Shortly after Andy Burnham’s inauguration as the UK’s Prime Minister, The Economist’s podcast noted Northern characteristics in his speech (which I pointed out in a previous post in Japanese) and discussed some of the previous Prime Ministers’ pronunciation.
提供元: The Intelligence from The Economist: Slip the surly bonds? Scott Bessent goes on a yield trip、2026年8月26日
However, their language expert Lane Greene does not seem to have the skill necessary to discuss the topic. He talks about Jim Callaghan’s southwestern postvocalic /r/, but the speech he cites contains none of it:
I think it’s a basic feeling that you want to do what’s best for the country whilst you lead your party /ˈpɑːtɪ/.
I’ve had a very enjoyable life in politics, and I hope in some sense it’s rewarding /rɪˈwɔːdɪŋ/.
This is more than enough to doubt his phonetic capabilities, because he hears something nonexistent.
To make matters worse, he says Harold Wilson’s Yorkshire roots are “less easy to instantly peg as a northerner than Andy Burnham is.” But Wilson’s speech cited here contains “can’t” pronounced /kænt/ rather than Southern /kɑːnt/, which should be easy to spot:
President Kennedy said once that if you stand still at home, you stand still around the world. We believe that we can’t go on standing still, and this program is a way to get us on the move.
I have to conclude that, as far as pronunciation is concerned, Mr Greene is not fit for the job.
英語の音声に関する雑記帳 
コメントを残す