October 26, 2013
by Graham
9 Comments

Potteries phonology

Thanks to Ed for suggesting this post. The first thing is to distinguish between the modern Potteries accent, which I suppose I still have, although modified after 45 years’ non-residence, and the traditional dialect. Both have a phonology that is … Continue reading

October 12, 2013
by Graham
2 Comments

Spanish orthography

Last week’s post was my own translation of an interview that Professor Salvador Gutiérrez, member of the Real Academia Española, and Professor of General Linguistics at the University of León in Spain, gave to the Spanish newspaper “La Razón” in … Continue reading

September 12, 2013
by gpointon
1 Comment

th > f (again!)

I’ve just been made aware of reports of a project being carried out at Glasgow University which apparently demonstrates that exposure to and engagement with television soaps can affect the accent of the viewers. The particular feature that the press … Continue reading

September 3, 2013
by gpointon
5 Comments

French place names

I’ve recently come back from France, and once again been puzzled by many place names. They just don’t correspond to any spelling conventions in the everyday vocabulary, and yet the French give us no help: to the best of my … Continue reading