June 19, 2007
by Graham
1 Comment
The knighthood conferred on this author has brought him back into the spotlight. Unfortunately, many people still find it difficult to pronounce his name correctly, including some BBC newsreaders (Natasha Kaplinsky on 18 June, for instance). The man in the … Continue reading
June 18, 2007
by Graham
10 Comments
A number of broadcasting journalists are of Asian origin. Most – if not all – of them speak English without any trace of a “foreign” or non-native accent – until it comes to names from their parents’ part of the … Continue reading
June 15, 2007
by Graham
12 Comments
Yesterday I had to go to a funeral. There was a complete order of service, as is normal these days, and I was rather surprised to see, not once, but three times, reference to the deceased’s “internment”. This had nothing … Continue reading
May 29, 2007
by Graham
0 comments
In reports sent from Baghdad on 28 May 2007, in which Paul Wood commented on the talks between US and Iranian representatives, he clearly pronounced the word nuclear as [‘nju:kyul@] (-@ representing the neutral vowel, schwa). This is very close … Continue reading
May 25, 2007
by Graham
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Philip Belcher points out that the “correct” Latin pronunciation of ‘difficile’ is [di’fɪkɪleɪ]. He is right – for Classical Latin. The letter C was always pronounced [k]. However, the way in which English developed through the centuries meant that gradually … Continue reading
December 11, 2006
by Graham
1 Comment
An article in the Independent on Sunday (10 December 2006), headed “Why should the Iranians help? Here’s why” starts with the sentence “It is difficult to under-estimate the taboo which has been broken by the Iraq Study Group’s suggestion that … Continue reading
November 1, 2006
by Graham
9 Comments
This is the latest in a succession of publications dating back to the 1920s to put before the public the BBC’s recommendations on pronunciation. The Advisory Committee on Spoken English, which functioned from 1926 to the outbreak of the Second … Continue reading
October 13, 2006
by Graham
1 Comment
There’s been some correspondence in the British press recently about punctuation, and in particular the apostrophe, with one writer at least saying that as you don’t hear the apostrophe when you speak, you don’t really need to write it – … Continue reading