The Irish standard., 1912-10-12
ENGLISH ACCENT
Not SO Sweet AZ the American, Saws
New ZeaIander.


an American. We New Zealanders
have at intervals to put up with Eng
lish criticisms voiced in drawing
rooms or in newspaper columns con-
corning our awful accent, so offensive
to the sensitiveness of the superior
English ear.
l had heard so much about it. in
deed, that when l arranged to spend
some months in England, on my way
to the Columbia University. l deter
mined to explore the English voice.
From the very outset was warned
against America. The idea of a col.
onial travelling half way round the
world to pass by the safe, settled and
hoary traditions of British UNIVERSE
Ties for the unknown pitfalls of an
American one fairly kidnapped the
last remaining British breath! And the
final exclamation hurled at me was
invariably:
But you'll get the awful American
voice."
That was meant to be unanswerable.
But 1t wasn't. 1t remained to me to
somewhat ruffle the self-satisfied
opinions of those very estimable PEG.
pie concerning their great asset.
For l left England wondering what
on earth the English voice was, and
whereabouts in England people spoke
English. saw in the north, at bank
holiday time, tens of thousands of
English men and women who speak
nothing but dialects; l heard cockney
in almost every street in London; I
heard in the West End we'll bred
affectation-tones produced as it
We're, around a substantial marble
wabbling in the region Of the tom
sils; l heard languid drawls, shippers,
high pitched silver bell lisps; 1 heard
terminal avs and clipped g's and
feeble his; but rarely did I hear what
I should call just fine, clear inter-
esting voice speaking good plain Eng
lish. ..,, =, ...v
Do the university nurtured speak
it? Well, two Of the people most
alarmed for my safety in America
were Newman girls of brilliant
achievement. But their voices were
so suggestive of mouthful Of marble
that had to strain my Commemorative
powers to follow them at all; and
their affectation was so painful that
l could only look, at them in sorry
wonder. with inward gasps at their
absurdity. .,ar.
Then In my experience as teacher
in New Zealand public schools some
years ago I frequently met imported
English university educated inspect
ors who were quite unintelligible. AL
so in our colonial parliaments have
often heard it stated, and have proved
for myself, that the British university
men usually had affectations that
made them the hardest of all speakers
to follow. The late Premier in the
New South Wales Legislative AS
sembly, an Oxford man, has a voice
that is the despair Of reporters. He
clips his final syllables, and his utter
ance is so thick that he almost needs
an interpreter. -.
Further, not so long ago the Gull
tured university man and actor, H.
B. Irving, visited New Zealand, where
he was severely taken to task, hui
morously enough, by an American,
the editor of the, Triad, for his ex-
traordinary mouthing, his eXaggerat.
ed drawl and mis- inexcusable misprc
nunciation, "me murther" (my moth.
cry being a fair sample of his lin.
guistic gymnastics. II l remember
rightly Mr.. Irving also halls from
Oxford, the most lauded culture area
In the world. ~ 90. .s
So, now, what are we poor benight-
ed outsiders to do about It? How
are we to know what English is, and
who speaks it? And won't England.
for the enlightenment of the world
in general and English speaking coun-
tries in particular, send some sample
voice producers abroad to show us
how it's done, and what we are ex-
pected to initiate?
The truth about accent is that no.
body should have an accent at all.
We should have just plain voices,
clear, we'll modulated, rich in quality.
and low pitched in tone. l don't
doubt that there are a great many
people in England with just such
voices. And I'm equally certain that
there are just as many in America.
AS q matter Of fact. the very first
person to greet me in Columbia Uni.
versity was an American woman with
a voice much more fascinating, clear