Evening star., 1935-03-17
Bv The Radio Editor.

n 70 murdererS OF the KING Eng
nj lish are Britains carefully Sc
VI lected radio announcers, yet
L the problem of the right way"
to pronounce words and accent
syllables remains with them no less
than with our American broadcasters.
Against the day when radios influence
does away with regional dialects. if it
does not in a future age actually
bring on universal language, British
and American announcers and speak
ers share one cause in common-they
must be on constant guard lest their
pronunciations offend both the masses
and classes of people.
It is one Of the commoneSt criticisms
OF American and British radio that
announcers and speakers are either too
New Yorkese or Georgian or Western,
too oxford or Manchester or cockney.
Solution Is Partial.
What shall be done about it? The
British have hit upon solution. but
they admit 1t only partially solves the
problem because of the multitudinous
vagaries of language. They have
established a sort of supreme court
of the Kings English. Just as Amer
ican jurisprudence drew heavily from
British, radio on this side of the At
lantic can draw ideas if not direct ap-
plications from this courts" answers
to what is the proper broadcast (and
even everyday pronunciation Of
doubtful words.
The first decision OF this supreme
court has just been received here in
the form of the 1885 edition of Broad
cast English" booklet published by
the British Broadcasting Corporation,
which is now being widely distributed
among the people of the British Isles.
who are recognized as the final court
of public opinion" on this as on other
subjects.
Two editions of a pamphlet on
broadcast English were previously pub
lished by British Broadcasting
Corporation Advisory Committee on
Spoken English consisting of a half
dozen literary lights under the chair
manship first of Robert Bridges, the
poet laureate, and then of George
Bernard Shaw. Last year this COM
mittee was enlarged under Shaw to
embrace Is members and representa-
tive each of the British Academy, the
ROYAL Society of Literature, the Eng
lish Association and the Royal Acad-
emy Of Dramatic Art. Among the
committee members are Lady Cynthia
Asquith, Lord David Cecil, Sir John
ston Forbes Robertson and A. Lloyd
James, professor of phonetics at Uni
versity College, London.
77s Doubtful Words Listed.
The Advisory Committee makes its
recommendations primarily for the
benefit of radio announcers, on the
basis Of the experts suggestions. The
purpose of listing how 779 doubtful
words shall be pronounced, it is stated,
is Ito secure some measure of uni
formity in the pronunciation of broad
cast English and provide announcers
with some degree of protection against
the criticism to which they are, from
the nature Of their work, peculiarly
liable.
1T is not suggested" the report
goes on, that these pronunciations
are the only right ones, and it is not
suggested that any special degree of
authority attaches to these recon-
mendations." Yet presumably the B..
B. c. radio announcers must learn all
Of these pronunciations and use them
unless and until verbal revolution
arises among the masses against any
Of them.
The committee is far from being
rigid in its findings. 1t admits that
no one can say with assuredness
that there is only one right way" and
all others are wrong. For example
even In England they pronounce
dance" both with the short vowel
Of dan" and the long vowel of
darn" Speakers who use the first
variety often accuse the others of
being cockney; those who use the sec
ond accuse the others of being pro-
vincial. 1t is decided that both pro-
nunciations must stand. because both
are common among educated speak
ers, yet it is felt that the Southern Eng
land variety. using the long vowel, will
PROBABLY prevail, because it is most
common in London, and "the educated
speech Of the capital starts with
heavy handicap in its favor"
A few Of the other recommended
pronunciations are amnater for anna
teur, the last syllable rhyming with