• Home
  • About
Linguism

Tag Archives: bbc

August 26, 2021
by Graham
0 comments

A new development in English phonology?

With the increasing number of BBC journalists who have South Asian heritage, we are hearing an ever greater number of examples of a non-traditional pronunciation of the orthographic symbol {t} in words of South Asian origin. I’m thinking in particular, … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, broadcasting, english, pronunciation | Permalink

January 23, 2020
by Graham
0 comments

What is Rudy Giuliani’s job?

Alec Bamford has reported: “Anyone with lingering doubts about the BBC’s blatant left-wing bias should have been listening to Gary O’Donoghue’s reporting on the impeachment story in the World News on the evening of 21 January. Before he corrected himself, … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, english, journalists, pronunciation, reporters, speech | Permalink

December 17, 2019
by Graham
4 Comments

Cheops

Cheops is the well-known name of the Egyptian Pharaoh whose tomb is the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. This is actually the Greek form of the name, and in modern times he has had his name ‘re-egyptianized’, if I may coin … Continue reading →

Categories: French, Greek, Language, Names | Tags: bbc, english, French, pronunciation, reporters, speech | Permalink

August 15, 2019
by Graham
15 Comments

Greta Thunberg

Since this teenager became world famous, I’ve heard her name pronounced in several ways by BBC journalists and announcers. I don’t know how she herself pronounces her name, as I’ve never heard her say it, and I’m no longer in … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, family name, journalists, pronunciation, reporters | Permalink

October 31, 2018
by Graham
1 Comment

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha

The tragic events of last Saturday in Leicester, when the owner of Leicester City FC was killed in his helicopter shortly after taking off from the centre of the pitch following the match with West Ham United, have also highlighted … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, english, family name, journalists, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters, speech | Permalink

October 16, 2018
by Graham
15 Comments

Khashoggi

Until ten days or so ago, the only person with the name Khashoggi who was well-known was the rather dodgy Saudi Arabian businessman, Adnan Khashoggi, who according to Wikipedia was the brother of Mohamed Al-Fayed’s wife, and so uncle to … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, family name, journalists, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters | Permalink

July 14, 2018
by Graham
0 comments

Thai cave rescue – some language notes

My regular correspondent in Thailand has sent me the following, which includes IPA script. I hope that it doesn’t suffer the same fate as other of my posts, where the IPA has become corrupted over time. “Good old BBC. No … Continue reading →

Categories: General, Language, Names | Tags: bbc, culture, journalists, meaning, place names, pronunciation, speech | Permalink

July 1, 2018
by Graham
8 Comments

TOWIE

For anyone reading this who is not familiar with British TV, the heading is the acronym for the programme “The Only Way Is Essex”, a reality show featuring natives of that county. I have to admit that this is not … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, dialect, english, radio 4, speech | Permalink

February 8, 2018
by Graham
1 Comment

So, … again

So, if any of my readers in the UK, or who can otherwise access BBC Radio 4, have not yet discovered John Finnemore, can I suggest that they start with the last in the current series of “John Finnemore’s Souvenir … Continue reading →

Categories: General, Language | Tags: bbc, english, radio 4 | Permalink

February 3, 2018
by Graham
0 comments

BBC Today programme

On the Today programme this morning on BBC Radio 4, Nick Robinson interviewed my successor in the Pronunciation Unit, Catherine Sangster (who is now in charge of pronunciation for the Oxford Dictionaries) about the problems of pronunciation. This piece arose … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, journalists, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters, speech | Permalink

← Older posts

Books

The Routledge Student Guide to English Usage

Categories

  • Genealogy
  • General
  • Language
    • Chinese
    • French
    • Greek
    • Latin
    • Norwegian
    • Russian
    • Spanish
  • Music
  • Names

Recent Posts

  • Turkey vs Türkiye
  • What is “Classical” Music?
  • Omicron
  • Two deliberately created alternative pronunciations?
  • Notify, mandate and sanction
  • The Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania
  • /s/ – apical or laminal
  • A new development in English phonology?
  • BBC news writing
  • A chasm in education
  • Alba
  • Richard III – The Reunion
  • Perpetuate or perpetrate
  • The Queen’s English – literally
  • Accentism

Recent Comments

Tags

accent afghanistan bbc broadcasting cognitive culture dari david crystal dialect digital edinburgh england english family name French German haiti hertfordshire hospital intonation jack windsor john humphrys john wells journalists language Latin meaning moshtarak music norfolk orbital place names port-au-prince pronunciation punctuation radio 4 reporters rhythm scottish speech spelling usage uttoxeter wymondham wymondley

Favourites

  • Alex's phonetic thoughts
  • BadLinguistics
  • Clinical Linguistics
  • David Crystal’s blog
  • Discourse and Function
  • English matters
  • Jack Windsor Lewis’s blog
  • John Maidment's Blog
  • John Wells’s phonetic blog
  • Kraut's English phonetic blog
  • Language Log
  • Languagehat
  • Learn that Language Now
  • Peter’s Pursuits

Links

  • Best Served Cold

Site managed by Best Served Cold | Theme: Yoko by Elmastudio

Top