One of the most widely mispronounced words in English is ‘access’. To many people, it is just ASSESS, meaning that they pronounce it with the same speech sounds they do ‘assess’, as in assessment. The word thus suffers the same fate as accept, except, excess etc., which are usually mispronounced as asept, esept, eses respectively.
There are two syllables in ‘access’ but the first often suffers the indicated injury. The syllabic formation is not A-CESS. Rather, it is AK-CESS. It is thus in the first syllable that a lot of people goof when articulating the term. They say ASES instead of AKSES. Please note that there is a K /k/ at the end of the first syllable thus: /ˈaksɛs/.
In the same vein, there is K in accept, except, excess, inspect, respect etc. So, their pronunciations are like AK-CESS, EK-SEPT, EK-SES, INS-PEKT, RES-PEKT respectively. This also means that, in referring to the popular bank, Access Bank, it is wrong to say ASES Bank. It should be AKSES Bank.
For Zenith Bank, many of us also have to learn to do better in pronouncing the first word. What one hears often is zeni-T. But is T the best transcription of ‘th’? No!
The sound expected there is TH (/θ/). To pronounce T, you let the front of the tongue contact the front teeth. But for TH, the tip of the tongue comes in-between the upper and the lower front teeth. It is only in the THUR sounds, like the, other and though, that the sound manifests differently. Try both pronunciations, in front of a mirror, or with another person as your mirror, to master the difference. So, Zenith Bank should be beautifully pronounced as it sounds: ZeniTH (/ˈzɛnɪθ/) Bank, not ZeniT Bank.
Other words you should accordingly watch include with, wealth, health, strength, throw, think and thank. They should not be pronounced as wiT, wealT, healT, strength, Trow, Tink, and Tank. They should sound as wiTH, wealTH, healTH, strengTH, THrow, THink and THank.
And what about ‘first’? The problem most of us have with the word is that we do not realise that ‘ir’, especially when it appears in the middle or end of many words, should not sound as OR, AR or E. It has its own distinct phonological identity. For instance, ‘girl’ is not to be pronounced as gEl, just as it is wrong to say shEt or shARt when you mean ‘shirt’. Unfortunately, this is the fate that the words often suffer, and this is the cross that amny folks make ‘first’ to carry whenever they are pronouncing ‘First Bank’ too.
The closest correct sound to the IR you have in the word is IRR, while the actual transcription is /ɜː/. So, ‘first’ is fIRRst, not fOst, not fEst. We thus have fIRRst /fəːst/) Bank, not fORst Bank, and not fEst Bank.
I hope all of us can pronounce the names of the big banks better next time. Did I hear someone ask if that would add to the money they had in their accounts? I am not sure, really; but it will also not reduce it. Besides, since communication is everything, better grammar, good vocabulary and elocution can directly and indirectly boost your status and earnings!
