SPOKEN ENGLISH

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19374, 24 December 1932, Page 3

SPOKEN ENGLISH

NEW ZEALAND VARIANT. “A FLAT INTONATION.” There is no reason. Sir James Parr thinks, why the English spoken in New Zealand should not equal the finest spoken English in the world. He suggested in an address at the Wellington East Girls’ College prizegiving ceremony, having drawn attention first to a New Zealand accent--distinguished by a peculiar flat intonation—which should not be allowed to grow general. The voice that appeals to Sir James is soft, gentle, and low. There was undoubtedly in this country, he said, a tendency towards loose pronunciation and loose accent. There was a tendency also to broaden vowels, which should be corrected before it was too late. He was not saying that New Zealand speech was not generally good—it was good. And as compared with the speech of some of New Zealand’s sister Dominions it was excellent. But New Zealand was bad as far as accent was concerned. In some parts of the country and in some of the primary schools there was a New Zealand accent, which they should be careful not to let grow. Why an Unpleasant Variant?. It was inevitable, Sir James supposed, that every country should possess some variation from the best «-tandard in the pronunciation of iglish. “But my point,” he said, “is: w.iy should it be so unpleasant and hard and flat as some of our New Zealanders make it?” If New Zealand were to have a variant from the highest standard of English, let it be soft ancj pleasant, he said. English people had told him when he was High Commissioner that they could tell some New Zealanders by their peculiar flat intonation and hard, metallic sort of accent. He himself had not noticed it particularly, but strangers did. But on the general question he was not sure whether New Zealanders should bow to the inevitable in the form of a distinctive accent for New Zealand. Why should they not aim at the highest standard? They lived in a new country; they had no dialects, no shires, no obstacles of any kind. Why should they not have the most pleasant speech in the world in this pleasant, sunny country?

After all, it was a very important attraction for everybody to have a nice pleasant voice, particularly for girls and women. The chief charm in a woman, Sir James thought, was her voice. “The voice, after all,” ne

caid, “a nice, soft, gentle, and low voice, is the thing to aim at now and in your after years. The King's English. “Let us speak indeed, the King's English,” he said. ‘I have heard the King speak frequently, and the Prince of Wales speak frequently. Their voices are excellent —wonderful.

rhere is no affectation of any kind, hat one sometimes meets with in misguided people. Nor is there any slovenliness, nor are there the vulgarsms which we sometimes meet with n our little country, New Zealand.” In concluding. Sir James congratulated the girls on their singing and toice production, and stressed the importance of studying English. “I real-

ly believe,” he said, "that, to put it broadly, a girl who knows her English has got 50 per cent, of her education. That is the subject which in after life is going to be all in all.”