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Horowhenua Chronicle, 29 May 1914, Page 4

very all.: We We .not a I the prospect a spdling wnicli defies all attempts at. proper pronunciation (e.g. victuals, yacht, buoy), but at the suggestion >of changing one that in addition disguises completely the derivation (e.g. rhyme, scent, sprightly), about which in other instances we profess to be profoundly solicitous. Even the prettiest alterations in the interests of a mere mechanical uniformity . (e.g. diagram, programme, humour, humorous) meet with the sturdiest resistance. On this whole subject indeed there is no ignorance so profound and comprehensive as that which envelops' the minds of many men of letters, if"we can judge of their degree of knowl j edge by the character of their utterances. It requires a far more enlightened opinion 'than prevails yet among the large majority of these before we can look for tlie success of any effort to cause our tongue to approach even remotely to the phonetio excellence of Italian or Spanish or German. Yet, until the time comes, no small share of our lives will be spent in the profitable and exciting occupation of consulting dictionaries, in the equally profitable and exciting discussion of particular words, and in airing our opinions and delivering our decisions upon points about which one thoroughly educated in a u h as good an authority as anctnor and nobody is an authority at all." . . These words were penned ten. years ago; if Professor Lonnsbury were writing now, he would adopt a more hopeful < trait*, realising that even the mun 'in the street is becoming alivr- Vb the importance oi good spt'/eh. The time has come for v.:v to establish' a Standard ox English epoech, and put an end to the iainty and the misconcepfior/of which most of us an- rilliet4i}. ;It has been ct ,c+ .v' ..-, -y for the speaker of ■ who prides himself on ■his ■ .mounciation to designate any deviation from his personal standard as "cockney. ' This is really too simple a way of getting over the difficulty. The standard that we require will, in the main, be based on the best present usage, which .needs to be determined more carefully than so far has been tlie case. It should be as-pleasing aesthetically as we can make it: That implie# not, only that it'shall be distinct (winch does not mean that we should give up such manifest simplifications as are found in, handkerchief, castle, knee, demn), but that it shall heparin onious. ' The production of the voice, the basis of articulation, must alike be considered. Many dialects are disqualified -from ranking as Standard Speech not so much on account of individual sounds, as because the manner of producing the voice is faulty. The Standard will be, let us hope, a finer instrument for social inter-' course and for literary purposes than any existing form of speech.. How is this ideal to be attained? We have no academy comparable to the French Academy— and that has never done anything for' the pronounciafion. '_ W e have a Royal Society of Litera-ture,*-which shows the same unwillingness to face this problem. We must turn to the Board of Education. Well may we do so; for -it 4s a matter oi supreme interest for the teacher. Bad speech in our schools brings with it • many dis- 1 advantages. • The Board of Edu-„ cation has issued directions for the - pronunciation of Latin. (The matter was discussed'at the: last Headmasters' Conference, which gave rise to a correspondence .in, the press; and many of the letters showed that, phonetics is still-, the subject on which people are ready to rush into print .without !; possessing the most ; elementary knowledge). The Board of Education has done much to encourage the use of phonetics in (! the teaching of French and German.; Surely the time 'has tr wfien we may -lake up the English*, j ■ ;> Therefore we.furge the Board of Education to summon a conference on Standard Speech, representative of the English-speaking world; a conference not only Imperial,' but Anglo-American. What could more fitly ■ celebrate the Hundred Years of Peace 'than*such united • endeavour to establish good English speech on a firm foundation P