THE 
 
 PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH 
 BY FOREIGNERS 
 
 J. BURCH, M.A., D.Sc, OXON,, F.R.S. 
 
 3s, net 
 
The Pronunciation of English 
 by Foreigners. 
 
Ube 5tufc of JEndlisb in 
 
 Women Stufcents, 
 Horbam Dall. 
 
 Lectures in the English Language and Literature 
 by University Lecturers and Tutors. 
 
 An Examination three times a year at the end of 
 each term, conducted by the Association for 
 the Education of Women in Oxford. 
 
 A Library in Norham Hall for the use of Resident 
 Students. 
 
 Dates of commencement and all particulars may be 
 obtained from 
 
 Mrs. CONSTANCE E. BURCH, 
 
 Norham Hall, 
 
 Oxford. 
 
 A Vacation Course lasting four weeks is held 
 during the month of July. 
 
The 
 
 Pronunciation of English 
 by Foreigners. 
 
 A Course of Lectures to the Students of Norham Hall 
 on the Physiology of Speech. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE J. BURCH, M.A., D.Sc. Oxon., F.R.S. 
 
 ALDEN & CO. LTD., BOCARDO PRESS. 
 LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & Co. LTD. 
 
 1911 
 
Copyright 1911 by George J. Burch. 
 
TO MY DEAR WIFE, 
 
 The Principal of Norham Hall, 
 
 261457 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THESE lectures, under the title of "The Physiology of 
 Speech," have formed part of the Courses for the Study 
 of English in Oxford by Foreign Women Students in which 
 an examination is held at the end of each term. 
 
 I have often been asked by students to print them, and 
 now do so in the hope that thereby their usefulness may be 
 increased. 
 
 However well a language may be learnt, those whose 
 native tongue it is can almost always detect slight differ- 
 ences of pronunciation which constitute what is called a 
 " foreign accent." Frequently it is possible to tell what 
 country the speaker comes from by the characteristics of 
 this foreign accent. 
 
 My opportunities of collecting material relating to this 
 subject have been exceptionally good. After the lectures 
 the students were taken in classes of twelve, where each in 
 turn read from a book or went through the exercises 
 described in the lecture, and any peculiarities of pronun- 
 ciation were noted down from week to week, a separate 
 sheet of the class-register being devoted to each student. 
 
 These records, from 1900, when I began the system, 
 until now, have been carefully collated and classified by 
 towns, and the towns by districts, and districts by countries, 
 and the results incorporated in this book. 
 
 Omitting on the one hand those whose foreign accent 
 was negligible, and on the other hand those who through 
 travelling about or through living long in other lands could 
 not be considered to represent the characteristic pronun- 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 elation of any particular district, there remained the records 
 of 1305 people which have been utilized in writing this 
 book. Merely accidental mistakes have been omitted, 
 and so also have been the faults of beginners, for the 
 simple reason that as all the lectures and classes are given 
 in English, beginners do not come to these courses. The 
 differences of pronunciation are due mainly to the fact 
 which is of great scientific interest that each nation has 
 its own way of managing the muscles that control the 
 organs of speech, with the result that although the sounds 
 produced may seem the same, they are not identical, and 
 under certain circumstances the differences are manifest. 
 I have tried to explain these differences, and to point out 
 how they may be remedied. 
 
 I have not used the phonetic alphabet, because I hold 
 that the niceties of pronunciation of any language can only 
 be acquired by imitating people who pronounce it properly. 
 This book assumes that the reader will either come to 
 England or learn of some one who has been in England. 
 
 In dealing for instance with the vowels, the teacher will 
 pronounce, and hear the student pronounce, the list of 
 words given in connection with each vowel sound, until he 
 is satisfied that it has been correctly acquired. In those 
 lists will be found the type-words used in all the chief 
 English pronouncing dictionaries, so that having acquired a 
 knowledge of the sound, the student can get the correct 
 pronunciation of any word in the language from any one of 
 these dictionaries. 
 
 The small numbers above the vowels used in spelling 
 the mistakes of pronunciation relate to these lists of vowel- 
 sounds. They express simply the order in which those 
 sounds were treated in the lectures, and are intended to 
 enable the student to identify the sound which each mistake 
 has to an English ear. 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 The diagrams have been purposely kept simple so that 
 they may be copied on the blackboard. 
 
 Some of the quaint sentences given as illustrations will 
 remind old students of their own experiences. They will 
 recognize the traps set to catch them in one fault while 
 they were thinking of another. They will recall the 
 strenuous efforts in our cosmopolitan classes, of students 
 of one country to surmount the difficulties peculiar to their 
 own nation, and the satisfaction with which they pronounced 
 things easy to themselves but impossibly difficult to their 
 next neighbours from another land. And with the memories 
 aroused by the printed words will come the memories of 
 the ear and of the eye, recalling the very voices and faces 
 of those who sat around the table with us. And they will 
 seem to hear once more the tones of the English voice, as 
 I have heard again their voices in going through the old 
 
 class records. 
 
 G. J. B. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SPEECH : CONSONANTS - 
 
 II- 
 HI. 
 IV. 
 
 V. EXERCISES 
 
 VI. NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 
 VII. ON BREATHING 
 VIII. ACCENTS 
 
 EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE 
 
 FRICATIVES 
 VOWELS - 
 GLIDES - 
 
 - 12 
 
 - 32 
 46 
 
 53 
 59 
 
 - 81 
 
 - 9i 
 
 - 102 
 
 PRONUNCIATION SIGNS USED IN THIS BOOK facing p. i 
 
PRONUNCIATION SIGNS 
 USED IN THIS BOOK. 
 
 SH = sherry 
 CH = cherry 
 ZH = usual 
 J=jam 
 r = broom 
 
 R = tomoRRow 
 H = guttural r 
 Tff-tMn 
 
 TH = this 
 
 G = go 
 
 (") = glottal catch 
 
 sing-er = singer 
 
 fing-ger = finger 
 
 Fin-gal = Fingal 
 
 gin-jer = ginger 
 
 a 1 = father 
 
 a 2 = fall 
 
 a 3 = fat 
 
 a 4 = fate 
 
 a 5 = hare 
 
 e 1 = me 
 
 e 2 = men 
 
 i^sir 
 
 1 2 = pit 
 
 1 3 = mine 
 o 1 = not 
 
 00 = fool 
 u 1 == turn 
 u 2 = but 
 u 3 = bull 
 u 4 = tube 
 ou = out 
 
 01 = oil 
 
THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SPEECH : CONSONANTS. 
 
 ANATOMY describes the structure of the body : Physiology 
 seeks to explain the manner of its working : and as it is 
 impossible to understand the working of a machine without 
 knowing something of its mechanism, it is necessary to 
 begin the study of the Physiology of Speech with the 
 Anatomy of the Speech Organs. 
 
 These may be divided into (j ) Wind-supplying, (2) Sound- 
 producing, (3) Sound-modifying apparatus. 
 
 WIND-SUPPLYING APPARATUS. 
 
 Under the first head we note an important fact, viz. : 
 that the same organ as is so often the case in living 
 creatures serves two purposes : the lungs, which supply 
 breath without which the voice is silent, convey also to the 
 blood oxygen without which the fire of life goes out. 
 
 And because we need not always speak but must con- 
 tinually breathe, the voice is under the control of the will, 
 but the' breathing is regulated automatically. We can 
 increase, diminish, or interrupt it, but only for a time, 
 and in a very few seconds we become conscious of a 
 necessity for taking breath overmastering the strongest will. 
 
 The proper management of the breath is as important as 
 the correct pronunciation of the words, and will be dealt 
 with in a later lecture. 
 
 B 
 
2 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 Air is conveyed to and from the lungs by the wind-pipe. 
 Behind the wind-pipe lies the oesophagus or gullet through 
 which food passes to the stomach. Note the difference. 
 We must always breathe, but it is quite unnecessary to be 
 always eating. Accordingly the gullet is a soft collapsible 
 tube, the sides of which are usually pressed together, but 
 the wind-pipe is stiffened and jointed, so that it can be 
 bent, but will not squeeze flat. 
 
 Imagine a series of napkin-rings joined with a thin rubber 
 tube, and you have something not unlike the wind-pipe. 
 You can feel the joints of it by passing the finger tips up 
 and down the lower part of the throat. 
 
 SOUND-PRODUCING APPARATUS. 
 
 At the upper end of the wind-pipe you will feel a lump. 
 Try to swallow it moves up and down but returns to its old 
 place, as if it were something that had stuck in your throat. 
 That is why in every language of Europe it is known as 
 the Adam's Apple the larynx. 
 
 In the larynx are the organs of sound, the vocal cords 
 stimm bander which vibrate when the breath is forced 
 between them much in the same way as the lips vibrate in 
 blowing a trumpet. Place the middle- and fore-fingers 
 lightly against the larynx, one on each side of the pro- 
 jecting edge of it, and sing a continuous note of low pitch : 
 you will feel the vibration of the vocal cords very distinctly 
 when you have found the proper position for the fingers. 
 
 SOUND-MODIFYING APPARATUS. 
 
 There are two ways by which the breath can escape when 
 it has left the larynx by the mouth and by the nose. Both 
 are used in speech, and their relative position and size, with 
 the organs connected with them, are shown in Figs, i and 2, 
 which represent diagrammatically a section through the 
 
The Physiology of Speech* 3 
 
 middle of the head. In Fig. i the passage through the 
 nose is closed by the uvula. In Fig. 2 it is left open. 
 
 Fig. 3 shows what you may see for yourselves. 
 Stand with your back to the window and by means of a 
 hand-glass, reflect sunlight into your open mouth. You 
 will note the following organs of speech : the lips, upper 
 and lower; the teeth, principally the upper, for it makes 
 very little difference to our pronunciation if a lower tooth 
 comes out ; and the tongue. Most of you will see little 
 else than the tongue, or if you draw breath, the uvula, 
 like a little tongue hanging tip downwards at the upper part 
 of the back of the throat. 
 
 The passage to the nose lies behind the uvula. Probably 
 most people have had the very unpleasant experience of an 
 involuntary laugh while in the act of drinking, with the 
 result that the liquid instead of being swallowed " went 
 the wrong way " got up into the nose, and made you 
 cough. That was because the uvula failed for a moment 
 in its duty of closing the passage to the nose while you 
 swallow. The equally unpleasant affection called a hiccough 
 is due to the uvula closing the passage when it is not wanted 
 to do so. (Hiccough, by the way, is an excellent illustration 
 of a word spelt in one way and pronounced in another.) 
 
 The Soft Palate. 
 
 Round about the uvula the tissues are soft, they can be 
 drawn apart showing the back of the throat or brought 
 forward against the tongue like a pair of curtains. The 
 upper part, the roof of the mouth at the back, is seen to 
 be flexible. 
 
 That is the soft palate. 
 
 But you must learn to see more than this. When the 
 doctor looks at your throat he presses down the tongue 
 with the handle of a spoon. I want you to put the back of 
 your tongue down without a spoon. You do it many times 
 
The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 FIG. i. THE ORGANS OF SPEKCH. 
 
 A, the hard palate. B, the soft palate ending in 
 the uvula. C, the epiglottis. D, the gullet. E, the 
 wind-pipe. F, the larynx, or "Adam's apple." 
 G, the vocal cords. 
 
 The uvula is pressed against the back of the throat, 
 as in pronouncing B, D, etc., and most of the vowels, 
 so that the breath cannot escape through the nose. 
 
The Physiology of Speech; 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
 The same as Fig. I, but the uvula is drawn away 
 from the back of the throat, leaving the breath free 
 to escape through the nose, as in pronouncing M, 
 N, NG, and five of the vowels. 
 
6 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 a day with your mouth shut, but you do not know how it is 
 done your will has not learnt how to give that order 
 separately. 
 
 And that is only a single instance out of many connected 
 with pronunciation. 
 
 The great difficulty in the way of your making the 
 English sounds as the English make them lies in the 
 fact that you make the sounds of your own language 
 without knowing how you produce them, and that you 
 
 Fir, 3. 
 
 Open mouth, showing the soft palate and uvula. 
 The tongue hides the lower part of the throat. 
 
 have not learnt to put your tongue and the other organs of 
 articulation in a given position by the power of your will. 
 
 You shall learn this first simple exercise of depressing 
 the back of the tongue but you will perhaps prefer to 
 make the attempt in solitude. Open your mouth, look in 
 the glass as before, but leaning your head a little forward, 
 and pretend for one moment that you are going to be sick. 
 The back of your tongue will go down at once just for 
 that moment to a surprising extent. Do not pretend" too 
 
The Physiology of Speech. 7 
 
 often nor too long ! Try again next day, and if you per- 
 severe you will soon be able to depress the back of your 
 tongue without associating any unpleasant ideas with the 
 action, so long as you are looking at it in the glass. And 
 after still further practice you will be able to do so without 
 even looking at it. 
 
 When you have done this, you will have learnt how to 
 open your mouth properly for speaking or singing in a large 
 room. One great reason why inexperienced teachers become 
 
 FIG. 4. 
 
 Open mouth, with the back of the tongue depressed, 
 showing the epiglottis. 
 
 hoarse and lose their voices after teaching a little while is 
 that they do not use the full volume of the mouth cavity 
 in speaking, but keep the back of the tongue high up and 
 employ only the front of the mouth. If you can show 
 your throat down to the epiglottis you will be able to teach 
 or lecture as long as you can make any sound with your 
 vocal cords, and you will not get hoarse. 
 Fig. 4 shows what you will be able to see. 
 
8 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 The Epiglottis. 
 
 Far down in the throat, at the base of the tongue, is 
 what looks like the tip of another tongue, pointing upwards. 
 That is the epiglottis. It serves to protect the larynx from 
 the trickling in of liquids, which would cause most violent 
 coughing. It is of little, if any, use in articulate speech, at 
 any rate of Europeans. Its main interest lies in the fact 
 that if you can show it, in your own throat, you have 
 mastered the great problem of how to hold the mouth in 
 speaking. 
 
 CONSONANTS. 
 
 In making the following sounds, the passage to the nose 
 is closed by the uvula and soft palate, as in Fig. i. 
 
 B AND P. 
 
 The simplest of the articulate sounds is that of the 
 letter B. 
 
 Sound the vocal cords, preferably with the vowel e, and 
 while doing so, close the lips so as to stop the passage of 
 the breath, and then open them again. The sound 
 produced is eb-be. 
 
 By making it very slowly and with some force, with the 
 fingers touching the larynx, it is easy to recognize that the 
 vocal cords continue to vibrate after the lips are closed till 
 the pressure of air in the mouth equals the pressure in the 
 lungs. Also that when the lips open again there is a slight 
 but unmistakable explosive sound made by them in 
 addition to the sound of the vocal cords. 
 
 This same action of the lips produces, when the vocal 
 cords do not vibrate, the sound of the letter P. 
 
 To prove this, take the two words 'bob' and 'pop,' and 
 whisper them over and over again in any order. A person 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Consonants. 9 
 
 at a little distance will be unable to distinguish one from 
 the other. 
 
 The next experiment needs a little practice, but is worth 
 practising. 
 
 Place the two fingers lightly against the larynx as already 
 described, and say slowly first ' bobobob ' and then 
 * popopop.' 
 
 The vibration will persist throughout for ' bobobob,' but 
 will cease for the fraction of a second at every p in 
 1 popopop.' 
 
 Now consider for how short a time it ceases. Perhaps 
 the tenth part of a syllable, and we speak five syllables a 
 
 iA/ LwwvJ U/l/wJ UA, 
 - . P....O P-- -o-- -?- - - 
 
 /win AM/] A/W] 
 
 'ww VA/WVV l/wwu U/b 
 . . - <8 - . . . . -jP- - . 3 
 
 FIG. 5. 
 
 Diagram showing how the vibrations cease during 
 the pronunciation of the letter P. 
 
 second. Say that for the fiftieth of a second the sound 
 must cease to make the difference between B and P. What 
 wonder that so many people from various foreign parts 
 sound the one in place of the other! And yet the fault is 
 easily corrected when once it has been pointed out. 
 
 Apart from this the action that produces the sound of B 
 is so simple that it is the same in most European 
 languages. In modern Greek the lips are not closed, and 
 the sound resembles that of V. 
 
 During the last twenty years or so there has arisen a 
 fashion, mainly among girls' schools of the ' Papa, potatoes, 
 poultry, prunes, and prism' order, of pronouncing B and P 
 by pressing the lower lip against the upper teeth. This is 
 to be avoided as a foolish and probably temporary 'fad.' 
 
io The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 D AND T. 
 
 The tongue is fitted to the line of the upper teeth both 
 in front and at the sides, so as completely to stop the 
 passage of the breath. If any teeth are absent, at that 
 place the tongue is raised so as to stop the gap. As with 
 the letter ,B the vocal cords can be felt vibrating until the 
 pressure of air in the mouth reaches a maximum. The tip 
 of the tongue, which up to that moment has been pressed 
 with some force against the front teeth, or the gums, is 
 then suddenly drawn back, and the air escapes with the 
 characteristic sound. 
 
 If the vocal cords do not vibrate, the same action 
 produces the letter T. 
 
 There is greater variety possible in the pronunciation of 
 D and T, because the tip of the tongue can be applied 
 near the edge of the teeth, or near the gums, and it can be 
 made sharp-edged or rounded. The D of Ireland and the 
 D of Spain differ very noticeably from the normal 
 European D. 
 
 G, K, AND QU. 
 
 If the passage of the breath is stopped by the tongue 
 without using the tip or edge of it, we get the sound of the 
 hard G, or if the vocal cords are silent, of K. 
 
 And in this case, considerable variety is possible. Either 
 the middle of the tongue may be pressed against the roof 
 of the mouth, the hard palate, or the back of the tongue 
 and the soft palate may be brought into contact. By the 
 first method we produce the sound of G in go or egg, or of 
 K in cock or key. By the second method we make the 
 sound of Qu. 
 
 The mispronunciation of Q is one of the commonest 
 errors of a foreign accent. 
 
 An excellent test sentence is the following : 
 " A quite quiet queen." 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Consonants. n 
 
 A great many foreigners both from Teutonic and from 
 Scandinavian countries substitute K for Qu in all these 
 words that is to say they press the middle of the tongue 
 against the hard palate ; and, more than that, a certain 
 percentage, especially among those who use the modified 
 vowels, use the front pf the tongue just short of the tip, 
 and press it against the front of the hard palate. 
 
 Thus the word queen becomes ko-een or k'6-een. An 
 Englishman speaking these words forcibly as before a large 
 audience sounds the \V after the Q. The foreigner leaves 
 this out, besides substituting K for Q. And in the case of 
 those who use the front of the tongue instead of the 
 middle, the K itself is thin and has, to use an idiomatic 
 expression, a ' mincing ' sound. 
 
 Yet another point is illustrated by this sentence. The 
 word quite has one syllable and quiet has two, but a great 
 many foreigners fail to notice this and pronounce both 
 words alike. And though they may be quite aware of 
 the difference, yet when the attention is concentrated 
 on the pronunciation of the Q they forget the two 
 syllables of qui-et and pronounce it in one. 
 
 Now we have not truly learnt a thing until we can do it 
 without thinking, and therefore can do it while thinking of 
 something else. For this reason almost every test sentence 
 throughout this book contains a trap for the unwary, that 
 is to say a difficulty unconnected with the point under 
 discussion, but relating to something previously dealt with. 
 These traps are left purposely concealed, but any one who 
 studies the book can find them, and old students will have 
 lively recollections of escaping or being caught by them in 
 class. 
 
 N.B. The soft G, as in generous and engine, is classed 
 among the Fricatives, and dealt with in the next lecture. 
 It is here represented by the letter J. 
 
12 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SPEECH : FRICATIVES. 
 
 WE now pass to the discussion of the fricatives^ or sounds 
 produced by the passage of the breath through a constricted 
 aperture. 
 
 S. 
 
 Fie;. 6. 
 Position of tongue during S and Z. 
 
 Of these the simplest is S (see Fig. 6). Briefly it may 
 be described as the sound of a number of very shrill 
 whistles giving different notes blown together. 
 
 The exact way in which the tongue- is held to produce it 
 depends very much on the teeth in fact the loss of a 
 front tooth produces a lisp until the loser has learned to 
 accommodate the tongue-action to the new state of things 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives. 13 
 
 but the normal position is as follows. The edge of the tip 
 of the tongue is placed close behind the front teeth, the 
 tongue itself being held slightly hollow like a trough, so 
 that there is a narrow passage for the breath over the edge 
 of the tongue in the middle, and down between it and the 
 front teeth. 
 
