BEST ENGLISH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2409, 9 April 1927, Page 7

BEST ENGLISH.

WHERE IS IT SPOKEN ? LONDON CLUB’S CLAIM Whore is the best English spoken ? For years Inverness has boasted that it is there that the English language is to bo heard at its best, while a similar claim has been made by the people of Dublin. But it appeals that, after all, it is to the famous clubs of London that the wan Id must come if it would hear the best-spoken King s English.” Discussing the subject with a reporter, Sir Edward Denison Ross, director of the School of Oriental Studies, London Institution, and Professor of Persian in the University of London, declared: — . ‘The best English in the world is taught on the Loudon stage and talked in the great London clubs. “It is the middle-aged clubmen of London who are the true guardians of the best-spoken English, while the best written English is preserved in the leader-columns of our foremost newspapers. “In public life the best English is spoken by orators like the Earl of Balfour and Mr Winston Churchill. Other views are:—

I)r R. W. Chambers, Quain Professor of English at University College, London: Undoubtedly, the best English is spoken in London. But this is not to say that the best English is spoken only in London. Ido not think it is generally realised that even, in London the English language varies among educated London people. Mr J. H. G. Grattan, senior-lecturer in English, University College, London: It is the best English spoken m London that is the best English of all. If a. foreigner came to learn the best English, it would be better for him, if he could not mix with cultured people, to go to Norwich, where the less educated people speak far better English than the less educated people of London. The English of the poorer. people of Wales is superior to that of the poorer people of any other place. Sir Donald MacDonald, a former Provost of Inverness: “The soft Celtic voice, t'lio melodious Celtic intonation, and the pure Celtic pronunciation explain to a. considerable extent the quality of the Inverness English.