PRONUNCIATION.

Bruce Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 710, 18 June 1875, Page 6

PRONUNCIATION.

(To the Editor of ike Bruce . Herald?) ■ ; Sib,— As 1 have been honored with a lecture from "YZ ?' having reference to my former letter, I crave a little space in your columns to make a rejoinder— a final one, so r far as I am concerned. Instead of saying ; that the Normans who invaded England under the Conqueror were Scandinavians, had he said they were of Scandinavian origin, my reprover would; have stated the exact truth. But Frenchmen they were by birth, language, and manners ; and Frenchmen in language : and: manners they continued to be for generations after, with no sympathy whatever with the conquered English. French was the language at Court, and in Parliament, until about A^D. 1360; and to the victories on French soil against tremendous odds, and to the writings of Chaucer, Gower, and Wickliffe, we are largely indebted for its decline. ;If " V Z" thinks that the English tongue has been in nowise affected by the French as the dominant one for a term of three centuries, he

. stands alone in his opinion; / "-YZ" believes I the reason of the English people being indifferent to the use of the aspirate will be found in the fact that they are a people who prefer sense to sound, and in this they agree with the majority of European -nations. Well, I hope they do. JBut as my respondent is a logician, he should c have seen ; the natural inference to be drawn from such' a statement.', Tke insinuation is that as the Scotch never fail in the proper use of the aspirate they are "not a peppte who prefer sense to sound, and thus '■": are an exception to the majority .of European nations. O friend ! have a car:e. Abandon that delusion. A more logical, hard reasoning people do not exist oil the face of the earth than your own heighbbrs; none more ready ito take up the cudgel in defence of their convictions ; and: lam ashamed that • you do not know it. : > " V Z" holds standard- pronunciation in something like disdain. With him, he says, it is of little importance whether " corn" be pronounced ; M corn,?' *« earn," or coarn." He Knows Avhiat is meant; thstt issufficieut. Justso; and should he meet you in the street this cold weather, and r remark tliat the lady walking on tKe o^ther:side;has*black bpotJ'TOund her neck, VOtt are ~to Understand him' to mean -not* a auadruped of the porcwe tnbe, r but xnerely a

comfortable^ Reticle of feniale outer apparel, procurable at a fur sjlopv ; ' Again, " V Z ? " Kiys " a man may be able toaddress an audience with ; power and effect, rouse thieu^* pjassibns,^^carry his point, and yet pay little attention to the letter II." Not impossible, truly. But what kind of audience? A stump orator or two, a popular cry, an 1 inflammable mob, and stone walls are levelled to the earth. But! am sure "V Z" never heard any man of note as a debater, any clergyman, or public lecturer, hold the propeituse of that letter in' contempt; For my my*own partj with shame aind\ regret I confess that the most soul^stifring oration would with : greatly diminished force on, my ears' from a "man who 1 recklessly shows his HVwliefe they are not wanted, and keeps them down his throat when they. are. Haying, m all submissiveness, given proper attention to his remarks, I am clearly persuaded 'that «• V: Z" in days .gone; by, enjoyed the agreeable , acquaintance., of the j late Mr Charles Dickensi/; Probably the dis-: | tinguished novelist was referring to SVY Z's?' stirring powers when he wrote: *' It was impossible Jto witness unmoved the impressive solemnity with which he poured forth his soul in fMy -art's in tKe 'igtihmds;' or, •• The^ brave old hook?" ; , -.■■•■ ; i In taking adieu, let me advise " V Z " riot to measure other people's corn— not" earn"— -, by his own. bushel. My ; former remarks touching ojbhers referred ptirel^ to them as public men, not more exempt from, criticism in Otago than elsewhere. niay be the merits of those gentlemen iii any other relation in Hfe; I neither knpAv: nor care. '■[. ; .= lanv&c., • r^ •'■■:■->■■■■ - ■ '■' -■ '; - ■•• •'•■•' Angmcan. '

Clutha,