mispronunciations

Mispronunciations are pronunciations of words that differ from the standard or widely accepted pronunciation used by speakers of a language. They occur in every language and among both native and nonnative speakers. Mispronunciations can involve substituting one sound for another, omitting sounds, adding extra sounds, or altering stress and rhythm.

Causes include regional or social dialect differences, transfer from a speaker’s first language, irregular spelling that does not clearly indicate pronunciation, limited exposure to a word’s correct form, rapid speech, and hearing or cognitive factors. Types of mispronunciation include phoneme substitution (for example, replacing one sound with another), elision (omitting a sound), epenthesis (inserting an extra vowel or consonant), metathesis (rearranging sounds), and inconsistent stress patterns.

Common examples vary by language and dialect. In English, speakers may differ on pronunciations of words like schedule (US: SKED-yool, UK: SHED-yool), often (the t may be pronounced or silent), pronunciation itself (frequently misread as pronounciation), and February (pronounced differently across regions). Nonnative speakers may show interference from their first language, producing sounds that do not exist in the target language.

Impact and response vary. Mispronunciations can affect comprehension or confidence and may influence social perception, though they are a natural part of language learning. Correction strategies include focused listening practice, phonetic awareness, using dictionaries with IPA representations, pronunciation coaching, and repeated, meaningful speaking in varied contexts. In linguistics, mispronunciation is viewed as a neutral descriptor of variation from a normative standard.