CULTURED ENGLISH

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 55, 3 September 1934, Page 10

CULTURED ENGLISH

SPEECH IN NEW ZEALAND

SLANG AND TWANG

"Cultured English is good enough for all of us," declared his Excellency the Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe), speaking in the Town llall on Saturday night before presenting trophies to competitors of tho Wellington Competitions Society festival.

In brief, his Excellency said he considered that cultured English .was spoken more widely in New .Zealand than anywhere else, but that the present generation does not speak English so free from slang nor so pure as that spoken by' older people. He disagreed with recently-expressed views that tin; acquirement by 'New Zcalanders of a characteristic twang was moro a matter for congratulation than reproach, and said he entertained high hopes that cultured English would bo spoken in New Zealand in the futuro. ;

; His Excellency referred to the opinion of Mr. T. Vernon Griffiths, of Dunedin, adjudicator of instrumental music at tho festival. Mr. Griffiths had said that he had realised at the Wellington, festival last year more than evor that there was a wealth of musical talent among adults and young people in New Zealand. He entirely endorsod what Mr. Griffiths had said. Every distinguished musician from overseas visiting New Zealand during his Exceilency's term of office had testified to. the talent and the taste in music in the Dominion.

Mr. J. Howlett Ross, elocutionary adjudicator, of Melbourne, in the :prefaee to the programme of the festival, had said in a contribution as eloquently worded as it was convincing in argument that " ... English remains the noblest instrument of human thought fashioned by tho^ages since Greece decayed." His Excellency said that he agreed with the views of Mr. Boss (although ho'was not so'sure ..that during the last week Greece had not ceased to decay). . . His Excellency said he had noticed that some expert visiting New Zealand had found that New Zealanders /were developing a ■ distinctive twang, and had suggested that perhaps that might bo a matter for congratulation. His Excellency said that >he held the opposite view. (Applause.) "I most earnestly hope that never happens; cultured English is good enough for all of us," he said. Cultured English was to be found in this country to a greater degree than anywhere else. But, to be quite frank, the youuger generation did not speak the same English, free'of slang, as their parents did beforo them and were found to do at the present time. _ The English spoken word was not quite so pure and unadulterated as it had been 30 or 40 years ago. He entertained hopes that in the future Now Zealandovs would talk pure English without > slang, brogue, or slavish imitation of American accent. (Applause.)