Speaking Well

Hawera Star, Volume L, 7 February 1931, Page 16

Speaking Well

AMONG the many charges laid against the youth of the present generation is the statement that it cannot speak correctly (writes Professor Cairns James in an exchange). Apart from criticism of grammar and slang, it is constantly alleged that our young men and women are beginning to take such liberties -with pronunciation that spoken English will soon be unrecognisable. While I agree that very few people articulate correctly, I think that these accusations are a good deal exaggerated. Take, for example, the much-quoted instance of the “Oxford voice. ’ ’ The “Oxford voice” is as old as the British Constitution. It is a passing phase corresponding, as all affectations of speech do, with a certain mental outlook. As soon as a child gets out of his baby tunic into his first jacket, he unconsciously drops Ids child-lisp. As soon as an undergraduate get out of his Oxford trousers into the world, in nine eases out of ten he drops Ms “Oxford voice.” Then there is that curious striving after the “genteel” which voices itself in the mincing pronunciation of vowels. "Nice” becomes “naice.” “no” “nao.” and so on. I admit this is a mutilation of the English tongue most irritating to the ear. Nevertheless, some statements that have been made about it are ridiculous. Certain critics seem to think that every typist and shop assistant in the United ingdom talks in this way. They do not. It is only the few, striving hard after socalled gentility, who speak the “genteel” language. And if one could compare it with the way they spoke at the age of ten, it might seem a positive improvement on then* mother-tongue. Bnt in any case, it is only a transitory phase. A weightier argument in support of the charge of deteriorating speech is the inaudibility of our actors and actresses. How many performances in our days can be followed with any comfort from the gallery? Very few. Possibly quite a number of our London theatres may be badly constructed from the point of view of acoustics. But that is only a partial excuse.

Girls Articulate Better

Schools Largely to Blame

I believe, however, that this state of affaiis on the stage is due to the modern style of acting rather than to a national tendency towards faulty articulation. In my young days distinct enunciation was the actor’s foremost thought. Surely an author’s words ought to be heard. 1 remember how Mr D’Oyly Carte used to listen to the “dialogue” of an applicant for employment from the back of the theatre, and unless Ihe actor’s words were clearly audible he stood a good chance of being turned down. In those days audibility was everything, but to-day the “realistic” school of acting has risen. Even local clarity is sacrificed in the attempt to introduce an air of realism into the play. On the whole, there is perhaps more truth in the assertion that our young men do not speak clearly than our young women do not. There are several reasons for this. Distinctness of speech depends a great deal on self-assur-ance, and, of course, women are more selfassured than men. Also, they acquire self-assur-ance at a nearlier age. The war, too, with its devasting effects on speech, produced more looseness of diction among the millions of men in the trenches than among the women who served under less disturbing circumstances. Perhaps, however, the chief reason is that girls’ schools devote a certain amount of attention to the cultivation of the voice, whereas boys’ schools do not. Most girls’ schools have classes in elocution, and slovenly habits of speech are corrected. But in boys’ schools the voice receives no attention at all. Our public chools are particularly negligent in this respect. $o many hours are occupied with games and the education curriculum that there is no time left over for the acquirement of audible speech. Tf a person does not learn to speak properly —and to be taught is the only satisfactory way to acquire correct articulation —he will unconsciously shape his speech by imitation. It is lucky for the English language that the broadcasting station is becoming a potent factor in the moulding of the nation’s speech. Our wireless artists and the public men who speak into the miei’ophone are not always to be imitated, but their standard of voice-production is high.