South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-12-12
Need Fixed System
For Pronunciation
Of English Words
Bn GarIett p. Serriss.

BY Garrett i. SeryiSs.
There is a reform affecting the
language which Americans speak
that is of far greater Importance
and usefulness than simplihed spell
ling. II is the establishment Of a
uniform system Of pronunciation.
There are hundreds of words that
we use every day which nobody
really knows how to pronounce be-
cause he can find no universally rec
ognized authority TO guide him.
Ii is hopeless to turn 10 the great
dictionaries, with their "omnium
gatherums" of words and pictures
They give you two or three contra
dictory forms, and then. not CON
tent with that amount Of mystifca-
ton. append a long list OF dis
puted RECOMMENDATIONS. with the
suggestive ear-mark NIII. which is
about as comforting TO the perplex-
ed wanderer in the misty mid-region
of orthOepy pronounce that word
correctly if YOU cam as a tangled
swamp is TO a man already lost in
the woods
The dictionaries do not improve
the matter by Offering preferred
pronunciation. because no two die
tionaries agree in their preferences,
and If every man followed uncom-
promisingly only his own favorite
dictionary we should he nearly as
bad off as were the people around
the Tower of Babel when smitten
with a confusion of tongues"
The schools do not help. because
some teachers range themselves
under one banner. others under a
second, others under a third. while
many boldly raise the black flag of
orthoepical piracy. TO which I con
fess l myself have an inclination. for
II no man can obey two masters
much less can he obey a dozenl
The situation is not merely ridic-
uIous; it is very injurious. 1t dam
ages the language itself 1t renders
the language more difficult of ac-
/ qUirement by foreigners. as we'll as
I by our own children. II causes dis
traction of thought, for if YOU hear
a speaker pronounce a word in a
way that strikes you as odd. or in
correct. your attention is diverted
from the subject under discussion.
It causes a great loss Of time and
mental energy and produces feel
1 ing of uncertainty. for when you
| look up a word i'm your dictionary
and find that several varying pro-
nunciatiOns are offered. YOU must
devote time and thought 20 the
making of a choice, and after you
/ have made your choice the next
/ person you talk with. or the next
/ speaker you listen to. may upset
The judgment on which the choice
was based.
Difficulties of this kind will al
ways, necessarily. attach 70 newly
coined words. but il is inexcusable
\ that words whose meaning every
body knows should not have a per-
\ fectly settled pronunciation.
AS ! write / turn 20 the list OF
disputed recommendations in the back
/ part OF a huge dictionary. and I
\ find that the word "quinine" has
/ Sc en- different forms and shades OF
i prom alitldt4'h. MS ~ tAtolI aelu :
T for anybody who wants 10 ask for il
\ I'm a drug store. There are two dis
I tinct ways 10 say dilemma. which
is a good way 20 leave the inquirer
+ i'm one There are Eve WAYS 70 say
"comrade" besides the way they
say 10 between. the trench lines
There H. ca pa riot and "A pat
ROOT. each as good as the other.
An "a-ris-to-crar is sometimes
lam "ar-i~-to-crat' which doesn't i'm
prove him. You may eat an "a-pri-
cot" or am apricot and get rho
same taste. Four WAYS are dis
eliminated for Dronouncing bean.