 Now the quality of the S depends on the position of the 
 tongue. If it is too near the edge of the teeth, the S will 
 be thin and hard, and though quite distinct when you are 
 close to the speaker, will be perfectly inaudible at a little 
 distance. People from some parts of France sound the S 
 
 FIG. 7. 
 Position of tongue during SH and ZH or CH and J. 
 
 in this manner, and one occasionally meets with it in 
 Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The fault is 
 best cured by letting the pupil read standing at the other 
 end of the room, and listening for the initial and terminal S. 
 Thus smile will be heard as mile, and books as book. 
 Should the opportunity offer of getting close to a great 
 public speaker while he is addressing an audience of say 
 
i4 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 5,000 or more, he will be found to hiss the S much more 
 strongly than he would in conversation or in a small room. 
 The Jew of the time of Dickens went to the other 
 extreme and thickened the S till it became SH. I do not 
 think this is so common as it used to be. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Hum and hiss at the same time, and you have the sound 
 of Z. Now quite a number of people, if told to hum while 
 they hiss, cannot do it until you explain that it makes the 
 sound of Z. This is another illustration of what has been 
 already pointed out, viz. that many people have never 
 learnt to control the movements of the voice organs by the 
 will. It is an excellent thing to practise doing so. 
 
 SH (see Fig. 7). 
 
 If the edge of the tip of the tongue is placed farther up 
 against the gums instead of the teeth the sound thickens 
 until instead of S we have SH. 
 
 And this, if we hum, becomes what ought logically to be 
 ZH but is in fact the soft French J. It does not occur at 
 the beginning of any English word, the English J and also 
 the soft G commencing with an explosive sound as if it 
 were DZH. The letter S in 'usual' has the sound of ZH. 
 CH has a sound like TSH. 
 
 R (see Fig. 8). 
 
 There are three kinds of R in the English language the 
 whispered burr, which we shall denote by r, the voiced 
 burr, represented by r, and the trilled R. To make the 
 whispered burr r, first sound the letter S, then move the 
 tongue upwards and back on to the gums until the sound 
 becomes SH. Continue the movement until the edge of 
 the tongue is as far back as you can get it, and blow. This 
 will give the sound of r. 
 
The Physiology of Speech': Fricatives. 
 
 Take the following words : 
 
 S, Z 
 
 Sue* 
 
 Zoo b 
 
 Sh, Zh 
 
 Shoe 
 
 Usual 
 
 r r 
 
 true 
 
 drive 
 
 
 promise 
 
 broom 
 
 
 crow 
 
 grow 
 
 It will be observed that after a whispered consonant the 
 r is whispered, but after a voiced consonant it is voiced. 
 
 FIG. 8. 
 Position of tongue during r. 
 
 The relation of the burr (r) to the letters SH and S has 
 been already pointed out. It has really nothing to do with 
 the trill (R) and it is unfortunate that letters physiologically 
 so different should go by the same name, their only con- 
 nection being that linguistically they are interchangeable. 
 As a rule it is easier to teach the burr (r) than the trill (R). 
 
 THE BURR (r) AND (r). 
 
 One method which has often proved successful is to 
 limagine that a crumb has stuck to the roof of the mouth 
 
 Short for Susan. 
 
 b The Londoner's name for the Zoological Gardens. 
 
1 6 The Pronunciation of English, 
 
 and to try to lick it off with the tip of the tongue. While 
 doing so blow and hum. This will produce the sound of 
 r, if you have imagined the crumb to be just as far back 
 as the tip of the tongue can reach. 
 
 The three positions of the tongue are used in saying the 
 words 
 
 "This shrill sound" 
 
 an excellent exercise for teaching the formation of the 
 English r. The tongue sweeps up and backwards with 
 a continuous motion in passing from S to SH, and to r. 
 
 The reason so many foreigners have difficulties with the 
 English r and r is that they employ in their own language a 
 sound which not one Englishman in twenty can produce 
 the guttural H which for convenience we will denote by 
 the Gothic letter. To make this, the tongue is kept back 
 almost in the position for Q, the soft palate and uvula 
 vibrating against the tongue. In reality, the English trilled 
 R and the German guttural H are two entirely different 
 letters, only distantly resembling one another in sound. 
 It is well to realize that the error is as great when the 
 guttural H is used in English as that of Bret Harte's 
 Chinaman who says "all litee " when he means "all 
 right." 
 
 THE TRILL (R). 
 
 The English trilled R is made by a vibration of the 
 front part of the tongue against the gums and front teeth. 
 The following plan is often successful with those who find 
 it difficult. Acquire first a moderate facility with the burr. 
 Whisper several times the word ' tree,' to get the tongue 
 into the r position. Then say, louder and louder, ah-rr, 
 ah-rrr, ah-B-R-R-R, making the B very forcibly. 
 
 The sudden explosion of the breath for the letter B will 
 jerk the tongue forward against the teeth, and the proba- 
 bility is it will rebound once or twice. If it does, it is 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives. 17 
 
 merely a matter of a few days' practice to learn the trill. 
 But it is not completely learnt until you can take a deep 
 breath and trill the R continuously till it is exhausted, and 
 until you can do this not only with the vocal cords vibrating 
 but with them silent, or alternately sounding and silent, 
 four or five times in succession with a single breath. 
 
 If while practising the R the learner reverts accidentally 
 to the H, it is better to do something else for a while, 
 otherwise a kind of nervousness comes on which renders 
 further practice useless. This is very generally the case 
 with those muscular movements not completely controlled 
 by the will. 
 
 The burr should always be learnt first many English 
 people scarcely ever use the trill. 
 
 But it is not enough to be able to sound the r in one or 
 two words. A great deal depends on the consonant which 
 precedes and the vowel which follows it. 
 
 ' Tree ' is generally found to be the easiest word, 
 especially if whispered softly. The reason is that both 
 for the T and for the ee sound, the tongue is kept well 
 forward, so that it would entail more effort to put it into 
 the position for 23. 
 
 1 Grow ' is much more difficult, because the tongue is 
 already in the guttural position ; but the most troublesome 
 consonant is P probably because for this letter the front 
 part of the tongue is kept low. 
 
 Many foreigners are quite unable to say ' promise,' which 
 becomes with them ' p'omise.' 
 
 The difficulty is best approached by easy stages, thus : 
 Tree, previous, practice, prawn, pronoun, proof, promise. 
 The first three vowels make the r much easier to acquire. 
 
 A mistake, which is to be deprecated as an error in 
 teaching^ consists in the substitution of D for R in such 
 words as ' to-morrow,' which is pronounced * to-moddow.' 
 
 c 
 
1 8 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 If the trilled R cannot be acquired it is quite sufficient 
 to us3 the burr, about which there should be no difficulty. 
 
 Personally, I would rather hear the guttural H than 
 substitute a D for the English R. 
 
 N.B. The English Police Station test for drunkenness 
 is to make a man say " Truly rural truly rural." It is 
 more difficult than it looks. *' Round the rugged rocks 
 the ragged rascal ran " is another well-known sentence. 
 
 F AND V. 
 
 In order to speak a language without a foreign accent; it 
 is not enough to pronounce the component letters and 
 syllables so as to sound as when spoken by natives : they 
 must be produced in the same way. Otherwise differences 
 are sure to occur when these sounds follow one another in 
 rapid speech. 
 
 There is no more striking illustration of this than the 
 Scandinavian F and V. 
 
 The F is made by resting the upper teeth against the 
 inner edge of the lower lip and blowing. 
 
 V is made in the same way, but the vocal cords 
 vibrate, whereas in F they are silent. 
 
 But while the Englishman raises his upper lip well above 
 the middle of the teeth, the Scandinavian lets his drop till 
 it almost touches the lower lip. [See Fig. 9 and Fig. 10.] 
 This makes no difference to the sound taken by itself. 
 But suppose a sentence such as "Are you fond of music ? " 
 The lips must close for the M, and the Scandinavian has 
 them already so nearly closed that there is nothing left for 
 him to do. He fuses the two sounds into one, and says 
 *' Are you fond o' music ? " 
 
 The same thing occurs before B or P, and before a vowel 
 the V-sound frequently becomes W. Thus " Dove of 
 Peace" is pronounced "Duw' wo' Peace." 
 
The Physiology of Speech; Fricatives* 19 
 
 V is omitted by Scandinavians before TH, L, and T, 
 and becomes W in the middle of a word, or before N. 
 
 It seems to be only the voiced V that is so omitted, the 
 whispered sound of the letter F being invariably pronounced 
 correctly. The reason of this omission is simply that the 
 Scandinavian making the sound with his lips nearly closed 
 has no definite lip-action to go through in passing to the 
 next consonant. Watch an Englishman speaking a sentence 
 
 FIG. 9. 
 The lips duiing V, English. 
 
 FIG. 10. 
 The lips during V, Scandinavian. 
 
 containing several Fs and Vs, you will see the white of his 
 upper teeth for each of them. 
 
 It is quite true that in familiar speech we do frequently 
 drop the V-sound in such cases 5 and it seems to have been 
 more common in the i8th century than now. But whereas 
 the Englishman pronounces it with ease whenever he 
 chooses, the Scandinavian has the greatest possible diffi- 
 culty in putting it in. 
 
20 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 W. 
 
 The English W is a stumbling-block to the foreigner, 
 but rather to the French and German than to the northern 
 races. 
 
 The French mistake is usually that they make a vowel of 
 it and pronounce it simply 'oo. It is far more closely 
 allied with B. In pronouncing W the mouth is so nearly 
 closed as to cause a considerable increase of air pressure, 
 not so great as for B, but easily felt with the fingers lightly 
 touching the cheeks, and it is this that gives the quasi- 
 
 FIG. ii. 
 Test for the proper pronunciation of the English W. 
 
 consonant sound of the English W. But to produce it, it 
 is necessary to use a great deal more breath than the 
 French employ in speaking English. 
 
 The German mistake is of a different but interesting 
 character. 
 
 Rest the point of a thin pencil, such as is used with a 
 dance programme, against the middle of the front teeth, 
 keeping it there by the gentle pressure of the tip of the 
 forefinger on the other end of the pencil. [See Fig. n.] 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives. 21 
 
 An Englishman will without the least difficulty say, "The 
 wool with which we will work," without disturbing the 
 pencil. 
 
 If a German tries to do so, the pencil will be knocked 
 away at once. 
 
 The Englishman keeps his upper lip slill and a little 
 drawn up, and brings the lower lip up to it; but the 
 German keeps his lower lip still, and moves the upper lip 
 down to it. 
 
 To acquire the English action you may rest the fore- 
 finger against the cheek-bones and the two thumbs under 
 the chin, with the middle and third fingers flexed, and push 
 up the upper lip with the tips of the little fingers held 
 about two cms apart. Then say " The wool with which 
 we will work," watching the while to see in a looking-glass 
 that the lower lip touches the upper lip each time. 
 
 N.B. The fingers must not be in the corners of the 
 mouth, but rather near the middle of the lip, to prevent it 
 from moving down, thus obliging the lower lip to move up. 
 By those who do not pronounce the W strongly enough, it 
 should be practised in conjunction with B thus : 
 Bill Will Bell Well 
 
 Ball Wall Bull Wool 
 
 This should be done opposite a looking-glass, saying the 
 words slowly, with strong articulation, and trying to get the 
 lips for the W as nearly as possible into the same position 
 as for B, yet without sounding B, i.e. without absolutely 
 stopping the passage of the breath. 
 
 WH. 
 
 This is often represented as being Hw. It has, however, 
 nothing to do with H, but is simply W with a larger 
 expenditure of breath. 
 
 Hold a sheet of note-paper loosely by its lower edge, 
 
22 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 and let the upper part of it rest upon the lips, throwing the 
 head back somewhat, that it may do so. Then say " Which 
 witch ? " trying to blow away the paper in the act of 
 pronouncing the WH. This will of course greatly exaggerate 
 the pronunciation, but when you can do it you will have 
 no farther difficulty with the correct sound. 
 
 WH is pronounced more strongly in the northern parts of 
 Britain than in the south, and in some parts of Scotland 
 has almost the sound of F. 
 
 Novelists generally spell ' why ' and ' what ' ' wy ' and 
 1 wot ' to represent the speech of the uneducated, the 
 Cockney dialect making no difference between W and WH. 
 
 TH. 
 
 The English TH offers difficulties to all except the 
 Greeks, and though these difficulties may have been over- 
 come they are not always overcome in the right way. 
 
 I remember a French student, who made the sound per- 
 fectly, but always with a slight pause or hesitation. On 
 enquiry I found she had been taught and I believe the 
 statement is to be found in books that the English TH is 
 made by putting out the tongue and drawing it in against 
 the upper teeth, blowing the while. I am quite convinced 
 that this action will produce the sound, and equally certain 
 that I never make it that way there is not time. Take a 
 sentence of three words " This thick thistle/' 7 The first TH 
 can be done so, but the second coming after S and the 
 third after K, for which the tongue is against the roof of the 
 mouth, would require a mobility possessed only by the 
 tongue of a serpent. 
 
 Why then is the device successful at all? Simply 
 because it ensures your doing ignorantly what you ought to 
 do of set purpose. 
 
 For the normal TH the tongue is flattened horizontally 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives. 23 
 
 and applied to all the teeth except the middle incisors, but 
 leaves a small passage here just at the level of the edge of 
 the teeth. For S it is drawn more back towards the middle 
 of the teeth, and the tongue is not so flat. Hence, as 
 putting the tongue out makes it flat, and while being drawn 
 in it passes through the position for TH, the action taught in 
 these French books will help you to make the sound, 
 though it will not enable you to use it properly. 
 
 In the lives of some of us there come times when the 
 dentist is alternately a terror and a benefactor. Let it be 
 some consolation that the ravages he both increases and 
 repairs enable us to speak authoritatively on some questions 
 of phonetics. Any one in the happy position of being able 
 to remove at will one or two front teeth, may do so, and 
 observe the action of the tongue in sounding TH, SS, TH, 
 SS repeatedly. The tongue applies itself to the remaining 
 teeth on one side and gums on the other, and selecting the 
 most convenient depression in the gap leaves an aperture 
 by it about three mms wide and one mm deep through 
 which the breath is blown. For TH the floor of this aper- 
 ture, constituted by the tongue, is horizontal. For SS the 
 edge of the tongue is turned down so as to make a square 
 end to it, and the passage through which the breath comes 
 hissing points vertically downwards along the back of the 
 teeth. 
 
 Broadly speaking, TH is made with the edge of the teeth 
 and the upper surface of the tongue, close to the edge of it. 
 SS is made with the end of the tongue against the back 
 of the teeth. 
 
 But the exact action depends on the shape of the mouth 
 and the condition of the teeth. 
 
 TH has two sounds TH as in 'thin,' which is whis>- 
 pered, like the Modern Greek 0, and DH as in ' this,' 
 when the vocal cords vibrate, as in the Modern Greek A. 
 
24 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 One of the faults of foreigners consists in substituting the 
 one for the other. Sometimes this is the result of ignor- 
 ance, and is to be cured by a free use of the pronouncing 
 dictionary. In other cases it belongs to the dialect of the 
 place they come from, like the substitution of B for P. 
 In these cases pronunciation-drill is the only remedy. 
 
 Other mistakes are the substitution of D for TH, frequent 
 in Sweden, Norway, and sometimes Austria, and Finland 
 and France ; and the substitution of S or Z for TH, common 
 in Germany, Denmark, Austria, Russia, and France. 
 
 The following words should be practised, pronouncing 
 them slowly and forcibly, so that each letter may be audible 
 from the other end of the room : 
 
 Diphthong Healthseeker Aesthetic 
 Athletic Hearthstone Hearthrug 
 
 The letter L comprises two motions : 
 
 (i.) The front of the tongue is pressed firmly against the 
 root or thereabouts of the upper incisors and canines and 
 premolars (i.e. all except the back teeth or grinders). 
 
 The middle of the tongue is narrowed so as to leave a 
 clear passage on either side by the upper molars. 
 
 (2.) The front of the tongue is suddenly drawn 'away 
 from the teeth with a quick explosive effect. 
 
 This occurs only when 1 is followed by a vowel or closes 
 a syllable ; e.g. Look, Bella, Well. 
 
 When L is followed by N, S, Th, M, F, B, D, etc., only 
 the first action is performed. 
 
 e.g. Kiln, vulnerable, Elsie, health, elm, shelf, 
 Elba, elder. 
 
 Health is a good word to practise with. Stand in a 
 good light close to a looking-glass, and, holding the lips 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives. 25 
 
 apart with the fingers, say the word very slowly, dwelling 
 on the L and on the TH. At the moment of transition you 
 will see the sides of the tongue go up and flatten them- 
 selves out so as to touch the molars, while the tip changes 
 its shape so as to leave a small passage by the incisors 
 while still pressing firmly against the teeth on each side. 
 
 Some writers on phonetics maintain that only one side 
 of the tongue is drawn down in pronouncing L. After 
 examining a great many I have come to the conclusion that 
 most people place the tongue symmetrically ; but undoubt- 
 edly a certain number use one side only, just as some 
 people raise one eyebrow, or wink with one eye. It is not 
 so many years since it was the fashion in certain circles to 
 smile with one side of the mouth. People cultivated the 
 habit and practised doing it. Then a well-known surgeon 
 had occasion, in a popular lecture on the functions of the 
 brain, to explain how injury to one side of the brain causes 
 paralysis of the corresponding muscles on the other side of 
 the body. Whereupon the sweet, sad, one-sided smile 
 went out of fashion speedily. 
 
 LL=(1I). 
 
 This special sound belongs not to English but to Welsh. 
 For in those words spelt with double L in English the sound 
 is merely that of the ordinary letter. 
 
 There are, however, so many names of places and of 
 people in which the Welsh LI occurs that it is desirable to 
 master the sound. For the sake of distinction it will be 
 represented by (11). 
 
 The relation of L to (11) is precisely that of W to WH. 
 
 Place your tongue in position for the first part of L and 
 blow. The rushing sound, something like and yet unlike 
 TH or even S, is the Welsh (11). 
 
 e.g. Llandudno, Llanfairfechan, Llangollen, Llewelyn. 
 
26 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 The single L is pronounced the same in Welsh as in 
 English. G is always hard in Welsh ; DD is pronounced 
 as TH, CH as in German, and W is 66 and U is almost 
 the same as ii in German. 
 
 One great advantage possessed by the Welsh language is 
 that the words are always pronounced as spelt according to 
 these rules. Nearing Dolgelly one day in the train, I heard 
 a young Londoner explaining to his sisters and his cousins 
 and his aunts, the mysteries of the Welsh language. " You 
 would never guess," he said, "that they call this place 
 Doth-jely." It would have been difficult for him to make 
 moremistakesinoneword. Itshould have been Do 1 l-ge 2 (ll)i' 2 
 with a hard G. Perhaps the most difficult place name is 
 Pwllheli. The railway companies used to instruct their 
 passengers to call it Pool-thely. Of late they have even 
 printed the name Porthely. The accent is on the second 
 syllable Pu 3 (ll)-he 2 li' 2 , the H being pronounced. 
 
 SOUNDS MADE WITH THE UVULA FREE, AS IN FlG. 2. 
 
 M. 
 
 " Keeping the passage from mouth to nose open, go 
 through the movements for pronouncing B." 
 
 There are many people who cannot do this, because they 
 have never learnt to recognize the sensation of opening and 
 closing the passage. Yet if we say " Pronounce M " they 
 do it at once. 
 
 With some people it is enough to say " Breathe through 
 the nose while pronouncing B." 
 
 For all who wish to teach the pronunciation of languages 
 it is necessary to learn the voluntary use of all the muscles 
 concerned. The teacher must be able to recognize the 
 signs and causes of faulty pronunciation, and also to 
 demonstrate the methods of correcting them, just as the 
 doctor must study diagnosis and therapeutics. 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives. 27 
 
 The difference then between B and M is that the passage 
 behind the uvula is closed in the first case and open in the 
 second. [Compare Fig. i with Fig. 2.] We may ask what 
 letter there is bearing a corresponding relation to P ?' 
 There is none. Owing to the free passage of the breath 
 through the nose there is so little change of pressure when 
 the lips open that unless the vocal cords are sounding there 
 is no audible articulation ; although, of course, you can. 
 recognize the M in a whispered word. 
 
