atw: Pronounseeashun
- From: "Geoffrey" <geoffrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2012 08:14:44 +1100
On 5 January 2012 14:46, Ken Randall <kenneth_james_randall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
"Aitch" is definitely correct. It is in the majority in both age groups
cited. In other
English-speaking countries only "aitch" is acceptable, a fact which should
be
taken into account since English is the international language. No good
purpose is
served by "haitch".
---
Good grief. It truly staggers me that, in the twentieth-first century, we
are still harbouring the illusion that any particular linguistic practice is
correct or incorrect. Does anyone today speak, spell, construct or
punctuate as Shakespeare did? No. So is the way we write today incorrect
because it differs so markedly from the writings of an acknowledged master
of the English language? Or was Shakespeare a crap writer? Likewise, do the
Americans punctuate incorrectly because they use the serial comma when it is
not used in most other contemporary Englishes? Anyone game enough to tell
the Americans that?
The whole application of the concept of correctness to a mere convention (as
language is) is a category mistake pure and simple. A linguistic practice
might be conventional or unconventional, effective or ineffective. But it
cannot be correct or incorrect. (Yes, I deliberately started that last
sentence with a conjunction. Feel free to prove to me, by either a priori
means or a posteriori, that my usage is incorrect. Show me the logic; show
me the evidence. How might you even start?) Or if you want to be
relativistic about it-and say that correctness can be applied to majority
conventions even if the conventions are changeable-then you would have to
say that those women who refuse to change their surnames after marriage are
behaving incorrectly. A bit silly, eh?
It further staggers me that contemporary folk are judging others by the way
they pronounce their words. I thought we had defeated this sort of
class-ridden snobbery during the cultural wars of the 1960s and 70s, along
with judging a person's worth by the clothes they wear or the length of
their hair.
I'll talk as I please, thank you very much. "Acceptable" my arse.
Do youse understand?
Geoffrey Marnell
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- » atw: Pronounseeashun - Geoffrey
