The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-04-04
ALL IN THE "A"

When the Pilgrim fathers landed at
Plymouth, in the seventeeth century.
they brought with them in the May
flower broad IA" which was native to
the north of England. their original
home, says the Hartford Times. This
"a" has since been confined largely to
the south of New England in such
words as pass grass and half"
pronounced, pahss, grahss, hahf, and
has been reinforced by imitation I'm New
York OF a similar pronunciation in
modern England. Except in few words
like pasture" which is almost inva-
riably pronounced pahstur by Ameri-
can farmers. the broad a is unnatural
to Americans, and is fad pronuncia-
tion, confined TO few words. like
'cahnt," "ahnt. "half-pahst." and per-
haps twenty others. one of the test
words of this affected system is gas"
which must be pronounced "gahs. Even
persons who have made themselves let
ter perfect on "cahnt," fail on gas. The
rules are entirely arbitrary and are de-
termined by the usage of fashionable
coterie, who try to initiate, rather un-
successfully the pronunciation of sec
ond-class Englshmen. lou may say
"dahdo" ana dahnce,p and "Erahnce.'
bus YOU must not say "cahrful, or
"dahrsent," but OF which last are good
Mayfiower as. "Fahncy" is good form,
and "gahs" is quite elegant. but as yet
you aye not expected TO call rat a
"raht," nor a cat a "caht."
Nowels vary as much as human faces
do, which run from the mereSt sketches
of features to the pronounced jaw and
retreating forehead of the baboon. The
agreeabeness OF the sound depends on
the overtones, or quality OF the voice.
The broad Is pleasant sound, but NJ
will not disguise the defect OF thin
and high-pitched voice. We have
known young women who could utter
the 'aou" sound. the most ddsagreeable
In human speech. because nearest the
original snarl of our respected ances-
tor, the anthropoid ape. in such tone
as to be Irresistibly attractive. and the
broad n, combined with a defective ar
ticulation, il sometimes the very carl
cature OF human speech. The broad
is apt 10 become still further fiattened
into aw. so that dahnce and Frahnce
become "dawnce' and "Frawnce." The
speech OF many Englishmen IL thus de-
generated into succession of unintel-
ligible throaty Jaw" sounds. in which
John becomes "Jawhn," and nothing
becomes "nawthlng." at the same time
that past becomes 'pawst." We are in
formed. however, that In hunting cir
ces a fox Is never alluded TO. II you
wish TO show that you belong to the
inner ring OF fashionables, who hunt
the bag OF odoriferous seed In Long
Island, you must say "fawks hunting"
our Information on this point Is ex-
pncit. but we do not vouch for its ac-
curacy, as there is nothing In which
people are more apt TO deceive them
selves than in the sound OF vowels.
Except in the few words. where it be-
longs. the broad or Italian sound Of a
is not American. It's use is an imitation
OF English or Scotch pronunciation, and
the person who initiates foreigners In
dicates that he or she Is ashamed OF his
or her parents. There may be reason
for this, but n Is bad taste 10 make IL
evident. Let "our speech be yea, yea
and nay. nay" and not "yaw, yaw,
and nav, nav" There are plenty OF
good points IN the English for us To i'm
itate without picking up the dcgencra-
cics in their pronunciation.