 N. 
 
 The learner should now proceed to perform the tongue 
 movements for D, keeping the uvula open. Having got 
 the clue, he will probably recognize that this produces the 
 sound of N, and will realize that in this case also the 
 whispered letter corresponding to T has no distinct use. 
 
 NQ. 
 
 The hard sound of G pronounced with the uvula open 
 becomes NG. 
 
 This sound occurs in the middle and at the end of 
 words, but not at the beginning of them, save in the non- 
 Aryan languages with which this book is not concerned. 
 
 There is no real difficulty in pronouncing it as an initial 
 letter, and it may be a useful exercise for those who are 
 trying to acquire complete control over the muscles of the 
 voice organs. Perhaps the best example is the name of 
 the well-known African animal, the Gnu, whereof the poet 
 has said : 
 
 This creature has a name so fierce and strong, 
 That even hardy Boers pronounce it wrong. 
 
 In English NG has three different pronunciations, exem- 
 plified in the words ringer, finger, ginger. In ringer we 
 have the simple sound of NG. In finger, after the NG 
 has sounded the uvula is drawn up for a moment, closing 
 
28 The Pronunciation of English, 
 
 the passage and making the sound of G thus, fing-ger. In 
 ginger the N and the G are separate letters thus : gin-jer. 
 (N.B. In words of this type the G is soft before E or I 
 and hard before other vowels, e.g. Fingal = Fi 2 n-ga 2 l). No 
 definite rules can be given. Terminal NG has the simple 
 sound and retains it when syllables are added, e.g., sing, 
 singer. Also when N and G are separate letters they remain 
 separate in derivatives,^.: hinge = hinje, hinges = hin-jes, 
 hingeing = hin-jing. 
 
 NK is always NG-K e.g.-. think, rink = thing-k, ring-k. 
 * Anything' is pronounced 'anythingk' by the uneducated. 
 
 But to sound the hard G after the NG at the end of a word 
 in English is the peculiarity of the Austrian and the Hun- 
 garian, who can be recognized by it. 
 
 On the other hand it is just as bad a mistake to leave it 
 out where it ought to be sounded, and to say Eng-land 
 instead of Eng-gland. Only "perseverance and the 
 pronouncing dictionary " will cure such errors. 
 
 N.B. In English GN is either pronounced simply as N, 
 e.g. sign, benign, feign ; or else the two letters belong to 
 different syllables, as in ignorance = ig | norance. The 
 pronunciation ing-yorance is quite wrong. GN is never 
 pronounced NG-Y in any purely English word. Signer = 
 se 1 n-yo 2 r is the nearest approach to this, but here the first 
 syllable has no sound of NG but is simply N. 
 
 Some interesting points arise in connection with this 
 series of sounds. 
 
 i. As regards the difficulty of pronouncing ' Gnu.' In 
 sounding the hard G the uvula is drawn up and the passage 
 behind it to the nose is closed, for we can pinch the nose 
 without altering the sound, and at the same time the back 
 of the tongue is pressed against the soft palate so that the 
 passage of breath through the mouth is also closed. 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives* 29 
 
 In sounding NG, the passage behind the uvula is not 
 closed, for we can breathe through the nose, but the back 
 of the tongue is pressed against the soft palate, so that we 
 do not breathe through the mouth. This is shown by 
 pinching the nose, which converts NG to G. 
 
 A beginner, trying to pronounce ' Gnu,' presses the 
 back of the tongue so firmly against the soft palate as to 
 close the passage to the nose also. 
 
 The remedy is, while practising, to put in a previous 
 
 syllable thus 
 
 ongoo. 
 
 Then gradually separate it and finally omit it 
 ong-oo, ongoo, o-gnoo, gnoo. 
 
 And when you have succeeded you can boast of being 
 able to do what scarcely one Englishman in a hundred can 
 manage ! 
 
 The received 'dictionary' pronunciation of the word 
 is ' noo.' 
 
 L. 
 
 2. The mode of forming the L may be studied by 
 means of N. 
 
 \Vith N the tongue is spread out so as to come against 
 all the upper teeth. Since the breath passes freely through 
 the nose the sound can be continued for some seconds, 
 and we can watch what happens with a hand-glass, holding 
 the lips apart on the left side with the middle and third 
 fingers of the left hand. Sound the word ' tunnel ' very 
 slowly, passing from N to L without sounding the vowel, but 
 as if it were spelt tunnle. You will see the sides of the 
 tongue come down for the L. What you will not see, is 
 that at the same time the uvula goes up and the passage to 
 the nose is stopped. But you may prove it by pinching 
 the nose, first during the N, which is at once converted to 
 D, and then during the L, which is unaffected. 
 
3 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 TL. 
 
 3. What happens when L is preceded by D or T or 
 ND? 
 
 The normal pronunciation of T or D includes the 
 explosive drawing back of the tip of the tongue. But for 
 the L the tip is pressed firmly against the teeth. Do we 
 then replace the tongue ? The usual and natural way in 
 which this sound is made is by drawing down the sides of 
 the tongue with an explosive effort, without. moving the tip 
 at all. This may be seen by saying the words butler, 
 bundle, battle, puddle, little, etc., opposite a looking-glass. 
 In all these cases, the T and D are not really T or D but a 
 special sound used only in connection with L. 
 
 This fact explains a difficulty often felt by the French, 
 who pronounce the words ' little people ' either { lit tel 
 peopul' or 'lit!' peopl'.' In the first case they insert 
 between the T and the L a vowel, which does not belong to 
 the English word ; and in the second case they use an 
 aspirated L, like a very weak Welsh (11) for the second 
 letter. Other nations make the same mistake, but not so 
 often. 
 
 Incidentally, spelling reformers may note that ' little ' 
 and 'littel ' are not alike in sound. 
 
 TN. 
 
 4. Another special sound is used when we pronounce 
 TN as in 'button.' According to the spelling there 
 should be a vowel between T and N, but it is doubtful if one 
 person in a hundred so pronounces it. And in 'light- 
 ning ' the vowel is absent both from spelling and pro- 
 nunciation. 
 
 Consider the actions involved : For T the tongue 
 is pressed against all the upper teeth, especially the tip 
 of it, which at the end of the T is drawn back with a jerk, 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Fricatives. 31 
 
 letting the compressed breath out of the mouth, the nasal 
 passage being kept closed. For N the tongue is pressed 
 against all the upper teeth, the nasal passage being kept 
 'open, and at the end of the N the tongue is drawn back. 
 Therefore in passing from T to N the only thing left to be 
 done is to open the nasal passage. Accordingly the com- 
 pressed air in the mouth escapes that way, making a sound 
 not unlike that of T but weaker. 
 
 And that is the sound heard in * button ' and ' lightning.' 
 
 X 
 
 This letter is simply KS or KZ. I have recently met 
 with a good many cases in which the K sound has been 
 omitted, thus: expect = espect, excuse = escuse, exact = 
 ezact, etc. 
 
 This is obviously a learner's mistake, and is quite 
 inadmissible. It must be always ekspekt, ekskuse, ekzakt, 
 etc. (In rapid speech, exact = egzakt.) 
 
LECTURE III. 
 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SPEECH : VOWELS. 
 
 VOWELS are not properly sounds, but resonances, that is 
 to say echoes of sounds. 
 
 Sound, like light, is reflected when it strikes against any 
 smooth surface ; but whereas in the case of light the surface 
 must be not only smooth but polished, sound waves are so 
 many times bigger that for the finest of them the wall of a 
 house is as good a reflector as a looking-glass is for light. 
 Accordingly, if we shout or fire a gun in the open and 
 there is a house some distance off, we hear the sound 
 repeated after a longer or shorter interval according as the 
 house is far off or near. And if there are several houses at 
 different distances, all facing our way, we shall hear an 
 echo or reflection from each of them. 
 
 Now, what I want you to realize is this, that if we have a 
 number of echoes six or eight is quite enough coming 
 quickly enough one after the other at equal intervals, they 
 will produce a musical note. And the pitch of that note 
 will not change when you change the pitch of the sound 
 that produces the echo. 
 
 There used to be in Oxford a set of iron railings near 
 Worcester College, which illustrated this. There were 
 boards behind the railings, and if you stamped a little 
 sharply in walking past, every footfall gave forth a ringing 
 sound like pink ! pink ! pink ! 
 
 Years ago as a boy I had heard the same thing by 
 similar railings, and was given the explanation of it by my 
 
The Physiology of Speech : Vowels; 33 
 
 father. From each iron bar there comes an echo, and as 
 the bars are all the same distance apart the echoes come at 
 corresponding regular intervals. For sound travels 333 
 metres per second, and the intervals will be the time 
 required for sound to travel the extra distance, to and fro, 
 between one bar and the next. If the bars are half a 
 metre apart we shall have 333 echoes per second if a 
 quarter of a metre, 666, very nearly corresponding to E 
 natural, one third above the tuning-fork. And if they are 
 only 12 \ centimetres apart the echoes will be at the rate of 
 1332 per second, giving a note an octave higher. 
 
 Multiple echoes of this kind are sometimes heard as you 
 approach the foot of a flight of steps in one of the under- 
 ground passages of the Tube Railway. They are, however, 
 lower in pitch and therefore less distinct than those given 
 by iron railings, because the distance between the steps is 
 greater. 
 
 We have thus proved that a series of echoes gives a 
 musical note, the pitch of which depends on the number of 
 echoes per second, and not on the sound that causes 
 the echo. 
 
 But we may have a series of echoes if the shape of the 
 enclosure in which the sound is produced is such that it 
 can be reflected backwards and forwards between the walls.. 
 Go into a quite empty house and clap your hands in each 
 of the rooms. You will hear shrill echoes pealing round 
 the corners of the ceilings : each room will give a different 
 note. When the carpets have been put down the note will 
 be altered. When the curtains go up the song of the 
 ceiling corners will be stopped, and when the pictures are 
 hung the voices of the echoes are hushed, and decorous 
 silence reigns henceforth. 
 
 What a pity it is that anybody ever connected pictures 
 with ideas of controversial doctrine ! 
 
 D 
 
34 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 "Tell me," says the preacher, " you who know all about 
 sound, how can I cure this horrible echo in my church, 
 that makes me unintelligible to half my hearers?" 
 
 "Echo, my dear Sir?" says the physicist. "Hang 
 pictures ; cover your walls with pictures." 
 
 "Hang pictures?" says the poor man, "pictures! but 
 the odium theologicum ! " 
 
 " Hang the odium theologicum, my dear Sir," says the 
 physicist. 
 
 To resume. How are echoes connected with vowel 
 sounds ? 
 
 You have probably, as children, amused yourselves with 
 speaking into a jug and noting the weird tones imparted to 
 the voice. I have here jugs and flower-vases of different 
 shapes and sizes, and you may hear the characteristic 
 sound given by each as I speak into it. With a little 
 practice you might recognize by the sound alone which one 
 I am using. 
 
 Now, if you come to think of it, that is precisely what we 
 want vowels for, to produce a set of recognizable sounds, 
 so that we can tell one word from another. 
 
 Each nation has its own set of vowels, just as you and 
 I may have different sets of jugs ; only as all these various 
 sounds are producible by the same mouth, merely by 
 altering the position and shape of its parts, so it is 
 necessary for us to learn how each nation makes its own 
 characteristic sounds, that we may imitate them. 
 
 We may classify vowels broadly into those which can be 
 sounded continuously without change, such as A in father, 
 and those which cannot, such as U in tube, which 
 obviously changes its character as we proceed, from e 
 becoming 66. 
 
 It is evident that the first, being simpler, should be 
 studied first, more particularly as some of them may turn 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Vowels, 35 
 
 out to be component elements of the vowels in which the 
 tone changes. 
 
 They may be appropriately termed 
 
 PURE VOWELS. 
 
 The first four of these, A 1 , A 2 , OO, and E 1 , occur in the 
 words father, fall, fool, and me respectively. 
 
 Here we may note that the tone of certain stops upon 
 the organ is more or less like these vowels. The open 
 diapason has very much the A 1 sound, certain soft-toned 
 stops suggest A 2 and OO, and the stop called Principal 
 has very strongly the sound of E 1 . And, be it observed, 
 this characteristic is largely independent of the pitch. There 
 is, for each stop, one octave for which the special tone is 
 most marked, but you recognize it throughout the rest of 
 the scale. Now it has been noted, and made the subject 
 of much controversy, that vowel sounds are independent 
 of the pitch of the voice. Yet every singer knows that 
 some vowels are easier to sing on a low note and others 
 on a high one. Recent phonograph experiments show 
 that outside certain limits, which, however, are fairly wide, 
 the vowel tone is not independent of the pitch of the 
 resonance. 
 
 These vowels, A 1 , A 2 , OO, E 1 , as in father, fall, fool, me, 
 may be termed the pure long vowels. There are other 
 vowels, popularly considered short, which are equally 
 entitled to be classed as pure, namely the vowels in bet, 
 pat, dot. sir, turn. 
 
 We are accustomed to use them only between con- 
 sonants, and therefore regard them as " short," but there is 
 no difficulty in sounding them continuously, either with the 
 voice or with resonators. 
 
 The really short vowels cannot be so sounded without 
 becoming unrecognizable. They form a class by them- 
 
36 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 selves, not pure because they cannot be sounded con- 
 tinuously, yet not diphthongs, because they are too short 
 to admit of any change in sound. 
 
 They occur in the words bit, but, bull. 
 
 Now of these vowels, five differ from the rest. Say the 
 words 
 
 Father, fall, fool, be, burr, full, 
 
 and then repeat each one, pinching the nostrils together 
 while so doing. It makes no difference to the sound, 
 because for all these vowels the uvula is raised and the 
 nasal passage closed, as in Fig. i. 
 
 Say the words 
 
 Bet, bat, dot, sir, but, 
 
 and repeat each one with the nose pinched. It gives a 
 nasal sound, showing that for these five vowels the passage 
 behind the uvula is open, as in Fig. 2. 
 
 Before discussing in detail the pronunciation of English 
 vowel sounds by foreigners it is necessary to make some 
 reference to the vagaries of English spelling. 
 
 One would like to claim that it is one of the duties 
 attached to the possession of a great literature to preserve 
 the monuments of its past history by retaining the ancient 
 forms. Unfortunately most of the eccentricities of our 
 spelling represent little more than the resourceful initiative 
 of our forefathers during the last two or three centuries. 
 They have given us an orthography which is full of variety, 
 sprinkled with reminiscences of antiquity, and enlivened 
 with surprises. They have vindicated our claim of liberty 
 by spelling in one way and pronouncing in another, and by 
 pronouncing the same spelling half a dozen different ways. 
 
 I have therefore collected together the various spellings 
 of each sound, and you are to understand that in each 
 case the sound is that of the first word of the list always a 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Vowels. 37 
 
 familiar word and that the rest are pronounced in the 
 same way, not merely in speaking carelessly or rapidly, 
 but in the most solemn and deliberate speech, exactly as if 
 they were spelt with the same vowel as the first word. 
 
 Old students will know how to use these lists in class- 
 teaching. First the teacher reads the list through slowly 
 and deliberately. Each student in turn reads from five to 
 ten words, copying exactly the vowel sound given by the 
 teacher, who listens like a pianoforte tuner, and as it were 
 strikes the right note directly there is any divergence from 
 it. N.B. Look out for " traps." 
 
 A 1 . 
 
 The vowel A 1 offers little difficulty to the foreigner. The 
 only divergence from the typical pronunciation I have come 
 across was that of some Russians who gave it a broader 
 sound more like A 2 . In some parts of England there is a 
 tendency to drawl it as though it were a 1 -a 1 , with a falling 
 inflection on the second half. Especially is this the case in 
 Essex, where the people are called Essex calves from the 
 bleating sound of their talk. I have come across occasional 
 instances of it from Westphalia and Prussia. 
 
 With regard to certain examples, note that not even an 
 Englishman can be sure of the pronunciation of a ' place 
 name ' till he has been told. 
 
 A 1 . 
 
 Father harp aunt sergeant calf 
 
 Rather yard draught clerk half 
 
 Lath heart laughter Cherwell psalm 
 
 Far hearth guard Hertford haulm 
 
 Example. In a class this list may be taken as follows : 
 A reads lines i and 2, B lines 3 and 4, C lines i and 2, 
 D lines 3 and 4, and so on. 
 
38 The Pronunciation of English; 
 
 Or to prevent successive pupils having quite the same 
 words : A reads columns i and 2, B columns 3 and 4, 
 C columns 5 and i, D columns 2 and 3, etc. 
 
 Some vowels need very little attention, others require a 
 good deal of practice. 
 
 A 2 . 
 
 This is a much more difficult vowel. The Poles do not 
 possess it, but substitute some form of O 2 or O 1 . The 
 Scandinavian races have something so like it, and yet not 
 quite identical, that their difficulty in acquiring the English 
 sound is increased thereby. Especially by Norwegians our 
 A 2 is shortened almost to O 2 . So also do many Austrians, 
 notably those from Pilsen, who pronounce all as o 2 ll. 
 
 Germans on the other hand tend rather to the first sound 
 of A 1 , making it a a hl. 
 
 A 2 . 
 
 Fall saunter broad storm nought warm 
 
 Water naughty oar for four chalk 
 
 Saw taught awe more *Magdalen College course 
 
 Flaw haunch floor glory cloth coarse 
 
 OO. 
 
 This vowel offers considerable difficulties to all the 
 Scandinavian group, who substitute for it a modified vowel 
 made with the tongue pushed farther forward. 
 
 In many country districts of England ' two ' is pronounced 
 'tew' to rhyme with few. This sounds somewhat like the 
 Scandinavian vowel, but is not as a rule identical with it, 
 being simply the substitution of U* for OO. But in the 
 North of Ireland we get the real modified vowel. 
 
 Magdalen College, Oxford, is pronounced Ma 2 dle 2 n CoMle 2 ). So 
 also Magdalen Bridge and Magdalen School. 
 
 But Magdalen Street and Magdalen Church, by Cornmarket, Oxford, 
 are pronounced Ma ;? gdale' 2 n, where a is a very short a. 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Vowels* 39 
 
 In German pronunciation of English it is rare. I have 
 found it in Schleswig and occasionally in Austria. 
 Poles and Hungarians frequently shorten this vowel. 
 
 
 
 OO. 
 
 
 Boot 
 
 two 
 
 wound 
 
 blue 
 
 Tool 
 
 who 
 
 through 
 
 flute 
 
 Shoe 
 
 move 
 
 moon 
 
 fruit 
 
 Screw 
 
 tomb 
 
 rhubarb 
 
 *sluice 
 
 E 1 . 
 
 As a rule there is very little difficulty with this vowel. 
 Some few people lengthen it out unnecessarily, but that 
 is a mere error of judgment, easily corrected by observing 
 and copying English custom in the matter. A far more 
 serious difficulty is felt by a comparatively small number of 
 Scandinavians principally Norwegians. 
 
 They make two syllables of the long E 1 as if it were 
 followed by a short U 2 : thus * seen ' becomes se 1 -u 2 n, mean 
 = me 1 -u 2 n, and thief =the 1 -e 2 f, the second syllable having a 
 falling inflection. 
 
 It is interesting to note that precisely this intonation 
 occurs in the dialects of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. One 
 is almost tempted to ask whether it may not be a legacy to 
 us from the Viking invasions. In any case the peculiarity 
 is very persistent and difficult to correct. 
 
 The method most successful, in my experience, is to let 
 the student pronounce the vowel deliberately in two 
 syllables, but making the second a short I 2 , with a rising 
 inflection thus : seen = see-i 2 n, thief = the 1 -! 2 !*. After 
 practising this for some time, gradually fuse the two 
 syllables into one. The physiological cause of it is a 
 tendency to relax the muscles of the tongue after forming 
 the vowel, and before passing to the next consonant. 
 
 * Sluice = sloos. 
 
40 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 Nothing but constant attention and patient effort will 
 correct the habit. 
 
 E 1 . 
 
 Me queen mean deceive key ravine 
 
 He seen bean leisure quay quinine 
 
 She feet sea mien Caius College beer 
 
 Legend seal a tear thief people bier 
 
 N.B. Quinine is occasionally pronounced in the French 
 fashion Ki' 2 nene. An ultra-British pronunciation is Qui 2 n 3 ine. 
 The best form preserves the sound of the Qu and accents 
 the last syllable, thus : qui' 2 ne 1 ne. Legend and leisure are 
 also sometimes pronounced as if the vowel of the first 
 syllable were E 2 . 
 
