Why are Radio 4 presenters mispronouncing ‘new’?

[TheMarriageOfAirAndFrock]

First thing this morning I heard ‘nuuu’, rather than ‘neeeyouw’ (compressed) which is the word I’ve been familiar with for 6 decades.

And it’s ’s not just R4 - I’m hearing a lazy pronunciation of this word everywhere these days.

Dd is studying linguistics and it’s so complicated. I’ve learnt a lot too.

I wonder if then may-or is the correct pronunciation

@PleasantPedant different pronunciation doesn't necessarily mean mispronunciation.

That's my opinion. Yours may be different.

The pronunciation is [mɛː] , like mare. As pp, it's to do with the origin of the word. It's from maire.

I can only go by the examples you've posted and I think the problem is how you've transcribed your way of saying them.

Layer/lair same to me. - you're mispronouncing one of them.
Rare - ray-er - mispronunciation.

Mayor - may-or. - I'd say mispronunciation.

Alf was the "mirr" of Weatherfield. - not a mispronunciation because that's the local accent.

If I imagine a strong Scottish accent, your transcriptions sort of make sense. @RaraRachael .

So are they still 'mispronunciations' then?

Calling Scottish pronunciations mispronunciations is an interesting take.

But maire comes via Latin as I said above. And that is pronounced in two syllables

In any case, the derivation of words was lost many moons ago. If we are to insist mayor comes from maire you should all be rolling your rs at the end.

Indeed. As in Whitney.

It's via Old French.

@PleasantPedant if you're saying "mirr" is a local accent, not a mispronunciation then my examples are the same. It's how those words would be pronounced with a local (NE Scottish) accent.

I am aware.

As I said, @RaraRachael , it's the transcribing. If you posted that you say Clare as clayer, it looks completely wrong. If I imagine an Aberdonian saying Clare it kind of makes sense. I'd read clayer as clay with an uh on the end. My imaginary Aberdonian says it like Clair in a strong accent.

Alf Roberts was saying mayor as mair, but the Wetherfield accent makes mair sound like mur.

@Piggywaspushed , I think you are mixing up the origin. Mayor doesn't come from major.

It comes over as if you're saying that a Lancashire pronunciation is fine but a Scottish one is wrong.

I wouldn't say a non rhotic speakers is mispronouncing a word because they omit the r sound.

I am not mixing anything up. They come from the same Latin word root.

The term mayor shares a linguistic origin with the military rank of major, both ultimately derived from French majeur, which in turn derives from Latin maior, the comparative form of the adjective magnus.

But no point in arguing with someone with your user name.

I think it possible you may be mixing up Aberdonian and Glaswegian there.

I know where my friend is from thanks. Mayor is from master not major.

@Piggywaspushed I agree. There's no way I'd describe my accent as "strong" Certainly not compared to some Glasgow- type ones. I struggle with those sometimes, especially if they speak quickly.

I may now record how I say Claire!

Is Wikipedia wrong then?

I remember it used to annoy me cilla black would say Claire. Cluur. Like folk from St Helens say it not Liverpool.

You cannot police phonics in relation to dialects. People from the Midlands I was at university with used to say t-thpaste! I say tooth-paste. When i moved down South my flat vowels raised an eyebrow then when I moved back up North years later, my children's long vowels raised even more! Think grass/graaahss bath/baaath etc.

I live in Essex, have done since my late teens and haven't met someone who says Toosday yet. FWIW I grew up in the east end and didn't hear it there either. Much more likely to hear Chewsdy

Agree. Toosday is East Anglian. You'll of course hear Suffolk accents in Essex (they stray across!) but it's not known as an Essex accent.

It’s just snobbery not to accept other accents

You are not the only person who says privacy without it sounding like pry-vassy.