THE WAY AMERICANS SPEAK.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1366, 17 February 1912, Page 12

THE WAY AMERICANS SPEAK.

''ScriWerVMagaa^o'S^W?} l I' l *' 1 ' January. number -completes , its twenu-. vi five vuurs^iiud'..has spine i«>« things-in , American ami English literature to shovr. for them —contiUiis an article by Ay« Francis Rogers 011 "The American bpeaJtiii" Voice," with which, as a ha is not at all satisfied. Ami yettliat 'nasal' ■ . timbre," which-lifts afflicted thostvwho aro not accustomed to it, has been i.ttcnwxl by a great singer as a fundamental qual-ity-indicating capacity lor the vocal do . . veiopmenl in which American singers ar« so iar from being dclicient; it appear# that a natural adviintago has lwn turned the wrong - way; -Sir. Kog«rs suggest#that Aniericans are not more subject to , colds than other people, and lie .behoves that tlio disagreeable qualities of tlleir.l voices' aro - duo to. slovenly utterance and the neglect of the technique of speech. This hardly covers the ground,- says an ■ English writer, and there is no attempt to show that these faults of indoloneo tend. to bring .a nasal twang ill other peoples. : Mr. Kogers's other pointthat .tha;'- r physchology of' the Aniericans is playing - : a great -part in-spoiling'their voices, and'.' -.-. that, it .is -because itliey iare "dry, eager, money-seeking" that their natural, melo-. ■ diousness is lost. Hustlers have, not timp' to speak properly, and perhaps, they aro Eo often in noisy places that tliey- bring -~ out a vibrant tone. Hut all America is,. ■ not hustling, and- though there are differ?,-,;.., onces,•-thev - are.'jiot.i great- betweenlanguage; o£=<t}io folk of (thouo nvlio .rush, about.in cities; Mr. ■- Rogers remarks on tlio homogeneousnees of American even to. its . architecture—as comparod::with. conscrvative .England. But »t.least,.we.Bay agrea,■ with him. that the parent owes i,t to hI»V., children to giro them the chnnoe of being , beautiful and efficient speakers., Some, careful mothers choose their, nurses according to their speech, and sometimes, it is to bo feared, without realising that.'. , racy dialect is better than tho slovenly genteel. . In Lancashire a Rood rough . speech, sometimes spoken witli an admirable, .precision', lends to..'a', comproniiso with, a ..luo'ro, cultured tongue, and ' (ho edgo is'.tnken.'.ofi both. Generally wo "aro careless spoukefs, i'niid, though we.inayassume superiority (0 iiasal tlvangs, we - have. 110 cluini''.to'credit for making speech pot only an index-to.character, but. eon--scioiisly'.nn instrument in the moulding of character. To think of one's .speech-" • is to .be self-conscious, but it is. ft queer turn that, has brought us to, regard • self- . consciousness as litlo bettor than a vice.