ENGLISH PLACE NAMES
Sir,-"Homey" in his objection to the pronunciation of Yarmouth probably raises more problems than the parfticular one he seeks to cure. He says the correct pronunciation is Yarmuth, but this use of the written alphabet, without distinguishing marks, can be vety misleading. Does he realise that the spoken alphabet has forty-three sounds, and the written alphabet has only twenty-six to represent them, and five of these are superfluous, while thirteen vowel sounds are represented to the eye in more than one hundred different ways? Yar in England can quite easily be Yare, Ya-er, Ye-ar, but suppose we agree that it is the Yar of Yarrow, then muth can easily be mooth or muther as Sandy Powell would say. Probably the sound that "Homey" wants to convey is the moth in mother, given in the Oxford Dictionary at mudh and in another as muth, This does not alter the fact that the modern statidard English is Yahrmowth, but thera is nothing to hinder the inhabitants calling it what they like.
ARGOSY
(Te Awamutu).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19451109.2.13.7
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 333, 9 November 1945, Page 5
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175ENGLISH PLACE NAMES New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 333, 9 November 1945, Page 5
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