Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15

Aspersions of the parts Of speech, "a
Mrs. Malaprop once said, IL unforgiv-
able. Sen6itiveness
sections ana on local praluncia-
Pronunciation. ton hasi: e wa, was
ago in the columns OF The Star in the
course of a series of letters to the
editor, starting with the following
signed Amateur" printed in the issue
of September 9, 1879:
"As the schools have just opened
and as everybody reads your paper, II
YOU will allow me the space, wish to
call the attention of the teachers and
pupils to q fault in English pronuncia-
ton exceedingly common in the North
rarely heard in the South or in Eng
land, but which seems to be spreading
here. We have faults enough in the
South without grating some Northern
ones upon them. I refer to the vulgar
ism-if may so term it-of giving the
long w. which is in so many of our
common words. the sound of 90 For
instance, IS out of every 100 Northern
ers will say 'institoot' instead of "insti-
tute,' 'dooty' instead Of duty q perfect
rhyme to the word beauty They will
call new and news moo and 'noos'-a
perfect rhyme to pew and pews-and
of similar words. Not dictionary In
the English language authorizes this
In student and stupid the u has the
same sound as In cupid, and should not
be pronounced 'stoodent' and "stoopid,
as so many teachers are In the habit
of sounding them.
"If it is a vulgarism to call a door
q 'doah.' as we all admit. isn't it as
much of a vulgarism to call a news
paper a 'noospaper'? One vulgarism
is Northern and the other Southern
that's the only difference. When the
London Punch wishes to burlesQue the
pronunciation OF servants, he makes
them call the duke the dock the tutor
the 'tooter,' and o tube q 'toob.' You
never find the best Northern speakers,
such as Wendell Phillips, Charles Sum-
ner. George william Curtis, Emerson,
Holmes and men of that class, saying
moo for new, or "Toosday" for Tues
dupe a 'doop.' It Is fault that the
has slips enough of another kind, but
he doesn't slip on the long u"
Immediately came the rejoinders,
some in satirical misspelling, and one
of considerable length, signed &C"
fully indorsing Amateurs" plea. In
The Star of September 10, 1879, are no
less than three letters on. the same SUBJ
ject, one Of them, signed "Medicus," as
follows:
II am sorry that c. in his pretty
little disquisition on that troublesome
phonetic element, IT, did not assume q
more likely probable cause for the de-
fective pronunciation, 'dooty' for 'deuty,'
than Dutch usage. The question Is
this malpronunciation Of duty
and similar words is not the outcome OF
a pedantic conceit by those who ought
to know better-i1ot only In the North
greater number Of the unlettered. But
to urge a less ungenerous hypothesis.
may this 'pecooliar' pronunciation not
be attributable to the influence of cli-
mate, the higher altitude, which is
known to furnish agencies in altering
dialects? A learned professor OF Cam
bridge, England, made experiments
upon the human larynx and struck
upon the law regulating vowel pronun-
Citations. 1t was due In part to the size
Oh the pipe and partly to the force with
which the air was propelled through It,
and the conclusion obtains that from
Inc susceptibility Of the organ to dila-
Iation and contraction under will power
In eupl1ony occurs.
1T was well for &C. to discourse 80
ably on the comparative phonology Of
the elementary sign u among the Diff
ferent languages, but it was hardly
necessary to account for what Is at any
rate malpronunciation. Unfortu-
nately for the unfortunates who thus
there is an appearance
Of just cause to charge conceit when
the contiguity Of the organs Of speech
Is remembered, for there Is no more
Ease Of utterance in prorouncins duty
like 'deuty' than 'dooty.'"