New-York tribune., 1918-10-05
The Negligible z

To the Editor OF The Tribune
Sir: ANY well meant endeavor to in
prove the spoken word is to be regarded
with interest, and if it is well made, as web
as well meant, it is to be welcomed with
gratitude and hope. DR.. Vizetelly's compact
and encyclopaedia volume is assuredly well
meant and, to a considerable extent his
laudable purpose is we'll executed" So wrote
a kindly critic of my "Desk- Book of $4,000
Words Frequently Mispronounced," in The
New York Tribune the 14th of April,
1917 Therefore, / was d little "peeveG" to
read in your excellent editorial essay on
"The Negligible R " in The Tribune of yes
terday, that "the only work we know which
impartially records the facts OF pronuncia-
tion is the English Pronouncing Dction
ary,' by Daniel Jones'"
In my work l included the pronunciation
of the town Neuve Chapelle, which forms
part of the editorial referred to. No one
who understands French will challenge any
remark that you have made, and the parallel
which you have selected is a happy one.
To me the only difference in the pronuncia-
tion Of English nerve and French neuve IS
matter of the position of the lips in utterlng
the sounds. In pronouncing the English
word it seems to me that the lips are drawn
IN, whereas in pronouncing the French word
they are forced out. or "rounded0
In French the vowel sounds, as we know
them in English, are modified in two ways
by rounding and by becoming nasahzed.
Rounding is the effect on q speech sound OF
pursing the lips till the orifce is roundish,
as it is when one sounds the English vowel
nal
French ecu" one must purse the lips: the
English sound nearest to this Is that Of the
"u" in burn" The foreign sounds are not
exactly identical, but this "u" approximates
as closely to the French as we can come.
With reference to 1.-The negligible r" let
me say that in standard English the trillcd
or vibrated "r" is almost absent; in Scotland
and Ireland the trilled "r" is still marked
IN all positions, but perhaps more strongly
by the Scots than by the Irish, while the
rough cultural sound of ar" resulting from
the vibration of the soft palate against the
back part of the tongue, and which is better
known as the burr, is common in Northern
England, especially in Northumberland The
last is not to De confounded with the triIl
OF the Scots, which is a lingual trill.
The late Dr. Francis A. March pointed out
in the "Standard Dictionary" that Il trilI
accompanies the closing @'r" in that region
of the United States of which Chicago is the
centre; an audible consonant movement not
trllled. is heard from the larger number of
distinct speakers throughout the Northern
United States. In Southern English the
"r" is dropped and "u" is uttered for the
vocal murmur as in "meter." which be-
comes "mee'tuh." This pronunciation pre-
walls in the United States in Virginia and
the South.
1t IS somewhat curious that the same char
acter is used for trills made in different
parts of the mouth; that of the uvula is
still common in French and in some English
dialects. In standard English the opening
"r" is so different from the closing "r" that
different signs were used by Sir James A.
II. Murray TO indicate the varying sounds
in his "New English Dictionary
FRANK FL VIZETELLY.
New York Sept. 27, 1918.