OUR MOTHER TONGUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23009, 9 April 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

OUR MOTHER TONGUE

Random Notes and Little Problems

By PROFESSOR ARNOLD WALL

IT has been said that when anything has once taken root in the English public inind at least five hundred repetitions are necessary before it can be dislodged, and as this is no doubt as true of the public mind of New Zealand, it must be my excuse for mentioning the distressing pronunciations of "says" and "ate" as "saze" and "ayt," which so many "well-edu-cated" people use in this country. A correspondent tolls me that he has lienrd "saze" instead of "scz" from a graduate of the University with high honours in Knglish, and so, indeed, have I. There is 110 need to quote authorities, for nil are agreed that the correct sound in both these words is a short e, the eighteenth century "orthoepists" being in complete agreement 011 this point with the authorities of today. So, to the correspondent who asks tne whether "ate" should not be pronounced "et." my advice is to say "et" and shame the devil. Problems of the "Aer" I am asked for a decision upon words formed from the Latin "aer," which is, by the way, originally Greek. r lhe words in question are "aerial," noun and adjective; "aeroplane" and other coinpounds of "aero" like "aerodrome, and "aerate," "aerated waters. J here is 110 difference of opinion about "aerate," which is in three syllables, "nvorate." nor about the group >ll "aero." in all of which the pronunciation is "airo," with no alternati\e allowed. . ~, . , „ Hut the ease of aerial is aiiotli.t story. The adjective, which is fairly old. was alwavs pronounced "ay-eet-i-al, in four syllables, with stress on "eer. The noun, which dates only from the invention of ''wireless,'' is .however so eommnnlv pronounced atrial that it i« doubtful if it will ever be anything else, and some authorities accept it as established. The Oxford Dictionary still recommends the old fom-syllahle pronunctaii'on for both noun and adjectne; the B B.C. prescribes "airial ' for the noun onlv; Daniel Jones records "airial only

for both. The question then, is whether the quadrisyllable "ay-eer-i-al" can be saved, either lor the adjective only, or for both adjective and noun. It is dangerous to prophesy, but I feel sure that "airial," for the noun, has conio to stay, and that the aegis of Oxford has been cast over "ay-eer-i-al" in vain. There is, however at least a sporting chance for "ay-eer-i-al" as the adjective, supported as it is by Oxford and the 13.8.C. Committee. There is in its favour the fact that it is not nearly so "popular" a word as the noun, and is used only by the sort of speaker who is likely to be careful in such matters. 1 need only add for the sake of those who are inquisitive that in Latin the word had a long a and a long e. following the Greek, and was a disyllabic, which accounts for the scholarly "ay-eer-i-al," while wo adopted our familiar "air" from French and make it one syllable accordingly. Enriching One's Vocabulary

I sympathise with the reader who, wishing to enlarge his vocabulary, asks me if I can recommend any book or books which might lieln him. Hoobscrves truly that a "book of synonyms" is unwieldv, and would hardly serve his purpose. 1 would go further and say that sueh books would rather hinder than heln. I could easily recommend such publications as the tine old classic Roget's Thesaurus, which first appeared in 1852, and has since held its own among many competitors. No, 1 feci strongly that the cold-blooded study of that sort of print could never help; the growth of a man's vocabulary is, or ought to be. a natural living process and in mv opinion can only be encouraged by the careful reading of standard books with the corner of the eye, as it were, on the watch. The writer who has wielded the richest. Knglish vocabulary on record is Shakespeare and, little as wo know of his personal habits, we mav be quite sure that lie never studied books ot svnonvms, though tilings of that kind alreadv existed in lus time. \\ o may be sure, too, that he was merely an omnivorous reader and an atteutne listener to good.talk, and that his great masterv of language was acquired nattinillv 'and more or less unconsciously in this wav. and this is the only way which I would recommend to my correspondent.