 Caius College, Cambridge, is pronounced exactly as if it 
 were spelt Keys. So also is quay, a place where they 
 unload ships. 
 
 E 2 . 
 
 This sound comes easily to most people. In Saxony 
 and Russia there is a tendency to pronounce it like a 3 . 
 Thus ferry = fa 3 rry. Among the French one often hears va 3 rry 
 for very. Russians tend rather to say tu 2 ll for tell. So do 
 the Dutch, who also say ma 3 t for me-t. 
 
 E 2 . 
 
 Men weather said any leopard 
 
 Met read says many threepence 
 
 Enclose dead wealth Thames" jeopardy 
 
 Red zealous b pleasure realm endeavour 
 
 A 3 . 
 
 The tendency to substitute E 2 for A 3 is so strong among 
 Danes that it is almost possible to recognize them by it. 
 
 * Thames =Te 2 mz, but Thame = Ta 4 m. 
 b Zealous = ze 2 lu 2 s, but zeal = ^e 1 !. 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Vowels. 41 
 
 They say me 2 n for ma 3 n, he 2 c for hat, etc. Occasionally 
 the a 3 is lengthened to a 1 , as in ha a hnd for ha 3 nd or 
 shortened almost to u as in hu 2 ppy for ha 3 ppy. 
 
 Other Scandinavians do the same, but not to such a 
 marked degree, and in most parts of Germany the tendency, 
 though decided, is comparatively slight. It is stronger in 
 Austria and in some parts of Russia. 
 
 The true A 3 sound is made with the nasal passage open, 
 and in making it one is conscious of a certain muscular 
 effort that is relaxed when passing to the sound E 2 .^ Pro- 
 nounce slowly the words ma 3 n, me 2 n, several times then 
 without changing the action in any other way, try to leave 
 out the ms and ns and to say simply a 3 e 2 - a 3 e 2 . 
 After a little practice you will feel the change of position of 
 the back of the tongue and the uvula and soft palate. 
 
 It may be noted that the ba 3 a 3 of a sheep is almost 
 exactly the English a 3 , with a nasal tone added. 
 
 A 3 . 
 
 Fat shall plaid* can 
 
 Mat ass salmon b lad 
 
 Man sang Jack badge 
 
 Than Anne happy rat 
 
 In the sentence " I shall shell peas in a shawl in chilly 
 weather," which affords excellent practice in vowel sounds, 
 there are more difficulties than appear on the surface. 
 Seven nations make seven characteristic mistakes in it, all 
 different. You may find out what they are from this book. 
 
 O 1 . 
 
 The sound of this vowel, and the sounds most generally 
 substituted for it, will be found in the sentence 
 
 "Not nut nor gnat" (no ! t nu 2 t na 2 r na 3 t). 
 
 * Plaid plaM usually, but := pla 4 d in some places. 
 b Salmon=sa :f mo 1 n, but Psalm ^rsa 1 . 
 
42 The Pronunciation of English, 
 
 Of the three errors the first is by far the most common. 
 It is one of the characteristics of the Danish pronunciation 
 of English. I have met with it in Stockholm, but it is not 
 very common in the countries of the North. 
 
 As is the case with the typically English sounds there is 
 a general tendency among foreigners to diverge slightly in 
 one direction or the other from the true tone. On the one 
 hand ' not ' becomes ' nu' 2 t,' and on the other hand ' gna 3 t/ 
 Sometimes the tendency is very slight. But when a dozen 
 people from different parts of Europe read in succession 
 the same list of sounds, the contrast makes it easy to 
 detect. 
 
 O 1 . 
 
 Not what squadron swallow yacht 
 
 On quantity quality swan knowledge 1 " 
 
 Song quarrel quadrangle swamp problem 
 
 Lot hovel squalid watch novel 
 
 Cases of the substitution of A 2 for O 1 occurred among 
 Russians and Poles. The majority of those who tended 
 towards the sound of A 2 came from Saxony or Austria. 
 
 I 1 AND U 1 . 
 
 When, in the pages of a novel, a mother addresses her 
 daughter as 'my gurl,' everybody knows by instinct that 
 she is not of the caste of Vere de Vere ; the mere fact that 
 ' ur ' is substituted for Mr ' is as eloquent as the omission of 
 an c h ' or the insertion of monotonously unpleasant 
 adjectives. Yet I doubt if one person out of three could 
 explain the precise difference of pronunciation indicated. 
 
 If while saying such words as burst, world, word, or curl, 
 we pinch the nose, it makes no difference to the sound. 
 But if we do so while saying sir, girl, pearl, a nasal tone is 
 imparted to the vowel. Undoubtedly there are many 
 
 b Knowledge = noMle 2 ) ; but by a few people, no 2 lle 2 j. 
 
The Physiology of Speech : Vowels. 45 
 
 people, especially in the South of England, who do not 
 make the distinction, but with those who do so it appears 
 to be of this character. 
 
 The sound is not an easy one for foreigners to acquire. 
 They tend as a rule towards the sound of A in 'share/ 
 I have known a German live ten years in England without 
 acquiring the correct pronunciation of ' sir ' or of ' turn." 
 
 The terminal E in such words as * Knabe ' has the sound 
 in some parts of Germany, but unfortunately by no means 
 in all. 
 
 Also the characteristic note of hesitation of an English- 
 man, who rising to address an audience says : " Ladies and 
 er gentlemen ! Unaccustomed as I am to er public 
 speaking " is fairly close to it. 
 
 UVULA AS IN FIG. 2. 
 
 I 1 . 
 
 Sir earn myrtle bird 
 
 Girl German myrrh girdle 
 
 Pearl tern early courteous 
 
 Earth whirled girt circuit 
 
 UVULA AS IN FIG. i. 
 
 U 1 . 
 
 Turn burden her 
 
 Urn turbulent mermaid 
 
 Journey word terse 
 
 World burn cur 
 
 Sentence for exercise : " Fashion papers say few girls wear 
 curls now." 
 
 |2 
 
 There is only one fault to correct in the pronunciation of 
 this vowel ; but it is almost universal. Nearly all foreigners 
 make it too long. So far as I can judge, it is safe to say 
 
44 
 
 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 that the correct sound is heard in the German ' ich.' It is 
 the shortest of all short vowels, and there must not be the 
 faintest suspicion of the sound of e in it. 
 
 It 
 Pin 
 
 Spin 
 Lid 
 
 mystery 
 physic 
 gypsy 
 minute' 
 
 I 2 . 
 
 women build pill 
 
 sieve guilt circuit 1 * 
 
 pretty quit mischief 
 
 breeches England guitar 
 
 U 2 . 
 
 As a rule this vowel is pronounced with fair accuracy. 
 The most general tendency is in the direction of A 1 , so that 
 ' but ' becomes ' ba^t,' only shorter. Similarly ' some ' 
 becomes ' sa. l m,' and ' bunker ' becomes ' ba 3 nker.' 
 
 Occasionally the tendency is towards E 2 , so that c nuns ' 
 sounds like ' ne 2 ns. } 
 
 
 
 
 U 2 . 
 
 
 
 But 
 
 above 
 
 rough 
 
 Monday 
 
 does 
 
 one 
 
 Club 
 
 come 
 
 country 
 
 mongrel 
 
 brother 
 
 dozen 
 
 Rebuff 
 
 shove 
 
 tub 
 
 twopence 
 
 money 
 
 bunker b 
 
 Put 1 
 
 covet 
 
 flourish 
 
 sponge 
 
 dost 
 
 thorough 
 
 U 3 . 
 
 Saving a few accidental cases where this vowel has been 
 pronounced a little too long or a little too short, I have 
 found little to correct in the pronunciation of it, 
 except by those Norwegians and Danes who use the 
 
 b Circuit =:si 1 rke 2 t. 
 
 c Minute, of time mi 2 ni 2 t. But minute, very small = mi 2 nu 4 te ; or 
 emphatically, very extremely small = mi 1 nu 4 te. 
 
 h Bunker, in the game of golf. Any obstacle or difficult position from 
 which it is hard to strike the ball if it gets there. 
 
 i Pu 2 t, and its derivatives. In golf, a gentle stroke intended to pu 2 t 
 the ball in the hole when it has reached the green. Probably a dialect 
 pronunciation of pu 3 t. 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Vowels. 45. 
 
 modified vowel sound of 66. They keep the tongue too 
 far forward in the mouth for this vowel also. 
 
 U 3 . 
 
 Pull book should 
 
 Sugar look bull 
 
 Push good wolf 
 
 Put wool woman 
 
 N.B. In this list the word pu 3 t has its ordinary signi- 
 ficance and its ordinary pronunciation. 
 
 'Wolf is noteworthy as the only word in the English 
 language for which there is no rhyme. 
 
4 6 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SPEECH : GLIDES. 
 
 DIPHTHONGS may be regarded as combination of pure 
 vowels sounded in succession, e.g., e-66 = u : a' 2 -e = oi. 
 
 By analogy they might be represented in musical notation 
 after this fashion : 
 
 To any one acquainted solely with key-board instruments 
 this could only mean two notes, each distinct and definite, 
 in succession. But to the violinist there may be a third 
 possibility the glissanda, in which the note changes pitch 
 passing without a break from one to the other. 
 
 And this gliding sound has a peculiarly penetrating effect. 
 One instrument doing so makes itself heard amid an 
 orchestra. Something of this kind applied to vowels is 
 what we mean by a * glide ' neither the one note nor the 
 other, but the sweep from one to the other. 
 
 Now it is evident that to get this right we must find the. 
 right note to begin on and the right note to end on, and 
 having done so must be careful to dwell neither on the 
 beginning nor on the end. 
 
 Take a simple case : the country-folk in saying the word 
 mile, begin with too broad an A 1 and end with too long an 
 E 1 , and they pass from one to the other much as you pass 
 
The Physiology of Speech: Glides. 47 
 
 from note to note on the piano, thus ma 1 a 1 - e 1 !, inserting a 
 drawl in the middle of the A 1 sound. 
 
 We might ask, why should this sound uneducated, and 
 why should it disappear from the speech of cultivated 
 people, though in all probability they get no direct training 
 in phonetics ? 
 
 For the same reason that the slouching walk and the 
 slovenly dress disappear. 
 
 Because education and culture carry with them that con- 
 sideration for others which is the foundation of self-respect 
 and makes a man take trouble to hold himself well, to 
 behave well, and to speak well. Because to drawl is a sign 
 of the laziness that goes with ignorance and you may note 
 that to be ignorant one need not necessarily be poor. 
 Anyhow, whether there is any truth in these suggestions or 
 not, it is a fact that the crisp articulation that goes with 
 culture avoids this drawling intonation, and gives full value 
 to the glissando of the glides. 
 
 The four glides are I 3 , A 4 , A 5 , O 2 . 
 
 I 3 . 
 
 This sound does not seem to offer in itself any difficulty 
 to foreigners, but it would appear that the directions for its 
 pronunciation, given in some books, have been misunder- 
 stood. At any rate the result is that in a good many cases 
 it is pronounced as a long a, followed by a long e, produc- 
 ing that very effect which we carefully teach our own 
 children to avoid. 
 
 Expressing the sound by a diagram it is thus : 
 
 The faulty pronunciation which is to be avoided is shown in a. 
 The true glide is illustrated by b. 
 
48 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 Probably a better result would be got by beginning with 
 that shortened form of A 1 which is sometimes substituted 
 for U 2 (compare bu 2 t = ba : ht ; some = sa. l m) and stop- 
 ping with the short I 2 instead of the long E 1 , throwing the 
 whole of the emphasis on the glide. 
 
 But it has seemed to me that this vowel-sound exists in 
 most languages. 
 
 The French needed no correction, and the German 
 Sonnenschein contained the sound as the English pro- 
 nounce it. 
 
 I 3 . 
 
 Mine defy eye height die hyacinth 
 
 Pine ay sight either d quiet tyrant 
 
 Defiant ply aisle neither* 1 guide dye 
 
 Pint my choir quire buy sign 
 
 N.B. By the Irish I 3 is pronounced oi, as in oil ; thus : 
 mine = moin ; sight = soight. 
 
 A 4 . 
 
 This vowel offers more difficulties to the English them- 
 selves than to foreigners. 
 
 Some Poles pronounce it I 3 , or sometimes E 1 . Amongst 
 Russians. I have met with c Ie 2 ddy ' for ' lady.' Norwegians 
 and Danes make the same mistake as the English of York- 
 shire and the Fens namely, they make a double sound of 
 it, finishing with an obscure short U 2 , thus : name == 
 na 4 -u 2 m; break bra 4 -u 2 k, with a falling inflection. 
 This is best cured, as was explained under the vowel E 1 , by 
 going to the opposite extreme, and practising na 4 -i 2 m, 
 bra 4 -i 2 k, with a rising inflection until the error is cured. 
 
 The more remarkable mistake is purely English, or 
 rather Cockney, and it is comparatively modern. It is the 
 substitution of I 3 for A 4 . 
 
 d Or ether, nether. 
 
The Physiology of Speech; Glides. 49 
 
 A Cockney says * a ti 3 dy H 3 dy,' instead of ' a ti 3 dy Ia 4 dy.' 
 But you will not find any trace of this in Charles Dickens. 
 It came in, so far as I know, between 1870 and 1880 
 certainly not before 1860, and the tone of it has spread a 
 good deal higher than the class in which it commenced. 
 
 As near as one can tell, the true sound of the English 
 vowel is found in the Italian interjection ' Deh ! ' 
 
 A 4 . 
 
 Fate faint eyot h weight they 
 
 Name tail pray break prey 
 
 Mane deign hay yea grey 
 
 Ague' persuade pla)er feign eh 
 
 A 5 r. 
 
 This vowel sound is only met with in connection with 
 the letter r. Pronounce the words sa 3 t, si j r ; then, leaving 
 out the consonants, A 3 , I 1 ; and finally make the glide 
 between these two vowels. This gives the sound with 
 some degree of accuracy. 
 
 In the north of England where the r is sounded the 
 glide is strongly heard ; in the south, where it is omitted, 
 the I 1 sound is dwelt upon so much more that the glide 
 becomes practically a diphthong. 
 
 It should be observed that in all these cases except in 
 the word Sarah it is the burr (r or r) and not the trill (R) 
 that must be used. 
 
 A 5 . 
 
 Air their mare pear j 
 
 Hair heir Sarah tear k 
 
 Lair erewhile tare there 
 
 Chair hare bare bear 
 
 h Eyot, an island in the Thames, pronounced a 4 t. 
 
 l A-gue = a 4 gu 4 , a kind of malaria. 
 
 J Pear = pa 5 r, a fruit ; spear = spe 1 r, a weapon. 
 
 k Tear = tar, a rent, or to rend ; but tear = te 1 !, a teardrop. 
 
50 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 0-. 
 
 This is another case in which pronunciation is spoilt by 
 a tendency to drawl. In English dialects we get all sorts 
 of varieties between Na^oo, Na 2 -oo, and Ne 2 -a 8 -oo, 
 and we are careful to correct these tendencies whenever we 
 come across them in our own people. But somehow an 
 impression seems to have got abroad that something of this 
 kind, especially the second, represents the true English O 2 . 
 
 My experience is that Germans, French, and Italians 
 pronounce the English O 2 better by the light of nature 
 than from the instructions of the books, which tend only 
 to produce that drawl which the cultivated English avoid. 
 
 But Russians, Poles, and Austrians frequently sub- 
 stitute A 2 for O 2 , e.g. most = ma 2 wst, or else shorten it, e.g. 
 no 2 ble = no 1 bble ; and the Scandinavian group, including 
 the neighbouring parts of Germany, pronounce it either A 2 , 
 e.g. own = awn = a 2 n instead of o 2 n, or introduce a pre- 
 liminary E 1 sound, thus : no = ne 1 -a 3 -ow. This, of course, 
 is to be strenuously avoided. 
 
 O 2 . 
 
 No though toast foe folk note 
 
 Bold shoulder boat crow brogue 1 mote 
 
 Moment dough moat quote droll toll 
 
 So hoax stoat sew coax soul 
 
 OU. 
 
 This is one of the real diphthongs, commencing with A 1 
 and ending with ~OO. Almost the only error met with is 
 the too great lengthening of the initial A 1 , which should be 
 left as soon as sounded. 
 
 The occasional substitution by foreigners of O 1 or O 2 for 
 OU is, I fancy, an accidental error, and not due to any 
 .difficulty in producing the sound. 
 
 1 Brogue the peculiar accent of the Irish. 
 
The Physiology of Speech : Glides, 5 1 
 
 OU. 
 
 Out how bough cow 
 
 Rout down plough pound 
 
 Noun bow m howl prow 
 
 U 4 . 
 
 Tube usual nuisance few youth mute 
 
 Duty musical suit ewe you pure 
 
 Use enthusiasm presume yew Q Bute 
 
 Yule situation due pew impugn suet* 
 
 The oo of this diphthong is preceded by an E 1 or Y 
 sound. Practically the only mistake made consists in 
 leaving this out. 
 
 But those nations that substitute the modified vowel for 
 the English oo do the same here, giving a foreign tone to 
 their pronunciation, which should be avoided. 
 
 OI. 
 
 Oil toy 
 
 Moist boy 
 
 Point joy 
 
 Loiter Hoyden 
 
 This diphthong consists simply of the two vowels A 2 and 
 I 2 sounded in succession. 
 
 Danes substitute I 3 for it, pronouncing point = pi 3 nt, and 
 boy = by 3 . The American oil = i 3 le is well known. 
 
 Singularly enough the Irish make the converse substitu- 
 tion, saying moine for mine and point for pint. 
 
 Bow =bou, a gesture of salutation ; also the fore-part of a ship or 
 boat at sea : but Bow = bo 2 , a species of knot that can be easily untied : 
 also the fore-part of a row-boat on rivers inland. Thus to row bow 
 {= bo 2 ) is to take the oar nearest the boat's head, and to row stroke 
 (= stro' 2 k) is to take the oar nearest the steersman. 
 
 n Suet. Note that this word has two syllables : su 4 -e 2 t, whereas 
 suit=su 4 t has only one. 
 
 Hoyden. The name of a character in one of Ben Jonson's plays 
 a boisterous, good-tempered, tomboy of a girl. 
 
52 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 The following sentences contain examples of all the 
 English vowel sounds : 
 A large cup full of soup. 
 I shall shell peas in a shawl in chilly weather. 
 The fashion papers say few girls wear curls now. 
 Buy the boys a bonny pony. 
 
53 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 THE following exercise may be taken simultaneously by 
 the entire class. It is intended to break down the idea 
 which so many people seem to have, that there must be a 
 vowel between one consonant and another, and it does 
 most effectually obviate the difficulty of reproducing a 
 given sequence of sounds in a foreign language which does 
 not happen to be frequent in your own. 
 
 Write down on the blackboard : 
 
 B-P S Z SH ZH r r 
 D-T F V TH TH R R 
 G-K M N NG W L 
 
 The teacher signs with the pointer for all to take breath 
 together, and then points to four of these letters one after 
 another, pausing for about one second on each while the 
 class sound it. The letters are to be taken at random in 
 every possible order, each being sounded loudly and con- 
 tinuously as long as the pointer rests on it. And when the 
 pointer moves you must pass from one sound to the next 
 without a vowel and without a break, thus : 
 Nnnnththththsssffff 
 Vvvvzzzzththththrrrr 
 
 At first sight it seems a useless and unnecessary accom- 
 plishment. Yet you cannot talk about a month's /ishing 
 without the first, and every pair of gloves thrown away 
 involves the second. You are merely learning to do slowly 
 and of set purpose what you can already do casually and 
 quickly. 
 
54 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 Explosives may occur, but cannot of course be prolonged. 
 Thus we may have 
 
 NgngngngkssssrTrTllll 
 in a chain with the \\nksflzt, or 
 
 Ksssstssssprrrr 
 in nexf jr/ring, or several explosives together, as 
 
 ptkr, in ( whipt cream,' 
 
 or you may have a sequence to which English words 
 cannot easily be put : 
 
 ShshshshvvvvRRRRngngngng. 
 
 It is a linguistic gymnastic that greatly strengthens the 
 muscles of articulation. 
 
 The nation most in need of it is the Italian, whose 
 characteristic it is to insert a vowel after each consonant, 
 whether in the middle or at the end of a word. None the 
 less English Elementary Schools would be all the better 
 for it. 
 
