PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14408, 16 July 1912, Page 9

PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH.

•IO THX EDITOK OF "THK TRESS. *' Sir,—One rather wonders what exactly Air Pirani, whose phonetics seem to be a trifle .shaky, meant by his amusing strictures on tho pronunciation of "the so-called upper classes,", quoted in your paragraph yesterday. Thero are three distinct pronunciations of such words.as "fine,'' "time," according as the vowel sound is produced in the front, middle, or hack of the palate. The last method results approximately in the abhorrent "foiiie," "tonne." and is attributed by the best stage tradition to Irishmen. The second is tho method of the North countryman, and very generally current in local speech. The first is southern, and typical English, and results in a sound which could only be*, confused with "fone," "temc' 1 (6 as in fete)—Mr Pirani's "fame," "tasme"by thoso who suffer from defective hearing. If such a pronunciation ns •'iene." teme,." is current at all, it is probably peculiar to the hyper-genteel, a breed which appears among all classes'. The analogy of such words as "day," "saw* "maid.'' suggests that it may yet" become the standard pronunciation, for even llr Pirani would hardly ask us to revert to the "my,' -•s\V' "iiiyd," current as lato* as Shakespeare's day, and even yet by no means extinct in New Zealand.

But pronunciation is a thorny subject and full of pitfalls for the unwary. Even a knowledge of the phonetic symbols so popular in our schools will not- eliminate the chalice of error. I have known a worthy instructor who taught his pupils to write the French word "enfant" in correct phonetic script, and to pronounce it '•angfantx''! Quis custodien' ips-o*-custodes—in. plain English, who will protect us from our teachers?— Yours, l ' tC " AX OLD PEDAGOGUE.