The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-02-26
Vowel Sounds I'm
English Language
Hurt Its Popularity
LONDON. Feb. rs.

"hOUGH English Is now by
far the most widely spoken
language. and though the de-
sire to learn it by foreigners Of all
kinds has enormously increased In
consequence Of the war, there are
certain practical difficulties in the
way OF its becoming a real world.
tongue. But for these difficulties
the spread Of our language would
be much wider than It already IL.
For one thing. we are too rich
in vowel sounds. The average
man imagines we have five land
sometimes W and y" We have
really fifteen vowel sounds against
five for tho Japanese and Span
iards and seven for the Italians.
Another difficulty is that our
spelling does not show what
sounds are used to pronounce
words. The foreign student may
learn to read English readily by
his own efforts. but finds IT next
to impossible to talk to us unless
he has had the services Of good
teacher.
A possible way out Of these i.f
ficulties has been given by Pro
fessor Daniel Jones, chief Of Tire
phonetics department of Uriver.
sity College. He suggested that
we adopt a mild system Of Spelling
reform and also add a few new let
tiers to our alphabet. But he by
no means expects to see these
changes brought about-at any
rate, not for years to come
NEW LETTERS.
THE new letters we should
need" said Professor Jones,
would be for the sounds sh, ng
and tn. with possibly one Sr two
new vowel letters. The word
shrinking for instance. would
then be written with seven letters
instead Of nine. IN a word like
ingredient there would be no
change"
These are perhaps subtleties of
language which are likely to leave
most Of US lukewarm. In other
ways Professor Jones's deparr
ment Is doing a great work j.
spreading tho proper speaking I;
English throughout the world
Students, mostly teachers. come
from every cline to learn Eng
lish by the phonetic system, and
then depart to spread their knowl-
edge in their own countries.
Professor Jones gave one very
remarkable example of the value
of this system. II Ii ussd not
only to enable foreigners to speak
English properly. but also to en-
able Englishmen to speak foreign
languages.
GRAvEST ERRORS.
I'm Africa many Of our mission
aries and officials commit the
Eravest errors in speaking native
languages" he said. at is eaAly
possible for missionaries TO utter
obscenities without having the
slightest idea Of what they have
really said. Ono Of tho favorite
games Of Kaffir children Is to talk
their languages a. the mission
aries do. It affords them great
amusement
Now, whenever possible We
catch tho missionary before he
goes abroad and put him through
q course Of phonetics in tho Ian
guage he Will have to speak
MANY dictionaries Of native
languages are hopelessly wrong"
said Professor Jones.
He even found a fhw in that
monumental work, the Oxford
English Dictionary. IT'S pronun-
citation is very Scotch" he said.
Another famous English die
tionary, he says. has a pronounced
West Of England accent because
Of the origin OF its editor.
Professor Jones does not sup
scribe to the hoary legend that the
best English is spesen in lnver-
ness.
There is no such thing rs pure
English" he said. Who can de-
eide which is the true Standard