KING'S ENGLISH

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 523, 5 May 1933, Page 2

KING'S ENGLISH

CORlRECT PRONUN CIATION SC|IEME ADORTED IN ENGLAND. There is admittedly such a thing as King's English, but is there such a thing as King's pronunciation, * asks the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. The B.B.C., which' nowadiays exercises so important an influence on the standard of speeeh, has completed an experiment in the •improvement of thef prbnunciation- ;6f English which' amounts to an attempt to reach an standard pronunciation. Mr. Lloyd James, the expert on phonetics, broadcaJsts regula.rly' to one hundred and thirty-nine schools (10 heing in Lancashire) by way of finding out hoW far "correet" pronuncdation can be taught by wireless. Eighty London elementary school children made "Linguaphons" records of' a passage hefore the 'course began. At the end uf the course the records were taken again and the two isets cqmpared, and the last set compared also with th'e speeeh of children who- had not had broadcast instruction. The outcome roughly wais that the hoys who had take'n wirelesisMessohs had made a marked progress in.the prionunclation of certain vowel sounds. This was the test passagp: — Take the first turning on the right and go Istraight through the doorway. Follow the path across the field; th'at' 11' bring you near the round tow-

er. Now hear left, run up the steps, and jump over th'e wall. ' Be^sure you dori't make a noise. As these were London children, it may be assumed that aonong the words that gave 'most trouble were istraight," "through," "round," and "noise." Th'e case for such attempt? to level up pronunciation, as put hy Mr. Lloyd James, is that it is the business of State education to remove improper, or at any rate socially unpopular, foxms of speeeh behaviour, because this is in practice an obstacle in getting on in the world. "You cannot raise social standards," he says. "and you eanhot produce a uniform high standard of social life in a community without producing a uniform high standard of speeeh." Of course, if the experiment hac been made with Lancashire children for examp'le, the results would hav j been quite different. There are manj varieties of local accent, and the idea English pronunciation must, after all remain lai matter of personal choice At the same time, there would b general agrieement that "strit" i; wrong for "straight." It is. note worthy, hy the way, that no Scottisl school is showing any interest in th'i King's English course.