ENGLISH VERB-MARKERS SERVING AS AN ACCURATE PREDICTOR OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION: THE CASE OF A VERB- MARKER ‘-FY’

Abstract

This article deals with English spelling in relation with its segmental and suprasegmental realizations.The reciprocal relationship between English spelling and its pronunciation is mostly arbitrary, and thus unpredictable. However, a closer observation on certain verbal markers, one of which is a verb-marker ‗-fy‟ indicates that to some greater extent itssegmental and suprasegmental realizations are highly predictable.Firstly, English verbs ending in „-fy‟must be segmentally realized as [-faI]. Secondly, English verbs ending in „-fy‟ must be stressed on the antepenultimate syllable.A minor exception exists, but a high degree of accuracy is recorded. Owing to the high degree of predictability of its segmental and suprasegmental realizations, the verb-marker ‗-fy‘lends itself to be a predictor of accurate pronunciation. Therefore, teachers as well as students of English as an SL or FL can improve their pronunciation by relying on this observation findings.