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