Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-10-23

fss. he did aav mas rnnreah. / have
fNehIY ana made quuielyiudicaled sound
MhleA Mas cMeAhinR between the
s'ea.in8 = spa. and ilIe relching heard
~ &C. xoyasef from TIE nexl ztete-
fesA Ne occupant a whicb j. mol >
d aAilof. On subsequent 0hseFva-
zlon ] Ioan6. q NJ surprise, that ihIs
sanllemnn was nnt "a Ill aineular in his
'sssIanes o. The sound which he aubsli-
for yes. He merely afforded .
bafked exenpIaf ol nel uaeens.
A M taa
As 81 A1Sz1 # aA a
= olssn - the short. crisp monosyfa-
BE Nhich Il displaced. Akin 10
mnyeah, or rather another form ol Il, is
mnyah, and Of this there is often to be
heard The still further abbFeviation
nsnye', which Is merely the old ye' Of
Is years ago with q nasal. bleating In
PRODUCTION.
Besides these perversions Of the sound
of yes. there Is The yaass or yahss ofthe
remote rural districts, which is heard
also IN England in like places, although
in some parts of the mother country yes
becomes ees "a rustic utterance. II is
somewhat strange, considering the de-
Fivation OF yes, (gese, pronounced gay
say and its close affinity with yes. that
it Is not pronounced yayss somewhere;
but do not know Of such pronuncia-
lion. II even degenerates into ee with
some Of the rustic speakers in England,
but the aye Of such speakers seems to
be relic Of yea. II is sounded like the
lirst letter Of the alphabet, and not like
the aye Of cultivated speakers, which Is
ah-ee, the sound of The vowel I. To
return to America, the yah that we fire.
q1ently hear for yes might be not un-
reasonably supposed to have been
caught from the Germans, who have
descended upon Us IN such numbers
during the last thirty years; bat am
rather inclined to the belief that, as the
ye was merely yes with the last sound
dropped, this yah i merely the rustic
yaass or yahas clipped IN like manner.
Even IN our cities We have remarka-
bly, escaped contamination Of German
speech.
Besides all these miserable substitutes
for yes there is the prolonged, mean,
nasal, wavy yee-s-ah-us, which is heard
most frequently, ifnot exclusively, from
female lips, aud which is one Of the
most contemplate and irritating sounds
Of which human vocal organs are capa-
bic. II one did not hear il, il would
seem impossible that the brief, clear yes
which, when properly spoken, snaps
like a broken icicle, could be so twisted
and attenuated and snarled. There is
comfort. however, N this, that the wo-
men who thus whine out this word are
always in every respect the least lovely
Of their sex.
have been amused at observing the
many uses TO which q certain sort of
speakers put this merely monOsyllable
Of affirmation. II is made to express
all varieties Of mental condition in rela-
ton to any assertion. I have heard
conversations much like the following,
in which the yes geaerally took the form
Of We.
'Good morn'n'l Beaut'fl day."
"Yes," (simple assent.)
"But think IL rain fore tn days
out"
"Yes1" prolonged upward infection
Of inquiry.)
"S'mraIn'll be good T. th' country"
"Yes." prolonged circumHection, Up,
down and up, expressive Of guarded as
sent.)
"Wheat's goin' up"
"Yes," (pitcbed high, with strong,
downward infection, expressive of graft
iicatiOn, the speaker having bought for
q rise.l
"Th'll be . short crop'n Europe"
"Yes !" (very short, with quick, up
ward infection, expressive Of inquiry,
admiration and pleasure
'F'twasn't frus they'd starve.
"M-yes." Nasal monotone, ex-
pressive Of Indiference.l "Good nora
in I"
I have no doubt that even longer
talks than this have been kept up with
the affirming monosyIlable as the only
contribution OF one party to the inter
change OF ideas most deplorable per-
torrance. Silence is golden; indeed,
compared with such speech as this.
AS to the utterance ofthis word. there
is no point in our everyday English
more worthy Of attention, OF on which
The average American speakers more IN
need Of correction. The elaborate sio-
venlness Of large proportion Of Amer
ican speakers in regard 70 this word is
IN strong and most unpleasing contrast
TO the clear frm uttersnee Of the aver
age Englishman.