PRONUNCIATION ON THE AIR

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 146, 10 September 1927, Page 8

PRONUNCIATION ON THE AIR

Sir, — A short time ago I ventured to complain of certain mispronunciations on the part of the announcers at IYA. Since then “Constant Listener,” “Satisfied,” and others have written, presumably, with the intention of dis-

counting my remarks. “Constant Listener” harps on the fact that I have been a listener for onljr a week or so. and goes on to say that the purity of the announcer’s English is “most satisfactory to we fathers of school children,” and “Satisfied” tells us that the announcer is widely popular and that the programmes are good. The logic of these arguments does not appeal to me. I was not criticising the programmes, or the announcer’s accent, but the pronunciation of certain words, mainly foreign; and the brevity of my experience neither explains nor condones the fact that Italian names were pronounced as German, and French titles as Latin, as they undoubtedly were. The announcer may be popular—l do not know him, but I do not doubt the truth of “Satisfied’s” statement—but popularity is no substitute for ability, though a useful adjunct. Again, the purity of the announcer’s English is “most satisfactory to we fathers of school children.” Surely “Constant Listener” must have written “wee fathers”—he can hardly have meant to write “us fathers”—and if so, he must be held guilty

of one of these errors which “Constant Listener” 'has “even seen in a newspaper.” Prodigious! We may assume then that “Constant Listener’s” opinion is that of the average small father: the opinion of the large father remains unknown. But, however satisfactory the announcer’s accent may be to fathers of all sizes—-as it is to me also, though as yet childless—it is not his accent I criticise, but his pronunciation, and this is not satisfactory to us teachers of school children—for I might as have signed myself -PEDAGOGUE” as PEDANT.