pulses rushing!

Faces flushing!











There was some mistake of spelling here. It should be pace p a c e, not piece you know. I am

sorry for the mistake of spelling. Did you get that right? Now, shall we sing it with the video?

OK, everybody please. Everybody, I find that whenever I do the group thing, some people

just enjoy watching the others. That’s not, you are, you are denying yourself a share of the

fun if you don’t join in. overcome your inhibition, you know, it’s a group activity. That is why

the culture of chorus came; the culture of keerthan in our villages came. Whether you are a

Mohamed Rafi or Shreesh Chaudhary, you can sing together. It really doesn’t matter. OK?

Shall we all do it together? Please. Everybody together. OK?









Pulses rushing!

Faces flushing!











OK, this time without the video, right? I’ll say 1, 2, 3 and you’ll begin. Don’t worry about,

you know, but go together. Don’t go faster; don’t go slower, go together with your friends.

Remember it’s a team effort. Don’t feel shy, don’t feel over confident. I will say 1, 2, 3 and

everybody will begin. 1, 2, 3.









Pulses rushing!

Faces flushing!











OK?

Get used to it and practice it with your, with the text and believe me, we are learning

somebody else’s language and we must also, we must learn all aspects of it. The rhythm, the

pronunciation, the stress, the enunciation as they say. Later you may switch between this

pronunciation and another. Just as you switch between Telugu and English, between Hindi

and Telugu, between Tamil and Telugu, between Tamil and Hindi, you know. Similarly, you

can do but when and until you have learnt it, you must try. OK, Right. Let’s go with film.

Let’s watch the rest of it. I have brought you a very interesting clipping. OK, are you alright?

Not tired? OK, please.

Can I give you the context? Can I give you the context? You know, you saw the drill

yesterday, that professor Henry Higgins makes this flower girl Eliza Dolittle, undertake, you

know, undergo this course in pronunciation of English and she is being taught upper class

accent.

Now that you know, yesterday you saw in video that she is able to say sentences like: In

Hartford, in Hartford, in Hampshire, in Hampstead, hurricanes hardly ever happen or another

sentence you know, in Spain - what is that?

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

Mainly. You know, so all kinds of tongue twisters, all kind of ha ha ha, a cup of tea, a cup of

tea, you know, they have prepared her with the pronunciation, but they have not given her the

social correctness. They have asked her that she could talk about these two things. Health and

weather but let us see what happens. So, in order to test, that she has got the language of the

upper class, they bring her to this horse race party and between races, people drink tea,

according to the British culture and they also have little conversation. Watch that.

Mother.

Henry! What a disagreeable surprise.

Hello mother. How nice you look.

What are you doing here? You promised never to come to Ascot. Go home at once.

I can't mother. I'm here on business.

Oh no, Henry, you mustn't. I'm quite serious, you'll offend all my friends: the moment they've

met you I've never see them again. Besides, you're not even dressed for Ascot.

I changed my shirt. Now, listen mother, I've got a job for you; a phonetics job. I picked up a

girl—

Henry.

Oh no, dear, not a love affair; she's a flower girl. I'm taking her to the annual Embassy Ball

but I wanted to try her out first.

I beg your pardon.

Well, you know the Embassy Ball?

Of course I know the ball, but—

So I invited her to your box today, do you understand?

A common flower girl!

Oh, it's alright, I taught her how to speak properly. She has strict instructions as to her

behavior. She's to keep to two subjects: the weather and everybody's health; "fine day", and

"how do you do", and not just let herself go on things in general. Help her along, darling,

you'll be quite safe.

Safe! To talk about one's health in the middle of a race?

Well, you've got to talk about something.

Where's the girl, now?

She's being pinned; some of the clothes they bought her didn't quite fit. I told Pickering we

should have taken her with us.

Ah! Mrs. Eynsford-Hill.

Good afternoon, Mrs. Higgins.

You know my son: Henry?

How do you do?

I've seen you somewhere before?

I don't know.

Oh, it doesn't matter. You'd better sit down.

Lady Boxington.

Where the devil can they be?

Lord Boxington.

Ah!

Colonel Pickering, you're just in time for tea.

Thank you, Mrs. Higgins. May I introduce Miss Eliza Doolittle?

My dear Miss Doolittle.

How kind of you to let me come.

Delighted, my dear. Lady Boxington.

How do you do?

How do you do?

Lord Boxington.

How do you do?

How do you do?

Mrs. Eynsford-Hill: Miss Doolittle.

How do you do?

How do you do?

And Freddie Eynsford-Hill.

How do you do?

How do you do?

Miss Doolittle.

Good afternoon, Professor Higgins.

The first race was very exciting Miss Doolittle; I'm so sorry that you missed it.

Will it rain, do you think?

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. But in Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire,

hurricanes hardly ever happen.

Ha! Ha! How awfully funny!

What is wrong with that, young man? I bet I got it right.

Smashing!

Hasn't it suddenly turned chilly?

I do hope we won't have any unseasonable cold spells. They bring on so much influenza and

the whole of our family is susceptible to it.

