OUR ACCENT OR DIALECT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21910, 20 September 1934, Page 15

OUR ACCENT OR DIALECT

Sir, —Dialects in the British Isles are many and varied. An effort has been made for some years to abolish them, with some success. But they take a lot of killing, and the effort fortunately has, in the main, failed. Fortunately, because, to a philologist, the dialects are eloquent—of history, or mental outlook, of love for mother tongue, of sturdy independence, of resistance to standardisation, and of musical ears. And if in New Zealand a dialect is being formed, then good luck to it; it will embody the goofl sense of the people and be a strong link with Home. Accent, I take it, simply means the stressing of certain syllables and is regulated by custom or authority. But slipshod speech is another matter, and all too prevalent in New Zealand and elsewhere, in spite of the earnest efforts of well-qualified teachers. For .this the language of the home, the street, and low-class cinema pictures is responsible, and that militates against all that teachers can do. Therefore, the suggestions 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9 of Mr. Caughley (Herald, September 17) are superfluous, for, as he points out, "the teachers . . . have devoted themselves ... to the training of our children in the practice of speaking pure English" by their own and possibly better methods. The other suggestions are worth trying. From long experience I have learned that singing, properly taught, is the ideal via media. In addition to the physical benefits of right breathing, purity of voice, and training the ear, stress must be laid on careful enunciation, and after steady practice the improvement in speaking is remarkable. It has also the inestimable advantage of willing co-operation.

W. R. G. Emerson Allendale Road, Mount Albert.