Unrelated Incidents

1. Unrelated Incidents Roots and Water

2. M.L.O To consider whether or not people are judged on the way they speak.

3. About the Poet • Leonard is a proud Scot who challenges social stereotyping in this poem • Although his passport identifies him as a British citizen, Tom Leonard sees himself as thoroughly Scottish • Almost all of his poetry is written in his own Glaswegian dialect. • He says he is interested in 'the political nature of voice in British culture'.

4. This poem is written in a Scottish accent. Why do you think Leonard doesn’t use capital letters? Click on poem image for video link A “BBC accent” is received pronunciation – no accent. BBC news readers used to speak without accents. Does accent really affect whether or not you believe things? What effect does the phonetic spelling have on you? Why end with “belt up”? What affect will it have on the reader? Who can’t talk right? Those without an accent? Or those with? Laid out to look like an auto-cue. What is this and why?

5. this is thi six a clock news thi man said n thi reason a talk wia BBC accent iz coz yi widny wahnt mi ti talk aboot thi trooth wia voice lik wanna yoo Poem is written phonetically to force the reader to use a Glaswegian accent. Could also be to make it more difficult to understand which links to the main focus of the poem No punctuation or capital letters because this is poem that is meant to be spoken 5 No end-stopping which reinforces the notion that this is an auto-cue and is meant to be spoken 10

6. Truth (“trooth”) is a recurring idea in this poem scruff. if a toktaboot thi trooth lik wanna yoo scruff yi widny thingk it wuz troo. jist wanna yoo scruff tokn. thirza right way ti spell ana right way to tok it. this is me tokn yir Leonard claims that we wouldn’t trust someone with a regional accent (in this case, working-class Glaswegian) to give us the news. Would we? What are the prejudices we have for different accents? Ironic as the speaker is talking like “wanna yoo scruff” whilst explaining why he doesn’t Clearly the poet feels some connection with working class Glaswegian society as it’s written in the first person

7. Truth is the recurring message of this poem. In what way? We trust RP or ‘BBC’ accents We mistrust regional accents right way a spellin. this is ma trooth. yooz doant no thi trooth yirsellz cawz yi canny talk right. this is the six a clock nyooz. belt up Does RP also give neutrality? A Fairness that doesn’t favour anyone? Accents can alienate people through difficulty in understanding Who is it that “canny talk right”? “belt up” meaning shut up is a humorous end to a poem which is focused entirely on the way we speak and the effect this has on us

8. Answer the following in full sentences • Should the poem be seen as serious and almost angry or humorous? Could it be both? • In what way does the poet suggest that speech is connected to attitude and behaviour? • How can speaking in certain ways give you a form of power or authority? • Do you think that the poet truly believes what he is saying? Do you agree? • This poem was written in 1976. Are the points it makes still valid today?