My aunt died of influenza—so they said—but it's my belief they done the old woman in.

Done her in?

Yes, Lord love you. Why should she die of influenza when she come through diphtheria right

enough the year before? Fairly blue with it, she was. They all thought she was dead, but my

father, he kept ladling gin down her throat.

Oh...

Then she come to so sudden she bit the bowl off the spoon.

Dear me!

Now what call would a woman with that strength in her have to die of influenza? And what

become of her new straw hat that should have come to me? Somebody pinched it; and what I

say is, them as pinched it done her in.

Done her in? Done her in, did you say?

Whatever does it mean?

Ah, now that's the new small-talk: er, to do somebody in means to kill them.

But you surely don't believe your aunt was killed?

Do I not! Them she lived with would have killed her for a hat-pin, let alone a hat.

But it can't have been right for your father to pour spirits down her throat like that. It might

have killed her.

Not her. Gin was mother's milk to her. Besides, he'd poured so much down his own throat; he

knew the good of it.

Did you mean that he drank?

Drank! My word! Something chronic. Here! What are you sniggering at?

It's the new small talk: you do it so awfully well.

Well, if I was doing it proper, what was you sniggering at? Have I said anything I oughtn't?

Oh, no...

Not at all, my dear.

Well, that's a mercy, anyhow.

What? Yes, yes, oh yes. I don't know whether there's enough time before the next race to

place a bet, but come, my dear.

I don't suppose so.

I have a bet on number seven. I should be so happy if you would take it. You'll enjoy the race

ever so much more.

That's very kind of you.

His name is Dover.

Come along, my dear, come along.

There they are again, lining up to run.

Now they're holding steady,

They are ready for it

Look! It has begun!

Come on...come on, Dover. Come on...come on, Dover. Come on. Come on, Dover! Move

yer bloomin' arse!!

What goes wrong here? In the Experiment that Prof Higgins and Colonel Pickering are doing.

What is wrong here? Can any one please tell me? What is not right here? You know, they

haven’t told the girl that, she comes from absolutely lower working classes. They have not

told her that certain words cannot be spoken in a civilized society, ok? And she does make

that mistake right, is that clear to you? OK. Moreover, there is exaggeration of everything,

over sized hat, very peculiar kind of clothes, and every one wearing the same kind of clothes,

Shaw makes fun of the British’s society. And look, you look like robots, ok? That’s what it is.

Now, you know after this, they train Eliza Dolittle further into social manners, all right? OK?

Let us see how she gets along at the second and final occasion, whether she really comes

through as a princess, as a member of the upper class society. Another clipping, and then we

will do some drill and we will call it a day. Now, they take her to a ball given by some you

know, very rich and powerful Duke every year, where ambassadors and their families and

British, you know, upper classes lords are invited. And There is a ball, you know, what a ball

is. It’s a kind of dance, you know, gentle movement and some party etc. Only the rich and the

mighty are invited there and because Professor Henry Higgins comes from the upper classes,

his mother has an invitation and as you heard, he talks his mother into letting him take his

friend Colonel Pickering and this girl Eliza Dolittle. Now, she is dressed differently. In the

intervening weeks she has also been giving some tuition about social manners.

Actually, in Britain, and even in India there used to be something called finishing school.

have you heard of it? Have you heard of finishing school? You know, Finishing school was

mainly for girls and after they were given school education and college education, in

finishing school, then were taught housekeeping. But many boys were also sent because, they

were also taught social etiquette manner, how you should sit down, how you should greet

different people etc etc. OK? After Eliza Dolittle has been given all the lessons that was

generally given in the finishing school, they bring her to this embassy ball. Now, see, how she

carries herself; now she has got pronunciation and she has also got the social manners. Thank

you. OK?

Do you have a class after this? So can I take 5 minutes longer? No problem?

Charming. Quite charming.

Miss Doolittle, ma'am.

Miss Doolittle, my son would like to dance with you.

Eliza.

Absolutely fantastic!

What a lot of tomfoolery.

It was an immense achievement.

Well, Mr. Higgins?

A triumph, Mrs. Pearce, a total triumph. Higgins, you were superb, absolutely superb. Tell us

the truth, now, weren't you a little bit nervous once or twice?

No, not for a second.

Not during the whole evening?

Well, from the moment I saw we going to win hands down I felt like a bear in a cage, hanging

about with nothing to do.

It was an immense achievement.

If I hadn't backed myself to do it I've have given it up two months ago.

Absolutely fantastic.

What a lot of tomfoolery.

Higgins, I salute you.

Oh! Silly people don't know their own silly business.

Tonight old man you did it

You did it, you did it.

You said that you would do it

And indeed you did.

I thought that you would rue it

I doubted you'd do it

But now I must admit it

That succeed you did.

You should get a medal

Or be even made a knight.

Oh! It was nothing, really nothing.

All alone you hurdled every obstacle in sight.

Now wait, now wait, give credit where it's due,

A lot of the glory goes to ... you!

But you're the one, who did it,

Who did it, who did it?

