Transcription
Hello, number ones, and welcome to Metatron Academy. You know how the other day we listened to recordings of Queen Elizabeth's accent in 1957? Well, the other day was the queen. Today is the king. Checkmate. So, we've got two recordings to listen to. This is one of them, and then there is another one. But which king, you ask? Well, so this is Queen Elizabeth's father, George V, and this is her grandfather, George V. This is the voice we're gonna listen to today. This man was born in 1865. The recording is from the early 30s, at least. The first one is, I believe, from 1932.
Without further ado, let's jump right into it. So, the first time I'll listen to it without interrupting. The second time I'll provide commentary through one of the marvels of modern science.
I am enabled this Christmas day to speak to all my peoples throughout the empire. I take it as a good omen that wireless should have reached its present perfection at a time when the empire has been linked in closer union. For it offers us immense possibilities to make that union closer still. It may be that our future will lay upon us more than one stern test. Our past will have taught us how to meet it unshaken. For the present, the work to which we are all equally bound is to arrive at a reasonable tranquility within our borders, to regain prosperity without self-seeking.
Okay, so I know I said I was going to play the whole thing, but I actually think it's better if we do half. Then I present some opinions and say a few things, and then we'll continue with the other half. I think that way is better. Okay. So, uh, first of all, I keep wanting to say emperor because British Empire, but I mean King George technically was an emperor. It just wasn't an emperor of the UK. It was emperor of India. Regardless of that little history there, uh, but yeah, no, so as we see, uh, I already see some of the characteristics similar to Queen Elizabeth, his granddaughter's accent that are still in here. This is not as old-school sounding as the one we listened to yesterday, which was recorded in 1888. So that one was even older, fully Victorian, in fact. But you can still, you can still see that there is a progression. So, one thing, of course, there was a British empire; still was a British empire as he addresses that. Let me see. So, marvels of modern science. Marvels of modern science. Modern science. Yeah. Of course, once again, as we always say, these are all very upper-class. I actually wish we had some recordings of the common people. Maybe I'll find some. Let me see how he says day. Christmas day. He fully pronounced the diphthong "day." Uh, in the Victorian one, we noticed that they were still pronouncing it "de," which I thought was a fascinating retention of because, of course, this all has to do with the Great Vowel Shift. I GVS. I could make a video dedicated to it if you're interested in how vowels have changed their pronunciation over time in Great Britain. But in the meantime, let's see. Let's see how his Rs sound. Peoples throughout the empire. He does not have the rolled Rs. So those are already gone that we found in the previous video. By the way, link in the description. Offers us immense possibilities to make that union closer still. Yeah, he says "make." I think he pronounced this "future." Let me see how he says tranquility and of reason tranquility. Tranquility. Tranquility. It still is super posh for obvious reasons. Within our borders. Borders to regain prosperity. Yeah, it's still in that prosperity. It's still in that situation when it's really in between. It's not a full e, I don't believe. Do people even do that in the upper class anymore? Prosperity without self-seeking and to carry with us. Carry though. Did he say carry? Self-seeking. And to carry with us. Yeah, carry.
So, as I was saying in the, so, basically, Queen Elizabeth was really imitating her dad, and her dad was possibly still had the accent from her from the granddad. Um, carry rather than carry. So, the, the short a sound was still pronounced in this man's time and all the way up to the queen still. Although probably at that time it was already starting to become a little bit of an old-school pronunciation. At this time, carry those whom the burden of past years has disheartened or overborne. Yeah. And if you notice, it doesn't do it in past because past is a long r. So there's a big difference between long a and short a, which is really a e in this time. And we'll notice this in the other recording. But let's continue. My life's aim has been to serve has been, yeah, as I might towards those ends. Your loyalty, your confidence in me has been my abundant reward. I speak now from my home and from my heart to you all. It, it still fascinates me how we can perfectly understand a man from 1865. I will, if you're interested, do let me know in the comments, but I might make a few videos on reconstructing how people spoke in the Middle Ages. And as I say, I can make a dedicated video on GVS and see if we can reconstruct some of that to men and women. So, cut off by the snows, the desert or the sea that only voices out of the air can reach them. To those cut off from fuller life by blindness, sickness or infirmity. And to those who are celebrating this day with their children, okay, and their grandchildren, to all, to each, I wish a happy Christmas. I knew he was going to say happy happy Christmas. I actually like the way it sounds. Very distinguished, but not just because of the royalty thing. I would say that a lot of educated people would have sounded this way in in England, particularly in the south of England. Would be interesting to see how distinct with the north of England or even Midlands. I'm sure it would have been, of course, but it would be interesting to see. God bless you. God bless you.
