New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-14
The Spoken Word
Some Considerations OF Current
English Pronunciation

TWEA i'lr, nv - NHntspnnT0I;NCED. A Desk Book.
r. Franz II vizeielly. ut D. ~ c.,n ~ '-''''
M 1x4,i 900 Funk & Wagnalls CompSn''
Senior Pedro Carolino's English as
She l. Spoke" was a fearful and won
dorful thing. as those of the last gem
oration will remember; but we are not
surc that it was much worse than Eng
l;sb as il is spoken. DR.. Flexner wants
rs 70 abolish grammar The Simple
eroIlors would have the spelling book
tbrown upon the scrap heap. But what
If tho spokcn word? We are not sure
hut that the pronunciation OF the IAN
ouaoe averages worse than the spelllng,
osnecially i'm New York. where people
eat "rawr" oysters, Welsh "rareolts
and roast "boids."
In such sac plight, any well meant
cndeavor to improve the spoken word
is TO be regarded with interest, and II
il is we'll made. as we'll meant, it is to
be welcomed with gratitude ana nope
DR.. Vizetelly's compact and encycIope-
die volume is assuredly well meant
and to "A considerable extent ms iauda-
Bile purpose is well executed. mus
is GOOD to have this public assured
given raw" should be sounded with
out final or" A distinguished col
league is happily confirmed in his con-
tention that "elm" is monosyllable.
We testify to our own joy ~ being sup
ported in our pronunciation of Co
caine" in three syllables; and OF
either" as "eether," though we do not
begrudgc our Irish and Scottish friends
the sanction of "ayther" and "eyether'
respectively as permissible variants.
We cannot, however. agree IN all re-
spocts with the dictum of our learned
photographer; for example. IN abolish
ing one of the familiar sounds of &c.
Doubtless simplicity is desirable, and
the too great multiplication of vowel
sounds would be an evil. Yet did not
the Greeks scorn other nations as bar
barians" for the very reason OF their
paucity of such sounds, their speech
sounding to the cultivated Attic ear
like mere jabbering of "bar-bar-bar"
Perhaps we are fnical, even Victorian;
but we cannot reconcile ourselves TO
making the "e" sound in "her" identical
with the 81" sound in fur" and to
sounding "err" and "erring" as though
they we're spelled our" and "urring."
We may be obtuse, but we cannot un-
derstand why we must say "urring," but
must not, if we would be saved, say
Juror" for "error." So, at the cost Of
differing from DR.. Vizetelly, we shall
persist in the old "e" sound which he
discards. and shall not make fern" a
perfect rhyme Cor turn" nor speak Of
the stored hero of Verona as Dietrich
of BURN"
Neither, nayther, neyether are we in
clined to make identical the vowel
sounds in fool" and rule" and brood"
and "bruise" In ignorant and uncul-
tivated provincial dialects persons are
represented as speaking of "fule" or
"rool," and We prefer TO leave such
pronuncations 10 such places. AS for
rational" and national" we are aware
that most people now pronounce them
as though they were spelled "rashional"
and "nashicnal." and we shall doubt
less have TO accept that pronunciation,
though with regret. But we certainly
shall not, with DR.. Vizetelly, condemn
as illiterate those who prefer the long
sound of the "a" The same is to be
said Of "rations," which army men very
often. perhaps generally, pronounce
Fashions" We accept this pronuncia-
ton. we say, with regret, because 1t Is
an unm stakable symptom of weak
ening of the language. The strong, full,
virile tones, the long "a" and 90 are
gradually being discarded for weak,
slurred and effeminate notes; and this
weakening of the spoken word is ac-
tually beginning to affect the written
word Thus the japanese "kimono,"
now fully Anglicized, is half the time
pronounced and much of the time
spelled "kimona"; and we have heard
educated and cultivated persons speak
Of an "oratoriuh."
Now it may be, we confess it sadly,
that the English language has irrev-
ocably entered upon its degeneracy
and decline, in pronunciation as well
as in spelling, etymology and syntax.
Even so, we regard it as the duty of
every lover of what is on the whole
probably the most serviceable human
speech the world has ever known not
TO encourage and TO expedite that
process, but to resist and to retard il
by every possible means. For that
reason we must regret the approval
which DR.. Vizetelly gives TO what seem
to us some of the most vicious tenden-
cies of the day; some of them toward
new corruptions and some toward
ancient imperfections. The standards
of English speech at its best estate,
they are what We should maintain to
the last possible moment.