New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-03-08
nR MARSH on THE eNGLISHLANGUAGE

Mr.. MARSH. on Wsine.fsy. gave the last lecture Of
bis course Oh the sl'h language. His subject vas
the n,l.n language in A,nercs lie said th4- 1t
effected ty ev>ryth,os that qualified existence 10
this country by the greet fax Of foreigners, who, in
adopting our p.scb, faed into It somet1iog Of taer
cvu. by the climatic Influences which had tnsi- effect
On the orga,, Of speeco eri BY the generally di-ed
bsbt Of reading Still our Eoglsh tboogn the bss, Of
1t might not he equal u the best IN Eoelsnd, VS., on
the ole, better than the Elgish OF Eagi'hnen.
AID Vit1 us the lsDsuege ga. far more homogeneous
than II VA 10 IT. native and. The differences between
the Epeish Of the two countries msiny coniiuet
10 the spoken ,pguage and in that sfencss Of Sc
ce,t. which, in many csses, wers already marked.
Some divergeross might b. explained toe supp9-
ston that sections of tbs co1atry bsd been settled
msiBly by persors speaking peculiar dialect of En-
gf,,. which vos preserved mere though 1t hsd died
outin the Old Country. Ire iohib'taos Of the et--
eTn STORE Of Virgins were ssd to retain some S1aks-
perish words not now IN use elewnere. Similar pecn-
srites were Observable IN the dialect Of aoutdeastern
Msssscbuset. ithsb ted almost exclusively by the de-
sceIds1ts Of the fret settlers.
An American vas struck in Er g'snd by the uuiytr-
sal use of such phrases a. " is me-, and sometimes
" lis him" ard thee even defended by soma
Briish grsmmsrisns. Most Eug ishmen thought that
we drs-.ed IN cur pronuBcisI Dir. .rsh though.
that We did pronounce vo.es more distinctly tlsn
the Eng eh The be thous cue in part ID the fact
that se were more generally reading people tbsn the
English, familiarity with the pnfted word having
tenoe1cy 20 produce accuracy srt faness Of pfondn'
citation making for instance, ton sysDles ot dic'i0R
arr and military instead Of sinking the third "a 10
England. The tenderCy to make the long Voses dph-
tborgs often noticed By foreign'Ie aDoog u.s. vs' sim
iar " this Tue othsresuse il - Is found ouT warmer
climate Articulation gss alvey uors dsinc, In warm
THAI In colo climates thst vas noticeable 10 our o~a
Sates ~ well IN the Ststss OF Europe. Ia bringing
the language from Eogland, we bad given to II sone-
thing OF the more distinct articulation when Osl'agei
to dryer atmosphere and clearer shy. Ana onr
brethren in the Southern Ststes vere inclined - the
people Of Southern Europe to throw the ecceIt toSsrl
the end Of the word Not 20 mention more iup)rJal;
cLsrges many Northern member Of Co1gre;s hei
gore to Wsshnsto ton dactyl or trochee, aod come
back an an pbibraob or 81 ianb1s. - We were is
Acquiring Auglo-AmericGn tongue. E'en ou'
hand writing wss unlike common &C ipt IN Enc aAd,
"a 70 be readily oi,ti,eu-hsb'e. This pecurr.tY of
draslmg was sometime' di'agIeeso'e eIough' DAI
it ives noticed by foreigners Is maklIs oar WORDS
more ess understood hy t1en, and rendering more
easy for Us 20 acquire good pronunciation OF foreGu
lapeusees At any rate Y Wa preirraoe 20 the han'
seous mombug Of the Cocklsy. We hsd peculiar
yo.eI especially IN NV land, tb.t heard 10 EoEe
end coat quite different fSou tea. in kAoUE OF note
We aso aimed the sound heard il mare Tar, par,
for which the Eogli,h b.d slbs itutod long IS Ia
mgv7,, lGvc-, payer. To TIE ccIIge Of nssalty. he
vas obliged to plead that tue most graot Iostatoe OF
il which ne hss ever heard wss from Eog.h cler-
eym.n Of the Estabis 'ei Church, in 8 fashionable
Cou,seI tal pulpit Mr. MaTs1 noticed tic local peeu-
Isnties Of the pr1rut CT sion OF 10 ar auo d0aA bet
ne ssid that a. al offset nobody ever ssw al ne'i-
can 10y in doupt whether she should he1Sperats
the Latct OF an American Weller whether at shoa.l
sfen veal with nc. Il sesned PROBABLE th.t the
English would loose the sspiraie entirely ln.T7 were
other differences, but yet they were TOO sable %
ADMIT Of cefl,on. They lsy chiefly in irtora'on.
Ne Es.t.rn man could hear Southern man PROF. 1lnee
the ovocstve and not perceive very striking dider-
cree. Mr.. March conciui,d Wtn some peciietons
cn the prob ability Of f1tue divergence bstSeea tie
Ergi,h Of E. gland and the EcRlisu Of America. He
hoped tts. tie social element OF personal contact
would he 20 much siren thsnet by Increasing facilities
oi communication IS grcs-y 70 6szmLate ire
spoken tongue. He epla-get upon ire import
arce Of unity Of language 10 TIE stability oi a
na1on ard pointed out the powerful intdsnces OF DO
itca and comm eroiA Associations toward thai END.
Or great coporat.ous our great charities, our grsA-
religious denominations sill fenced 10 render orr Ian
gusge uniform. Bat tee gres;est instrnu ens were
our Free Schools and our Press. Iae lsidiDg city
journals were almost Of universal cHcaA
The improved accuracy OF cur reporters msis ne"'pa
pers the channels through which we're cOuveysi nos
merely the thoughts, but almost the very accents OF
our great speakers. lie hoped that the Anglican
topl ne IN it, growth On both sides of the Atsnt!c
would pever naniies the Identity Of lis org les
clearly than i. id to-day.