Pronunciation

Teaching dialect, sociolect and idiolect is fun.

Once, in an overseas school (overseas I more or less use RP), I taught a boy from the area in Northumberland I used to teach in. We greatly amused the other students (German,Swiss, French, Spanish, Russian) with our chat (Ah divvnt kna, Howay wi wa).

I also knew a teacher who was marked down in a lesson observation once for her regional accent. Her observer was roundly castigated later for it. It was total snobbery on the part of the observer.

but for people coming from overseas, if they are not taught that what sounds like, gorra, wanna etc, means got to, want to, then they will be at a disadvantage in the area where they are living, they will not understand what those around them are saying.
language is to communicate; different areas, activites = different languages, jargon.
it is all contextual.

I like dialects and detecting where people come from, but I don’t like slovenly, incorrect pronunciation. I made a comment to DH about Alex Scott dropping gs off her words.

Some years back I had some lessons preparing me for an Exam in reading out loud for some Drama School. My tutor said ‘you must come from the Midlands as you over-emphasise ‘ing’ at the end of words’. I managed to soften them from then onwards.

My latest annoyance is with a weather presenter who says ‘there will be remernants of the storm’ instead if ‘remnants’.

Some years back I wrote to the BBC and complained about the weather people saying ‘off of’. That stopped them !

I’m quite easy going really ?

I can’t bear candidit instead of candidate or bin instead of been.

Locally, as well as losting the "g" in -ing and "t" all over the place, "L" is pronounced "w". My poor son is called "Phiw"...
The grammar school is called "Cha'm Arse" instead of "Chatham House"...

Oh, and my dad was from Cumbria and always pronounced year as yur.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KftTPpWdcCM

I did Latin at school and feel it was useful but I don't call Cicero Kikero. I was taught that Latin is usually pronounced as is normal in the country of tuition. Hence Lucca calling him Chichero (presumably she's Italian!). I was taught by a Scot .....

There is an advert at the moment for a beauty product either L’Oréal or Olay. Can’t remember which the black girl in the ad who speaks such bad English that it’s put me off the products. Why do we have to listen to such poorly spoken people.

I went to an east London grammar in Bow and we had elocution lessons back in the sixties to teach us to speak proper!

I dislike most of the 'pronunciation' by northerners its just laziness i think.And yes, i am a northerner! So it just goes to show that people can speak correctly if they so wish. (I did live in Berkshire (pronounced Barkshire?) for a couple of years when i was a child though, so that probably helped. (Most residents there were 'posh') But i have brought up my children to 'aspire' and to pronounce things correctly.?

I listen to a lot of audio books and the ignorance around pronounciation is abysmal. Sometimes it’s so bad you struggle to know what the word is. Recently I heard ‘hyper-bowl’
for hyperbole, and ‘baLUSTrade’

Dara O’Brien speaks so fast & mutters- he’s indecipherable to me and Ben Shepherd on Tipping Point speaks so fast and never pronounces the end of words and it drives me mad.

And yes, i do wonder why they allow people on tv (announcers and such like) if they cannot be bothered to speak correctly ?

Some years back I wrote to the BBC and complained about the weather people saying ‘off of’. That stopped them !
When I did linguists ( for a very short time, years ago). I was told the use of “off of”put you within a 20 mile radius of Renfrew. I did grow up in that area. So it’s not a mistake it’s a local dialect. So “that stopped them” is trying to stamp out a regional dialect. Well done you!

I am not a snob, it is just that if you are going to be on tv and radio, presenting (or doing a voice-over on an advert) then surely it is to the advantage of the general public to use clear precise words that everyone can hear and understand!?

Thankfully things have moved on from when your accent and pronunciation had to fit your job!
Nowadays the employer is more likely to be looking for someone that can actually do the job rather than how they say things - especially seeing as, in my experience, that they often say words incorrectly anyway!

PROPERLY, DianaLouise, properLY?

Regional accents are fine with me, but I can’t stand ‘haitch’! The word for the letter h is ‘aitch’. Not sure why or how this habit began. Anybody have any thoughts?

Yes Jaylucy, i agree, in most jobs, but tv and radio? Then correct pronunciation matters.

I disagree.
We now have people with cerebral palsy regularly appearing on tv.
Should we say they shouldn't be allowed because it's sometimes difficult to understand them immediately?

I very much doubt anyone can't decipher what's being said, by anyone.

We have moved away from the BBC accent, thankfully!

And accent and pronunciation are not always 'misaligned'. Most people can tell i have a (slight) northern accent, but i am far more 'well spoken' in my pronunciation than most i know.

Missadeventure- i am not speaking about the ACTORS, in a regional tv show for example, i am speaking about the PRESENTERS, and so i think was OP.News, weather, advertisements, in fact anything INFORMATIVE.

That's who I'm talking about, too.
I disagree.
That's all.

And yes, Commentators in sport etc.