The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-07-29
The Trend
Of Dialect
The Observations of Anglicus Re-
garding the Use of ldioms of
Speech and Such Like.


A hundred years ago, men, with rare
exceptions, belonged to locality, as
naturally as do trees. A hundred years
hence, the expression, "Pm from Ken
lucky" will be obsolete. This is a
large assertion, and some of you may
be, at present, "from Missouri" with
regard to it. But consider for a mo-
ment some very obvious facts in the
light of an equally obvious tendency.
The world has been for the past half
century in possession of two inventions,
the railroad and the telegraph which, if
they have not revolutionized human
nature, have brought about a Ievolu-
tion in manners and customs, compared
with which all the changes of count
less centuries have been bagatelles.
We are too near to this revolution to
realize its mil acuious effects or to know
that we are still bringing about these
effects and that, if the novelty has worn
off, we are nevertheless III a constant
state of fiux, of movement in both the
literal and metaphorical senses. We
count, with perfect security, on being
able to pack up our traps here today
and in the course of few weeks to
find ourselves in any civilized part OF
the earth, but we do not fully under.
stand all that this facility implies and
will imply, especially when it is still
further increased and when national
prejudices have been overcome or min
imized. 1t implies, for instance, far
less danger of war Letween nations, in.
crease of city-populalion, and an incaI.
culable increase of ef1icle ncy aud econ.
omy in thousand directions.
OF course, mans love for his home
like that for his coun ~, is popularly
supposed to be an overmastering emo.
tion. But it is absurd to maintain tha:
when once the habit of permanent resi-.
denoe in locality has been broken up
the second generation will carry OH
this affection to what will he to them
largely an a. straction. Once start a
man moving and his children will Ger.
talnly be rovers, if this generation be
understood as applying to frequent
changes and not to mere uprooting and
transplanting. We are thus faced by
the fact that the migratory population
of the earth is increasing and is des
tined to increase much more rapidly.
Everybody knows an Englishman
when they hear him talk. In similar
fashion, everybody knows Southernel
from a Northerner, the distinction in
either case being termed dialect. There
are experts who claim to be able to tel
exactly what state man comes from
by his speech, although it must be ad
mitted that this is harder task thar
to assign an Englishman to country
in the same manner. But how Ions
will this be the case, in view of thu
facility Of travel and the spread OF pri
mary education? 1t must be obvious
that the tendency of dialect is to disap
pear, for dialect in very few instance.
ie perpetuatei in literature in Other
than reproachful or humorous form
and is regarded in life in an exactly
similar light. Even wide divergence,
must eventually be reconciled
What, then, is to take the place oi
dialect, should it eventually disappear
In answering this question 1t is neces
aary to bear in mind the distinction be
tween the written and the spoken Ian
guage, and at the same time tho fac
that the written language of any giver
individual must bear an intimate re
Iation to his spoken language. Tn,
language that we speak is short, sharp
crisp, highly abbreviated. When !,
man wants salt he does not say, 81 fee
the need of that saline substance scien
tifically designated as sodium chloride.
He says, "trubufrsalt," or "salplease,
except in cases where he makes sigl
for it. But this applies more particu
larly to the ordinary conversation o
life, in which most men meet on q com
mon basis. On the other hand, ever,
mau engaged in specific occupation
even the specific occupation Of kilIipi
time, acquires Q second vocabulary
which is common to all those foliowin,
1.-THE Same pursuit. All sdditions Il