 There has arisen of late years a class of phonetic teacher 
 whose one object appears to be the destruction of the 
 English language under pretext of keeping pace with 
 modern phonetics. I have heard third-rate teachers de- 
 liberately advocate the pronunciation 'six munss' for six 
 months. 
 
 Rapid change in the pronunciation of a nation is the 
 characteristic not of civilization but of savagery. Max 
 Miiller used to tell the story of a missionary who, having 
 translated part of the New Testament into the language of 
 the tribe to whom he was sent, came home to have it 
 published. When, two years later, he returned with the 
 printed volumes, their language had altered so much that 
 they could not understand him. Evidently they went in 
 for up-to-date phonetics. From observations I once made 
 on the language of birds, I came to the conclusion that 
 apart from some few elementary and universally understood 
 
The Physiology of Speech. 55 
 
 calls, their association of a definite cry with a particular 
 idea is only temporary. And indeed it requires little 
 thought to realize that it is the permanence of the associa- 
 tion of ideas and sounds that renders possible the expression 
 in language of the tremendous complexity of human thought. 
 But if the thought of one generation could not be com- 
 municated to the next, what would become of human 
 progress ? 
 
 The supremacy of man is bound up in the permanence 
 of language. 
 
 Some little practice is needed to acquire the English 
 method of dealing with two explosives in succession ; as for 
 instance, a black cat, a dead dog, an egg gone bad, a bad 
 temper, big brother, Lipton, cocktail, Radbone, etc. 
 
 To say with the Italian, black-a cat, dead-a dog, etc., 
 would be wrong, but it would be equally un-English to say 
 bla-cat or blak-at, and dead-og might be mistaken for 
 dead hog, with the h left out. 
 
 Where the two letters are different, as in Lipton, Rad- 
 bone, etc., we pronounce them both, and it will be found 
 that the difficulty of doing so is entirely imaginary. When 
 it is a matter of the repetition of the same letter, we make 
 a just recognizable pause between the forcible stoppage of 
 the breath and its sudden release, and this is accepted as a 
 reduplication of the letter. 
 
 The fault with foreigners generally is that they do not 
 articulate strongly enough to bring out the effect. An 
 interesting example occurs in the word 'blackguard.' A 
 negro doing sentry duty might be referred to as the black 
 guard, but a blackguard is a disreputable person a serious 
 difference of meaning made by omitting to sound k before 
 g, and pronouncing the word ' blagard.' 
 
 The following sentences should be read aloud, not too 
 
56 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 slowly, but with forcible distinctness so as to be completely 
 intelligible to a person at the other end of the room. 
 
 Some students will find themselves making an unexpected 
 mistake in pronouncing them. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 Jack Spratt and Tom Pratt had sprats for breakfast in 
 the nursery. It was very amusing to hear Jack's prattle 
 about Tom's sprat and Tom's prattle about Jack's sprat. 
 
 A pink collar on a white cat. 
 
 Why do you talk about trifles ? You should undertake 
 to do some useful work in London. 
 
 We women are weak creatures. [Besant.] 
 
 If Dick crows when the cock crows, the neighbours will 
 get very little sleep ; but if Dick rose when the cock crows 
 he would not sleep so late. 
 
 If Mr. Smith said he swam a river a mile wide, and 
 smiled, which would be wider Mr. Smith's smile, or 
 Mr. Smith's mile? 
 
 H. 
 
 The sound of the H is produced by so altering the shape 
 of the parts about the root of the tongue that the passage 
 of the breath through the aperture can be heard. 
 
 There is some variety in the way this is done, and every 
 gradation of sound from a scarcely audible 'rough breath- 
 ing ' to the full throat guttural. The French generally 
 make it too soft, and some Germans pronounce it more 
 gutturally than the English, but both for French and for 
 Italians it is one of the difficulties of our language. And 
 it is the more desirable to eradicate the fault because to 
 drop one's aitches is considered a sign of insufficient 
 education. 
 
 Sad to say. it is even a worse fault to put them in where 
 they are not wanted. 
 
The Physiology of Speech. 57 
 
 Punch tells the story of a railway director, who hearing 
 the porter at Acton call out ' Hacton ! Hacton ! ' as the 
 train came in, had him transferred to Hanwell, only to find 
 him next week with equal cheerfulness calling out ' Anwell! 
 Anwell ! ' 
 
 The omission of an h may seriously alter the meaning of 
 a sentence. Thus : ' I hate him ' in the mouth of a French 
 woman may amount to a confession of cannibalism. 
 
 The Glottal Catch. 
 
 When a word begins with a vowel an Englishman begins 
 it like a note on the violoncello, without any effort. So 
 does a Frenchman or an Italian. But among the Teutonic 
 and Scandinavian nations a considerable number begin it 
 with a sort of explosive jerk, as though the passage of the 
 breath had been momentarily stopped and then released. 
 In the absence of a sign for it in the English alphabet it 
 will be represented in this book by (") quotation marks 
 between brackets. The only English word beginning in 
 this way is a groan ; and that we never express in print. 
 
 The glottal catch (") is especially marked in Saxony, 
 where it occurs not merely in words beginning with a 
 vowel but in the middle of a word before the syllable that 
 bears the accent. 
 
 One of the best test sentences is from Tennyson 'The 
 Brook': 
 
 For men may come, and men may go, 
 But (") I go (") on for (") ever. 
 
 It may be asked : What do the English do in such a 
 case ? Very much as the French would. They join the 
 end of one word to the beginning of the next when that 
 can be done, and when two vowels come together, if the 
 first is an ee sound they interpose the ghost of a Y, and if 
 
58 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 the first is an oo sound, the ghost of a W between it and 
 the next word. 
 
 Bu 1 tl go(w)o l n for (r)ever. 
 
 They do not actually make these sounds, but they go 
 through all the movements as if they were about to do so. 
 You may think of a Y or W, but you don't actually say it. 
 Thus : He came to see me (y)off. 
 
 You express your-opinions too-(w)-openly. 
 But avoid like a superfluous H the following : 
 
 ' The idea-r-of it ! ' 
 
 This runs in families is not very common but is worse 
 than the (") itself. 
 
 There is no r in either word, and it is merely by the 
 confusion of ideas that one is inserted. 
 
59 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 DURING these ten years I have been greatly struck by the 
 excellent pronunciation of the majority of those attending 
 these courses. If I could speak those languages with 
 which I am familiar with as good an accent as mine is 
 spoken by them, I should have reason to be proud. But 
 this excellence has made a severer critic of me. For there 
 is no greater proof of a good pronunciation of my 
 language than for an Englishman to say * I thought you 
 were English.' 
 
 So during every class this question has been continually 
 before me : ' How should 1 know that this is not an 
 English voice ? ' 
 
 There is first the articulation itself, or method by which 
 the component sounds of the language are produced. 
 
 There is in the second place the accent on the words. 
 When a Belgian referred in conversation to Lord Salisbury 
 I did not for the moment recognize Lord Salisbury. 
 
 Thirdly, there is the rhythm of the sentence. And from 
 this alone, without being near enough to distinguish a 
 single word, it is generally easy to tell whether the speaker 
 talking English is French, German, Norwegian, or native. 
 
 The present chapter deals solely with the peculiarities of 
 pronunciation, recorded as follows : To each student was 
 devoted one leaf of the class register. At the head of it 
 was written the name and. native place of the student, and 
 
60 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 underneath were recorded the various ^mistakes in pro- 
 nunciation as they occurred, in a species of shorthand. 
 
 Thus the progress made by each could be observed, and 
 special attention given to points of difficulty. 
 
 In order to write this chapter, the separate leaves of all 
 the old class registers were sorted out and arranged by 
 towns, provinces, and countries, according as there were 
 many or few from the same place. 
 
 I then went through each group tabulating the various 
 errors according to the letters of the alphabet, and from 
 this tabulation I prepared the account here given, 
 
 It must be noted that these ' National Characteristics ' 
 relate to the way each nation pronounces, not its own 
 language, but English. And I have recorded in most cases 
 not the correct pronunciation, but the mistakes you must 
 avoid. Moreover I have in most cases spelt the mistake as 
 an Englishman spells it when he wants to represent the 
 accent of a foreigner, that is to say, merely altering the 
 letter which is wrongly pronounced. But in difficult cases 
 I have given [in square brackets] the correct pronun- 
 ciation. 
 
 PRONUNCIATION SIGNS USED IN THIS BOOK. 
 SH = sherry CH = cherry ZH = usual J=jam 
 
 r = 
 
 broom 
 
 r= true 
 
 R = tomoRRow 
 
 H = guttural r 
 
 77 
 
 l=th\\\ 
 
 TH = this 
 
 G = go (") = glottal catch 
 
 sing-er 
 
 fing-ger 
 
 Fin-gal 
 
 gin-jer 
 
 
 FaHher 
 
 fa 2 ll 
 
 fa 3 t fa 4 te 
 
 ha 5 re 
 
 
 Me 1 
 
 me 2 n 
 
 
 
 
 Si l r 
 
 pi 2 t 
 
 mi s ne 
 
 
 
 NoU 
 
 no* 
 
 fool 
 
 
 
 TVra 
 
 bu 2 t 
 
 bu 3 ll tu 4 be 
 
 
 
 Out 
 
 oil 
 
 
 
The Physiology of Speech* 6r 
 
 SCANDINAVIAN CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 B, P. Seldom confused, but B is sometimes omitted ; as 
 trou'le for trouble (rare). 
 
 D, T. Seldom confused but often weak ; as Lon'on for 
 London ; ' a' the fire ' for ' at the fire.' 
 
 G, K, Q. Q almost always correct. In some parts a Y 
 is inserted between K and the next vowel, e.g. Kya 2 id 
 for called, Kyotsh for coach. 
 
 Z, S. S is often dropped at the end of a word. Z is some- 
 times substituted for S. 
 
 Sh, Ch, J. There is a tendency to insert an E 1 sound after 
 Ch, e.g. chee-urch for church. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Lund, J is often pronounced 
 as Y ; thus : obyect for object. 
 N.B. In English J never has the sound of Y. 
 
 r, r. Is as a rule correct, but is occasionally omitted after 
 P ; e.g. p'oper for proper. 
 
 R. The trilled R is usually correct, but occasionally 
 guttural. 
 
 Th, T/i. Are sometimes confused. Sometimes D is sub- 
 stituted. 
 
 L. LittP for little (see p. 24). 
 
 F, V. Terminal V often omitted. * Some o' that,' ' o' Lon- 
 don.' Before a vowel v = w ; thus 'Dove of peace ' = 
 'Dowe o' peace.' 
 
 W. In about half the cases W = OO, in the rest W was fairly 
 good. 
 
 NG. Resignation was pronounced Resing-yation in some 
 places. 
 
 ("). Frequent but slight. 
 
62 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 A-. Sometimes 'all' was pronounced oHl and sometimes 
 o-ll. In Stockholm it was also pronounced a 1 hl. 
 
 00. The modified ti with the tongue forward in the 
 mouth was generally substituted; thus: School = Skill. 
 
 A 3 . Is often pronounced E 2 , as he 2 t for hat, me 2 n for 
 man. 
 
 1 2 . Is made too long, as in we 1 men for women [ = 
 wi' 2 men]. 
 
 1 . Sometimes, but rarely = U 2 ; e.g. nu 2 t for not. 
 
 A 4 . Name is frequently pronounced na 4 -u 2 m, and age = 
 a 4 -u 2 j. 
 
 1 3 . Life = la^-e 1 ^ 
 
 2 . Sometimes drawled, as by English peasants; thus: 
 hope = he 2 -a 3 -o 2 p ; sometimes ha' 2 p. Occasionally 
 gold = go 2 -u 2 ld, with a strong tendency to the double 
 sound of the Lincolnshire vowels. 
 
 There is a general tendency to a sing-song accent 
 with falling inflection. 
 
 NORWAY. 
 
 B. P. Clup for club, pring for bring (rare). 
 
 D, T. Terminal d and ed frequently omitted ; hoot for 
 hood. 
 
 G, K, Q. Quick = k'ooi 2 k, question = k'vestshu 2 n, acknow- 
 ledge =a'knowledge i.e. all the explosive consonants 
 weak. 
 
 Z, S. Terminal S dropped. S weak. S = Z occasionally. 
 Sh, Ch, J. Justice = shustice. Shocking ^she^ocking. 
 r, r. Generally correct, but omitted in some places ; prove 
 
 = p'oo'. 
 R. Correct, except in Bergen where the guttural 'B. is used. 
 
The Physiology of Speech. 63 
 
 Th, Th. Frequently Th = Z or Th = D, or Th is omitted. 
 1 They went with me another way ' = c Zey 'ooent wi'me 
 anoder 'ooay.' 
 
 L. Rather weak. 
 
 V, F. Is very characteristic, being omitted before a con- 
 sonant and becoming W before a vowel. But the 
 voiceless F is usually pronounced. 
 
 W. Is frequently weak : away = a 3 - oo - a 4 . Sometimes 
 it was pronounced as V., e.g. wicked = vicked. This 
 did not occur often. 
 
 NG. There is a tendency to omit the hard G after the 
 NG; e.g. strong-er instead of strong-ger ; and also 
 to such pronunciations as man-yificent for magnificent, 
 ing-yorance for ignorance, which are altogether un- 
 English. 
 
 These of course are merely errors of forgetfulness 
 and not national peculiarities of pronunciation. 
 
 A 2 . The Norwegian vowel is not quite the same as the 
 English, especially before L. It tends either to O 2 or 
 to O 1 . Thus, saw = so 2 , always = o 1 lwu 2 z. 
 
 00. The modified ii in substituted for this vowel. Good 
 = glide, moon = miine, &c. 
 
 E 2 . Has often the double catch : mean = me 1 -u 2 n. 
 
 A 3 . Often pronounced as E 2 . Thus : happy = he 2 ppy, can 
 
 = ke 2 n, &c. 
 X. Is pronounced as simple S. Thus: explain = esplain. 
 
 This is unpardonable, but it is simply ignorance. 
 
 1 1 . Sir = sa 5 r = sehr. Sometimes 'work' is pronounced 
 like ' walk.' This also is merely ignorance. 
 
 1 2 . Is made too long. 
 
 1 . Occasionally noH = nu 2 t, and wander is sounded 
 exactly like wonder. 
 
64 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 A 4 . Came = ka 4 y-u 2 m, table = ta 4 y-ii 2 ble. 
 
 I 3 . Light = la 1 h-e 1 t ) time = ta 1 h-e 1 m. 
 
 O 2 . Is variously pronounced. Sometimes O 2 -oo, as 
 
 boat = bo 2 -oot, road = ro 2 -u' 2 d ; sometimes like A 2 , 
 
 as no = na 2 , smoking = sma 2 -o 2 king. 
 
 DENMARK. 
 
 There is a strong tendency, especially in Copenhagen, to 
 
 omit consonants before fricatives. 
 
 B. P. 'A damp warm day ' becomes 'a dam' warm day.' 
 D, T. The right title = the ride tidal. Enjoyment of 
 
 sunshine = enjoymen' o' sunshine. Little = li'l. Some- 
 times a Y is inserted after T, thus : turned = ty-urned. 
 G, K, Q. Q generally correct. G often substituted for K, 
 
 and sometimes K for G, or K omitted ; e.g. back 
 
 again = bag again, winked = winged. 
 Sh, Ch, J. Sh and Ch often confused. After Sh an e or 
 
 y frequently inserted; e.g. child = che 1 -i s ld, shoulder = 
 
 shyoulder, c. 
 r, r. Frequently correct, sometimes omitted ; e.g. crowd = 
 
 k'owd, marriage = ma'-idge, broken = b'oken. 
 R. Occasionally guttural ; more often correct. 
 X. Pronounced S ; thus ' express ' = espress. 
 T/i, Th. Most often Th = Z or S. Sometimes it is omitted 
 
 thus: youthful = useful, those = zoze, with memories = 
 
 wi'memories. Th substituted for Th. 
 L. ' Little people,' spoken slowly, becomes * littell peopel ' 
 
 spoken rapidly ' li'l peopP. See page 24. 
 V, F. Terminal V is either elided or changed into W as 
 
 in the middle of a word. Thus overtake = owertake; 
 
 of importance = o' wimportance; of course = o' course. 
 
National Characteristics* 65 
 
 W. Is sometimes correct, sometimes weak, and occasion- 
 ally pronounced as V. 
 
 Y. Y is sometimes pronounced like the English J ; thus, 
 young = dzhung. 
 
 ("). Is not uncommon. Thus 'the open door ' = ' the 
 (") open door.' 
 
 M, N. Are often omitted when forming an end syllable : 
 e.g. uncomm', worn'. 
 
 Vowels. The Danish accent is heard most strongly in 
 the vowels. 
 
 A 1 . Casks = cu 2 sks. 
 
 A 2 . In the country towns becomes O 2 or O 1 . Thus, 
 fault = fo 2 lt, cause = ko 2 ze, law = lo 2 , all = o 2 ll. 
 
 00. The modified u is generally substituted for the 
 English vowel. Too = tii, who = hii. And so also 
 in the shorter form of the vowel u, good = giid, took = 
 tiik. 
 
 A 3 . Occasionally becomes A 1 , thus ga 3 ther = ga 1 hther, 
 ha 3 nd = ha 1 hnd ; but far more often A 3 becomes E 2 : 
 have = he 2 v, shall = she 2 ll, angry = e 2 ngry. 
 
 1 1 . Sir is pronounced sa 5 r, or like the German l sehr.' 
 
 1 2 . As usual, is too much like E 1 . 
 
 1 . One of the strongest characteristics of the Danish 
 accent : O 1 becomes U 2 . Thus, not = nu 2 t, shone = 
 shu 2 n, novel = nu 2 vvel, bonnet = bu 2 nnet, stop = 
 stu 2 p, College = cu 2 llege. 
 
 U 2 . Either A 3 or (rarely) A 1 . Thus, Bunker = ba 3 nker, 
 some = sa 3 m, upon = a 3 pu 2 n, but = ba j ht. 
 
 OI. Is pronounced I 3 , e.g. boy = by, point = pi s nt, noise 
 = ni 3 ze. 
 
66 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 FINLAND. 
 
 The accent of Finland has many Scandinavian 
 
 characteristics, but with certain well marked differ- 
 ences. 
 D, T. Terminal D is often elided : * and music ' = am'csik, 
 
 London = Lun'un. 
 G, K, Q. The tongue is put too far forward for Q, and 
 
 the lips are not brought together sufficiently. Quite 
 
 = k'oo-i 3 te. 
 Z, S. Frequently S is pronounced Z, but terminal S is 
 
 weak and the sign of the plural often inaudible. 
 Sh, Ch, J. June is often pronounced Yune, etc. This is 
 
 simple inadvertence, there being no difficulty in giving 
 
 the correct sound ; but it is a very common mistake. 
 r, r. 
 R. 
 Th, Th. Are often pronounced as S, Z, or D. Also Th is 
 
 confused with Th. Other = o a zer = oMer = u 2 der, 
 
 instead of u 2 the 2 r. 
 L. Little = li'l. 
 V, F. V is dropped at the end of a word, and becomes 
 
 W in other positions. * The colour of the vulture ' = * de 
 
 colour o' de wulture.' 
 W. Is entirely without fricative force, being reduced to a 
 
 mere vowel : ( a pound a week ' becomes * a pound a 
 
 'oo-eek ' ; ' every one ' = ewery > oo-u 1 n ; was = oo-o 1 ^ 
 {"). Is occasionally heard. 
 NG. The wrong form is often used, and in addition the 
 
 following quite impossible pronunciation : l dignified 
 
 ignorance ' = ' ding-yified ing-yorance. J 
 
National Characteristics. 67 
 
 Vowels. Some of the chief differences occur in the vowels. 
 
 A 2 . Is either O 1 or O 2 . Thus : all = o 1 !!, taught = to 2 t. 
 
 00. Is generally the modified vowel ii. 
 
 A 3 . Is either E 2 or U 2 ; e.g. have = he 2 v, man = mu 2 n. 
 
 A 4 . Has the double sound: table = ta 4 y-u 2 ble, lane = 
 Ia 4 y-u 2 n. 
 
 O 2 . Is very characteristic. Go = ga 2 , no = na 2 , old = a 2 ld, 
 
 coach = ka 2 tch, shoulders = showlders. 
 A 5 . Hair = ha 4 y-e 2 r. 
 I 1 . Deserve = deza 5 rv. 
 
