October 19, 2015
by gpointon
0 comments
Alec Bamford uses this term in his comment on my last post. He first mentions it as a description of his own pronunciation of decade, by which I assumed he meant that his pronunciation one way or the other was … Continue reading
September 27, 2015
by gpointon
1 Comment
Jack Windsor Lewis has devoted his latest blog post to amplifying my efforts on the changing pattern of English stress. One comment he makes is that he has not personally heard ‘trajectory. This is actually my own pronunciation. I’m a … Continue reading
September 21, 2015
by gpointon
4 Comments
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
June 25, 2015
by gpointon
5 Comments
I’m not sure how much the pronunciation of numbers is taught around the world, but it is not completely straightforward. If we start counting, from one upwards, there is no problem: one, two, three, … ninety-nine, one hundred. But then, … Continue reading
March 21, 2015
by gpointon
9 Comments
This may seem heretical for a phonetician, but I’ve often thought that it is possible to learn a foreign language too well. When I was a post-graduate student, there was another person around whose first language was not English, but … Continue reading
February 25, 2015
by gpointon
22 Comments
Every one of the current pronunciation dictionaries agrees that the stress in the word inexorable is on the second syllable. On Monday this week, in the Radio 4 programme charting the history of Britain in numbers, Professor Jane Humphries, Professor … Continue reading
January 19, 2015
by gpointon
3 Comments
Here baristas were mentioned in some of the comments. I’m reading “The Falls†by Ian Rankin at the moment, and have come across this: ‘Not often I see you smiling,’ his barista said as she made him a double latte. … Continue reading
January 10, 2015
by gpointon
8 Comments
The tragic events in France have once again shown the difficulties reporters have in knowing how to pronounce the names of the places involved. Obviously, they have rather more important things on their minds, but when names are constantly repeated, … Continue reading
December 18, 2014
by gpointon
4 Comments
When did the name Aaron start to be pronounced /ˈarÉ™n/? John Wells has included it as a pronunciation for the modern personal name since the first edition of the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (1990), and the 15th edition of the English … Continue reading
October 24, 2014
by gpointon
5 Comments
Martin Ball writes: “Did anyone hear Jonathan (I think rather than David) Dimbleby pronounce ebola as /ˈɛbÉ™lÉ™/ on Radio 4 the other day? Is this pronunciation somehow nearer to that of West African languages?” I didn’t hear Jonathan Dimbleby say … Continue reading