Pronouncers

"Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? ... In America, they haven't spoken it for years." -- Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady."

   In the early days of radio, networks printed a pronunciation guide for their announcers, based on the most widely spoken dialect in America, known to linguists as the North Midland dialect, and to non-academics as Midwestern.
   There were exceptions, of course, but most words listed in the guide used pronunciations favored by the dominant group of speakers with the highest social acceptability rating. That's a subjective judgment, and you can call it snobbery if you wish. If not, call it the most neutral dialect, the one least likely to be identified with a particular regional, social or ethnic group, and the one most likely to be easily understood by most people.
   Soon, that mode of speaking became known as the Radio Dialect. Even today, most broadcast news folk use that dialect. The pronunciation guidebooks are long gone, and news announcers often read the copy cold. That is, without having read it over before going on the air.
   How else to explain such recent pronunciations heard on network television as DEC-la-tory for de-CLAR-uh-tory (declaratory), where the stress is on the second syllable, not the first?
   Or BRAH-va-doh for bra-VAH-doh (bravado), where the stress is moved forward to the first syllable? Or a-FLU-ent for AH-flu-ent (affluent; first syllable rhymes with cat)?
   Either that -- reading the prepared copy cold -- or the TV speakers are not familiar with these words to begin with. True, they may have seen them in print, and they understand the meanings, but they have not heard them spoken.
   Granted, spoken English has not matched the written system since the days of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Great Vowel Shift. (Don't ask. Consult your friendly neighborhood dialectology coach or phonetician.)
   But there is a dialect that can be called Standard Spoken/Written English. And yes, it is subjective, but it enables speakers and writers to communicate, regardless of which of many dialects they may use in everyday exchanges with friends, family and neighbors. Otherwise, all would be chaos.
   Moreover, here is a basic truth: Linguistically all dialects are equal. Each enables its speakers to communicate with each other easily. The only thing that gives one dialect more prestige than another is the prestige of its speakers.
   And that is a social judgment, not linguistic.