New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-29

or that railway 10 uHci H.,
II "sto ," may, from one point OF w. Sm65ress
thought finer than shop" the increased nnon1 m
Is quite accidental ii Is another thing WIN "ns
man on either side calls his shop or store uis oe
tablishmentp In nearly all these cases tne 'llilcI,
ence matters nothing TO one whose OBJECT 10 " T1ro
some relics of the good old English tongue. 10
NAV bo n word OF phrase which Is good enough IN IN
its turn with others but which. II used e ~
to the exclusion of Others, seems 10 part 800 ~ ' f
nature OF slang. Some fayorlte nf Slang
speech seem to in this way 10 SivoI " fr's ~
and believe that some iavorite British iotills VI
speech i'm the like sort SAVIOR OF Slang 10 az Tho
lean To take very small example, PeInalPe9 or
hotter hec,nse n IL SO very small. the WORD cor'
tainlyV is a very natural form 0f granting aHt 40
quest: but in England we should naruI uso ~ 49,.
cent in granting request of some lltle inpOi'nIo
or one ,hont the granting of which there might 10
some little doubt; american use eXtehaS II 10 ny
very smallest cIvilItics of the table ' guess
have always stood mp for a. perfectly goou loIh.
n only it is moi always used to the exclusion OF
other forms reckon " IL az gOoi Engiisn ~
English can be; it is only at calculate that
one wonid begin to kick but | do not think that
| calculate is often heard in the KIND OF Amer
lean society TO which was used. 1t might now
ever be taken as an instance OF the way IN winch
technical and special words get INTO common use
sometimes one side of the Ocear, sometines on
the other. and which seem odd to those who are not
used 20 them. Let take an oxford Story OF per.
haps fve-and-thirty years ago. story was tOiu
in "a common. room OF an American clergyman VINO
was in the habit of getting mo theological discus
sons with his bishop aud who WAS sometimes pul-
lied rs 70 the way IN which be ought 10 behave IA
such cases toward his spiritual superior. pau
respect for his office" said the prcsDyteri pul
did not like TO iHd5Tse all that lac sad" hJ Oh
laughter went round the room. Thirty five yedis
apO there seemed something iTresisuDly ihiIctouS
in applying commercial word IKE lHuoIsc "
agreement or disagreement on theological matter.
| am quite suce that no one would lauHh ~ II n.y.
either in America CT in Britain; NC all lhdors,' VI
decline to ludOrse, POSITIONS On az Hlea'!ulS VI ".
logical. political, phOsOp hical or any oin'I, 'ut
| doubt whether anyone in England would tlih OF
the balance of the day." phrase wmcn INV
heard in America, though should donnL It's or,n l
.fr MIN roo
easily into common use Iu America thau h'I'' liI
| am told that the same Is the case wen "'-'''O"'
phrases also.
DIFFERENCE ~ PEoNrNcIAuoN.
7, uropru.iatio, strictly so called, mean the
utferance ot particular words a5 distinguished
from Any general tone, accent lniohAUuh' anu tno
ike, TemaIkcd less difference pei"ool hH''.'"
and Luglaud than there o. lu the use oi tnc WORM
themselves OF certain dat 'tlc differences wllh!l
the United States themselves have already sli9
so,,ctL,uy When the NirnuIn says " doU and
DOE . 1or" door and floor IL Is 20 truly case
ol dialect in the strCiest sense - the ulieTthte
between the dialect Of Somerset aud the dialect OF
Yorkshire. buJ | noticed SOME Ifeio.ehI ul.'r,,
cucrs of pronunciation IN America Which were IN
no sense iii 1lectcdi but when were clearly adopted
on a principle. fancy that something that may "e
called principle hr moro inHaouc' "h pI'nun-
cation in America than It has IN England Ih5
rsinark is uut ny own ! found It. or something 10
the sane effect Ia an American periodical IL wa4
there remarked that in America tRrIe ~ - l .
