Re: Describing the Welsh LL to non-linguists

Yes... isn't it odd how newsreaders almost seem determined to mispronounce
the Welsh sound?
As regards Alexander Hleb, I've often heard /xleb/ - but Pleb? Hmm.. not
such a bad idea; he did
play for a****** after all! ;-))
Mike (Spurs fan)


> The BBC's newsreaders' pronunciation of /K/ (other than Huw Davies,
> who unsurprisingly gets the sound spot on) always sounds like [fl] to
> me (cf, Shakespear's Fluellyn, and the name Floyd). I also hear [kl]
> and [hl] or [l_0] as well.
>
> Strangely enough, there was a footballer for Arsenal a year or two ago
> named Hleb, from Belarus. In Belorussian, his name is /hlEp/ (I think,
> my slavic is rusty), but somehow the commentators found the /hl/
> impossible. The favourite anglicisations were [kl] and [K], but [pl]
> and [fl] were also heard occasionally. So <hl> might be a good
> spelling for non-Welsh speakers.