THE ENGLISH VOICE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1959, 16 January 1914, Page 9

THE ENGLISH VOICE.

POET LAUREATE TO THE KESCUE.

WHY BAY "N£YOHER"J A sooiety of scholars i« in process of formation for tho encouragement of the use of pure English, both written ana spoken. . ' According to tho "Daily Mail, ,, it is an Oxford movement, end (originally at all events) it will not ncclc a widu membership.' Dr. Bridgee, the Tonl Laureate, is at the- head of it; and it will have the support of such, maotero in English as Mr. Thomas Hardy, Or, Henry Bradley, and Dr. Crniyio, editors of tho Oxford English Dictionary; Sir Walter Raleigh, Profer.scr of Knglinh Literature at Oxford j ■ and Frofesr.or Maokill, sometime Profcßior of Poetry at Oxford. ■ While the objects of the nociety havo not yot been denned, they will probably include: . The publication of literature, tho delivery of lectures, and an attempt, ultimately, to influence all tho teachers of English in the land; tho restoration of the. purity of the written and spoken language; a resistancs to the unnecessary incorporation of foreign words, and an encouragement of tho adoption in polite speech of orisp, terse, vigorous words from tho dialocte. The English that Johnson spoke, . rather than the English'that' Johnson wrote, is an object aimed at by- many experts. For instance. Johnson would say "rot," but he would write "putrefy." . Tune, Not Ghfune. Dr. Bridges'.a views on pronunciation were expressed.in a- tract prepared for the . English Association. We eny, "neycher l, for nature. "Tune" is we.'l on its way to-be pronounced "chiune." A professor of English has been heard to say "audjins'.' for audience. It may bo added that one of our most ponular platform orators (Oxforo himself) says "cweshyvm" for question and is sadly addicted to the word. Tho younger generation say "pawing" for pouring. Fortunately the educated south is learning n/»ain that them is an "h" in "wheel" and "when." Irolnnd and Scotland never forgot it. The new movement is far from being nn attack on provincial speech. "A Londoner will say," wrote tho Poet Lanreatn in his tract, "that a Scotchman talks strancelv and ill: the truth is that he himself is in the typical attitude of vulgar ignorniico. in these matters. He is disposed to-.look down upon all that ho is unaccustomed to, and, not knowing tho true distinctions, he esteems his own degraded custom as corfpct. I should send foreigners tor Scotland. fer their ixpeerierns."