NEW ZEALAND SPEECH
»Sir,-Concerning the discussion about the relative merits of the English and the New Zealand accents, may I submit the argument that the best accent is the one most pleasant to the ear? Let me add hurriedly that I am fully aware that this suggesti®n is not of much practical value because it immediately raises the unanswerable question of Who is to judge what is pleasant, and why? But I believe that it is not utterly stupid. First, the majority of Americans, who employ a nasal tone which is the big uncle of the New Zealand accent, comment upon the pleasant-sounding quality of the English ‘" accent," whereas few Englishmen reciprocate. Secondly, professional speakers, especially actors, are taught what is known for no very good reason as "Standard English." In other words, by a ‘process of experiment and elimination Standard English has been found the best accent to listen to, from the point of view of both audibility and pleasure. (Perhaps the two go hand in hand part of the way.) It must by no means be confused with the Oxford accent nor with what is usually confused with the Oxford accent -the affectations of pseudo-Oxonian. In New Zealand little Standard English is heard except from the BBC and the actors in British films. It is clear, aud-
ible, full, and unaffected-
A. J.
HEN
DERSON
(Canterbury College).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19441124.2.13.9
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 283, 24 November 1944, Page 7
Word count
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229NEW ZEALAND SPEECH New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 283, 24 November 1944, Page 7
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