Words and Phrases

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20314, 25 May 1934, Page 6

Words and Phrases

JT IS POSSIBLE that readers of these notes were struck by the manliness of the sentiment underlying Ru’s prayer, when he and his warriors petitioned Tangaroa to clear away the clouds, so that they could complete their voyage to New Zealand. Yet the Polynesian language is not characterised by masculinity in a philological sense. Dr Jespersen has brought this out clearly by selecting at random a passage from the language of Hawaii: “ I kona hiki ana aku ilaila ua hookipa ia mai la oia me ke aloha pumehana loa.” “ Thus it goes on.” he says. “No single word ends in a consonant, and a group of two or more consonants is never found. Can anyone be in doubt that even if such a language sound pleasantly, and be full of music and harmony, the total impression is childlike and effeminate? You do not expect much vigour or energy in a people speaking such a language. It seems adapted only to inhabitants of sunny regions . . . where life does not bear the stamp of a hard struggle against nature and against fellow creatures.” He contrasts these easy accents with English words ending in two or more consonants (that is in pronunciation, not in spelling) such as age. hence, wealth, tent, tempt, tempts, months, helped, feasts. These require and presuppose no little energy on the part of the speakers. If briefness, conciseness and terseness are characteristic of the style of men, he says, while women as a rule are not such economisers of speech, English is more masculine than most languages. This is a very interesting little passage from an eminent authority on English. Incidentally. it puts its finger on the weakness of the careless, slurring speech of Americans, and provides an incentive to preserve the purity of English pronunciation. if only as an evidence of racial virility. TOUCHSTONE.