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Tag Archives: john wells

September 21, 2015
by gpointon
4 Comments

English under stress

I think we can safely say that the ‘battle’ for second syllable stress on contribute and distribute is now lost. Almost all age groups now appear to me, with no valid statistical evidence whatever, to be putting the stress on … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, english, john wells, pronunciation, radio 4, speech | Permalink

December 9, 2011
by Graham
4 Comments

Ejectives again

John Wells’  blog post yesterday deals with ejectives in English. He’s kind enough to mention my own post on this subject some time ago, but I’m surprised he believes that I think it’s a recent phenomenon. I wrote then “I … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: english, john wells, pronunciation, speech | Permalink

February 1, 2010
by Graham
13 Comments

Abergavenny, etc

John Wells was mentioning (here) the unpredictability of the pronunciation of British place and family names from their spellings, and some are recorded in the Dictionary of Blunders. The fact that they are mentioned at all must mean that in … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: john wells, pronunciation | Permalink

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  • Radio 3 (2)
    • Graham: Tim – I think that Robin must have recorded the majority of those fillers before my time at the BBC. He...
    • Tim Atkinson: You don’t recall those excellent little “fillers” Robin Holmes recorded, do you?...
  • Richard III – The Reunion (4)
    • Graham: Eric – do mineralogists call themselves minerologists, then, or say that the pronunciation...
    • Phillip Minden: Descriptive linguists can have preferences, just like a professional tea taster. And inside...
    • Eric Armstrong: A quick look on YouGlish reveals that UK speakers are much more likely to pronounce “genealogy” with...
  • Souls and Ghouls (22)
    • Graham: What a mistake to make! Of course I always knew that Birkenhead was in Cheshire, even if the Wirral is now...
    • Dee Congdon: I had to laugh when this article described Patricia Routledge as a Lancastrian. Birkenhead, where she...
  • The Queen’s English – literally (2)
    • Graham: Sidney – I’ve not only just read Fabricius (2007) but also gone back to the Harrington et al...
    • Sidney Wood: Fabricius (2007 in JIPA) found that virtually no-one born after 1945 acquired the old closer TRAP in RP....
  • Accentism (3)
    • Sidney Wood: Graham, that’s a neater way of putting it. No deliberate decisions to change. And which direction...
    • Graham: Sidney – I can’t say that my accent is the same now as it was fifty five years ago, just before I...
    • Sidney Wood: Graham, regarding the last paragraph. In the 1950s as my national (military) service was coming to an...
  • How do you pronounce ‘GH’? (2)
    • Graham: Good point! I wasn’t considering such compounds.
    • Laura Nass: also “stronghold” and “bighearted”
  • Slivers or Slithers (6)
    • Graham: Mink – I’m sure you’re right. Your phrase “phonetic overgeneralisation” is what...

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