OUR PRONUNCIATION.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17008, 22 January 1927, Page 6

OUR PRONUNCIATION.

PUREST IN THE EMPIRE. MOVING ON SOUND LINES. “Largely through our schools wc have evolved the purest speech in the’ British Empire,” said Mr J. W. Shaw, M.A., lecturer in English at the Auckland Training College, in an address on New Zealand pronunciation at the Cambridge Summer School yesterday. Every strong national type had evolved not only its own type, he said, but also its own pronunciation. There were various types of pronunciation in English, Australian, and American speech. The question arose, “Have we developed a definite New Zealand pronunciation?” “So far New Zealand pronunciation has developed remarkably on its own lines from an extraordinary number of dialects brought from England by colonists,” said Mr Shaw. “It is largely through our schools lhat wc have evolved the purest speecli in the British Empire.” American and Australian speech differed from that in the Old Country, because these countries wished to be different, continued the speaker, but New Zealanders desired to conform with the highest standards in England. The question of what was the highest standard then arose. One school, maintained that the select speech of the public school man and Oxford University student should be the standard, and another that it should he the speech of the average cultured man. Unfortunately, American dictionaries were being used in some circles in New’ Zealand. The best dictionary was one of the Oxford dictionaries.

In New Zealand there seemed to he no artificial abnormality in the physical voice producing mechanism that would lead to variation from the best English pronunciation. When various English forms of speech were presented for selection the principles which those picking the language should bear in mind were that any affectation, the form of a group or caste, should find no place in New Zealand, and any form that was easily liable to mutilation should be avoided. In addition, mere dictionary forms, apart from those already in ordinary use should he debarred.

“New Zealanders have no difficulty with their consonants and simple vowels,” said Mr Shaw. “The chief danger lies in the diphthongs and in the acceptance of drawl. The diphthongs chiefly to be guarded against are those in day, cow, pine, year, and voice. It is time that some standard was adopted for every one of these forms. Another fault is an inclination to elongate the final ‘y,’ as in, lovely, which is often pronounced iovelee.’ ” Two great dangers to guard against in the preservation of our pure pronunciation were, the lecturer stated, the gramophone with the American twang and lip movement in moving pictures, which were unconsciously imitated. “The greatest menace would be the growth of speaking-pictures," Mr Shaw added, “which will inflict upon us Hollywood pronunciation as well as Hollywood manners and Hollywood mentality. “Taking it all round,” he concluded, “New Zealand pronunciation is moving on sound lines, and a little direction through the schools would make our speech probably the purest English on earth.”