S. Worthen | Weblog

Yesterday, the BBC posted an article on why "Menzies" is pronounced "MING-iss". The answer is tied up in the death of a letter of the English alphabet, the yogh (ȝ), and its typographic re-identification with the letter Z.

The member of the BBC Pronunciation Service quoted in the article is a friend of mine, from all the way back when I took Syntax at UMass and she was doing a year abroad there. I am endlessly delighted that that the BBC has a dedicated pronunciation service. Last I knew, they had three dedicated staff members to support the enormity of the BBC's pronunciation needs.

Also on the subject of yoghs, or at least Old English, Mark Sundaram, over at Allitera.tive (allitera_tive) has been posting again recently. Some of you may know him from times past at Toronto or elsewhere in the world of medievalia.