Okay, so let's move to the next recording, for which we have an actual record. Look at that. Have you got your record player ready? Oh, just for context, this was recorded instead in 1935. This is one year before this, this, uh, the king's death. Man, look at that. Never mind digital download. I wish you all, my dear friends, a happy Christmas. I've been deeply touched by the greetings which in the last few minutes have reached me from all parts of the empire. Let me in response send to each of you a greeting from myself. Did he say how did he pronounce response of the empire? Let me in response, in response. It's quite open a, I have to say, send to each of you a greeting from myself. My words will be very simple, but spoken from the heart on this family festival of Christmas. The year that is passing, the 25th since my accession has been to me most memorable. It called forth a spontaneous offering of loyalty. Yes. And I may say of love which the queen and I can never forget. How could I fail to note in all the rejoicing, not merely respect for the throne? Let me see how he said because he said love. That was a very ah sound as it still is in, uh, at least southern variety in England. People in the north usually pronounce it love, but people in the south do say love. But how do you say rejoicing? Not merely, sorry, never forget. How could I fail to note in all the rejoicing? Rejoicing. It has a very, that's interesting because I would say rejoicing. Rejoicing. It's very open. Not merely respect for the throne, but a warm and generous remembrance of the man himself who, may God help him, has been placed upon it. It is this personal link between me and my people which I value more than I can say. It binds us together in all our common joys and sorrows. Sorrows rather than sorrows. And so there must be a characteristic of the old-school accent to open some vowels in a way that I guess people don't really do anymore. Um, also I appreciate how quickly he put together the word together. Together, he did it very quickly. It binds us together, and that could be part of the speech because do remember this is clearly read. He's reading a message. So that has to be taken into account. But still his choice of how his rhythm goes, his ups and the ups and downs of his voice, the general intonation shifts, uh, all of these are definitely descriptive of the time where he was born, raised, and now as an old man, uh, as he's, you know, in the in the early 30s. So, of course, we don't see as many differences as with the Victorian people because that was like the rolled Rs when they said great. I thought it was fantastic. It was fascinating. So, this is clearly a lot closer to us, but you can still tell that it's a very, I don't even know if the word vintage because vintage is usually like 20 or 30 years old. So, this is is a lot old. It's a century almost, but still like it, it has an atmosphere to it. Even though the pronunciation when it comes to the actual vowels and consonant clusters might not be as distant as earlier ones, you can still tell that there is a big difference in there and a very recognizable atmosphere, if I may say so. As when this year you showed your happiness in the marriage of my son and your sympathy in the death of my beloved sister. I feel this link now as I speak to you, for I'm thinking not so much of the empire itself as that's another one I wanted to point out of the not so much of the empire, and I think that's how he usually finishes that, but because there is a word after it, itself, which also begins with a vowel, it, the h sound, then what some people do is what is technically referred to as the ghost R or the phantom R. What that is is that sometimes British people will pronounce an R as a liaison, as a connection, even if it's not there. Empire itself. Like in this case, it's not even the ghost, it's just a connection. Empire itself. But when it's on its own, empire. Empire. Empire itself. So you can pronounce it like saying the car, but the car. Not all British people do that though, and sometimes they will just add a glottal stop. So they'll say a car, under, uh, a car, under a little bit. So they might do a little pause. He did do the pause. Not exactly a glottal stop. I guess a glottal stop is not congruent with his rank. Although then again there are exceptions because believe it or not, even though if I tell you about the glottal stop and then I give you an example, you'll immediately think, oh yeah, that sounds very low class. If I say water, water, it sounds low class. And yet, if I say network, it doesn't. And it's the exact same linguistic phenomenon. Water. Network. British. The last two don't sound low class. W does. I'm exaggerating it a little bit, but I mean, you'll see that it really depends on the word. So, he's not putting a glottal stop. He's just creating a pause, and that pause makes it into a non-rotic pronunciation when he goes into empire instead of empire. But then again, as I say, there are plenty of speakers that will pronounce the R because there is a vowel here. Interestingly enough, the phantom R becomes a situation, um, when there is no R at all, which can be strange for some people, like when you say law and order. Law and order. You're putting an R in there because it makes it easier to say even though there is no R in law. Law and order. Drawing instead of drawing. And that is because O, in there are two vowels. You connect them with an R. Some people do that. The individual men, women and children who live within it. Whether they are dwelling here at home or in some distant outpost of the empire in Europe and many parts of the world anxieties surround it, it is good to think that our own family of peoples, family is at peace in itself and united in one desire to be at peace with other nations, the friend of all, the enemy of none. Isn't that nice? Like the way he pronounces empire and desire. In fact, almost identical. May the spirit of good will and mutual helpfulness grow and spread. Then it will bring not only the plenty of peace but a solution of the economic troubles which still is set up. To those who are suffering or in distress whether in this country or in any part of the empire. I'm noticing that he doesn't fully pronounce the Gs. Did he say let me see how he said suffering or in this which still to those who are suffering? Yeah, he actually did a little trail, suffering, suffering, suffering. But he fully nasalizes. Basically, the G in that situation is acting as a nasalization of the N. Um, that's what's happening. Um, it kind of depends. There are accents where I've noticed people, it's kind of a person to person. It's not even a regional variety. I think it's a person to person. So people will say suffering, but I think most people will nasalize it, suffering. It was I actually found it fascinating. It did trill it a little bit. Maybe it was a remnant of an older pronunciation. To the empire. I offer my deepest sympathy, but I would also give a Christmas message of hope and cheer. Cheer. United by the bond of willing service, let us prove ourselves both strong to endure and resonant to overcome. Once again, as I close, I send you all, and not least to the children who may be listening to me, my first Christmas wishes. Notice how he still says message with that e which is very closed, um, that it was characteristic of probably I want to say late 19th century, message rather than message. And those, my dear wife, my children and grandchildren who are with me today, I add a heartfelt prayer that wherever you are, God may bless and keep you. Amen.
Okay. So, uh, yeah, fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Okay. So, which recording was your favorite among these two? I think I really liked the one with a recorder, I'll be honest. But they were both really nice. As I say, if you're interested in me continuing to do this, and there is any other recording that you're aware of that I'm missing about really any country, but I think we're focusing mostly with English for now, do let me know in the comments and I will make sure to have a look at it, analyze it, and continue the series. I will also be posting other videos, of course, that I usually do on the channel, but I noticed that this series is going very well. So, uh, we're going to continue, and thank you very much for joining Metatron Academy. Goodbye.