# Aagh! What up with this BBC radiO reporTER's acCENT? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616 "2005-08-18T17:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/1 "2005-08-18T17:52:59Z")
I’m listening to a B.B.C. programme on public radio and this reporter Emma Joseph has the most annoying delivery. She keeps emphasizing the ends of words – NintenDO, SoNY, video games indusTRY, marKET – Who are these new players who are being targeTED? – has sold two million coPIES – AnaLYSTS point out that the market is still groWING. - No wonDER Hollywood itself is starting to sit up and take noTICE. It’s really jarring and it’s driving me bonkers. Why don’t they give her some broadcast training? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/2 "2005-08-18T18:58:05Z")
‘Broadcast training’? By which I presume you mean ironing out any trace of her Caribbean accent? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/3 "2005-08-18T19:09:01Z")
No, not _any trace_. The flow of emphasis on syllables in a sentence can be modified without affecting the pronunciation rules in an accent. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/4 "2005-08-18T19:23:53Z")
Why should a broadcaster on the World Service (which is the only place I’ve heard her) be expected to obey particular ‘pronunciation rules’ rather than others? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/5 "2005-08-18T19:29:54Z")
I don’t know. That’s why I’m not saying that she has to change them (I was referencing the pronunciation rules in her _own_ accent). I’m just talking about the emphasis placed on particular syllables in a sentence. While Standard English can be spoken in any accent, the emphasis issue plays an important role in givingcues to meaning. Monkeying with the emphasis so radically has a jarring effect on me as a listener, because I keep getting the wrong cues. And if the fact that she’s broadcasting over B.B.C. World Service is the key, then why is she otherwise speaking in Standard British English rather than in Carribean dialect? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/6 "2005-08-18T19:33:14Z")
From what little I can find about her online, she’s lived in the UK for at least a decade. And we’ve no idea what her family or educational background is. Suffice to say she’s picked up a multitude of influences on her accent. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/7 "2005-08-19T04:43:03Z")
Oh, that’s odd. Was it on NPR or CBC? I heard the same story driving home from work tonight, but I was flipping through the stations, and don’t recall which radio station it was on… Anyway, I noticed the accent too, but thought it was probably Carribbean in origin, via the UK. That was my guess, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/8 "2005-08-19T11:27:12Z")
I don’t know who distributes the programme, whether my local public radio station gets it directly from the B.B.C. or through another distributor like C.B.C., N.P.R., P.R.I., or A.P.M. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aagh-what-up-with-this-bbc-radio-reporters-accent/317616/9 "2005-08-19T11:35:23Z")
This kind of style was dubbed the plonking style way back when. I think it’s linked to the hack’s sense of importance, which tends to run far higher than warranted.