The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-05-11
BY S. H.
THOMPSON.

I I,
it OCCURS more harsh, the southerner
either tones it down, else rejects 1t al
together Tho same course is pursued
toward other harsh consonant sounds.
A second cause, which, in my judgment,
affected our speech, was our former So
cial customs. There was a subdued and
quiet air about the old Southern home.
It's Isolation, coupled with certain dig
nifty of character. belonging to its In
mates, tended to tone down all traits and
dispositions This was especially true
of ladies and children and all others IN
their presence. From the beginning.
girls were trained in the nlcetle5 OF
speech, from which all boisterous or loud
talking was excluded. a well modulated,
musical voice was the ideal sought.
Whether In the nursery, the school or the
social circle, this ideal was never lost
sight Of The Southerners We're not q
book-making people in ante-bellun1 days
when this form Of speech was SO preva-
lent In respect to literature, they were
exceedingly English English poetry.
ESSAYS, history and novels were the body
of all libraries Hence the old words
old RECOMMENDATIONS and old manners
both OF speech and action. remained I'M
changed. This quiet, subdued air In the
home circle, kept up SO long, must nave
affected the speech Of tie people AS
assa chusetts culture swayed the north
ern half Of the nation, SO Virginia Gull
ture swayed the whole South in speech
and custom Her people were English 20
the core This loyalty to English thought
and English notions was retained long
after the English sovereign lost his rule
over them as a. people. This accounts
for so much that is not only English
among us, but also for its being OF the
older type of English. Our people We're
and are now intensely conservative. In
these quiet country homes, under such
circumstances as those just described 1t
is not to be wondered at~that the people
should have somewhat different sEeech
from that section Of the nation, whose
life was radically different in almost
| every respect.
Virginia has ever been and is now, one
| OF the most conservative sections Of the
| Union This characteristic of her peo-
| pie, has kept many of the old-tlme Gus
| toms as we'll as words and phrases among
| the population This State being a KIND
| Of older sister, so to speak. to all the
rest of the Southern States, her conser-
yatism largely moulded the whole section
from Maryland TO Texas. I have al
| ready referred to the influence Of North
Carolina in regard to the Scotch ana
| Scotch-Irish element of the Southern
| tongue. In the case OF Virginia, the
influence was of more general charac-
ter. In q very real sense, the James
town civilization was the civilization of
the whole South. To put it in another
way, the old South, with all Its notions
and IDEAS was but the greater Virginia.
The key to any study of the South,
sociologically, lingu!stically, politically or
in any other way. is Virginia. This is
not so much the case now, for each OF
these States is solving its own problems
for itself in its own way. But the study
Of the subject in han dcompelled US to
deal largely with the past. take oc-
casion to say in this connection that
much Of the dialect as found in magazines
and books and attributed to the Southern
people, is simply a Pigment of the imas-
ination of the various writer's AS an
example the pronoun, my, is represented
in such articles sometimes. by 'mah'' and
the pronoun. I. by "ah. l have even
seen these in Southern journals by South
ern writer's 1 am just as sure as / am
! that I have studied this subject from
i Maryland to Texas, that such a pro-
nounciation cannot be heard in ali the
| section.
There is third cause for this modu-
lated form of speech. which has contri-
take an article for its discussion. hence
will be the subject for my next paper.