And now to my bete noir: Afghanistan. Certain BBC newsreaders of South Asian background pronounce it according, presumably, to some rule of some subcontinental language, with long a’s and the gh voiced like the ch in ‘loch’. They continue to do so, despite public criticism, and in defiance of the standard English pronunciation (short a’s, gh as hard g), presumably because the newsroom producers say nothing.

Let us contrast a hypothetical BBC newsreader of French background. She/he pronounces ‘Paris’ the French way the first time it comes up in the news, and she/he is told, I have no doubt, immediately after the broadcast that that is not correct in English.

This strikes me as a completely arbitrary “rule” made up on the spot. What possible justification does it have? Are there any languages that follow such a rule: German doesn’t, as the e in englisch doesn’t sound like the e in the original, though most German-speakers are perfectly able to pronounce it; French doesn’t, as neither of the vowels in anglais sound like those in the original, though most French-speakers are perfectly able to pronounce it; Spanish doesn’t, as the é in inglés doesn’t sound like the i in the original; Russian doesn’t, as the а in англиский doesn’t sound like the e in the original; etc., etc.

I don’t understand his point about Pakistan – I have no problem with either /ɑː/ or /æ/ in the final syllable. Pres. Obama’s inconsistency between Pakistan and Afghanistan simply shows this variation. Incidentally, the usual Urdu pronunciation of Pakistan has /ɑː/ in the first syllable as well, and this is what is recommended to BBC newsreaders – but note it is ‘recommended’ and not imposed on them.

“Interested” twice uses the word “should”, implying a rather prescriptive attitude, which I was careful to avoid in my original post.

by extension it should be pakistahni not pakist’annie’ – made more interesting by the fact that President Obama says “Pakistahn” but says “Afghanistann” -