 1. Is invariably too long: pin = pe 1 n. 
 6. Becomes u 2 : what = 'oo-u 2 t. 
 
 In several cases I found the same tendency to add 
 an obscure vowel i 1 to every word ending with a con- 
 sonant that is the national characteristic of Italy 
 (which see, p. 76). 
 
 TEUTONIC CHARACTERISTICS. 
 -GERMANY. 
 
 The number of examples was so large as to necessitate 
 their classification by States, no fewer than 112 towns 
 beside country places being represented. But although 
 certain general tendencies could be traced in the pro- 
 nunciation of English by people living in different parts of the 
 Empire, they were not nearly so definite as I had anticipated, 
 showing that the influence of local characteristics is largely 
 neutralized by uniformity of standard in the teaching. 
 
 B, P. B pronounced as B; e.g. cab = cap, mob=:mop. 
 Examples occurred in Bavaria, W. Prussia, Saxony, 
 Schleswig. P pronounced as B; e.g. pen=ben, parcel 
 =barcel : in Baden, frequently; also occasionally in 
 Westphalia. P = B and B = P : Berlin. 
 
68 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 D, T. T is very generally pronounced as D, and occasion- 
 ally D becomes T ; e.g. night = nide, rode = rote, 
 bottle = boddle, spoke in measured tones = in measured 
 dones, dead = det, good = goot. Examples occurred 
 mainly in the North, where also there is a strong tend- 
 ency to omit D in ' London ' and 'under' = Lon'on and 
 un'er, and to pronounce affected = affect'. 
 
 Baden and Saxony afforded frequent examples of all 
 these errors. 
 
 G, K, Q. G = K, programme = pro 1 kra 3 m, big = bik, flags 
 = flaks, gleam = kleam. Bavaria, Berlin, E. Prussia, 
 Saxony, Silesia. 
 
 K = G: companion = gompanion, uncle = ungle, cry = 
 gry. Examples from Baden, Hesse, Rhein, Schleswig, 
 Westphalia. 
 
 Q=K'w. A very general error, the only district from 
 which examples were not noted being Baden. 
 
 X. Pronounced as simple S. Thus, extinguish, exact, 
 explain = estinguish, ezakt, esplain. Berlin. 
 
 Z, S. Three errors are very general throughout the 
 country. One is the substitution of Z for S. Thus : 
 said = zed, fancy = fanzy. (N.B. In English C never 
 has the sound of Z.) Another is the omission of s 
 and es at the end of words, thus : senses = sens', 
 things = thing'. And the third is the hard weak S 
 resulting from the placing of the tongue too near the 
 edge of the teeth, the S so produced being inaudible 
 at a little distance, so that speech becomes peach, 
 storm = torm, etc. 
 
 Sh, Ch, J. The pronunciation of Ch as Sh is fairly common 
 and should be easily remedied. 
 
 In the North J is occasionally sounded as Y ; simply 
 because the English custom has not been realized. 
 From Bavaria, Hesse, and W. Prussia I had instances 
 
National Characteristics. 69 
 
 of the substitution of Ch for J or G. Thus : gin = chin, 
 
 judge = tshu 2 tch, barge = bartsh. 
 
 And the opposite error occurred in Baden and Saxony, 
 
 thus : rich = ridge, chink = jink. 
 
 In Westphalia the Sh had in some cases a peculiarly 
 
 guttural character, examples of which occasionally 
 
 were to be found in Berlin. 
 
 r, r. See p. 17. The errors noted occur in all parts of 
 Germany. I had examples of the substitution of d or 
 r from the Rhine Provinces. This I regard as a re- 
 grettable error in teaching (e.g. to-morrow = to-moddow). 
 
 R. Is very generally replaced by the guttural H in all 
 parts of the Empire. The percentage of guttural Hs 
 was smallest in Baden. 
 
 Th, Th. When correctly pronounced, the voiced Th is 
 often substituted for the whispered Th and vice versa. 
 This is to be remedied by a diligent use of the pro- 
 nouncing dictionary. 
 
 Th = Z, Th = s; e.g. that = zat, something = somsing; 
 a very general error not confined to any one part. 
 Th = D and Th = T ; e.g. that = dat, thing = ting, 
 occurred sometimes in Westphalia and W. Prussia. 
 
 V, F. V is frequently pronounced as W, thus : survey = 
 sur-ooey, provoke = prowoke ; but there were some 
 cases in Berlin where V was sounded as F, thus : above 
 = abo 1 ff. 
 
 W. Is very generally a mere vowel. See p. 20. 
 
 ("). Is most common in Saxony and Prussia, but is found 
 all over the Empire. 
 
 H. Was omitted in the Rhine Provinces only. Hovered 
 = 'o^ered. 
 
 NG. The repetition of the sound of hard G, so char- 
 acteristic of Austria and Hungary, is also met with 
 occasionally in Schleswig and Prussia. 
 
70 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 M, N. The slurring of the last syllable in German, human, 
 woman, etc. ( = Germ', hum', worn') is most common in 
 the North of Germany. 
 
 A' 2 . There is a general tendency to pronounce A 2 as A 1 , 
 thus : al^a^l, rarely = o 1 ll. 
 
 00. The modified vowel ii is used instead of oo in 
 Schleswig, and I have found cases of it in Hesse. 
 Thus : too = tii, move = miive. 
 
 E 1 . A certain number of people all over the country 
 pronounce this vowel much longer than we do in 
 English. 
 
 A 3 . Throughout the whole of Germany there is a tend- 
 ency to substitute E 2 for A 3 ; thus : man = me 2 n, hat = 
 he 2 d, bad = be 2 d, angry = e 2 ngry or frequently e-ng-ry. 
 In Silesia sometimes bat (flitter-maus) = bu 2 t, and in 
 Westphalia Harry = Ha 1 h-re 1 curiously enough the 
 way the villagers in Berkshire pronounce the name 
 when calling to each other. More often it was pro- 
 nounced Hu 2 rry by Germans. 
 
 E 2 . Correct, except in the North from Friesland to W. 
 Prussia, where it tends towards A 3 ; thus : bet = ba 3 t, 
 very = va 3 ry or vaV or va 1 re 1 , ferry = fa 3 rry. Also in 
 Saxony. 
 
 I 1 ! 1 . Almost everywhere 'her' is pronounced like the 
 English 'hair' or the German Herr. Similarly Sir = 
 Sa 5 r ( = sehr), person = pairson. 
 
 IPr. In Schleswig I found purse = pa 1 hse probably an 
 attempt to correct the other error and in Westphalia 
 I found work = wa 2 -i 1 k, this being most likely due 
 to an American teacher. 
 
 I 2 . All over the Empire there is a tendency to pronounce 
 I 2 too long. 
 
 1 . There is also a very general tendency to substitute U 2 
 for O 1 . Thus : not = nu 2 t, stop = stu 2 p, etc. Itisnot 
 
National Characteristics* yr 
 
 however so marked as in Denmark. The pronuncia- 
 tion of wanted=wa 2 nted, which I occasionally came 
 across, was probably American. 
 
 U 2 . The most common error is to pronounce either U 2 as 
 O 1 e.g. above =abo 1 ff, wonder=wander, or U 2 as A 3 , 
 e.g. up=a 3 p, crumbling=:cra 3 mbling, once=wa 3 n-z, 
 some=sa 3 m. 
 
 Occasionally in Berlin we have but=ba 1 ht, and in 
 Pomerania much=-me 2 ch. This also is found in 
 E. Prussia. 
 
 A 4 . In E. Prussia this was pronounced with the double 
 sound, e.g. break = bra 4 y-u 2 k as in Scandinavian 
 countries. 
 
 In Bavaria and Saxony it lost almost entirely the 
 character of a glide, made becoming me 2 hd and pails 
 =pe 3 hlz, i.e. a short E 2 drawn out. 
 
 I 3 . Was frequently pronounced more as a diphthong than 
 as a glide. Thus light became Ia 2 -e 1 t almost 
 Ia 1 h-e 1 e 1 t, and pipe=pa 1 h-eep. There were no 
 corrections noted from Bavaria. It seemed to me that 
 those who simply used the vowel sound they have in 
 'Sonnenschein ' without trying to produce anything 
 specially ' English ' did best. 
 
 O 2 . Was made too much of a diphthong, the elements 
 being O 1 - oo in Westphalia and Berlin, and A 3 - ou-oo, 
 in Baden, where coal had almost the sound of cowl 
 (i.e. ko 2 l=koul). And O 2 -oo in the Rhine Provinces, 
 where the vowel sound was correct, but drawled too^ 
 much. In Schleswig, Saxony, and Hesse there was a 
 tendency to substitute A 2 or O 1 for O 2 . Thus, suppose 
 =suppa 2 z, alone=ala 2 n, moment=zma 2 ment, nobody 
 =no 1 body, known = no 1 n, host = ho 1 st. 
 
 A 5 . The pronunciation a 4 -i j r instead of a 3 -i 1 r is practic- 
 ally universal ; hair becomes ha 4 y-er, declare =* 
 decla 4 y-er. 
 
72 The Pronunciation of English, 
 
 OU. Is correctly given in many places. For the rest the 
 errors are similar to those found in England among 
 untrained speakers, i.e. either the diphthong begins on 
 a too broad a sound, howl becoming ha 1 h-ool, or it 
 is prefaced by a short E 2 , thus : now = ne 2 aou, as in 
 many country places. 
 
 OI. I found ' boy ' was sometimes pronounced ' by ' in 
 Schleswig. This is probably due to Scandinavian 
 influence. In Westphalia OI was sometimes replaced 
 by A 2 , thus : point = pa 2 nt. 
 
 U 4 . Is very generally correct, save when the modified ii 
 is substituted for it. But there are some persistent 
 mistakes. Enthusiasm must not be pronounced 
 enthoosiasm save by those who wish to acquire the 
 Cockney pronunciation. To say yewer for your 
 suggests to the English ear, America ; and to say 
 y'have or y'ave for you have, or y'are for you are, takes 
 us back to the time of Shakespeare. The proper 
 modern contractions are you 've and you 're preserv- 
 ing the vowel sound of the first word and eliding that 
 of the second. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 B, P. Are often confused. Pleasant = bleasant, etc. 
 
 D, T. D is weak after N, and terminal -ed is omitted. 
 
 Under = un'ner, regarded = regard'. T becomes D, 
 
 e.g. tutor = dutor. 
 G, K, Q. G and K are substituted for each other. Thus : 
 
 gigantic = chi 3 kantik ; ' take the key ' = ta 4 g th' ghe 1 . 
 
 Q = k'w, quite = k'wa 1 -e 1 t. 
 Z, S. Substituted for each other. Result = ressult ; also 
 
National Characteristics. 73 
 
 r, r. Very often omitted after P or B, and guttural after G. 
 Worried = 'oo-u 2 -ooi 2 d. 
 
 R. Correctly trilled by about one in four, doubtful in as 
 many, guttural in the rest. 
 
 Th, Th. Very often confused, e.g. Thank you = dhang'k 
 you. Also TH = D, Z, or S. This thing = ziss sing. 
 
 V, F. V is often weak or pronounced as W. Venture = 
 wenture. 
 
 {"). I encountered a good many instances of the glottal 
 catch. 
 
 NG. The pronunciation of NG is the most noteworthy 
 characteristic of Austria and of Hungary. The nasal 
 passage is momentarily closed, giving the sound of a 
 hard G after the NG in all cases; e.g. going-g up, 
 being-g reminded, growing-g your cress, among-g villas 
 (Pilsen), ceiling-g of a room. Occasionally also 'ignor- 
 ant thing ' = ing-yorant thing-k. 
 
 A 1 . Sometimes nasalized, e.g. part. 
 
 A 2 . All = 0^ (Pilsen). 
 
 OCX Modified ii substituted. Thus foot-stool = fut-stiihl. 
 
 A 3 . Generally A 3 = E 2 , but sometimes A 3 = 0^ Hand = 
 he 2 nd, act = e 2 kt, narrow = no 1 rro 2 . 
 
 1 1 . Sir = sa 5 r ( = sehr). 
 
 1 2 . Is made too long : admit = adme 1 t. 
 
 1 . Becomes A 3 or U 2 . Not = na 3 t or nu 2 t, blossom = 
 blu 2 ssum. 
 
 1 3 . Is somewhat drawled : might = ma 1 h-e 1 e 1 t. 
 
 2 . Is variously pronounced ; frequently short O 1 as noble 
 = no 1 ble, stroke = stro 1 ^ only = o 1 nly. Sometimes A 2 
 as own = a 2 n, going = ga 2 ing, groan =gra 2 n. 
 
 But I found that some of those who had most difficulty 
 with this vowel had a perfect example of the way it is 
 sounded in English in their own word for oven 'ofen.' 
 
74 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 Let me advise you all to try to find in your own pro- 
 nunciation of your own language any examples there 
 may be of vowels perfectly identical with English vowels. 
 Sometimes in a dialect of your own language you may find 
 such sounds. It would be useless for me to attempt to 
 find any that would hold good for all of you. I cannot 
 say whether every Austrian pronounces the O of ' ofen ' 
 as I pronounce the O 2 of * no,' but those who do so 
 may take it as their own standard for that vowel. This 
 is the kind of thing you may learn best in England. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 B, P. There was a tendency to substitute the voiceless 
 
 letter : Big = pig. 
 
 G, K, Q. Quite = k'vite or g'ooite. 
 Z, S. Sometimes S = Z. 'Buy some stamps ' = 'buy zum 
 
 zdamps.' Sometimes S is thin and weak or omitted, 
 
 thus : scramble = cramble, spread = pread, broker's shop 
 
 = broker shop. 
 Ch, Sh, J. Gentleman = chentl'm'n (frequently), journey = 
 
 je-urne, church = che-urch, j = ch. 
 r, r. These sounds correctly produced by about half 
 
 those tested. Omitted or slurred by the rest. Very = 
 
 vaV, almost va 1 *. 
 
 R. Correctly trilled by about half, guttural in the rest. 
 Th, Th. Variously pronounced. Th = D or Z, 7% = S> 
 
 Th confused with Th. ' The ' = ze 1 . 
 L. Weak : thus, table = ta 4 bl' or ta 4 b'. 
 V, F. F substituted for V. Have = haf, etc. 
 W. Pronounced correctly by some, but in the majority of 
 
 cases either weak or a simple vowel = 'OO. 
 NG. Mispronounced through carelessness. 
 
National Characteristics* 75 
 
 Vowels. 
 
 Vowels frequently nasalized as in French. In plural 
 words or between M and N the vowel E 2 is omitted, thus : 
 senses = sens', woman = worn', Mrs. = Miss, instead of 
 Mi 2 se 2 z. 
 
 A 2 . Becomes O 2 : all = o 2 !, taught = to 2 t. 
 A 3 . Handsome = he 2 nsu 2 m, man = me 2 n. 
 
 1 1 . Sir = Sa 5 r (as in share). 
 
 1 2 . Too long, e.g. pin = pe 1 n. 
 
 1 . Not = nu 2 t, gone = gu 2 n. 
 
 2 . Only = a 2 nlee, suppose = su 2 ppa 2 z. 
 
 HOLLAND. 
 
 The number of cases was too small for a complete 
 analysis. 
 
 D, T. A tendency to substitute D for T. 
 Z, S. Also Z for S. 
 
 Sh. Differs somewhat from the English sound. 
 Th, Th. The voiceless Th very seldom used Very often 
 
 Z is substituted for both. 
 W. Is almost entirely a vowel. 
 A 2 . Becomes A 3 ; e.g. water = wa 3 tter. 
 E 2 . Becomes U 2 : settle himself =su 2 ttle hu 2 msu 2 lf. 
 O 1 . Becomes U 2 : common = ku 2 mmu 2 n. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 The characteristic accent by which we recognize a French- 
 man has not so much to do with pronunciation as with 
 rhythm. 
 
 B, P. Are occasionally confused, but more I think by 
 accident than for any phonetic reason. 
 
76 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 D, T. The end syllable of such words as effected, melted, 
 
 etc., is often left out, the words being pronounced 
 
 effect', melt', with a slight pause after the t. This is 
 
 due to an attempt to pronounce d after t without 
 
 inserting the vowel. It arises from an error in teaching. 
 Z, S. Terminal S is often omitted, and the S in general is 
 
 thin and weak, the tip of the tongue being placed too 
 
 near the edge of the teeth. 
 Sh, Ch, J. Ch is pronounced like Sh ; and the soft G, or 
 
 English J, like Zh or the French J ; e.g., chicken = 
 
 shicken, genius = zhenius. 
 r, r. Sometimes correct, but generally omitted by those 
 
 who use the guttural H ; e.g., prompt = p'ompt, true = 
 
 t'ue, groups = g'oups, very = ve'y. 
 
 R. Correct in about half the cases, guttural in the rest. 
 Th, Th. Always a difficult sound. Is pronounced T, or D, 
 
 or S. Thousands = t'ousands, though = do 2 , worth 
 
 seeing = wors' seeing, etc. 
 L. Little people = litl' peopP. 
 W. In some cases fairly good, in others a simple 
 
 vowel : 'oo. 
 H. Often a great difficulty. Hot = 'ot. 
 
 Vowels. 
 
 The vowels as a rule are only accidentally wrong, there 
 being seldom any difficulty in pronouncing them. Occasion- 
 ally some of them are nasalized. Sir is pronounced Sa 5 re, 
 and the short I 2 is not made short enough. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 I have not had a large enough number of students from 
 Italy to warrant a very detailed analysis of the national 
 characteristics. Among those I have come across were 
 
National Characteristics, 77- 
 
 cases in which T was pronounced as D. In common with 
 the French they tend to omit H; thus: have = 'ave. On 
 the other hand the W is fairly good, and they had much 
 less difficulty in pronouncing it as the English do. R was, 
 in some cases guttural, and in others correct, and the same 
 may be said of r and r. NG and GN were subject to. 
 uncertainty, but this is hardly to be wondered at in view of 
 the special pronunciation of GN in Italian, which does not 
 exist in English, save in Signer and two or three other words 
 directly taken from the Italian. 
 
 The most striking characteristic consists in the addition, 
 of an obscure vowel i or -er to every word ending in a 
 consonant, giving it an extra syllable. Sometimes this 
 vowel is even inserted between two consonants in the 
 middle of a word, thus : ' sometimes ' acquires the sound 
 of ' summertimes.' I have been assured by Italian 
 teachers of English that this is one of the greatest diffi- 
 culties with beginners. 
 
 For this reason Italians should practise diligently the 
 exercise on p. 53. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 Russia is too big a country for one type of pronunciation 
 to be characteristic of the whole of it. What I have ta 
 say, therefore, must be understood as applying only to the 
 people I have come in contact with and the places from 
 which they came. 
 
 B, P. B is often substituted for P and P for B. 
 D, T. These letters are often confused and D or T after 
 
 N is often left out: e.g., Wonderful = won'erful, don't 
 
 notice = don' notice. 
 G, K, Q. K is frequently pronounced G. Thus wicked 
 
 = wigged. Quite = k'wite. 
 
78 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 Z, S. In some cases all the sibillants were good in others 
 S was thin and weak. Thus, stately = 'tately v In 
 several S = th (lisping). 
 
 .Sh, Ch, J. Occasionally shook = she^ook (a Scandinavian 
 characteristic). 
 
 ir, r. As a rule good. Rarely guttural or elided. 
 
 R. Trill good rarely guttural, but they could always give 
 the English trilled R also. 
 
 Th, Th. Often th = s, th = z ; e.g. the sun = ze sun, birth- 
 day = birsday. 
 
 V, F. In the middle of a word V = W; at the end it is 
 omitted. Servant = Serwant, visit = wisit (a Scandin- 
 avian characteristic). 
 
 "W. Correctly pronounced by a few. For the most W = 
 'oo, twenty = too-e-nty. 
 
 .("). The glottal catch is strong in Kurland. 
 
 NG. Pronunciation uncertain : dignified = ding-yified. 
 
 MN. The last syllable in such words as human and 
 moment is frequently slurred, = hum', mom't. 
 
 Vowels. 
 
 The following errors were recorded : 
 A 1 . Large = Ia 2 rge. 
 A' 2 . Pronounced either O 1 or O 2 . 
 E 1 . Beast = bi' 2 st. 
 
