http://www.linguism.co.uk Language in a word Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:29:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en John Humphrys has been sounding off about the English language - again. Why is it that reporters - journalists - believe that because language is their stock in trade, therefore they know all about it? This particular article, published in the Mail on Sunday (28 February) is headed 'Thet men ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/bleck-het The BBC New website tells us that this mean "together" in Dari, but there seems to be a disagreement between Radio and Television about its pronunciation. Radio 4 newsreaders are all stressing the first syllable, while their television colleagues are stressing the second. I don't know if Dari has a strong ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/moshtarak Here are two place names whose pronunciation history converged for a time and then diverged again. Wymondham is, in my experience, always pronounced /ˈwɪndəm/. I don't have access to either of the Engish Place Name Society (EPNS)'s volumes on Norfolk, but the Oxford Names Companion gives its origin as 'homestead of ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/wymondham-norfolk-and-wymondley-hertfordshire I thought Uttoxeter deserved a post of its own, because it also raises a transcription and dialect question. Both /ʌt/ and /ʊt/ have been quoted, by Michael Lamb and John Maidment, as possible pronunciations of the initial sounds, and I agree. But in northern dialects the /ʌ/ ~ /ʊ/ split never ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/uttoxeter John Wells was mentioning (here) the unpredictability of the pronunciation of British place and family names from their spellings, and some are recorded in the Dictionary of Blunders. The fact that they are mentioned at all must mean that in the author's opinion they were being mispronounced, and this may ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/abergavenny-etc Jack Windsor Lewis has mentioned (here) the frequently different pronunciation in BE of the /t/ in hospital and orbital. I wonder if part of the reason for the /t/ of hospital becoming voiced in British English, while that in orbital does not (I know the grammar of that is a ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/hospital-orbital-digital Most of the pronunciations given in the Dictionary of Blunders are what one would expect for 1880, and show that the arguments about what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' are very much the same as today: ab-do'-men, not ab'-dŏm-ěn (OED1 agrees with this, but OED2 gives initial stress before second ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/more-on-1880s-pronunciation Is it because of the enormity of the tragedy playing out in the western part of the island of Hispaniola that the pronunciations being used by the BBC have been standardised so quickly? Has the management sent down an edict that the established anglicisations be used for both the name ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/port-au-prince-haiti In all aspects of culture, the leaders who introduce innovations, whether consciously or not, are gradually followed by the rest of the population who wish to emulate them. This is most obvious in clothes, where before the instant communications of the present day, it was well-known that the fashions of ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/trend-setters A few more interesting entries from the Dictionary of Blunders: "ABSQUATULATE (introduced from America) means to run away from your 'squatting' or settlement. The word is applied in England to any one running away from his creditors." OED1 has the word, but the first fascicle of the OED was published in ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/1880s-english