NEW ZEALAND SPEECH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 919, 22 March 1957, Page 11

NEW ZEALAND SPEECH

Sir,-It has been said that the camera never lies-the same might be said of the tape recorder. Many people receive quite a shock on hearing their own voices for the first time. As I see it there are accents pleasing to some ears, yet distasteful to others. This applies all the world over and is not peculiar to any particular language. Regarding the English tongue, the BBC has, since its inception over thirty years ago, set a standard of speech. It might be fairly said that voices such as those of R. E. Jeffrey (latterly with British Movietone News), Alvar Liddell and Freddie Grisewood, to mention only a few, were regarded as models of elocution and a joy to listen to. Apart from their freedom from accent, such voices, in common with most BBC announcers, were noted for their rich timbre. Howard Marshall’s description of the Coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey was as beautiful a piece of elocution as one could wish to hear, Nevertheless, who would wish to travel from Land’s End to John o’ Groats or from King’s Lynn to Galway Bay and listen to a uniform accent? The diversity of accent and dialect in the old country is truly something to be marvelled at, and part of the British heritage. Colloquial accents and expressions are mostly the prerogative of the plebs, whilst the gentry, no matter where the family seat may be, speak with a nauseating "refayned" braying. As one climbs the social ladder, so the brogue gradually disappears as a patrician accent is adopted. This social change of accent is encountered even in New Zealand. The Cockney and the "Lancasheer" are amusing to listen to in film and radio, but their sharpness renders them discordant. The average New Zealand voice resembles the Cockney with its "lawr" and "noaw" for no. This is not surprising when one takes into consideration the large proportion of Londoners who would have made up successive batches of immigrants. Although we may be indebted to Uncle Sam for introducing some useful spelling reforms in the "mother tongue," yet the nasal American twang is atrocious.: Indeed, enough to make Will of Stratford turn ‘in his grave. As Lorenzo put it in The Merchant of Venice — The man that hath no music in himself nor is not moved by concord of ewmrans. 4acinct T at ann mich ewan he

F L trusted!"

J. C.

WEIR

(Auckland)