Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-28
ENGLISH DIALECTS
SUBJECT OF STUDY
TO LEARN ORIGINS
American Council of Learned
Societies to Fix Begin
nings of Expressions.
CONFERENCE TO BE HELD
AT YALE AUGUST 2 AND 3
Noted Students of Language to
Take Part in Lengthy
Undertaking.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

derGaklngS American SchOIarSnlp mas
ever attempted" the American Council
of Learned Societies with headquarters
here Is about to launch study OF the
origin and development of the numer-
Gus dialects of the English language
spoken in the United States.
Outstanding differences in speech, 1t
Is pointed out, are recognized every
where. Thus the man from Virginia
and the man from Maine easily can be
told apart by their pronunciation and
phraseology, and the New Workers. ''oi''
makes the city of his origin obvious
everywhere. But the council plans to
20 much deeper than this and trace out
the minute variations in speech between
people from the same State, some OF
which are quite distinctive, and to de-
termine the racial origins Of the varia-
tons.
A preliminary conference will be held
August 2 and 5 at Yale University to
arrange for the project. Leading Amer
lean scholars Of many universities, in
Guiding students of dialect, lexico-
graphers, phoneticians, authorities on
the English, German and Roman Ian
Ruages, and specialists in linguisticS are
expected to collaborate In preparing the
American dialect atlas. The work, 1t
Is expected, will require about 10 years.
Study English First.
Immediate attention will be directed
TO English dialects in this country, but
the work Is expected eventually to en-
brace the English language in all parts
of North America and also the foreign
language colonies, such as the Pennsyl-
vania Dutch. the French in Canada and
Louisiana, Spanish in the Southwest,
and the Scandinavians in Minnesota
and the Dakotas.
The development of the habits Of
speech will be studied in relation to the
history of the settlement of the coun-
try. Hundreds of thousands of speech
records will be compiled in 500 strategic
speech centers. The main dialectic d.
visions will be traced historically and
geographically, according to Or. Waldo
G. Leland. permanent SECRETARY, of the
council The material SOLICITED in the
field will form the basis for dialectic
maps. These permanent records are
expected to serve many important uses
in American education. Several
pioneer surveys have been made, the
most noteworthy of which are in the
ciety. There Is also historical mate
rial on the migrations Of the early set
tiers in many libraries throughout the
country.
The Modern Language Association
and the Linguistic Society Of America
will cooperate with the American
Council in the work. Preliminary ar
rangements are In charge Of Prof. Edgar
H. Sturtevant Of Yale University.
Will Consult Experts.
There will be present at the con-
ference men who have spent their lives
In the study Of the English language"
said Prof. Hans Kurath of Ohio State
University, an authority on American
dialects. Some will know the great
dialect atlas OF France and others of
similar undertakings in Germany, Italy,
Spain and Switzerland.
Not many would mistake o Chi
cagoan for New Yorker, or a laborer
for an actor or college professor while
listening to photographic record Of
their speech. The Midwesterner sounds
all his RS. many a New Yorker does
not; the former uses the same vowel
in half and hat while some Bos-
tonians and Virginians do not; the
former talks in an even drone. while
Fasteners and Southerners have a
more musical intonation.
differences may be classified within
much narrower limits by persons who
have many contacts. An alert Chicago
lawyer will know whether the man he
is talking to Is from the Southern,
Central or Northern part Of Illinois. A
Virgtnian can tell whether a man has
lived In the Tidewater area or In the
valley OF Virginia. A language special
1St may be able to make even finer
distinctions, but even he has compare
lively little information on the many
d1alect1c differences In the speech of
our millions.
Speech Habits Imported.
Most Of these differences are not
due to internal development but are
linked up with the dialects Of England,
this country imported their speech
habits, clinging to them or giving them
up, in part at least, for the speech
habits of their new fellows. The
Scotch-IriSh. whose old home was in
Scotland and northern England, con-
tinued to pronounce all their RS in
their new home in Pennsylvania
Wherever they went they took the
habit with them and changed this
only when they mingled with a nu-
merically or culturally superior group
of 'r-droppers,' as in certain parts
of the South. The prevalence of the
r. habit throughout the Middle West
and West Is. at least in part, Scotch
Irish heritage. The Irish who poured
into this country by the hundreds of
thousands beginning with the middle
of the nineteenth century may, how
ever, claim generous share. In fixing
the habit.
Movements of population have
tremendous importance in the shaping
and spread of dialect. The New York
'oi' to which the East Side may claim
'foist' rights, has been carried to all
parts Of the city, to Long Island, New
Jersey and up the Hudson by bust.
ness men and working men, and COM
muters have imported 1t into the Con-
necticut towns along Long Island
Sound. This one-tine vulgar pronun-
citation Is fast becoming respectable
with the rise Of the 'oi' speakers to
commercial, political and cultural in1-
portance. Not a few professors at
Columbia University are using 1t in q
somewhat milder form, and ex-Gov.
Alfred e. Smith Is not the only man
OF prominence to give it social stand
ing.
Interesting Problems.
THE spread of dialect by inter-
communication and migration, the for
nation and spread of class dialects or
levels of speech as determined by so.
cial qualification, the rise and fall OF
speech habits from one level to another
through the rise and fall Of members