The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-05-11
FIFTH
PAPER.

II Tho one thing above nil others which
hirercntiates the southerner from ali
ltne rcst Of the nation is his use of the
letter r. This is considered by many
Ian abuse, rather than use OF this let
tier. The natives. throughout the greater
morton of tho South, who have never
co,,,e under the influence of northern peo-
pics, have q decided aversion to triiiins
The letter r. There are two ways IN
(which our speech is marked By the use
iof this letter. The first Is its use IN the
Irniddle or body OF word. In sach Woros
las corn, bird, work, tho r. being sup
lpressed, they become con. BID, wok.
with the harcst hint et the omitted let
iter. The southerner suppresses in
horse. burst. worse, first. but they do
mot become IN his language exactly 'hoss,
iht,sf wEss fust" certainly not among
itl,e cultured classes. There is always a
hint at the omitted letter. This sup
lprcssion occurs among all classes, from
1.-The most cultured TO the most Ignorant
iAnonE the latter work sounds to ears
iunaccustomed 70 this suppression as Il
written wax and person rs II written
,..pusson.'' My own observation is that
lcven among these thsre is a slight hint
lat tho suppressed r.
Two things need to be kept In mind
with reference to these peculiar uses OF
tthis letter. First, the is affected only
when it is preceded by vowel Second,
Tho vowel must be sounded exactly as it
iSvepld be II the r was not omitted. This
pronunciation affects large number OF
words. and would OF itself differ entiate
1.-The southern dialect from any ether.
trg,e second use OF the letter is to give
ut with its preceding vowel the sound OF
khe syllable ah. 7 realize that this
lsyllab1e does not adequately represent
hills sound, nor do I think 1t possible to
properly represent it from our alphabet.
1T is not precisely the sound OF in
Father, nor in cut. nor Q in met, though
III Of these have been used by different
writers to represent it. 1t really has
more cs the sound OF a in the word
kyllablo than any other distinct sound
II the intersection, oh, be spoken quick
~, with o. shortened somewhat, 1t Will
he as nearly tho true sound as it is pos
eible to represent it. After all 1t must
be heard to be understood I have adopt
led the use Of all at the end of words TO
indicate this sound, as 1t seemed to me
ho moro nearly represent it than any
khing else would DO. Father, mother,
brother. sister, become IN the language
icf the greater portion OF the South.
tfathah. mothah, brothah, sistah. So 1t
Is with all such words ending with the
ketter T, preceded by vowel.
lnounced as if written ''fiyah siyah. y
ln:,d so with all similarly spelled words,
Though this is not general. These
buses Of this letter are so common in the
south that they alone mark us as a pc
Iculiar people from the standpoint of
specch To these must be added a large
cinss OF words from which is totally
IoLliterated by a large perceptase Of
kouthern people. One clase of the peo-
bio will pronounce store, floor. door,
boor as II written "stoah, fioah, doah,
eoah.'' while large number will speak
theIn as If written 'sto', no, do, po',"
without hint at the innocent member of
The alphabet which has given rise to SO
knrch trouble. Tie pronunciation of the
|wc,d poor in the South is nearly always
las If written pore" This is the old
pronunciation retained Mr.. Webster ar
h.titrarily threw<side quite a number OF
Recommendations, among them this of the
fSvord poor. Nearly all these are retained
By the southern people. The fact is that
filils word poor was formerly spelled
store" and sometimes s'poure. Chaucer
80 uses it in these lines:
'.The poure man whan he goeth by the