PRONUNCIATION OF WELSH
Sir,-The pronunciation of Megan as Meeg’n in a play entitled Nightmare (1ZB, July 28) seemed excusable in its implied context, but my Welsh blood rose rapidly to the boil as I listened to the NZBS production Golconda Hall (YAs, July 30). Ignorance of the correct pronunciation of Llew and Gadfan is inexcusable; and to anybody who disputes this, I say (with fluency): Paekakariki! Surely it would have been as easy to consult a Welshman as to insult him? As to the accents in English, there are at least six different Welsh accents, all beautiful variants of English-the possible exception being the Rhondda accent of English migrants. At least the actors might have listened to Under Milk Wood and produced something genuinely Welsh, although a North Welsh accent would have been more appropriate, or even that heard recently in The Wind of Heaven. What hurt most of all was the reduction of the vivid, varied intonation patterns of the land of music to a monotonous moan as unlovely as a Kiwi’s tail. I admire Bernard Beeby’s work; but if he cannot do better by the Welsh, then let him adhere to the wellworn Cockney or Lancashire hotch-potch for his dialect plays!
PETER F.
WELLS
(Auckland).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560824.2.12.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 890, 24 August 1956, Page 5
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207PRONUNCIATION OF WELSH New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 890, 24 August 1956, Page 5
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