class="tdr">93

II. Lists of Words with Phonetic Transcription 97 A. General 98 B. Proper Names 111 III. On the Teaching of Reading 120 IV. Diagrams 121

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INTRODUCTION

1. That a book dealing with English pronunciation in quite a simple way should yet be intended for English readers rather than for foreigners may seem to require some explanation. "Have I not been talking English all my life?" the reader may ask; "why should I concern myself with the pronunciation of my mother tongue?" If he is quite satisfied with the way in which he speaks, and needs no help in teaching others to speak, then this little book is indeed superfluous—for him; but experience has shown that there are many who are groping about in darkness, anxious for light on the subject. It is above all the teacher who is constantly brought face to face with some difficulty on the part of a pupil. He realises that something is wrong in the pronunciation of a word, but he cannot clearly tell where the fault lies; he trusts that improvement will follow if he repeatedly utters the word correctly pronounced and gets the pupil to say it after him. To his distress the pupil still says the word in the old way, and at last the teacher gives up in despair. When a foreign language is attempted, the difficulties become even more apparent; but these we do not propose to consider here, except in so far as they throw light on our immediate subject, the pronunciation of English.

2. There are several ways of approaching the question. We may turn our attention mainly to the requirements of the public speaker—clergyman, actor, singer, lecturer, reciter, or politician; this is the province of the teachers of elocution. It must be confessed that these have rarely had a scientific training; in many cases they base their teaching on their own experience as reciters and on what their powers of observation have enabled them to learn from their pupils; and they frequently hand on traditions obtained from their own teachers, which may have nothing but old age to recommend them. It is to be feared that the majority of those professing to teach elocution are little better than quacks; and by no one is this more readily acknowledged than by the few who have made an earnest study of the art of public speaking and singing.

The physicist considers the production of sounds from another point of view; he measures the waves of sound with delicate instruments. The physiologist, again, studies the organs of speech in a state of health and sickness.

From all these the phonetician derives assistance. His concern is the spoken language generally. He seeks to ascertain how sounds are produced, and how they are represented in writing; he traces the changes which sounds undergo according to time and place; he attempts to determine the standard of speech for his own time and his own surroundings; he considers how the pronunciation is best imparted to the young and to foreigners.

When the reader has come to the end of this little book, he will see how complicated these problems are, and how much yet awaits solution; he may also have acquired some interest in these problems and desire to give his help. Such help is urgently needed; the number of serious students is distressingly small, and real progress can only be made if their number grows considerably.

3. Reference has been made to the question of standard speech; it is convenient to discuss this at once, as the standard selected naturally affects the way in which the subject of English pronunciation is treated.

It is generally agreed that there are two principal types of English speech: Southern English, of which Dr H. Sweet is the best known exponent; and Northern English, which Dr R. J. Lloyd has described in an excellent book. Southern English may be defined as the English spoken in London. The definition will at once strike the reader as requiring some modification—for what form of English is not spoken in London? and the dialect (or rather set of dialects) peculiar to London and known as "cockney" is certainly not to be set up as the standard.

The object of speech is to communicate what is in the mind of the speaker to others; the more adequately it attains this end, the better it is. If there is anything in the manner of speech which attracts attention to itself (for example, "talkin'" in place of "talking," or "'ot" for "hot"), then our attention is distracted from the subject discussed; we say that such faulty speech "jars" upon us. The same is true if the pronunciation is indistinct, or the voice pitched too high, or if the speaker stammers; we then suffer from the strain of listening, and again the object of speech, to communicate thought, is not attained with the least amount of effort. It follows naturally from what has been said that it is our duty towards our fellows to speak in such a way that nothing jars on their ear, nothing strains their attention. To retain certain peculiarities of speech which we know to differ from general usage is nothing short of rudeness. In a great man we may overlook it, in acknowledgment of the services he has rendered to mankind; but we who are in a humbler position must endeavour to render it as easy and pleasant as possible for others to follow what we say.

We are now able to give a better definition of standard speech as considered in this book: it is that form of spoken English which will appear to the majority of educated Londoners as entirely free from unusual features. This speech will be acceptable not only in London, but throughout the south of England; there is reason to believe that it is spreading and nowhere will it be unintelligible or even objectionable.

It must be confessed that on some points there is uncertainty,[1] and these will be discussed later. Language is always changing, and the younger generation does not speak exactly as the older generation does. The standard of to-day will no longer be the standard a hundred years hence. Nevertheless, it is well to inquire what may be regarded as the best speech of our own day, with a view to conforming to this speech and teaching its use to our pupils.

The question may here be raised whether we are to rest content with the standard speech as here defined, or should strive to improve