Radio newsreaders and television presenters at Ireland's national broadcaster RTE are up in arms at being told to pronounce words according to Queen's English. report in Irish Sun newspaper claims that RTE's broadcasters have been issued A-Z style guide of words which instructs them on how to pronounce certain words in effort to ensure they are clearly understood. A-Z comes with audio clips containing elocution lessons of how to "properly" pronounce "problem" words. official at RTE told Irish Sun that producers issued guide to keep up standards. It said RTE had received complaints from public over how certain words were supposedly mispronounced.
Irish linguistics expert Professor Raymond Hickey called RTE's actions "internalized colonialism". He expressed his disbelief that Irish speakers were being asked to use words with English accent. He said: " basic issue is RTE expects its staff to speak as if they were English. Why? We have our own form of English, which is different but fully legitimate and accepted worldwide." Professor Hickey highlighted some examples of words Irish presenters are being asked to pronounce with British English accent. He said: " Irish don't pronounce TH [in 'birthday'] as a fricative, but as stop with no breath….The same is true of 'news' - Irish pronunciation is and always has been 'nooze'."
