Comments on: The Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/the-oxford-bbc-guide-to-pronunciation Language in a word Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:10:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: John Watson http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/the-oxford-bbc-guide-to-pronunciation#comment-584 John Watson Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:09:58 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/9#comment-584 The only person I have heard pronouncing "clostridium difficile" correctly on radio was Ann Widdecombe, who used the classical Latin pronunciation "dif-FICK-ilay". "Dif-FISS-ilay" would be equally acceptable. But to pronounce "difficile" as if it were the French word which happens to share that spelling is quite insupportable. The only person I have heard pronouncing “clostridium difficile” correctly on radio was Ann Widdecombe, who used the classical Latin pronunciation “dif-FICK-ilay”. “Dif-FISS-ilay” would be equally acceptable. But to pronounce “difficile” as if it were the French word which happens to share that spelling is quite insupportable.

]]> By: English Family Law http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/the-oxford-bbc-guide-to-pronunciation#comment-524 English Family Law Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:43:50 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/9#comment-524 I found your blog via Google while searching for english family law and your post regarding xford BBC Guide to Pronunciation - Linguism looks very interesting to me. I was impressed by your site and offerings. I was looking at some of the articles and it really impressed me. All I can say is congratulations on creating this site and what took you so long? I look forward to returning. I found your blog via Google while searching for english family law and your post regarding xford BBC Guide to Pronunciation - Linguism looks very interesting to me. I was impressed by your site and offerings. I was looking at some of the articles and it really impressed me. All I can say is congratulations on creating this site and what took you so long? I look forward to returning.

]]> By: Petr Roesel (Mr) http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/the-oxford-bbc-guide-to-pronunciation#comment-433 Petr Roesel (Mr) Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:31:11 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/9#comment-433 Graham, do you know of any webpages that will enlighten me on the history of the BBC Pronunciation Unit? Were there any sub-units? Did it change its name? Does it still exist? WHo heads it? By what qualification? Thanks for any hints! Petr Graham,

do you know of any webpages that will enlighten me on the history of the BBC Pronunciation Unit? Were there any sub-units? Did it change its name? Does it still exist? WHo heads it? By what qualification?
Thanks for any hints!
Petr

]]> By: Abdul http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/the-oxford-bbc-guide-to-pronunciation#comment-366 Abdul Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:17:57 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/9#comment-366 It is quite customary to hear some RP actors try to roll their ‘R’s in BBC classical drama (including Shakespeare). This of course applies only to the ‘pre-vocalic’ R which is normally realized as a ‘frictionless continuant’ by such speakers. I notice that this happens only when they want to emphasize a word, because in other instances the frictionless continuant is used. I think this shows a 'prescriptive' attitude in which the RP speakers think that the rolled ‘r’ is the ‘correct’ one and, therefore, elevated pronunciation deserves the ‘fortis’ (as opposed to 'lenis') realization of the sound. It is quite customary to hear some RP actors try to roll their ‘R’s in BBC classical drama (including Shakespeare). This of course applies only to the ‘pre-vocalic’ R which is normally realized as a ‘frictionless continuant’ by such speakers. I notice that this happens only when they want to emphasize a word, because in other instances the frictionless continuant is used. I think this shows a ‘prescriptive’ attitude in which the RP speakers think that the rolled ‘r’ is the ‘correct’ one and, therefore, elevated pronunciation deserves the ‘fortis’ (as opposed to ‘lenis’) realization of the sound.

]]> By: Abdul http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/the-oxford-bbc-guide-to-pronunciation#comment-318 Abdul Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:42:00 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/9#comment-318 How can you look up a word if you can't spell it? There are many English pronouncing dictionaries that can give the pronunciation of the words if you know their spelling. But the problem these days is that many foreign learners of English gain their new vocabulary from both written as well as spoken sources, like radio, TV, and other electronic audio media. The problem arises when they want to check the meaning in a dictionary. How to spell words like /jot/ "yacht", /nu:/ "gnu", /fasa:d/ "facade" or the name /pa'nelapi/ "Penelope" ? To my knowledge, there are only two books that can give some help in this respect. One is Daniel Jones' Phonetic Dictionary of the English Language (published first in Leipzig a 100 years ago and reprinted by Routledge recently) and the second is a quite different book entitled Sound-it-right Speller Dictionary http://phonicspeller.com/how-to-use.html. This one will be very useful for learners of English who are not familiar with IPA phonetic symbols. See discussion in the forum http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t5862.htm How can you look up a word if you can’t spell it?

There are many English pronouncing dictionaries that can give the pronunciation of the words if you know their spelling. But the problem these days is that many foreign learners of English gain their new vocabulary from both written as well as spoken sources, like radio, TV, and other electronic audio media. The problem arises when they want to check the meaning in a dictionary. How to spell words like /jot/ “yacht”, /nu:/ “gnu”, /fasa:d/ “facade” or the name /pa’nelapi/ “Penelope” ? To my knowledge, there are only two books that can give some help in this respect. One is Daniel Jones’ Phonetic Dictionary of the English Language (published first in Leipzig a 100 years ago and reprinted by Routledge recently) and the second is a quite different book entitled Sound-it-right Speller Dictionary http://phonicspeller.com/how-to-use.html. This one will be very useful for learners of English who are not familiar with IPA phonetic symbols. See discussion in the forum http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t5862.htm

]]> By: J. Sharp http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/the-oxford-bbc-guide-to-pronunciation#comment-284 J. Sharp Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:22:37 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/archives/9#comment-284 Thank you for confirming my view on "clostridium difficile" -- I have heard "difficile" pronounced as though it were French at least twenty times on TV and radio: not once has it been pronounced as Latin (that includes other channels than BBC ones) Thank you for confirming my view on “clostridium difficile” — I have heard “difficile” pronounced as though it were French at least twenty times on TV and radio: not once has it been pronounced as Latin (that includes other channels than BBC ones)

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