Evening star., 1936-02-09

of spoken sounds as clearly as those with
musical talent can hear true notes, the
chances are that your tongue will produce
what your ear exacts.
But listening to speaking voice that is
unusually appealing. you should try to dis
cover, if you can, what it is that makes it
beautiful. just as you should determine the
precise faults in ugly ones and then, of
course, try to apply what you have learned
The very best way to hear your own voice
is to have phonograph record made. and
listen to that. From time to time have others
made and note your improvement. In the big
have them made. For that matter they can
even be made over the telephone.
To those who have asked the best way to
memorize pronunciation. can't do better
than to repeat the method of notable lawyer
whose early beginnings were humble and his
English full of faults. He told me that for
years he wrote words or phrases - a few at
and that he practised these words by saying
them over to himself while he shaved.
Writing in soap on the bathroom mirror
is equally helpful in learning anything that
you want to memorize thoroughly. because
you can't help seeing the soap writing when
ever you wash your hands. Or perhaps you
may prefer slate or an ordinary pad of writ
ing paper either hung or propped up in a
place where you see it constantly. Another
man know carried lists of words with him
to study at lunch and in the subway and
wherever he had any spare moments In this
way he has taught himself to read Spanish.
One of the most brilliant women in New
York never reads book or a serious maya
zine article without dictionary at her elbow
" which she moreover never fails to consult.
In considering pronunciation and even
choice OF words. it must be remembered that
not only has each section of the country -
North. South, East and West - its own
accent but its own especial additions to and
subtractions from the English vocabulary.
Charm is perhaps in the ear Of the listener
At least. have always been fascinated by
Charleston's way of saying: The kyart
drove into the gyarden." In Maryland my
own state my family used to say: Come
hyeur, Ehm-le And, of course, every
Southener says Idea" you ALL" "ah
reckon and calls architectural columns
"pillahs." The smartest of smart in Phia-
delphia say "Owrchie had marvellous
howrt" Chicago calls itself Chacawgo and
eats chawklut. Many "Amurricuns" 60 on
form travels - and what their accent does
to European languages is exactly like taking
stones out of gurgling brook and throwing
them into a stone crusher "Bahston" take
the "cah" for "Hahvard." All of which merely
indicates the part of the country we are from.
Water pronounced as though it were watt
of electric measure, waiter, came - so it is
said - from German settlers who pronounced
it like wasser. Bot and thot sound ugly to
us who say bought and thought. But it is
very possible that bought and thought sound
ugly to them, just as loving and strowng
sound ugly to the English, who always say
lagng and strahng.
Best New York speech so New York
imagines - consists chiefly in an elimination
of the accents of other sections. Probably
that is what all people think of their own
pronunciation. Or do they not know whether
their infection is right or wrong? Nothing
should be simpler to determine If they pro-
nounce according to a standard dictionary,
they are correct; if they don't. they have an
accent" or are ignorant; it is for them to
determine which.
Copyright. 1886. by Emily Post.