proper dialects

Wed Apr 1 20:49:24 UTC 2009

Paul,  I've noticed some BBC announcers picking up US words.

I think if a standard dialect were taught in USA schools, along with the truespel 40 phoneme set, the instructor could teach them to students and compare standard to local pronunciation.  Kids would get it and do what they wish.  I think the instructor would have leverage to steer pronunciation toward the alphabetical principle reversing the capricious trends away from it.

from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/jemima-lewis/5067157/A-childs-speech-is-still-a-class-issue.html

A child's speech is still a class issue
Jemima Lewis
Last Updated: 5:44PM GMT 28 Mar 2009

Tucked away among the many controversial proposals in Sir Jim Rose's planned overhaul of primary school education is this strikingly retro idea: children should be taught to speak properly. If the new curriculum goes ahead, children aged 7 to 11 will learn to "adjust what they say according to the formality of the context", and to eschew such telling expressions as "I ain't".

It is a good idea, fraught with hazards. For starters, what counts as "proper" speech these days? Is it about grammar and vocabulary, or verbal dexterity, or – heaven forfend – accent?  Is it, in fact, about class?
(click link for more)

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com

----------------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 13:45:27 -0400
> From: paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU
> Subject: Re: sumetary
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Paul Johnston
> Subject: Re: sumetary
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Tom:
> The BBC now has non-RP speaking newscasters, or at least did when I
> was last in the UK in 2002. BBC Scotland had speakers of a posh
> variety of Scottish Standard English before I moved there in 1973,
> though the national newscasters were at least near-RP.
>
> Yours,
> Paul Johnston
> On Apr 1, 2009, at 1:46 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Tom Zurinskas
>> Subject: Re: sumetary
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------
>>
>>> And of course we know from the findings of historical linguistics
>>> that there's a strong correlation between the presence or absence of
>>> phonic instruction and the likelihood of sound change... ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>> LH
>>
>> Got any studies you can cite one way or the other?
>>
>> I wonder how many of us were actually taught any kind of correct
>> pronunciation. I remember being taught not to pronounce the "t" in
>> "often" so I don't. How many other of us when doing our 10
>> spelling words per week in grammar school were told how to
>> pronounce our words correctly? I sure was.
>>
>> I understand in UK there's a movement to teach pronunciation in
>> grammar school. I think BBC pronunciation is the model.
>>
>>
>> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>> see truespel.com
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>>> Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:23:13 -0400
>>> From: laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
>>> Subject: Re: sumetary
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Laurence Horn
>>> Subject: Re: sumetary
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ----------
>>>
>>> At 6:54 AM +0000 3/31/09, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>>> Thanks, Herb, for that interesting clip in which Bill ~Lubbaaf talks
>>>> about the Great Lake Northern Cities Vowel Shift (for short vowels).
>>>> (I didn't see his last name spelled but I can spell it phonetically
>>>> in truespel). He says that around the great lakes cities certain
>>>> vowels are changing. This area contains cities such as Cleveland,
>>>> Detroit, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffaloe (about 34M people). It used
>>>> to be the USA English standard pronunciation for media. Some
>>>> examples are:
>>>>
>>>> saying "block" the same as "black"
>>>> saying "buses" the same as "bosses"
>>>>
>>>> Other short vowels are swapping too. ~Lubbaaf says we are growing
>>>> apart linguistically even with massive media exposure. To me this
>>>> is a bad thing. It should be changed and can be changed.
>>>>
>>>> I speculate that the main reason for this is that many schools have
>>>> dropped phonetic or phonic instruction for teaching reading and gone
>>>> with "whole language" or "whole word" approach. This forbids
>>>> teaching the alphabetic principle that letters stand for sounds, so
>>>> kids are taught that they have to learn words visually, and thus
>>>> pronunciation is not linked to spelling and can vary capriciously.
>>>> Huge mistake.
>>>>
>>>
>>> And of course we know from the findings of historical linguistics
>>> that there's a strong correlation between the presence or absence of
>>> phonic instruction and the likelihood of sound change... ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>> LH
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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