PRONUNCIATION

Northern Advocate, 11 July 1925, Page 4

PRONUNCIATION

The correct pronunciation of many words in the English language is an ever-fruitful subjeet of discussion. The language is remarkably full of word curiosities, which exercise an attraction upon lovers of letters and students of words. Of all tongues the English tongue is said to be the most difficult for a foreigner to master, and one of the main reasons is that its pronunciation seems to be governed by no rules —or by rules to which the roll of exceptions is so long that there might almost as well be none at all. That there is truth in this complaint even the most unobservant must admit; the unhappy foreigner who is confronted with the word "bow," for instance, may well be excused if he cannot (e(! why or when it slrould be pronounced to rhyme with "no" and when or why with "now." And this is but one o an army of witnesses that might be brought into court to testify to the irrationality of our spoken tongue. As a matter of fact there is hardly i letter in our alphabet which does not indulge in the most incomprehensible vagaries when it is associated with its fellows, from "A,'.' which has no fewer than half a dozen ways of announcing itß presence, right down to "Z," whi.'h oft ursurps the rights of "S" or "X, •' and including "Q," which refuses to work at all unless supported by its henchman "U." ' Such anomalies as these provide pitfalls for everyone, be he foreigner or native. The only way by which the student could avoid them would be by the slow and painful process of making himself familiar with the idiosyncracies of each particular example, and that, owing to their number, is impossible. The study of derivation will sometimes help towards arrival at the correct pronunciation of these verbal traps. But even that method may easily prove useless, as is very well evidenced by the word "desert." Whether it be used to express the act of forsaking, or m desolate area, its derivation is from the same Latin verb, but its pronunciation varies greatly in accordance with which of those two meanings it is intended to convey. Many other examples could be given. The new Oxford Dictionary, for instance, bids us no longer speak of " eyesolation," but make the word " issolation," and the derivation from the Latin "insula" justifies the dictionary. Even dictionaries, however, differ, for the main rule of our pronunciation is that there is no rule; that it is consistent only in its inconsistency. A writer, referring recently in an English journal to the vexed question of where and when to use capital letters, made this illuminating comment: —"The rules cannot be easily formulated. The use of capital letters has been determined by fashion and custom, and what has been changing custom can never become definite rule." The quoted w-ords express exactly the position -with regard to pronunciation. Words have been pronounced differently at different times; they are almost as much the subject of the caprice of fashion as dress itself. The word which Ave pronounce "been" today a century ago was "bin" upon the most fastidious tongue, although the spelling of it has not varied with the years. So is it with many of. our simplest words, and when we eoine to proper nouns the case is almost hopeless. Let, that accomplished one who never made error in the calling of the roll of Beauchatnp, St. J"ohn, Cirencester, and Wemyss throw the first stoAe at him whose tongue shall hesitate at Trafalgar. And afterwards he may inform us, if he can, precisely how we should' call up the shadeg of Elia and Pepys.