The British Broadcasting Corporation has issued from Savoy Hill at
one shilling a second pamphlet of Broadcast English. Mr. Lloyd James sets out the recommendations of the Corporation to its " announcers " upon the pronunciation of English place-names. These are given in the orthodox spelling, hi an International Phonetic Alphabet, and, thirdly, phonetically. The last presentation raises all kinds of general and local controversy. For instance, Sussex people will' be up in arms when they see that Hdthly is allowed as an alternative to Hoathlye : Cheshire people will say that to allow Tarporley to be called Tarply is to condone the vulgarest " clipping " ; the village on the Welsh marches, Leintwardine, so far puzzles the compiler that he gives three pronunciations, but these do not include " Lanterdyne," which is certainly the use of old inhabitants. One could pick holes for ever. Mr. James has written as an introduction an apologia which is as good an effort to disarm criticism as one could expect. (He even defends the feeble dragging out of Daventry into three flabby syllables that remind us of Pope's " wounded snake " or a spongy piece of elastic.) His is a hopeless task, and yet one full of interest. If he co-operates with the English Place Name Society it will at any rate help him to find a mean between a strait-waistcoat for our pronunciation and a wanton, ignorant disregard of the local history enshrined in names, each of which denotes holy ground to someone.
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