Breaking News English

Radio newsreaders and television presenters at Ireland's national broadcaster RTE are up [on / in] arms at being told to pronounce words according [to / of] the Queen's English. A report in The Irish Sun newspaper [claiming / claims] that RTE's broadcasters have been issued [an / on] A-Z style guide of words which instructs them on [what / how] to pronounce certain words in an effort to ensure they are clearly [understand / understood] . The A-Z comes with audio clips containing [elocution / electrocution] lessons of how to "properly" pronounce the "problem" words. An official at RTE told the Irish Sun that producers issued the guide to keep [down / up] standards. It said RTE had received [complaints / compliance] from the public over how certain words were [supposed / supposedly] mispronounced.

Irish linguistics [expert / expertise] Professor Raymond Hickey called the RTE's actions "internalized colonialism". He [expression / expressed] his disbelief that Irish speakers were being [asked / asking] to use words with an English accent. He said: "The [basically / basic] issue is RTE expects its staff to speak as if [that / they] were English. Why? We have our own form of English, which is different but fully legitimate and accepted [world / worldwide] ." Professor Hickey highlighted some examples of the words Irish presenters are being asked [to / for] pronounce with a British English accent. He said: "The Irish don't pronounce the TH in 'birthday' as a [fricative / friction] , but as a stop with [not / no] breath….The same is true of 'news' - the Irish pronunciation is and always has [been / being] 'nooze'."