BBC TV sports presenter Alex Scott (ex-state school) recently upset Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham (ex-independent school). As many of us choose to do, he then went on Twitter on 30 July 2021 to express his displeasure with Scott for dropping her g’s and spoiling a “good presentational job” while reporting on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He helpfully added that it wasn’t a matter of accent, rather a question of “poor elocution”. Jones’ comments invited allegations of snobbery and racism (Scott is mixed-race), and fuelled another of those opinionated public debates we seem to be increasingly engaging in.
The situation is, however, not so black and white when it comes to defining the standards of pronunciation in spoken English. English is a dynamic and continuously evolving language, and the standards of past generations are fast losing relevance with the passage of time. At the most basic level, language is all about effective communication. Arguably, if one gets one’s message across successfully, the precise format used is somewhat irrelevant. The problem is that alleged ‘dumbing down’ of the English language particularly upsets those concerned with upholding high linguistic standards-the self-appointed and self-righteous arbiters of grammatical purity, the appropriate choice of vocabulary, and the correct pronunciation of words.
English is a global language, and has spawned numerous dialects (defined by grammar and vocabulary) and accents (defined by pronunciation) across the world, thereby diluting its alleged purity. But for many, especially in England, so-called Received Pronunciation (RP) remains the standard of spoken English that one should aspire to. RP, or ‘the Queen’s English’, was derived from 19th century upper-class English, as spoken by the upper echelons of society in London and south-eastern England. It was adopted by British radio and television from the outset, having already become the approved language of high society, the church, courts, the civil service, military officers, and English public schools and elite universities. RP even spread elsewhere in the British Empire-once dominating the Australasian media and now transmuted into Cultivated Australian English, for example. RP is, however, only spoken by around 3 to 5 per cent of the British public today. The rest of the population mostly communicate through regional accents. Conversation has been more recently democratised by the classless accents of so-called ‘Estuary English’, thought to have originated from around the River Thames and its estuary.
The posh sounds of RP, linked as they are with social class, prestige, power, and wealth, can seem rather dated and pretentious in today’s Britain and frequently invite negative attitudes, even though RP itself is changing in line with the times. Although frequently used by teachers of English as a foreign or second language, exposure to RP does not adequately prepare its learners for the realities of day-to-day colloquial English, with all its peculiarities of vocabulary and idiosyncrasies of pronunciation, which are best learnt by direct engagement with local communities.
It is not clear whether Digby Jones prefers a return to the days of RP, or whether he doesn’t mind Estuary English in its place, but he may be missing the point when it comes to his views on pronunciation. But then he is only one in a steady succession of purists who decry the ‘dumbing down’ of English, which seems inevitable as it is continually transformed by trans- Atlantic, ethnic, and other non-native influences. Let the debate continue, but spoken English will continue to evolve of its own accord, appropriately responding to the changing circumstances of the day, and the sounds of today may well differ from those of the past.
Ashis Banerjee