PLEA FOR PURITY.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 12 September 1934, Page 3

PLEA FOR PURITY.

YOUNGER GENERATION’S ENGLISH.

GOVERNOR’S PRANK T,ALK

“1 mu going to speak frankly to you. New Zealand’s younger generation do not, in my judgment, sneak as [mre English, free from all forms of twang and slang, as their parents did before (hem, and are found to do at the present time.” said his Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Blodisloe, in an address during the demonstration concert of the Wellington Competitions iSoclety. He remarked that he had seen recently a statement in the Press that New Zealanders were developing a distinctive twang. He gathered that the author of the statement felt that this development was a good thing rather than a bad. “I hold the opposite view,” his Excellency said. “I hope New Zealand may never develop a distinctive twang. Cultured English is to be found in all classes and aM sections of the population still to a greater degree in this country than in any other part of the Empire. But lot us maintain it.

“The English spoken word is to my mind not quite so pure as it was HO or 40 years ago,” he continued. “If these competitions justify themse-lvos in no oilier respect, they should raise Hie standard of spoken English not only in Wellington, but also in the rest

of New Zealand. Now Zealanders should all be taught to speak wtihout any local twang and without any slavish imitation of the American accent.” His Excellency said he would like to express regret that Mr. Clement May was leaving- the country and at the same time to express satisfaction that several of his scholars had won high awards at the festival. “Mr May has done a great deal to make us here acquainted with the manner in which the English should be spoken,” he said.