British broadcasters

[Lynne Murphy]

James Clapp said:
>
> Lynne Murphy wrote:
> >
> > Ken Miller asks about British pronunciations of foreign terms and place names.
> > There does seem to be some weird xenophobic tendency in some Brit
> > pronunciations.
>
> That seems a little harsh.  Is it xenophobic to use one's own language or
> dialect to pronounce words and names when speaking one's own language or
> dialect, or is it pretentious to try (seldom successfully) to ape the native
> pronunciation?

Yes, it was harsh.  I was being a little xenophobic about the English.
But there does seem to be an American ethic toward attempting the native
pronunciation of names that the English don't always share.  I wouldn't
call the American tendency pretentious, necessarily.  I think that Americans
sometimes have a less English-driven approach to foreign orthography.  For
example, when I lived in South Africa, I had a horrible time remembering
to pronounce the L's in 'grenadilla' (which is the SAE word for passion fruit
--I've noticed in UK they call it 'passion fruit).  I automatically said
'grenadiya' whenever I saw it, which would never occur to a South African
English speaker.  I've noticed the UK pronunciations of some French names
to be more French, and the US pronunciation of Spanish names to be more
Spanish.  Maybe it's all just a matter of language contact.

Lynne