Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-24
STANDARD ENGLISH
Efforts to Harmonic Use of
Worlds Great Tongue.
CONTROL OF LANGUAGE
British Comment on the Problems
Under Consideration by the
American Academy. E
From the London STANDARD

From the London STANDARD
The creation n short time ago in Phiia.
delphia of an American Academy on the
model of the Academic Franchise sug-
gests that from the outset of its deiibera-
tons the new body will be faced with
the necessity OF making a momentous de-
cision-whether to adopt English English
or American English as its standard OF
language.
The difficulty was bound To arise sooner
or later. When a great nation comes into
the world already invested with the Ian
guage OF another and older nation II IL
only matter Of time for the newcomer
to discover that the old garment y
short at some points and superfuous at
others A spirit of INSTRUMENTATION IL
apt to creep in, and tendency on the
part of the new nation to be a law unto
itself. That there is an emphatic and
ever-increasng difference between both
spoken and written English English and
American English must he apparent 10
everybody The editor OF a London
magazine recently wrote to an American
correspondent that he did not take
American contributions. but that he oc-
casionally had American copyrights
translated into English. And Is there
not the notice displayed in a shop win
dow in Normandy holiday resort: Eng
lish spoken: American understood?
Americas Old Forms.
Which course will the new academy
adopt? There are many good Americans
who assert that better English is spoken
in America than in England. Certainly
many of the older forms and pronuncia-
tions have survived I'm America while
they have undergone complete change
in England. The American. for instance,
who says gotten" feels vastly superior
to the Englishman who is content with
got"
There is the word been" which is one
OF large family. In England been
rhymes with seen: In the United States
ii rhymes with sin Here, again. the
American feels that he has right on his
side. In Queen Elizabeth's time. bin
was an elegance and the first Americans
have handed down this form of pro-
nunciation to countless descendants, and
I'm this form Ii survives today. But in
the meantime England switches on to
been" and, in spite of a separation OF
1000 miles and very bad means OF COM
munication. expects America to be i'm
mediately au fait with the change. Here.
for once. 1t is America who is conserva-
tive. leaving change for its own sake to
the English.
British or Americana
But this sort of thing leads us no.
where. The point is: Who is TO control
the English language. the English or the
Americans? And TO the present writer It
certainly seems that since the English
were there first by a few hundreds or
years they should have most to say con-
corning their own tongue. They may do
anything they like with the language.
and We will carefully note down the
change. just as we note the changes in
the railway time tables. But rs n whole
uhe great American nation may not
prove SO reasonable. There are thou
sands and thousands of patriotic Ameri-
cans who are busy making a new lam
guage. Presidential elections, for in
stance, always add a large number OF
raw words to the language.
If the English have any regrets at the
manner i'm which the energetic and dar-
ing American has carved a speech for
himself il serves them right. as they
have always refused To maintain an
academy: and such an institution is more
than ever a crying need. With an Eng
lish Academy situated in London, engap-
ed solely i'm deciding what was good and
what was bad for the English Language.
the English-American problem would be
solved.