Syllables can lead to wrong pronunciation in English languageIt was more for buffoonery than intellect that Iddi Amin, a one-time president of Uganda, was known. Not versed in the English language, Amin latched onto the syllables ‘sa’ and ‘le’ and confused the English word ‘sale’ (single syllable pronounced as ‘sel’) with the Muslim name ‘Saleh’ (two syllables ‘sa’ and ‘leh’; consonant ‘h’ at the end is silent). While African languages that tend to intrude on our grasp of the English language are phonetic (rely heavily on syllables), the English language is semi-phonetic. Sometimes the word ‘bear’ is used to indicate punishment that one endures for the mistake of others. The writer should have used the word who’s; a contraction of ‘who’ and ‘is’ and qualified 34 with the word ‘years’ to be understood.

Source: Standard Digital December 30, 2019 06:33 UTC