class OF people who rcdd great c'aI NIthouJ very
much education. and VINO are app To- "i"W jhtF
IDEAS of pronunciation rather from the look ~ the
words IN the book taan IRON any ualliloht way
ri uttrrluc them. TINS viii most likely account
Tor sumo cases. specially lUr ono on " hich shall
ma fe something u say presently. int there are
other cases u which the American Usage, though IL
sounds odd 10 British ear, Is strictly according 10
the analogy of he English tongue / heard m
America opponent aud " inquiry, ana very Udd
they sounded. But they simply follow the Eugiisn
mid ol throwing the accent as far back rs ve can
without REGARD TO the latiu or Greek quantity II We
s,,, ihcntrc which by the way. is accidentally
la ,Vsp n 20 a. .ttIItI a
Ihlat!yc ana 4 crowd of other words of tAe same
kind. We may rs well say opponent" and IN
quITy" The only reason against 50 dong -. sup
pose, that they are Il uttle haId TO say, which ls
doubtless The reason why, Is uIic everybody says
auditor and senator nobody says " spectator
But there is one word on winch wish to speak a
little more az large. a. clear instance IN winch
the schoomaster or the printed text on SOME other
artificial influence has brought about "a distinct
England usually sounded clark, while IN America
il Is usually sounded ." curk." | saY usually,
because | did once bear clurk in Lnglnnd-irom
London shOpmaII-and because J was told at
PhihdephiI that some Old people there stIi said
clark" and-a most important fact-that those
"ho said clark also SAID marchant' Now IT Is
quite certain that " clark Is the older pronunrla
uon," the pronunciation winch the inst settlers
must have taken with them. This IS proved by the
fact that the word n a surname-and It IS one OF
the c1mmonest OF surnames-ls always sounded, anu
most commonly written, Clark ' or Clarke
suspect that Il" Clerk as II surname so spelled. Is
distIuctvely Scotch in the modern sensr OF that
wOrd. Also in writers of the sixteenth aud early
seventeenth century. the word Itself Is very often
written clark or clarke BUT ot course clerk
was at all tunes the more clerily spelling, show
lug the French ana Latin origin OF the word IL -
plain therefore tnat the pronunciation clurk j.
not traditional, but has been brought IN arthci IL
Is, out Of "a notion OF making the sound conform
10 the spelling. But clnrk IS mOie tho true
sound than clark .; the true sound II caIrk,'
IKE French "cicic," and Scotsman wOuld surely
sound it 40. "Clark and ciurk arc both mere
approximations To the French sound and " clark
IL the Older aud surely the more natural appr0yIma
zion. The truth ia that We cannot sound clerk
II Is spelled; TINT Is, We cannot give tie before
the sound that we give It when II Is followed
by any other cOnsonHnt. We cannot sound IN
clerk" exactly rs sound in " tent THIS
applies } n crowd of words, some OF Ieutouic one
OF Latin origin, Iii which the spelling is q hut III
which the sound has, Just as in clerk uctuated
between and Il. The old people ut Philadelphia
who said "c,1rk also sad ~" marchaut" aud
quite rightly, for theJ mad on their side both older
Engsn usage ana, III tins case, the French spelling
itself. The sound merchant has come III, both
in England and in America, by exactly the game
process as that by winch the sound clHrk' has
come III IN America, but not IN England. In these
cases the words Of Latin ORIGIN; 50 is " Ger
man." which people used to sound JaTman AS
IN the memorable story of the Oxford University
preacher vino wished the Jarman theology" at
the bottom OF the "Jarman Ocean But the same
thing happens To a crowd OF rentonic proper
Names Derby. Berkeley, berkshire. Bernard,
Bcrtram, and others. In these names the original
Old English vowel is A." 90 -; the modern spelling
and the different modern Pronuncations mere
approximations, Just a wien the vowel il the
French Latin {. One has heard Darby" and
Darby.p" BGrteley" and BTIeleyp; and though
the a sOCnd Il now deemed the more polite, yet |
believe that fashion has tuctuated in this matter
IN most others. And fashion, whether iluctuatmg
not, is at leqsbinc0nastent Il Il is polite to talk
of karlsruhe" and Darby it is no longer polite
to talk about Jdrman" and jersey" iint In all
these cases there can ne no dOu0J that the Il sound
is the older. The names of which have spoken are
often spelled with an n in Old writer's; and the q
sound has for IL the witness OF the most familiar
spelling of several of the names when used Ak sur
names. Darby Barclay" Barnard" Bar
trnm,' all familiar surnames, show what sound WAS
usual when their present spelling was fixed
Tourists believe. talk Of the Durwent' las thew
call the D0vc the Duy'); but the Derwent mt
Stamiordbrlgc IS undoubtedly DuIwent, willie the
more mort crn stream of the name is locally Oar
win. a form which has become illustrious "a a sur
name. Now IN words OF this kind while Butlsh