National Dialects

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7064, 25 January 1933, Page 10

National Dialects

INTERESTING ADDRESS TO CITIZENS’ LUNCH CLUB After being in recess over the holiday season, the Palmerston North Citizens’ Lunch Club foregathered again yesterday, the chairman being Colonel C. G. Powles. There was only a moderate attendance of mombers, but those who were able to attend had the pleasure of listening to a charming address given by the Rev. G. S. Cook, of Otaki, whoso subject was “Vanishing Characteristics.’’

Introducing the speaker, the chairman said he had been wondering what the address could be about, and that the only thing he had been able to connect the title with had been the burning question of exchange. It had been explained, however, that the address was one dealing with dialects and the influence of the “talkies” and broadcasting on the British speech.

At the outset, Mr. Cook said that he had been struck by the changes that had taken place, and ventured the opinion that with the vanishing of the dialects there would be a breakingdown of certain national characteristics. Tennyson had been a supreme lover of good English, yet he loved to talk with those speaking with a dialect. Proof of this was to be found in the dialect poem's that he wroto for posterity. After reciting one of these, one which gave a complete outline of the character of a North Country farmer, Mr. Cook made reference to the Irish, and ho contended that the nation would lose something very precious with the passing of the brogue. He added that with their command of language and their Tapier-like wit, it was only to bo expected that the Irish would be quick to take advantage of any opportunity of making play upon words. Another characteristic of the Irish was the gift of "twisting things round the wrong way.” Mr. Cook then told the cleverest of the Irish folk-lore 'stories—the story of Crommarty. The only fault his listeners appeared to And with it was that it was not a longer story. After making a brief reference to the shrewdness of Scottish wit, he spoke of the speech of New Zealanders, saying that as far as he could judge there was no trace of tnc growth of a New Zealand dialect. “I cannot say the feame for Australia,” he added, “for there is ample evidence that Sydney and Melbourne have a slang of their own. There is a touch of Cockney in it, and more than a suggestion of American in its worst and most irritating form—the American of the Northern States. C. J. Dennis used tnis Australian ‘dialect’ as the vehicle for ‘The Sentimental Bloke.’ ” Continuing, Mr. Cook went on to speak of C. J. Dennis as the iineist humorist and philosopher Australia had pro-

duced, and concluded by saying that a great deal of individuality would be lost with the passing of the dialects, his contention being that it was the little differences between people, even between the members of a family, which made life interesting. The vote of thanks to the speaker was proposed by Mr. A. G. 800.