The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-06
ALL IN THE ga"
Some of the Things Done in America
by Way of Imitation.
From the Hartford Times.


From the Hartford Times.
When the Pilgrim fathers landed at
Plymouth, in the seventeenth century.
they brought with them in the MayhoYer
broad "a" which was native to the
north of England, their original home
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 in New York
of a similar pronunciation in modern Eng
land Except in a few words like "pas-
ture." which is almost invariably pro-
nounced pahstur by American farmers
the broad "a" is unnatural to Americans,
and is a fad pronunciation, confined to a
few words, like "cahnt'' "ahnt," "hahf-
pahst," and perhaps twenty others. One
of the test words of this affected system
is gas" which must be pronounced
"gahs." Even persons who have made
themselves letter perfect on "cahnt." fail
on gas The rules are entirely arbitrary
and are determined by the usage of
fashionable coterie. who try TO initiate,
rather unsuccessfully, the pronunciation
of second-class E1nglshmen. You may
say ''dahdo" and 'dahnce," and
"Frahnce." but you must not say "cahr-
fuf" or "dahrsent," but of which last are
good MayHower as. 'Fahncy' is good
form. and ''gahs" is quite elegant bur
as yet you are not expected to call a rat
"raht." nor cat "caht."
Vowels vary as much as human faces
do which run from rhe merest sketches
of fea lures to the pronounced jaw and re-
treating forehead Of the baboon. The
aereea bleness of the sound depends on the
sc st,. Al, T1,a
broad "a is a pleasant sound. but II will
not disguise the defect of thin and high
pitched voice We have known young
women who could utter the "aou" sound,
the most dis3greab,e in human speech,
BECAUSE nearest The original snarl Of our
respected ancestor, the anthropoid ape, in
such a tone as to be irresistibly attrac-
tive. and the broad "a,' combined with
detective articulation is sometimes the
very forfeiture of human speech. The
broad "a" is apt to become still further
fiattened into aw. so that dahnce and
Frahnce become 'd0wnce" and
''Frawnce. The speech OF many Eng
lishmen is thus degenerated into sue
cession Of unintelhgble throaty "aw''
sounds, in which John becomes "Jawhn."
and nothing becomes "nawthing," a the
same time that past becomes "pewst."
We are informed, however, that IN hunt
ing circles a fox IS never alluded to- IF
YOU wish 20 show that you belong to the
inner ring of fashionables, who hunt the
bag of odoriferous seed in Long Island.
you must say Ia wks hunting" Our in
formal ton on this point is explicit but we
do not vouch for its accuracy, as there II
nothing in which people are more apt 10
deceive themselves than in the sound of
voweis.
Except in the few words, where It be-.
longs the broad or Italian sound of q is
not American. It's use Is an imitation
OF English or Scotch pronunciation, and
the person who initiates foreigners indi-
Gates that he or she is ashamed of his
or her parents. There may be reason
for this, but It Is bod taste to make II
evident Let Our speech be yea, yea.
and nay, nay" and not "yaw, yaw." and
nav. naw." There are plenty OF good
points in the English for rs to initiate
without picking up the degeneracies In
their pronunciation.