Professor Higgins was right, of course: nothing divides two English‐speaking people more decisively than the way in which one or either of them pronounces their allegedly common language. The nuances and pitfalls of English pronunciation are legion, and that even before we start into questions of regional or local accents. There is Received Pronunciation, or BBC English if you prefer, but even that can be fraught with controversy, not the least being the “correct” pronunciation of that word: is the stress on the first or second syllable?
This is a very simple, straightforward and effective little guide through the minefield, small enough just about to carry round with you in pocket or handbag, although the social nuances of taking it out to consult during conversation are, to say the least, daunting. The BBC was from its establishment considered by Lord Reith and many others the ultimate arbiter of “correct” English, and still holds that cachet. Its Pronunciation Unit was established early in the life of the Corporation and daily gives advice on the pronunciation of English and foreign words to all its broadcasters. This dictionary presents 16,000 entries from a database of some quarter of a million, selected obviously for their topicality or for their degree of difficulty.
Proper names and foreign words or names abound, but so too do English words. There aren't too many of us left who remember spending pre‐decimalisation British coins, but halfpenny and halfpennyworth are here, also telling us that when used as a surname the “hayp‐ni” is usually pronounced “hahf‐puh‐ni”. The pronunciations are given as illustrated by that example in respelled form, and also in the IPA characters which will be familiar from many major dictionaries. Most entries also carry a very brief definition or explanation of the term, which proves a very useful additional feature. Opening at random you can find Jarama, “river, Spain”, followed by jarl, “Norse or Danish chief” and Jim Jarmusch (an American film director), Armas Järnefelt (Finnish conductor) and numerous others including Jedi (the knights in the Star Wars films), Elfriede Jelinek (an Austrian author) and Jemaah Islamiyah (a Southeast Asian Islamic terrorist organization), all of course with their pronunciations. Short explanatory notes are added to entries where appropriate, to clarify such matters as aspects of usage or differences between American and British pronunciation.
In addition there are panels within the single alphabetical sequence of the book, dealing mainly with particular languages, such as Arabic, Japanese, Gaelic, or Welsh for example. These panels also deal with topics such as accents and Anglicization as well as a top ten of mispronunciations and complaints about pronunciation. One of the panels gives a useful summary account of BBC English and Received Pronunciation.
Combine the authority of the BBC Pronunciation Unit with the reference expertise of Oxford University Press and the result should be a foregone conclusion. So it is. Absolutely authoritative in its advice, remarkably comprehensive in its coverage, elegantly and expertly laid‐out and presented, sold at a reasonable price, this is in many ways a model reference book. The brief explanations of each name listed give it an added and unexpected reference value. So many people will find this book useful if not indispensable: journalists and anyone working in the media, teachers, students or anybody who just wants to get these things right. This is, therefore, a dictionary I can recommend without caveat to any library.
