Comments on: Afghanistan http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/afghanistan Language in a word Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:46:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: angshu http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/afghanistan#comment-707 angshu Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:17:32 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/14#comment-707 The BBC policy presumably exists for newscasters who don't know the native pronunciation and, ergo, must rely on a standard guide. I doubt Ms.Husain is "parading her knowledge". It would appear she is pronouncing it in the correct way - as should anybody if they happen to know it. There is a case to be made for non-native speakers to mispronounce these things, but to expect a native speaker to dumb it down in order to conform to BBC policy - which is hardly the last word, more a guide for the uninitiated - is simply regressive. For you to expect her to do so is an entirely provincial attitude. The BBC policy presumably exists for newscasters who don’t know the native pronunciation and, ergo, must rely on a standard guide.

I doubt Ms.Husain is “parading her knowledge”. It would appear she is pronouncing it in the correct way - as should anybody if they happen to know it.

There is a case to be made for non-native speakers to mispronounce these things, but to expect a native speaker to dumb it down in order to conform to BBC policy - which is hardly the last word, more a guide for the uninitiated - is simply regressive. For you to expect her to do so is an entirely provincial attitude.

]]> By: Abdul http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/afghanistan#comment-317 Abdul Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:39:43 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/14#comment-317 Of course Miss Husain cannot, and is not supposed to know how to pronounce all foreign sounds in the news bulletin. Besides, we have to differentiate between foreign names that have been assimilated and became fully integrated and incorporated in the lexicon of the recipient language (e.g. /'paris/ as opposed to /pa'Ri:/) and place names of less known parts of the world. Definitely she can't find Anglicized pronunciation for every foreign word. In fact, with the growing interest among people these days to know more about other cultures (including linguistic aspects), people like to know more about how names of places and people are pronounced in other vernaculars. In his English Pronouncing Dictionary, Daniel Jones lists both English and foreign pronunciation of non-English words in the English lexicon. Surely, Jones meant that if you know how to pronounce the foreign name, why not do so! Speaking about the voiced uvular fricative in Afghanistan, native speakers of English do have a sound similar to it. In casual rapid speech, the /g/ sound is realized as a lenis [g] i.e. a voiced velar fricative (gama). This occurs when /g/ comes in weak syllable in polysyllabic words (e.g. "logging"). Of course it is not exactly like the voiced uvular fricative but it approximates it and it is acceptable as the nearest sound. Of course Miss Husain cannot, and is not supposed to know how to pronounce all foreign sounds in the news bulletin. Besides, we have to differentiate between foreign names that have been assimilated and became fully integrated and incorporated in the lexicon of the recipient language (e.g. /’paris/ as opposed to /pa’Ri:/) and place names of less known parts of the world. Definitely she can’t find Anglicized pronunciation for every foreign word. In fact, with the growing interest among people these days to know more about other cultures (including linguistic aspects), people like to know more about how names of places and people are pronounced in other vernaculars. In his English Pronouncing Dictionary, Daniel Jones lists both English and foreign pronunciation of non-English words in the English lexicon. Surely, Jones meant that if you know how to pronounce the foreign name, why not do so!

Speaking about the voiced uvular fricative in Afghanistan, native speakers of English do have a sound similar to it. In casual rapid speech, the /g/ sound is realized as a lenis [g] i.e. a voiced velar fricative (gama). This occurs when /g/ comes in weak syllable in polysyllabic words (e.g. “logging”). Of course it is not exactly like the voiced uvular fricative but it approximates it and it is acceptable as the nearest sound.

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