Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-01-29
THE SPEECH OF souT4ERNgRs

the Pain ana Ache building?
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THE SPEECH OF SOuTHERNERs.
Southern dialect" has of course.
suffered much ut the hands of cur
rent and periodical literature. because
1t has. unhapp!ly. attracted the attcn.
ton of writer's whose habitat is Mas
sachnsotts. who have never been
south Of the line which fixes the nc.
gro 1anitor they occasionally converse
WIN Is II perfect exponent of the
speech of the South. Mislcd by th,s
conviction, they throw upon the print
ed page crazy.Quilts of letters which
sorcly nffront the Southern eye. Mr..
owen Wistcr is wiser than these. In
his charming novel of South Caro-.
Ina he acknowledges his inability TO
portray To the eye that treatment OF
vowcls and Consonants which his onr
received with pleasure. ana he kindly
permits his characters 10 speak Unit.
ed States.
~ short story In Golfers Weekly
directs our attention To this thcm,,
again. 1t is from the pen of Mr.. Her
Bert Quick. We have been unn,,n
To place MIR. Quick. ana therefore 40
not know whether he comes from
Boston or not, The tale concerns
Miss Roberta Lee Frayn. of Tones.
see. Roberta is a charming girl.
Writers from all over the word agree
In making the Southern girl charm.
ing. Robertas language is even more
typical. she SAWS All for e." NAH
tor my" fob" for for" mo" for
more. She uses no ~" whore it
IS possible to avoid It. and no final
! s under any circumstances. Among
hcr other specialt.es may he mention.
ca rcsyahd,' ''youah" (your).
"whciah' (whcrc). "raght kahnd"
KIND. "suh.' "Wothin'ton Worth
insion), ignorant" "wok." ETC. etc.
ny substituting "ah" for every a."
oiiiing g ana ignoring ~" any
school child can catch the trick 81
hoDertas larynX, and reproduce
Southern dialect nv easily and grace.
tnlly as does MIR. Quick.
The first sentiment of every Vi.ai.
MIA reader in perusing type displays
OF this sort is one of indignant ~c.
sentiment. He knows that educated
Southern people do not say mo"
and no He knows that they very
frequently connect with terminal
* which these dialcctlcians deny.
and that they are entire strangers
to ".gno'ant" and 'wohk." He knows
that such recommendations MS "recvard'
ana "cyarn't," are fast disappearing
from among them--a great nifty. for
no people ever possessed a more on
gasing provincialism-nnd that
'rn,ht' was never known to them.
Finally, he knows that. whatever thu
lpeculiaritles of their where" for *.
ample, they can pronounce 1t. which,
no living man can do for Mr.. Quick's
"wheiah,"
Ahsurdities in the Southern Ian
suage of modern story.wri,ers arc. ci
course. thicker than hops. But whcn
all is said and done. is it not n little
closer to the original ,han most Of
us are willing TO admit? Southcrnors
10 tend to slur their RS They be.
come conscious OF this when They
meet the speech of Pittsburg and
Ohio. ana are made glad by it. They
like slur better than burr When
Northern writers substitute an IN"
Tor an ~ i'll the speech of Southern.
ers. they are merely trying TO repre-
sent this difference between sli.r
I and burr. Does not panty IN
fact, whethe: we Ike the look of 1t
or not. exactly represent the usual
Virginia pronunciation OF "party?.'
Further, Southern people do tend to
give an "ah' sound TO "r'-at Icact
IN contrast to the crisp lat. some
what nasal effect that Yankee can
| get ont of that lettar Thore ,ybo