Bill Cosby - NAACP leaders stunned by remarks of prominent comedian

Christopher Weeks wrote:
Bob LeChevalier wrote:
But there is no "correctly" wrt to pronunciation, anyway, despite your
prejudice.

I don't want to look like I'm supporting his bigoted agenda, but do you
really think this? Are you saying any pronunciation of a word is
equally valid?

Validity is in the eyes of the listener. In Texas, to drawl is
correct. In Massachusetts, to drop ones "r" and use a broad "a" is
correct.

Selecting a word in common use in the news, "nuclear" we find to normal
pronunciations "new clear" and "new que lar." I have to say, I think
one of these _is_ correct and one is not.

I'm sure you do. But if you go to Merriam-Webster, you find
Main Entry: nu·cle·ar
Pronunciation: 'nü-klE-&r, 'nyü-, ÷-ky&-l&r
Function: adjective

and one of the three sound files for that word is the one that you
find incorrect, and is not marked as disapproved. In other words,
your "incorrect" pronunciation is so common that it is considered a
normal one, and hence "correct".

Just remember that the tangerine-like fruit that you might eat used to
be a norange (actually it was probably spelled more like nauranj,
after the Arabic "naranj" hence the modern spanish naranja), and we've
been mispronouncing it for centuries.

If you think I'm wrong, do
you think "cat" would also be an equally valid pronunciation of that word?

I don't see that one in the m-w definition. And you are being silly.
But if I understood the word, then it would be acceptable. When a
little kid asks for "pasketti and meatballs" for dinner, we understand
them. If an adult we don't know pronounces it that way, we might
start to wonder. But if someone who is the parent of a small kid
smiles and says that s/he is serving "pasketti and meatballs" for
dinner, I smile back and understand perfectly. Communication has
occurred and that is, after all, the primary purpose of language.

There is a secondary purpose of language for some people, and that is
to put on airs and to distinguish yourself from lesser beings.
British nobility has traditionally done this for centuries, leading to
Received Pronunciation (aka the Queen's English). Some people try to
emulate this so as to seem like they are "upper crust" and some people
explicitly disdain to do so, and not necessarily because they can't.
We don't look down on a Scotsman or an Irishman for talking with their
accents even though they aren't RP, but they are as "incorrect" as
Black English Vernacular is in this country.

lojbab
--
lojbab
Bob LeChevalier, Founder, The Logical Language Group
(Opinions are my own; I do not speak for the organization.)
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org