As sturdy as Gibraltar

Not a second did you falter.

There's no doubt it

You did it.

I must have aged a year tonight

At times I thought I'd die of fright

Never was there a momentary lull.

Shortly after we came in

I saw at once we'd easily win

And after that I found it deadly dull.

You should have heard the "ooh"s and "ahh"s

Everyone wondering who she was.

You'd think they'd never seen a lady before.

And when the Prince of Transylvania asked to meet her

And gave his arm to lead her to the floor,

I said to him you did it

You did it, you did it.

They thought she was ecstatic

And so damned aristocratic

And they never knew that

You did it.

Thank goodness for Zoltan Karpathy; if it hadn't been for him I'd have died of boredom.

Karpathy, that dreadful Hungarian; was he there?

Yes, he was there all right, and up to his old tricks.

That blackguard who uses the science of speech

More to blackmail and swindle than teach.

He made it the devilish business of his

To find out who this Miss Doolittle is.

Every time we looked around

There he was that hairy hound from Budapest.

Never leaving us alone

Never have I ever known a ruder pest.

Finally I decided it was foolish not to

Let him have his chance with her

So I stepped aside and him dance with her.

Oozing charm from every pore

He oiled his way around the floor.

Every trick that he could play

He used to strip her mask away.

When at last the dance was done

He glowed as if he knew he'd won.

And with a voice too eager

And a smile too broad

He announced to the hostess that she was ... a fraud!

No!

Jawoh!

Her English is too good, he said,

That clearly indicates she is foreign

Whereas others are instructed in their

Native language, English people aren't.

And although she may have studied with an

Expert dialectician and grammarian,

I can tell that she was born ... Hungarian!

Not only Hungarian, but of royal blood.

She is a princess.

Her blood, he says, is bluer than the Danube is or ever was.

OK? We have very few, you know hardly few minutes left and we will do some drill, but you

see they are able to pass her for, you know, at the party, she is taken for what? Eliza Dolittle

is taken for a princess, a princess from which country? Hungary. OK? So they are able to do

that, but they also must realize that, by now she has not only acquired pronunciation, she has

also acquired social manners, social etiquette and the language.

It’s a bit of fun, comedy, lot of music, you might watch it, you might download it from the net

and watch it for free, which is what Santosh did for me here. Right? Shall we do a few

minutes of drill and then you can go back to the hostel or to your next class, another two

minutes, right? OK. Please, pick up your book and you can take this text away and I expect

you to be able to sing it to yourself and to your friends, all right. Let’s come to the drill. Some

consonants only. Just about a couple of minutes and then maybe, we are done with. OK?

This, you know, I have selected out of the twenty four consonants, that standard British

English has I have taken only two or three. F, as in face, once again the lips have to come

close to the upper teeth, but not touch it exactly. OK? And then say it with long vowel. Please

follow me, I will say it first, you will say it next. Ready? Everybody please. Yes.


Yes sir

OK? Right.

Face

Face

Fact

Fact

Fade

Fade

Folder

Folder

Film

Film

Gift

Gift

Drift

Drift

Go on

Laughed

Together please

Left

Lift

Shift

Soft

Swift

Brief

Chief

Half

Leaf

Knife

Proof

Rough

Shelf

It’s not knife. Knife, come again.

Knife

Proof

Rough

Shelf

OK, right?


Let’s go to be next. Once again, the same thing, but this time your vocal chords vibrate. Keep

your finger here and say vague.

Vague

Now the v must come very clearly, ok?

Vague

Vague

Vane

Valve

Van

Vast

Vent

Verb

Vote

Lived

Loved

Moved

Saved

Saved. Make it long.

Saved.

Solve

Save

Have

Live

Serve

Shave

Five

Prove

There are lots of words in English which change because of only one sound difference /v/ and

/w/. Look at these words. If you don’t pronounce it properly, your vain can be understood as

wane and veil can be understood as wail. So, in one case, in the case of /v/, your lower lip

comes close to the upper teeth, but in the case of /w/, you round your lips like you are going

to whistle. OK? Let’s do it. I will say it first and you will say it next.


Vein

Vein

Wane

Wane

Go on,

Veil

Wail

Van

Wan

Verse

Worse

Vest

West

Vent

Went

Vet

Wet

Vies

Wise

Vine

Wine

Ok. Can you pick up your book and see page number 189? OK, between pages 189 and let’s

say 207, you have lots of exercises and you know this drill can help you acquire this sound

for the rest of your life. Whenever you speak, you won’t have to make an effort. It will come

naturally to you. It will become part of your habit just as you produce the other sounds now.

Do this drill on your own in the hostel and when I invite you to make your final presentation

on this course on the 10th

, I will also be looking for, you know, I will also pay attention to

your pronunciation of these sounds, ok? You will gain or lose marks or grades, you know,

depending upon how well or not so well you pronounce these sounds. Do you have any

questions? Ok. Then I think we will stop here today. Thank you.

better spoken english prof. shreesh chaudhary …nptel.ac.in/reviewed_pdfs/109106067/lec34.pdf ·...

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