 A 3 . Very generally A 3 = E 2 ; e.g. fact = fe%t, as = e 2 z. 
 E 2 . Frequently becomes U 2 , as tell = tu' 2 ll. 
 
 1 1 . Thirty = tha s i 1 rty. But very often work is pronounced 
 like walk. I have observed this peculiarity also 
 among French students. 
 
 1 2 . Is usually too long : crippled = cre 1 e 1 pled. 
 U 2 . Rugged is pronounced like ragged. 
 
National Characteristics. 79 
 
 A 4 . Lady becomes Ie 2 ddy. 
 
 O 2 . Very generally pronounced as A 2 ; e.g. home ha 2 m, 
 
 hole = ha 2 ll, smoke = sma 2 k. But in Moscow no' 2 = 
 
 no 1 !), known = no!n, o 2 ver = o 1 ver, etc. 
 A 5 . Share = sha 4 -i 1 r instead of sha 3 -! 1 ^ 
 OU. Often pronounced, probably by mistake, like O 2 ; 
 
 e.g., now = no 2 . 
 
 POLISH. 
 
 The Polish rhythm resembles that of the French, The 
 principal errors of pronunciation are in the long vowels, 
 which are foreign to the language. 
 
 D, T. T is weak or pronounced as D; London = Lon'on. 
 G, K, Q. In several cases K was omitted in such sentences 
 
 as 'broke the silence ' = ' bro' the silence.' 
 :Sh, Ch, J. J was pronounced as Y. 
 r and r. Were both correct. 
 R. The trill is strong and correct. 
 Th, Th. Is weak before other consonants. 
 L. Little = littl'. 
 W. Usually fairly correct. 
 NG. Sometimes the hard G is sounded after the NG in 
 
 cases where it should be silent. (Compare Austria.) 
 A 2 . Becomes either O 1 orO 2 ; thus: talk = to%, all = o 2 ll 
 
 or o 1 !], corner = ko 2 ner. 
 OO. Rubies = ru 2 bbies. 
 E 1 . Sleep = sli 2 p. 
 
 'O 1 . Becomes U 2 ; e.g. was not = wu 2 z nu 2 t. 
 *U 2 . Sometimes pronounced as A 3 ; thus : bunker = ba 2 nker. 
 .A 4 . Either pronounced I 3 or A 3 ; thus : made = mi 3 de, 
 
 favour = fa 3 vo 1 r. 
 
80 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 O 2 . Becomes either O 1 or A 2 ; thus: nobody = no 1 bo 1 dy, 
 no = no 1 h, own = a 2 n. This last is curious, because 
 Poles have a difficulty with the sound of A 2 in such 
 words as all and water and talk, and yet some of the 
 same people pronounce it quite correctly instead of O 2 . 
 Probably it is due to mistaken instructions in print. 
 
 On the dangers of a faulty pronunciation. 
 
 A middle-aged lady, riding in the dark, fell from her 
 bicycle. A policeman approaching, enquired if she was 
 hurt. 
 
 To whom she replied : " Thank you, I am all right 
 only a little bruised." 
 
 She was immediately arrested and spent the night 
 in the cells. On the morrow the magistrate, after 
 briefly examining the witnesses, discharged her with the 
 recommendation to perfect her pronunciation of English. 
 What mistake did she make ? 
 
8i 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 ON BREATHING. 
 
 LIFE is supported, as fire is kept up, by a species of com- 
 bustion. The food we eat, like the coal we put in the 
 furnace, supplies heat and does work for us by combining 
 with oxygen. 
 
 Creatures that are very small can get enough oxygen 
 from the water they live in, for water dissolves air roughly 
 about four parts in every hundred ; but larger creatures 
 require special organs for procuring it. The bigger the 
 body the greater the proportion of bulk to surface. For a 
 creature double the size, the skin has to be four times, but 
 the weight eight times as great as before. If therefore the 
 oxygen has to soak through the skin, it must go through 
 twice as fast in the bigger creature. 
 
 Obviously some other means must be found of getting it 
 in, and the various ways in which this has been done form 
 one of the most interesting topics in the whole range of 
 physiology. 
 
 One of the simplest and most familiar occurs in the 
 case of fishes. You may watch them in an aquarium 
 sucking water into their mouths and blowing it out behind 
 the gill-plates. And if you examine the gills of a dead fish 
 you will find that they resemble a series of combs, along 
 the teeth of which delicate blood-vessels run. The water 
 swallowed by the fish plays in strong streams through these 
 
 G 
 
82 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 combs, the blood absorbs the oxygen from it and carries it 
 all over the body. 
 
 With insects it is quite different. You cannot drown a 
 bee or a butterfly by holding its head under water, because 
 no insect breathes through the mouth. But it would die if 
 you kept it under water from the waist downward, because 
 the breathing holes are on the abdomen, one on each side 
 to each ring. Each breathing hole is guarded by bristles 
 to keep out smaller insects, and from it delicate branching 
 air-tubes ramify through the body to carry oxygen to the 
 tissues. 
 
 There is a kind of Death's Head Moth, the caterpillar of 
 which frightens the country people not only by its weird 
 appearance, but by the uncanny grunts and groans it can 
 emit. Some years ago Professor Poulton ascertained with 
 a stethoscope of microscopic dimensions which I lent him 
 for the purpose, that this creature J grunts' by suddenly 
 expelling the air from these tubes. 
 
 The wind-pipe divides in the chest into two main 
 branches, one to the right lung, one to the left, and these 
 again branch and divide and sub-divide like the branches 
 of a tree, the ultimate divisions ending in little transparent 
 air sacs, each surrounded by a delicate network of capillary 
 blood-vessels. 
 
 When we take breath, each of these thousands of air 
 cells expands and draws air into itself, expelling it when 
 we breathe out again. And the walls of the air sacs are so 
 .thin, and those of the capillaries so delicate, that the 
 oxygen of the air gets through them straight to the blood. 
 
 But the body requires much more oxygen than could 
 possibly be dissolved in the liquid of the blood, so we have the 
 wonderful provision of the red-blood corpuscles. A drop of 
 blood, under the microscope, is seen to contain millions of 
 disc-shaped bodies with rather thick edges not unlike small 
 coins. These are the red corpuscles, and they owe their 
 
On Breathing. 83 
 
 colour to a certain chemical compound called haemoglobin. 
 Now haemoglobin sucks up oxygen as a sponge sucks up 
 water, and gives it out again as easily ; in fact a gramme of 
 haemoglobin can take up something like one and a third 
 cubic centimetres of oxygen. This is carried all over the 
 body by the flow of blood, and given out wherever it is wanted, 
 carbon-dioxide being taken in its place and breathed out 
 into the air. 
 
 The point with which we are now concerned is how the 
 air cells are made to expand. 
 
 The lungs, with the heart, are enclosed in a bony 
 cage formed by the back-bone, the ribs, and the breast- 
 bone. The floor of this cage consists of a tough mem- 
 brane called the diaphragm, which separates it from the 
 liver, stomach, and intestines. [See Diagram, Fig. 13.] 
 
 FIG. 13. 
 Diagram showing changes of shape of lungs during breathing. 
 
 When we draw breath, the muscles of the ribs raise them 
 to the position shown by the full line in the diagram, 
 making the cage bigger. The muscles of the diaphragm 
 pull downwards making it deeper, and the air vessels of the 
 
84 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 lungs are forced to expand in order to fill the additional 
 space. 
 
 When we breathe out, the ribs fall into the position 
 shown by the dotted line, and the diaphragm muscles also 
 relax so that the lung shrinks into a smaller volume and 
 expels the air. The air cells themselves are elastic, and 
 contract like so many india-rubber toy balloons, when the 
 air is let out. What keeps them expanded is the fact that 
 they are in a closed space the thorax into which no air 
 can get, save that contained within the air sacs and the 
 tubes leading to them. 
 
 A rabbit's lung, preserved in glycerine and water, will 
 show this elasticity of the air sacs very well. It can be 
 inflated with a small pair of bellows, but collapses directly 
 the pressure is removed. 
 
 The important thing therefore is how we take breath, 
 rather than how it escapes again. 
 
 We take in breath in two ways : by raising the ribs, and 
 by lowering the diaphragm. As a rule men favour the 
 latter, and women the former method but singers and 
 public speakers use both. I will explain why. 
 
 You have probably heard about, if you have never ex- 
 perienced, the dreadful sensation that comes when you 
 stand up to face for the first time an audience, and have 
 reached the middle of a long note or of a sentence. Just 
 by the lower ribs and in the chest it seems to lay hold of 
 you so that you cannot go on. Your friends say it is 
 nervousness and will not come when you have more 
 experience. 
 
 If you do the same thing it will come to the very end of 
 your days, for it is a provision of nature to prevent you 
 from forgetting to breathe, and thus, for instance, dying in 
 your sleep. When the percentage of carbon dioxide in the 
 lungs reaches a certain point, it stimulates certain nerves 
 
On Breathing* 85 
 
 which cause the chest to expand and the diaphragm to be 
 pulled down, so as to take more air into the lungs. 
 
 What you feel is the battle between the thinking part of 
 you that wants to go on talking and the automatic part of 
 you that gives warning of death if you do not go on 
 breathing. 
 
 We do not as a rule breathe as deeply as we can. The 
 quantity of air habitually breathed in and out called by 
 the convenient name of " tidal air " varies from little 
 more than a quarter of a litre in some persons to a full 
 litre in others. We may take half a litre as the average. 
 But by expanding the chest and exerting ourselves we can 
 draw in a full litre and a half more. This is called " com- 
 plemental air." And when all the tidal air is breathed out 
 naturally, we can still, by an effort, force out another litre 
 and a half which physiologists call "supplemental air," 
 leaving perhaps another litre, or a litre and a half of 
 " residual air." So that altogether the lungs hold at their 
 fullest four and a half 01 five litres of air, of which some 
 people habitually use less than one-tenth part for breathing 
 with. Can you wonder that when they stand up to speak 
 the oxygen is all used up before they get through the first 
 sentence? 
 
 After the " tidal " air is gone they try to get to the end of 
 the sentence on the supplemental air. But there is this 
 difference : when you come to the end of your supple- 
 mental air you have also come to the end of your oxygen, 
 and you always begin to feel uncomfortable ; whereas if you 
 speak with the complemental air you have still the tidal 
 air to go on with, and you do not feel any discomfort until 
 that is used up. 
 
 Always therefore, in speaking, fill your lungs take in as 
 much complemental air as you comfortably can, and take 
 breath as soon as you come to the end of the tidal air * 
 
86 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 reserving the supplemental air strictly for unforeseen emer- 
 gencies. 
 
 Consider now the difficulties placed by foolish fashions 
 in the way of the speaker and the singer. Round 
 the upper part of the thorax is hung what is known 
 as the " shoulder girdle " supporting the arms, i.e., 
 the shoulder bones at the back, and the collar-bones 
 reaching from the upper part of each shoulder-bone to the 
 top of the breast-bone in front, where the space between 
 the two ends of them constitutes what is known as the 
 "salt-cellar." 
 
 But observe that this is no solid ring of bone like that 
 provided for the leg-bones. The muscles of the arms pull 
 on the cage containing the lungs which must be continually 
 expanding and contracting as we breathe. If then we 
 cramp the position of the arms we cramp the action of the 
 lungs. 
 
 Fashion sometimes decrees that man or woman is cor- 
 rectly dressed only when the throat is enclosed in a tight 
 collar of white linen as stiff and hard as the shell of a 
 lobster's claw. 
 
 How is the larynx, with its delicate mechanism, to move 
 up and down within this rigid case without being bruised 
 and chafed and hurt ? People laughed at Mr. Gladstone's 
 collars but they did not press upon the front of his 
 throat. 
 
 The coat that fits without a wrinkle because the stuff is 
 stretched equally tight all over you, may be an ideal fit for 
 the parade ground, but it is terribly bad for the voice the 
 man who wears it can only breathe with his diaphragm. 
 
 The small waist drawn in to how many inches may I 
 venture on? may almost attain the high standard of the 
 fashion plate, but it effectually precludes diaphragm 
 breathing. 
 
On Breathing. 87 
 
 Sometimes a very small thing makes all the difference, 
 as for instance, when a man's coat is so cut that the strain 
 comes on the top button when he expands his chest. 
 Sometimes it is the speaker's own fault a question of 
 attitude rather than of clothes. 
 
 The older ones among you have probably often seen the 
 old-fashioned way of teaching a class of school-girls to 
 repeat poetry. 
 
 " Stand straight, young ladies heads up, chins in, heels 
 together, hands by your sides touching your knees and 
 don't shrug your shoulders ! " 
 
 And so, stiff and rigid, with the shoulder-girdle pressing 
 the ribs downwards, they were made to recite. 
 
 Compare that with the action of a singer or a great orator 
 only remember that as the highest art conceals all art you 
 may have to watch very closely to perceive it he steps, 
 forward, lifts his head, raises the shoulder girdle to take the 
 weight off his lungs, lets it sink naturally into position, and 
 begins. In colloquial English, he shrugs his shoulders. 
 
 Another position equally bad was favoured a good deal 
 by the Board Schools. 
 
 The children were taught to put one arm behind their 
 backs and clasp the other arm just above the elbow. This 
 throws the point of the shoulder forward and puts the 
 shoulder-blade in an unnatural position. 
 
 The first rule is : Let the clothes be easy about the throat; 
 the upper part of the body, and the waist, so as to allow of 
 perfectly free action, and before you speak raise the 
 shoulder girdle, fill your lungs, and begin with the con> 
 plemental air. 
 
 Secondly, remember the old maxim. Don't trouble 
 about the rich people in the front row, but speak to the 
 old woman in the far corner of the gallery the one who has 
 got her mouth open. If you can bring a smile to her face 
 you need not be afraid that the front row will not hear. 
 
The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 The third rule is : Speak slowly. Remember what I told 
 you about the echoes in a large room. Even when the 
 pictures are up so to speak and the curtains hung 
 when the room is full of people there is sure to be some 
 kind of echo. Every syllable you utter will be prolonged 
 into a continuous sound, and people cannot distinguish 
 a second syllable until the echoes of the first have finished. 
 The bigger the room the more deliberate your speech 
 must be. 
 
 Observe my choice of words deliberate I did not say 
 11 the longer your speech must take." 
 
 I have heard people address a large audience in this 
 way : 
 
 "Thechairmanhasaskedme . . . tosayafewwords . . . 
 totellyouhowpleased . . . lamtosee . . . somanyhappyfaces 
 . . . before me." 
 
 That may do for writing from dictation, but it is not 
 speaking deliberately. Each separate syllable must be big 
 and separate, and the voice must be big too. 
 
 Many people have voices much bigger than they think, 
 but they don't know how to use them. 
 
 I have heard young ladies in the drawing-room sing 
 sentimental songs with such small voices that the accom- 
 paniment drowned them with the soft pedal down ; and 
 
 I have heard those same girls in the tennis court say 
 
 II Fault ! Love-thirty " in tones which could be heard a 
 hundred yards away. 
 
 I told you in an earlier lecture how to open your mouths 
 how to put the tongue down and use the full volume of 
 the mouth for speaking. When people are out of doors, 
 calling and talking to each other from a distance in the 
 open air, they do this unconsciously. It is generally not 
 until they begin to think about it that they speak badly. 
 
 Five minutes' practice in a large room with a good 
 teacher will do"more for the voice than many pages of 
 
On Breathing:. 89 
 
 printed instructions, and I shall therefore merely content 
 myself with saying that any one in ordinary health ought to 
 be able to make an audience of two hundred people hear 
 easily, once the proper way of using the voice has been 
 learnt. 
 
 Practise using the full power of your voice in reading 
 aloud. 
 
 But in giving this advice I must warn you against a 
 worse mistake. 
 
 To everything there is a season, and a time for every 
 purpose under heaven a time to speak, and a time to be 
 silent. 
 
 You can do nothing that will stamp your conversation 
 more definitely as un-English, than to converse loudly in 
 the streets. 
 
 It belongs just as much to the English nature as the th 
 does to our pronunciation, to talk quietly in public. You 
 can't annoy an Englishman more easily than by calling 
 him by name across the road. He puts you down at once 
 as a person who has not learnt the conventions of polite 
 society. To talk loudly out of doors savours of 'Arry and 
 'Arriet on a Bank Holiday. It is too terrible to think of 
 your being led to do it in innocence through my advice ta 
 practise the full power of your voice. 
 
 Yet perhaps English people are often scarcely fair in the 
 way they talk to you. I think it was Charles Dickens who- 
 first noticed that the majority of people talk to foreigners 
 as if they were deaf. The very natural result is that 
 foreigners answer in the same key, and so insensibly get 
 the habit of loud talking. It is not exactly their fault. 
 Observe what happens the next time you are in a mixed 
 assembly. An Englishman is introduced to a group of 
 foreigners he converses in full resonant tones. Presently 
 someone else is introduced, and the first man turns to some 
 
90 The Pronunciation of English, 
 
 of his own countrymen, and they talk together in a much 
 lower tone of voice. That is what you should copy the 
 ordinary pitch of the voice in conversation the other is 
 only put on, because you are supposed not to understand 
 quite easily. The low-toned voice has its advantages. 
 You can enjoy conversation much more in a room, or at 
 table, if people do not talk loudly. 
 
 There is, I believe, a difference of national custom in 
 respect of voice-tones. I was told many years ago by a 
 Belgian Professor in a town much frequented by foreigners 
 from all countries, that the Spanish visitors talked more 
 loudly than any. You could tell them, he said, at a 
 distance, by the sound of their conversation. Unfortu- 
 nately I had no opportunity of observing for myself. And 
 I have heard people say that English tourists talk too 
 loudly. One must not, however, forget that a tourist may 
 be denned as a person who " takes his prejudices abroad 
 and leaves his manners at home," so that we cannot judge 
 a nation by what we see of them under such circumstances. 
 Still, most of us hope we shall never be mistaken for 
 tourists ! 
 
 My advice therefore is : In class and when in private 
 you are practising what we teach, speak out with the full 
 power of your voice. Even though you never need to 
 teach, learn to use your voice properly, because it is the 
 one and only way of learning to pronounce accurately. A 
 mumbling voice may hide its deficiencies from the teacher, 
 but that is the most foolish thing it is possible to do. If 
 you can speak without any foreign accent to a large 
 audience, be quite sure your accent will be perfect in 
 conversation. Learn therefore to read English aloud to an 
 audience of two hundred so that all can hear, and cultivate 
 the art of talking to two of them without disturbing the 
 other hundred and ninety-eight. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 ACCENTS. 
 
 * 
 
 THE spoken language has a foreign sound, though every 
 consonant and vowel may be articulated in the most 
 perfect manner, if some word is accented on the wrong 
 syllable. 
 
 For this kind of error there is but one cure Persever- 
 ance and a Pronouncing Dictionary. 
 
 Your teacher and your friends may, and ought to, pull 
 you up when you make a slip, and so in time weed out 
 your faults, but the misplaced accent is a kind of error you 
 can correct for yourself, and your teacher's time should be 
 reserved for more important things. Get a big Dictionary, 
 the most expensive you can afford, with idioms and examples 
 and illustrations, and let it be your rule that for every page you 
 read you will look up ten words at least. If there are not 
 ten words that you do not know, make up the number with 
 words you do know, and read all that is written about 
 them. You will be astonished at the progress you will 
 make with three months of this kind of work. 
 
 Then your teacher's time can be saved for the far more 
 important purpose I am about to describe. 
 
 For though you pronounce like a native and accent with 
 the correctness of a lexicographer, still if your sentence 
 have not the swing about it, and your voice have not the 
 inflections of the native, your words are those of an alien 
 and your speech is foreign. 
 
9 2 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 The rhythm of the native sentence the tone of the 
 native voice these are what you must aim at. And the 
 way to get them is to enter into the spirit of the native 
 thought. 
 
 I am speaking now not merely as an Englishman to 
 foreigners, but rather as a linguist to students of language. 
 I would advise my own countrymen to do the same in 
 learning your language. 
 
 Read the great masters of literature and poetry. Listen 
 to the great orators, preachers, statesmen, actors ; cultivate 
 the friendship of the people of the land, sympathize with 
 their hopes, their difficulties, and their ambitions ; join in 
 their work and in their recreation, and the native accent 
 will come to you. 
 
 And if I am able to shorten this process a little for you 
 it is because in these ten years so many of you have come 
 to live the College life which is the life of the larger family 
 with us, that I have learnt to some extent the mode in 
 which your thought differs from our thought. 
 
