Untitled

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 92, 28 March 1941, Page 4

Sir-John Doe’s proposal that the NBS should try to establish a standard pronunciation of disputable words is all very well so far as it goes, but if it were adopted it would do nothing to remedy the main fault he mentions, i.e., the habitual mispronunciation of words which admit of only one pro-nunciation-the right one. A person who habitually stresses "romance" on the first syllable, or says "minuay" for "minuet," or thinks that "forehead" should be spoken as it is spelt, is obviously not aware that there is anything wrong with his pronunciation, until he is told so by someone having authority. The only way of curing this evil would be for the NBS to employ specialists to listen to every broadcast, and to record every mispronunciation by speakers, actors in radio plays, and announcers, and bring the faults to the notice of the offenders. If after a reasonable period these were not able or willing to mend their ways, their voices should cease to be heard on the air. Unless this is done (and there seems little prospect of it) not much could be gained by adopting John Doe’s proposal. By the way, the pronunciation of " precedence" to which he objects has the full support of Fowler, and is given as an alternative accepted pronunciation in Jones’s dictionary. The word illustrates the rapidity of changes in the language; for volume VII. (part 2) of the O.E.D. on which John

Doe relies, appeared in 1909. —

RICHARD

ROE

(Wadestown).

More letters from listeners will be found on page 10.

LETTERS FROM LISTENERS (Continued from page 4)