How to pronounce Talia

[GemLooper]

Would you say Tah-lee-uh or tar-lee-uh?

You are still looking at RP as a ‘absence’ of anything else. It’s just a way of speaking. Literally a way of saying words.

I think it's because it related to class not geography. And every other accent is. So take the thing I said earlier, which you agreed with "you can have posh Mancunian, or standard Mancunian"

Now take the Mancunian out. Now what. A "posh" what. What if there's no accent you can attribute to a place there. Now what if they're not posh either. Now what are they?

With RP, it's a way of saying words related to class. A long ago "posh" accent. Yes, but every other English accent relates to a place. And if you don't have any of those recognisable regional accents, you are covered by this general blanket of RP, which actually doesn't relate to your class at all these days.

To be honest, I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you've tried to explain. I can't get it. Two things I've never been able to comprehend in my life. Reading sheet music. And this.

Even if you reduce it to toddler speak, something is making me incapable of understanding. I get to a certain point, and it's all complete sense, then it's just wrong. But thank you, sincerely. I absolutely get it's me, not you.

I think the problem is that you're getting too hung up on the geography of accents, there's noting inherent in the geography Manchester that gives people a Mancunian accent, it's entirely picked up from the people around them. Hence different parts of the city have different accents.

If you are primarily surrounded and brought up by people with an RP accent, you will have an RP accent. Possibly with a slight geographical tinge.

It's that simple!

Which is why if you went to Bradford, for example, you'd hear a lot of young British born people from the Pakistani community speaking in a West Yorkshire/Pakistani accent hybrid. Which is entirely due to the influence of the way the people around them speak and is not based in geography.

I think it's because it related to class not geography. And every other accent is. So take the thing I said earlier, which you agreed with "you can have posh Mancunian, or standard Mancunian"

I’m sure there are many variations, I’m not an expert on Mancunian accents.

Now take the Mancunian out. Now what. A "posh" what. What if there's no accent you can attribute to a place there. Now what if they're not posh either. Now what are they?

You are trying to have a rigid structure of subdivision across all accents where they all have to follow the same rules. Your logic above is not transferable across all accent groups.

Try looking at it the other way. Start from the sounds. A lot of people talk in a similar way. Ok, that’s a recognisable accent group. And then it’s a case of ‘what do they have in common, how do we describe this thing’. For some accents it’s clearly driven by locality. For others - such as RP/SSE there is a combination of geography (mainly out of the south east) and class/culture.

But literally all those people have to have in common is the way they talk. That’s their accent group. That’s your accent. Someone has put a label on it based on common factors in many people who have that accent. That’s all.

Yes, but every other English accent relates to a place. And if you don't have any of those recognisable regional accents, you are covered by this general blanket of RP, which actually doesn't relate to your class at all these days.

This is still, totally untrue. You couldn’t pitch up in Berkshire speaking with a totally different and heretofore undiscovered accent and have it be RP. RP is a specific, documented group of sounds used in speaking English. It just doesn’t categorise by geography.

Stop trying to make accents about geography. Just stop. Many are, but not all.

They’re a way of making sounds when we speak. That’s the accent. That’s it.

Everything else is an attempt to categorise.

(But also stop trying to pretend that RP/SSE is free of geography. It’s geography and/or class and/or other stuff.)

There is no R in Talia,

I would say Tally a

Tar-lee-uh

Ta- leah

I’m just picturing OP rocking in the corner with her head in her hands...

This thread certainly doesn’t disappoint! Gin for all, I think.

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

I’m just picturing OP rocking in the corner with her head in her hands...

This thread certainly doesn’t disappoint! Gin for all, I think.

I hope OP isn't still thinking of using the name - imagine the family fights that could break out!

RP is a regional accent, though?

It belongs to the region of England, within the UK.

My DH doesn’t have an RP accent, but he does have a generic southern UK, BBC news-reader voice.

We live in NZ. When NZers hear him speak, do you think they perceive him to have an accent?

I’m telling you right now - yes, they do. To many Kiwis who can’t differentiate between many regional UK accents, he has a generic English (that’s the region, albeit it a large one) accent.

Before I went overseas, I naively thought we Kiwis didn’t have an accent, so I kind of get where you are coming from, @TwinsandTrifle

tah-lee-a

RP was the epitome of a BBC Radio 4 news reader's accent, that the whole point. They had to have that accent so there was no regional trace in their accent. It is what the Queen speaks but generally now RP is slightly less formal. If you listen to speeches by the Queen over the years, it has changed slightly. There are also now news readers with regional accents ( on Radio 4). Fewer people say syoot for suit now but most still say dyook for Duke and haven't gone to the more American dook. I love languages and accents, it's fascinating.

My DH doesn’t have an RP accent, but he does have a generic southern UK, BBC news-reader voice.

Like Huw Edwards's?

I hope no one does change to dook @horseymum, that’s a pet peeve of mine - my DP says noo instead of nyoo and I hate it!

Tar and Tah sound the same to me, I'm so confused

I'd say it as "Ta (for a cup of tea) - Lee - Ah"
I've got a faint Brummy accent if that helps...

@KirstenBlest

My DH doesn’t have an RP accent, but he does have a generic southern UK, BBC news-reader voice.

Like Huw Edwards's?

southern UK, BBC news-reader

I could have said Reeta Chakrabati, Naga Munchetty, Sophie Raworth, Sima Kotecha ...

All born in the south of the UK and all BBC newsreaders

For many years RP was known colloquially as BBC English, wasn't it, though? I know things have, thankfully, changed and regional accents are now used too.

I say duke the same as juke btw horseymum.

@TuftyMarmoset I don’t think it is posh. I think it’s like when girls called Esme pronounce it Esmay - it sounds affected, although I’m sure the parents just think it sounds a bit fancier. Like how the name Anna now seems to be pronounced Aaaaaaaana .

Oh - I’ve never heard esme pronounced other than Esmay (I don’t know any and am in the south here). Actually think it’s more Esmeh??
Is Esmee (?) used more northern/welsh/Scotland etc ? I think I like Esmee.

Like how the name Anna now seems to be pronounced Aaaaaaaana confused

That's not fancy, that's Disney.

That was suppose to be

The Frozen pronunciation of Anna really threw me. My niece used to correct me vehemently 'It's ONNA, not Anna!'

@Bobsyer es-may is how it’s supposed to be pronounced, that’s not an affectation that’s why it’s sometimes written Esmé. Like how you wouldn’t pronounce Renée as renny!