HOW TO SPEAK
Sir,--Your correspondent C.,E. (Wellington) should know by now that "curious, eccentric, unusual, or affected" pronunciation is one that we personally are not accustomed to. It is also worth while bearing in mind that accepted pronunciation is only. itself another dialect, and that too much reliance should not be placed on, say, Daniel Jones’s work, as this authdr specifically warns us that he is simply a "recorder" of pronunciations. Why C.E. mentions a special broadcast on September 21 is hard to understand, for all the words
he indicates are neither curious, eccentric, unusual nor affected, but they are the regular everyday pronunciation of the majority in New Zealand. Marlborough is really pronounced as Mahlborough, and in this case the announcer is aware that there are two accepted pronunciations, so he uses both and leaves you to take your choice. Canterbury, if one listens carefully, is actually pronounced as Canturberrie, so what can we do about it? Nothing at all: these are now the accepted pronunciations in New Zealand, and so it must be C.E. who js eccentric in these cases,
in fact. he might even be accused of being affected. Can he.not recdll the Yarmouth discussions lately? "When you live in Rome, do as the Romans do?" Mr. Churchill likes to have his name pronounced Chur-chill, although there is no doubt that the name came originally from the two words church and hill, and I undérstand he is often referred to as Kirkbrae, in Scotland. In countless cases in the United Kingdom, place-names and surnames afe never given their correct pronunciation but only their accepted one. Be sure and always call Cowper Cuper, but for heaven’s sake never call @ cow a cu.
ARGOSY
(Te Awamutu).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19461227.2.14.3
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 392, 27 December 1946, Page 5
Word count
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287HOW TO SPEAK New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 392, 27 December 1946, Page 5
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