A Plum in your Mouth: Why the Way We Talk Speaks Volumes About Us [Hardcover]

Andrew Taylor writes with a delightful Oxonian voice in the style of Simon Winchester (although Mr Taylor is slightly more repetitive - possibly a consequence of weak editing). His sly humor helps keep what could be a boring treatise alive (except for a few dull parts in the middle).

In general, I liked the book. It would be good in-flight reading for anyone who has to give speeches, CEOs, industry spokespeople, Toastmasters, YouTube stars and thesbians. It will also help you become a better listener - so I'd recommend it as light reading for a course on active listening.

The examples and anecdotes peppered throughout the book reveal careful research and provide fodder for cocktail conversations.

He meticulously classifies his chapters according to different English accents. The first chapter is on Received Pronunciation - a term I'd never heard of - but basically the voice of the old BBC and "proper English". I'm still not quite sure how far it goes up the social scale - whether most Oxonians would use it or only those from public schools. To me the accent of Harrow or Eton is far from that of the BBC news person.

The book then goes on to talk about the different regional accents. This is followed by a chapter on other languages of the British Isles - as opposed to accents - like Welsh, Scottish, Cornish and Irish. When he moves on to immigrant accents - I feel the analysis to be less deep.

Asian speakers are some of the most keen to learn how to speak good English and more pointers on variations between say a Gujurat speaker and Hindi speaker would have been useful.

By the time the book gets to American English we've heard about the "rhotic R" many times - I would have appreciated less repetition - and maybe the book's organization means that ideas are repeated - this is where I fell asleep most easily. In part, because there are huge differences between the Pittsburgh area that thinks the US capital is Worrshington and the Southern lilts that change the sound of "I" to more like "Ah I". In fact a sequel could be devoted to American regional accents - but I'd get a US co-author.

In the Southern Hemisphere section I was pleased to note differences between New Zealand, Australian and South African versions of English - this is where I woke up again.

The next section about rules of pronunciation is a little tedious - in part because there are no real rules - the gem of the section was noting that languages have between 15 and 75 distinctive sounds. It also will make me listen to newsreaders who have prepared scripts more carefully - by their sounds you can tell that they are reading, not talking ad lib.

When looking at tomorrow's (Tomoz's) English Taylor misses the teen generation's online spelling - maybe that's another book - he's pretty good at showing how sounds get condensed - but needs to look at what Skype and cellphones are doing to our voices. Even a middle-aged Canadian barman used the word Tomoz. I suspect teenage girls have a different vocabulary from teenage boys.

I would really like a glossary with examples (maybe a web page too) for the following terms and more:

Received Pronunciation

Estuary English

Rhotic R

rounded u, rounded a

flattened u, flattened a

dropped h

Regional variations like Scouse, Geordie etc.

glottal stop

alveolar ridge

philologist

form-word

clear l, dark l, double l

voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, etc.

There are a whole lot more candidates for a glossary - but hopefully the editors at HarperCollins get the idea...

I must say I never found Tony Blair's glottal stop annoying or noticeable - but I guess it may be a generational thing. After reading the book I'll listen to him more carefully.

I do think that the facts of the book could have been put into a book half the size as there is much repetition - so I advise you to skim the parts you've heard before.

Some tables and charts would also be useful to compare and contrast variations. Maybe a podcast could illustrate some of the differences too.

You really have to be a Brit to understand who all the people mentioned in the book are - as a Brit in America I hope that before the US edition is released that the author takes time to note who the "celebrities" he mentions are. I probably got about half of them - others who I am sure are very popular in the UK were unfamiliar.

I do think there is a lack or rigor in some parts of the book - but Mr Taylor is at pains to speak to the general public and does not claim to be an academic. He says the language of the Hanoverian Court was French - I am not sure about that? In German Hanover they say it was German - hence the reason for Brits saying "Shedule, not Skedule - the older pronunciation before the royals spoke German".

Fortunately I knew a bit about pronunciation having started with a Yorkshire Accent and been sent to elocution classes, but I know that those who have not learned the fundamentals of labio-dentals, etc, will be lost in some parts. I don't have any kids - but based on the book - I would still encourage them to go to elocution lessons to lose their accents for career success. As Mr Taylor points out you can change your accent as easily as you can change your clothes for a specific occasion.

I hope the book gets wider circulation.

I want to point out that 'Pakeha' is NOT the Maori language. Pakeha is the Maori term for non-Maori and is used widely to describe immigrants especially the early European variety. Roughly translated it means 'Stranger'.
The language is known as Te Reo.
The whole section on New Zealand English was shoddy. I wonder who, if anyone did the research? Did Mr Taylor ask a friend and they sent him this info as a joke? Everyone knows about the NZ 'i' sound (i.e. igg not egg)I wanted to know about the use of Scottish and Scandinavian language and how it has been integrated into Te Reo. For example, Maori say 'aye' for 'yes', as do the Scots. Also he was wrong in saying that most immigrants came from Australia - where did he get this flawed history?
This made me wonder how much of the rest of the book was accurate, hmmm.

This is marketed under the rubric "entertainment" and should be taken as such.
For a more serious, measured and correct approach and simply a more justified purchase, turn to the experts (i.e. linguists).

Highly dis-recommended for any student of language!