Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-09-11
"The Southern Accent"
washington Post.)

4
Apropos of some remarks of ours II
| this connection. we have received the fol
| lowing letter from a wsll-known either
| of Washington:
Editor Post: In your very interesting
| comments on the poor stun, put into The
| mouths Of the dramatis personae Of plays
intended to represent or caricature south
ern people, their dress, manners, and Ian
guage, you refer 10 their pronunciation
of such words as can, garden, guard, &c,
as Drovincialisms.
IF you will turn to the word garden In
Worcester's Revised Edition of Johnson S
and Walkers Royal Octave Pronouncing
Dictionary certainly an eminenty re-
spectacle authority you will find the fol-
lowing note as to its pronunciation:
"'When the a in this and similar words
is preceded by K, polite speakers inter-
pose a sound like the consonaTt y, which
coalesces with both, and gives a mellow
ness to the sound: Thus, a garden pro-
nounced in this manner is nearly similar
TO the two words egg and garden. united
into eggyarden and guard is almost
like eggyard.' II. L. BLACKBOARD.
1926 Q street"
No doubt the pronunciation is given By
Worcester as Mr.. Backford quotes. The
fact is, that most of our peculiarities in
orthoepy come to us from England and
such being the case, it is only natural
that we should find them i'm the South
where English is spoken more nearly like
the original than elsewhere i'm this coun-
try. Nevertheless. we still think that. so
far as the United States is concerned. the
custom is provincialsm. since II is not
general, but merely identified with a few
localities. Worcester may be the author
ity on pronunciation for England but
here the standard is furnished by Web
ster.. AT any rate, the fact is that in such
words as car garden" guard" ana
so on. the sound of ''y'' Immediately after
the initial letter is given by only a very
few people in very few districts The
pronunciation, therefore. is not general
at the South, but, rs we say, local
Whether IL be correct or not depends upon
the standard accepted by the country at
large. The fact remains that il is ex-
ceptional and confined within certain mar
row limits.
AS we have already said, however
neither the southern accent itself nor the
absurd carcatures thereof PERFORATED by
northern actors and writer's give us any
great concern. We regard them as we
do the British novelists' attempts 10 de-
scribe the purely imaginary idiom OF
Americans. In Hall Gaines latest work.
for instance. there is an American lady
of great wealth and of average culture
who has lived In London for several years
and mixed with the best society. and vet
Mr. Game sees tit to make her talk IKE
q daughter OF the baclSwoOds All these
things are harmless and amusing enough
really perpetrate them. We all know. OF
course, that educated and well-to-do peo-
pie in this country use as good grammar
and as felicitous rhetoric and know as
much about the amenities Of polite So
ciety as any class in England, and, know
ing this, the blunders of British writers
do not disconcert US in the very least
our protest is against the so-called "typi-
cal southerner" Of the New York io,r-
naiist and the New York playa truculent
parsonage in a long black coat
a big, black SLOUGH hat. a white cambric
necktie, and pair OF stump-toed. high
heeled boots-a half-educated ouarre.-
some rufiian, VINO wears a revolver as
regularly as he does his trousers. and who
iisseminates tobacco juice as sprinkline
cart does water. Ii may be that the |
dramatic prOprieties call for this crea- |
ure; that. having imagined the accent ana
The idlom. the Yankee writer must MAKE |
he man TO III them; but the result is very |
iresome. and at times exasDerating a.. |
frequently offensive. Surely IL must De |
possible 10 construct a story or play o. |
southern life which would be jntersst,re,
Ind at the same time intelligent.