The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-01-30
SPELLING AND SOUND
HOW THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TWO HAS
GONE ON IN THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE, SOMETIMES SPELLING GAINING
THE VICTORY AND SOMETIMES SOUND.


bers of foreign words gradually Incorporated
enough that such mporaons into the vocabulary should nave
undergone good many structural alterations during the process
Most of the changes effected were doubt occasoned
the difficulty found by the uneducated classes pronounng
words which unfamiliar them but which they
themselves compelled either they equivalent
Tor them or else because the corresponding term
fashion and became unpopular But in several
the common people who took words from the language of their
rulers but the latter VINO found necessary to borrow from the
former And when this happened have followed quite
frequently that the borrowers suited their fancy adapting
the borrowed word to its new uses by mspronouncg it. Before
the original Aehered could have become Ehered the Zeal
dorman could have been transformed into alderman consider
able change in ponouncaton have taken place But the
AngoSaxon Words when definitely adopted by and
ruling class habay speaking Norman French would before
very long assume throughout the land that modhed shape and
form which kings and coures had given them especially
they had almost always the way been simpfed
phonetic point of view, improved.
Hardly any better examples be found Of these mo
hcaton than the history of those aspraed words such
hotel and hospital which have been Angcized The old
term nn held its for centuries and only by slow degrees
suppaned in popularity by pretenons French
equivalent And for long time after hotel" had been
completely adopted into English be written without any
cent its first syllable the best people pronounced the
without an aspate acknowledging thus aciy its original ma
onal 1t is only lately THAT this word and others IKE
practically ceased to be pronounced they exotic The
names both of places and families have often obnate retain
ed in themselves INSTRUMENTATION for which the caprice of fash
ion to be answerabe This the teeth Of
opposition the part of the questionable world which
fused in many suy itself by pronoucng word 9TH
ewse than spelled Thus to quite large proportion
OF the Engshspeang world the derby still the derby with
occasionally consults peerage such Leveson
Wemyss and dozen commonly read in way which
would not be at all approved of by the
Occasionally the struggle between modes of ponouncng
the obstinate and potraced that the makers of
maps sadly pepexed about the photography Such
the not uncommon name, Wyke which, being derivation,
through the Norman French of the very simple Latin vcus
certainly originally pronounced England week That
pronunciation has long been of fashion, and the places
called wick wike, chance may Ordan But plenty of
maps where of them marked clearly week
In other the wordy battle RACES right up the walls
of the house in dispute Such the rivalry between
Shrewsbury written and the locally favore Shrows
bury In Oxford, within stones throw of Magdaen College,
scores OF the townspeope may be heard allowing three full sa
bes to the OF that place of learning whereas of the
members OF 1t would dream OF giving more than two The dit
eent styles adopted by different classes in the OF pronun
citation tend of course slowly disappear and the day already
forgotten when slot chateau vert Beef
eater written bufetier. 1t would probably be useless
remind any how originally pronounced had not
been for the telltale lines of Pope:
When thou, great Anna whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take and sOmetimes-tay
Afectaion and parade fashionable person have
from time time led the taking of great liberties with
English language For long time the comedies and later STILL
the comic PAPERS have mnortalzed good many of the insults
which the poor words have been subjected Generations
will find difficult believe how the "swes OF John
Leach time the beaus who preceded them could have dis
orted their native language to the extent imputed to them
century the pattern OF egohstca coNcomb eXed by
Sheridan talked of his brother Tam philosophers and of
"thauand paunds Nor suggested why Lord
Foppngton should thus offend the of his audience
that he thought he thereby proving his pretenons belong
the most fashionable set in the country 1t half century
later when the master OF the ceremonies was represented as e
pounding to Mr. Pckwck in somewhat similar idom the hauer
and merits OF Bath distinct and rather later epoch poduc-
ed whisered heroes who imagined that they achieving
a social distinction by drawing their words and spng
of their To these soldier sOdjar, and
fellow elah" In the speeches of Lord Dundeary there
hints for the foreigner who wished to talk the best
kind of English she spoken At the present
happen have got comparatively free from these and most other
absures Of speech drawing dandy longer credited
with superior destinations for either drawing smOk
ing audience There still several English words which
requires certain education special places to pronounce with
betrayng vulgary But the whole considering the
a tendencies OF the age is perhaps just well that few OF
these should survve.-London Globe.
GREAT LION HUNT PLANNED