St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-17
THE SOUTHERN TONGUE.
Peculiarities OF Pronunciation OF
the Soft-Voiced SOutherner.

Two causes have combined TO corrupt
outhern pronunciation; first, the con-
tact with the negro, especially In the
impresSionable period of childhood;
second, the carelessness which charac-
terzes warm climates. Low latitudes
in America, particularly on the Eastern
Seaboard, seem to have a different effect
on temperament from the same mean
temperature i'll Europe. ihelr
warmth produces languor. an lntin-
ite cOmpoSure, fOndneSS Tor SEN
suuus trifling, Here, with sudden, VlO-
lent and almost incessant changes from
cold to hot and wet to dry, the result Is
nervousness, restleSsness, morbid eag-
erneSS TO be off with one thing and on
with another-in short, hurry and
wOlry. Possibly. too, there are physio-
logical effects of climate to be taken
into account; though it may be that
long habit is accountable for the ease
with which certain improper sounds are
made and the almost i'm possibility OF
producing others.
Not only is the initial II in unaccented
words dropped, as is more or less the
case everywhere, but in a Slurred
"he' or "me" becomes y; as "He saw y
(he) couldn't arrive in time" This, as
well as dropping-or Slurring till it is
| tantamount to drOpping-the final d in
wind" "hand," ETC., and the final in
going" walking" ETC., are errors OF
which we are usually conscious at the
time, and to which most SOutherners
will plead guilty.
But there are much more glaring er-
rOrS which.we commit without ceaslng
and without being at all aware of IT.
l,n in sslyinrr - SsrinO ,,
ssthing," ewing" 'sing," "String'' and
countless similar ones. does not become
e, it certainly becomes a very SuS
piciouS i.
We sin. and sin unequlvocally, over
another and almost an equally large
class of words. With us On spells
"awn," "coffee" becomes cavity
''long" becomes "lawng;' swamp y
''swawmp;" cross" ''craws;" Boston, -
'.Bawston :" John" "Jawn;" ''gone,"
''gawn." and so on without end.
There is another class of words whose
mispronunciation is almost equally
marked and much more widely preva-
! lent, being by no means confined to the
| South, though worse here than else
where. mean those in which Y is
unlawfuily interpolated. Thus dear
or "deer" becomes "dyear," or more
exactly "dyeah;'' "hear" or "here,' u
! ''hyeah;" ''feer," 'fyeah;" ''near,''
''nyeah:" care" 'cyare;" ear"
often. but not always, yeah" A few
words that can now recall as being
thus corrupted are "appear," tear, y
"veer," and there are doubtless others.
In average Southern society to give
''on," ''otf." COFFEE" dear" ''care''
! their Websterian sound would be
| deemed the height of affectation, as, i'll
deed, in one to the manner born il
would be. But there is reason to be-
| lieVe that the custom of lnterp0lating
the y is slowly disappearing. Thirty
years ago there were plenty of old peo.,
pie who said ''gYarden," "cyars, u
"cyar," ETC.. errors which no even half
educated person would now think OF
committing. But it will be many day
! before the last intrudng takes its de-
parture. 1t is 10 little consolation to
believe that it will not make its exit
ahead of me; for not only would speech
be painful to produce, but almost
equally painful to listen to.
There is still another class of words
which, during my recollection, have un-
dergone no little change. A decade or
so ago "hOg" was pronounced ''hawg;"
10y, IdWS. lOS, ldWS, SIcdl
deal more commonly than is now the
case. But there is one word at which
we still draw the line. No well-regu-
lated Southerner could possibly say
''dog." If lie did some terrible retribu-
ton would surely overtake him
''dawg" being, by kind of tacit COM
mon consent, regarded as the shibbOleth
of Southernism. The Northern, or
rather the New England pronunciation
-'dar-r-g," or something very near it
makes our flesh creep like walking on
broken glass. So we avoid even the ap-
pearance of evil and say "dawg" with a
vengeance.
IlAfact the letter r-the implacable
foe of euphony the world oYer-iS the
Southerner's abomination, unless it
stands at the beginning of word or a
syllable. There IFS Legitimate sound
comes perfectly natural to him. But,
standing at the end of either, it is not
only impossible to his tongue, but un-
bearable to his ear, and is sure, very
much to his relief. to become h.
Kate Fields Washington. e.