New program from the BBC: Word 4 Word

[Harold F. Schiffman]

The programme that investigates language

 Word 4 Word is a new programme about language - local language. It is
part of the BBC's Voices season that will run through 2005.
Find out more about the BBC's Voices season

You can also explore language further on the Open University Word4Word
site where you can find out how to run your own linguistic survey, and
order a free booklet to accompany the series.

 Can you answer these questions for programme three?
 Can you help us? Specific questions for each programme will appear on
this page each week. For Programme four, called You don't want to speak
like that,this is how you can help:

* DID ANYONE (PARENT, TEACHER) EVER TRY TO STOP YOU SPEAKING WITH A
REGIONAL ACCENT OR DIALECT - AND WHY?  WHAT WAS THE RESULT?

* DO YOU REGRET HAVING LOST YOUR NATIVE SPEECH?

* DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD "CORRECT" PEOPLE'S DIALECT/ACCENT TOWARDS A MORE
"STANDARD" ENGLISH?  WHY?

* IN THE FUTURE SHOULD WE ENCOURAGE REGIONAL/VERNACULAR SPEECH IN SCHOOLS
OR SHOULD WE TEACH ONLY STANDARD ENGLISH?  WHY?
Follow this link to email to us your examples



 Programme One: New Kids on the Block?
 Social distinctiveness in each region: they're trobos and trevs, neds,
spides and scallies, pikeys, chavs, wannabes and townies. Go to programme
one.

 Programme Two: Contains Strong Language
 Examines traditions of regional language which show few or no signs of
significant standardisation in order to demonstrate the power of the
closed community on language. Go to programme two.


 Programme Three: London and the World?
 We look at how widespread the Estuarial phenomenon has become - using
recordings from as far afield as Cornwall and Manchester, rural
Lancashire, Cambridge and Newcastle.

 Programme Four: You Don't Want to Speak Like That!
 The pressures on dialect/vernacular English from social improvement. Do
you know about the hated 'Welsh Not'?

 Programme Five: Under the Influence
 The way that regional and national forms of language are the products of
powerful and very diverse forces, including the influence of the Vikings



 Programme Six: Friends, Neighbours and Big Brothers
 The vexed question of uniformity and the ways in which how we use the
vernacular influenced by the broadcast and electronic media.

 The producer's view
 Simon Elmes, the executive producer of Word 4 Word, talks about the
series and the VOICES project. Read Simon's article

THE PRESENTER
Dermot Murnaghan has spent most of his career in broadcast journalism.
Before joining the BBC, he spent more than a decade fronting ITV's
national news bulletins from London. He joined the BBC in the Autumn of
2002, becoming Breakfast's main presenter immediately
Read Dermot's article on Word 4 Word

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/word4word.shtml