 This singular conclusion has been borne in on me : that 
 to express the laws of emphasis as I would express them 
 for an Englishman would be of little use to you, because 
 in the construction of our language we have many words 
 that seem of no importance to you, and you pass them by, 
 and conversely we pass lightly over words which you 
 accent. 
 
 And there are many words on which we lay no emphasis 
 they do not require any but which you oftea pass over in 
 such a casual way, with such curious effect to an English 
 ear, that I have realized the existence in our language of 
 two kinds of accent, namely the ordinary ' Stress accent > 
 emphasized by the voice, and this which I will call 
 the 'Time accent' emphasized by the time spent in 
 
Accents* 93 
 
 pronouncing the word. There is no stress whatever on 
 the 'Time accent' save in special circumstances. 
 
 When you are reading in class you should mark the 
 accents as you hear them. For the ' stress ' I use an 
 ordinary acute accent ; for the ' Time accent ' I underline 
 the syllable, and for some few words which would be 
 accented in your own language, but on which you should 
 specially avoid putting an accent in English, I use brackets. 
 
 Mark your books in this way. Write also in the margins 
 any special notes that may be given ; we always arrange so 
 that you can buy cheap editions for this purpose. A book 
 so maiked will bring back to your mind years afterwards 
 not merely the bare facts but the tones of the lecturer's 
 voice : the sound of the voices of the rest of the class : 
 the past will live again to you and it will keep your accent 
 
 For tuning a voice to the accent of a country is some- 
 thing like tuning a piano. However well it has been done, 
 however fine an instrument you possess, it is better to go 
 over it from time to time. 
 
 TIME ACCENT. 
 So, too, same. 
 
 It is so surprising. I too could tell a tale. It is the 
 
 same man. 
 
 Demonstratives have the time accent, but not relatives. 
 Shut up that dog (that) barks. Observe that this is not 
 the emphatic accent, which occurs as follows : Which 
 dog ? That dog. 
 
 The words very, far er than, such, much, have the time 
 .accent, but, strange to say, not ' as,' thus : 
 Is he much yoiinger than you ? 
 No, just (as) 61d, but far stronger. 
 
94 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 These accents seem so natural to us that I did not 
 realize their existence until I heard the curious effect 
 produced when foreigners omit them. 
 
 Of course emphasis may be given to the preceding 
 sentence if the meaning requires //, thus : 'Is he much 
 younger than you?' but that is additional to the time 
 accent. 
 
 STRESS ACCENT : LOGICAL. 
 
 Every fresh idea has a fresh accent. 
 The second time an idea is referred to it is merely men- 
 tioned and has no accent. 
 
 If an accent is put where there should be none, an open- 
 ing is afforded for an absurd question, by suggesting 
 the opposite of the word accented. If the accent is 
 left out, the question ' what ? ' can be asked of the 
 previously accented word. 
 
 Example: 'Give you a reason on compulsion? If 
 reasons were (as) plenty (as) blackberries I would give 
 no man a reason on compulsion.' 
 
 Observe that there must be no accent of any kind on the 
 two words in brackets, although a German would naturally 
 put them there : ' More plentiful (than),' or 'less plentiful 
 (than),' but '(as) plentiful (as).' 
 
 If the accent on blackberries were omitted we could ask 
 'as plentiful as what ? ' 
 
 If an accent were put on c man ' (which corresponds to 
 'you' in the previous clause), then the question would be, 
 ' Would you give it to a woman ? ' If an accent were put 
 on ; reason,' the listener might ask, ' Would you on com- 
 pulsion give him half-a-crown ? ' 
 
 The one apparent exception to these rules is the word 
 ' compulsion,' which occurs four times in the speech and has 
 an accent each time. But that is the central idea of the 
 speech, and he puts it in a new light each time. 
 
Accents* 95 
 
 NEGATIVES. 
 
 Every negative is a new idea, because it completely 
 reverses some positive statement. It must therefore have 
 an accent. 
 
 But we require to know what it is we have to reverse,, 
 therefore the positive must also be accented unless it has. 
 already been mentioned. 
 
 NEGATIVE WORDS. 
 
 Sometimes both negative and positive are contained in. 
 the same word, in which case it has two accents, 
 linconscious indestructible 
 
 noncommittal disagreeable. 
 
 Some other compound words, in which a particle intro- 
 duces a modification of meaning, e.g. intertwine, transfor- 
 mation. But the dictionary must be consulted, for if a 
 word has been in the language a long while, and if the 
 positive has dropped out of use, only one accent is 
 retained. 
 
 Thus we have 'jiistice' 'injustice,' but 'injury' with- 
 one accent, because 'jury' is not the positive of it. 
 
 Again, 'infinite' is the opposite of ' finite,' but has only 
 one accent because c finite ' is a comparatively recent word 
 in much less general use : ' impudent ' is a word of nega- 
 tive form with only one accent, and it is the same with 
 ' indolent.' But these words have no positive. 
 
 COMPOUND WORDS. 
 
 When first introduced these generally have an accent on* 
 each component, but after a while in many cases one accent 
 is dropped. Thus 'hydraulic press,' 'steam tram,' ' m6tor 
 car ' ; but ' printing-press,' ' steam-engine.' 
 
 For the first year or two after the word was invented, 
 as long as people remembered that it meant ' two wheels,'' 
 
96 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 bicycle was pronounced bi-cycle, with two accents, the Y 
 being pronounced as in my. 
 
 Names of people have an accent on each Christian name 
 or initial and on the surname. Names of places have 
 an accent on each component except ' street,' * Banbury 
 Road,' 'New Road,' 'Westminster Bridge Road,' 'Wor- 
 cester Place,' 'Cavendish Square'; but 'Broad Street,' 
 ' Hythe Bridge Street,' ' Long Wall Street.' 
 
 But wherever the purpose of the speaker is to contrast 
 one thing or action with another the normal accents may 
 be strengthened or dropped as required. Thus, ' Shall 
 I fold the newspaper ? ' ' No, I prefer it unfolded.' But 
 if there were no contrast : ' Please dnfold the paper.' 
 
 Sometimes an accent may be placed where otherwise 
 none would exist, as in the classic instance of Jacob's 
 dream : ' Behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top 
 of it reached to heaven, and behold the angels of God 
 ascending and descending upon it.' 
 
 And in this connection it may be remarked that in 
 upstairs, downstairs, and down town, the stronger accent is 
 on the secc J word unless they are contrasted, when it is 
 transferred to the first. 
 
 ' Cape wine,' like ' port wine,' has two accents in English, 
 but I find most Germans consider the second superfluous. 
 
 Amid a good deal that seems arbitrary there is a certain 
 consistency in the use of these accents which may entitle 
 them to be called ' logical.' 
 
 STRESS- ACCENT : IDIOMATIC OR CONVENTIONAL. 
 
 There is another set of accents which no foreigner could 
 be expected to know. 
 
 Certain auxiliaries to the verb have in some sentences a 
 meaning and a weight far in excess of that they usually 
 bear. If you tried to paraphrase the sentence these mono- 
 
Accents* 9 7 
 
 syllables would have to be replaced by words of three or 
 four syllables. Consequently, if we retain them, they must 
 be reinforced by an extra idiomatic accent, e.g. : 
 
 "Taking all things into consideration, I will say this 
 I do not see how he could have done otherwise." 
 
 Ordinarily the accents would be " I will say this," but that 
 does not express the concession. Substitute the paraphrase 
 and you have " I [am prepared to] say [iritis much]/' The 
 idiomatic accent puts this stress on the shorter words. 
 
 Again : ; I do think it hard that it should rain every 
 Sunday.' The word 'do' stands for 'really,' and is 
 much stronger than usual. 
 
 Again : ' I had to tell him I felt grieved ' the word 
 1 had ' is in place of ' felt compelled.' Other short words 
 may receive added intensity of meaning : 
 
 " I did not know he had it in him," i.e., that it belonged 
 to his nature. 
 
 " If he keeps at it he will make seven shillings a day." 
 To keep at a thing = to persevere. But here the arbitrary 
 nature of an idiom comes in, " If he keeps at work he will, 
 but not if he keeps at home." 
 
 The German idiom differs from the English in this 
 respect, and hence many mistakes arise. In German, when 
 a verb with a separable particle is followed by a noun to 
 which the verb refers, the particle takes the accent. In 
 English the noun takes il, but it goes to the particle if the 
 noun does not follow, or if there is no noun. 
 
 " Lift up your bag and put it on the table. Lift your 
 bag lip and put it on the table." 
 
 " We put up at the inn, but the accommodation was so 
 bad we could not piit tip with it." 
 
 " Tiirn on the light again," but " Turn the light on again." 
 
 " Mrs. Wilfer tie'd up her head and came out for a walk. 
 (Foreigners generally read this "tied up her head and came 
 out for a walk.") 
 
 H 
 
98 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 Sometimes a different accent gives a different meaning. 
 "I may go away again," expresses uncertainty. "Ask if 
 I may .go away again," requests permission. "There were 
 so many children," implies an indefinitely large number. 
 " There were so many children, and so many buns," implies 
 without saying so that there was a bun for each child. 
 
 "So much sack to so little bread," simply compares the 
 quantities; but "Sack so much, bread so much," indicates 
 what they cost. 
 
 1 Get along,' is the familiar phrase with which Mary 
 Jane repels her too insistent admirer. { Get along,' is the 
 way his employer advises him to make a little progress 
 with his work. 
 
 1 What will happen then ?' means 'at that time ' if 'then' 
 bears the accent, but if not it is merely the 'then' of 
 argument ( = donc). 'Now' ( = a present, maintenant) 
 has the accent if it refers to time; but 'Now' of argu- 
 ment ( = or) has no accent. 
 
 And before leaving this subject it may be remarked that 
 in English books a comma is generally printed after the 
 word l that* when it begins a clause of a sentence. 
 
 If you wish what you read to sound like spoken English 
 put the comma before the word "that" instead of after it, 
 and let the word_ (that) be without accent. 
 
 Occasionally the lack of an accent may lead to an 
 ambiguity ; as when the man who had lost an umbrella 
 went to the shop where they advertised, "Umbrellas 
 recovered " in an hour" (re-cover, cf. recover) and was 
 disappointed. Or again, ' The seething pot ' means the 
 pot which is boiling, but ' The seething pot ' means a 
 pot intended for boiling purposes. 
 
 Again : " A man standing by opened one of a row of 
 long covered vats," is ambiguous. "Long covered vats" 
 implies that they had not been opened lately ; " long 
 
Accents* 99 
 
 i 
 
 covered vats " states that they were long and that they were 
 covered. 
 
 But the following passage from " The Red City," by 
 S. Weir Mitchell, p. 209, is the most delightfully ambiguous 
 of any I have met : 
 
 "As he came within a mile of the city he saw tents as 
 for an army camp fires people cooking men women and 
 children lying about by the roadside and in the orchards 
 or the woods." 
 
 It is only fair to the author and the publisher to say that 
 they had correctly arranged the commas, which I leave you 
 to insert. 
 
 Another topic must be referred to, though it extends far 
 beyond the scope of this book namely, the tendency to 
 change that is evident in the pronunciation of the masses 
 all over the country. 
 
 Dr. Sweet has advocated yielding to this tendency to the 
 extent of adopting the vowel-pronunciation now in vogue 
 around London, as being the common tongue of so many 
 millions. 
 
 I am not of those who take this view. I remember 
 London when the Cockney accent had quite different 
 characteristics, and before your day is ended it will probably 
 have changed again. I hold that we should make per- 
 manent the pronunciation of our great orators, and that 
 our influence should be as ballast to oppose the merely 
 temporary influence of the uneducated. 
 
 Compare the Londoner of Charles Dickens with the 
 Londoner of to-day. " Spell it with a ' we,' my lord spell 
 it with a ' we ' " says Mr. Weller to the Judge meaning 
 that his son's name should be spelt Veller. He is as much 
 out in his pronunciation of v and w as any Scandinavian. 
 He pronounces Samuel ' Samivel.' You never hear that 
 now it died out with the last of the Spitalfields weavers. 
 
ioo The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 It used to be ascribed, whether rightly or not I cannot 
 say, to the influx of refugees at the time of the French 
 Revolution, but it had become a marked characteristic of 
 Cockney speech. The favourite test sentence for the 
 Londoner was, " White wine and vinegar is very good 
 victuals, I vow." 
 
 W was pronounced like V, but TH was given correctly. 
 Nowadays, * with ' instead of * vith ' is pronounced { wiv ' 
 in spite of the Board Schools. 
 
 The change came about with surprising rapidity. So far 
 as the vowels were concerned it was fairly complete by 
 1880. Twenty years before, the V and W error was in full 
 swing. 
 
 Already there are signs of farther change. The news- 
 boys call out 'Sta'-r' instead of 'Sta 1 ^' and in many ways 
 it is evident that the Vox Populi has no fixed standard 
 of pronunciation. 
 
 Curiously enough, I have to warn you against rich as well 
 as poor. 
 
 The poor boy of Dickens talks of ' puddin,' and marks 
 his ignorance by leaving out the ' g ' from ' ng ' ; the 
 1 Brushwood boy ' of Rudyard Kipling reveals his aristocratic 
 origin by saying things are ' rippin' ' and substituting * n * 
 for ' ng ' everywhere. These are the freaks .of fashion, and 
 you would be foolish to copy them. 
 
 For the public schoolboy, when he leaves school, brings 
 his school slang and tricks of talk with him to the 
 Universities and the Services. And some of it sticks. 
 So we get fads of pronunciation among the wealthy just 
 as we have faults of pronunciation among the poor. They 
 are never the same at the same time, but they take turns. 
 
 The latest instance bids fair to be amusing. For years 
 it has been regarded as the first step on the road to 
 gentility to mind your aitches a small thing in itself but 
 
Accents; ' 101 
 
 still a sign that you might in some distant future become 
 presentable in decent society. Playwrights and comic 
 writers have joked about it. 
 
 Now it has appeared at the top of the tree. In J. C. 
 Snaith's recent novel Mrs. Fitz> the heir to a peerage talks 
 about "unting' and ' 'ounds ' and says 'take 'em 'ome.' 
 Wherefore I presume that in some exalted circles in 
 which, I confess, I have not moved it is becoming the 
 fashion to drop your aitches. 
 
 This sort of thing is of no use to the foreigner. You 
 do not want to learn a custom that will be practised only 
 by a very limited set, and will be hopelessly out of fashion 
 before your next visit to England. 
 
'IO2 
 
 EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE. 
 
 SOME sort of apology is required for these sentences. 
 As the Indian said of the English dictionary, it is difficult 
 to trace the line of argument running through them. 
 
 Some are quotations from Dickens, Besant, Stevenson, 
 Tennyson, Shakespeare, and other authors read in class. 
 Others contain fragments from several quotations welded 
 together into some sort of coherence. Others are frankly 
 made-up sentences invented to illustrate a difficulty which 
 was troubling some student. And the name of the country 
 at the head of each section means that the students for 
 whose benefit those particular sentences were devised, came 
 from that part of the world. 
 
 But while readers will probably find some of their own 
 besetting sins set forth in the section allotted to their own 
 country, they must not assume themselves to be free from 
 the (phonetic) weaknesses of humanity in other lands. 
 The majority of the difficulties of pronunciation are 
 common to several countries, especially with the vowels, 
 though the mistakes differ in each. The value of these 
 exercises is by no means limited to the inhabitants of the 
 country for whom they were first designed. 
 
 At the same time it is an interesting fact that along 
 broad and general lines what is difficult for one nation in 
 English pronunciation may be quite easy for another. 
 Here and there each may find a sentence which appears 
 quite superfluous, but taking them as a whole they afford 
 excellent practice for any one. 
 
Examples for Practice* 103 
 
 NORWAY. 
 
 1. She is a little liable to it. (" Our Mutual Friend."} 
 
 2. Think, however, of the vast show of wealth near Hyde- 
 
 Park Gates, and above all in Park Lane. 
 
 3. Peace hovered above us with wide white wings. 
 
 4. I know now how slow you go. 
 
 5. I wonder where you are wandering? 
 
 6. Shoulders so sloping could not be shrugged. 
 
 7. Paul laughed with delight. 
 
 DENMARK. 
 
 1. It will suit me to go shooting to-morrow if my shooting 
 
 suit arrives. You may be assured I shall make a 
 point of pursuing my enquiries about it. 
 
 2. It was supposed he was opposed to Tariff Reform. 
 
 3. The love of money is a root of all evil. 
 
 4. I shall want a wand if I am to be the fairy queen. 
 
 5. A puppy picking poppies may do a lot of mischief in 
 
 a little time. 
 
 6. The wind whistling along the wynd. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 1. A few weeks Swedish drill would soon give you greater 
 
 breadth of chest. 
 
 2. Let a coach be called. I wish to see the principal 
 
 objects of interest in London. 
 
 3. Some people dislike a cat, although it is so much 
 
 more gentle than a dog. 
 
 4. I passed the church just as the children were coming 
 
 out of school. 
 
 5. When the duke came of age he invited all the young 
 
 people to a ball. 
 
4 The Pronunciation of English* 
 
 6. One of Wilkie Collins's heroes is a bad, bold, bald, 
 
 gloomy baronet. 
 
 7. Some of the company lingered longer singing songs. 
 
 8. Large moths fluttered in from the garden, singeing 
 
 their wings at the candle. 
 
 9. In the place of meeting were a few people, mostly 
 
 women. 
 
 10. Young gentleman, are you from London ? 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 Some of the pronunciation errors observed occur all 
 over the country ; others are characteristic of particular 
 districts. The number of examples available was so large 
 that only a few could be taken. The one hundred and 
 twelve towns represented have been grouped into districts, 
 and the sentences assigned to each which actually were 
 heard in class will, I believe, illustrate every error that 
 was noted. 
 
 BADEN. 
 
 1. The bright bridesmaids in white dresses with rich 
 
 jewels took Grace's fancy not a little. 
 
 2. It is not of much use expecting little people to 
 
 remember things. 
 
 3. I don't deny that I was disappointed with the quality 
 
 of the last bottle of wine. 
 
 BAVARIA AND WURTEMBOURG. 
 
 1. The young man walked straight away with quick 
 
 steps. 
 
 2. Although the weather is cold you can't expect me to 
 
 walk very far in this thick thing. 
 
 3. His lordship plucked up courage. 
 
Examples for Practice* 105 
 
 4. Which is the very worst verse you ever read or 
 
 wrote? 
 
 5. The pink dye of the lining of my bag comes off. 
 
 BERLIN. 
 
 1. He sat down and spoke in measured tones of the 
 
 light in the western sky. 
 
 2. Jack ought to catch the black cat and put it in a 
 
 cage. 
 
 3. She wore a red ribbon round her white throat. 
 
 4. The valley was green with great growths of grass. 
 
 5. She undertook to buy the clothes in three months 
 
 in London. 
 
 6. What is the colour of your collar? 
 
 7. The porter was on the border of a refusal. 
 
 8. Mr. Jones smiled when he heard who expected to be 
 
 asked. 
 
 BRUNSWICK AND BRANDENBURG. 
 
 1. The younger children will play quite quietly if they 
 
 do not quarrel. 
 
 2. The house is situated on the banks of a small lake. 
 
 3. Send the little boys to the nursery. I will not permit 
 
 them to make a bear-garden of my study. 
 
 4. It is still quite light of an evening after dinner. 
 
 5. How often do we find our first impressions wrong ! 
 
 COAST. E. FRIESLAND, OLDENBURG, HANNOVER. 
 
 1. Mrs. Jones's pet dogs are both small spaniels. 
 
 2. She had her hair plaited and rolled round her head. 
 
 3. Do you think there are people who come to England 
 
 in pursuit of novelties ? 
 
 HESSE, ETC. 
 
 1. He stood alone upon the lawn. 
 
 2. I could only get tickets for two gentlemen. 
 
io6 The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 3. Mounted on a fresh polo pony he rode slowly round 
 
 the field. 
 
 4. He seemed perfectly happy although he had not the 
 
 price of a pint about him. 
 
 5. Poverty, albeit continual, could not depress him. 
 
 6. When the judges come to Oxford they go in state to 
 
 the University Church. 
 
 E. PRUSSIA. 
 
 1. In great cities women often work under very un- 
 
 healthy conditions. 
 
 2. Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, 
 
 We dare not go a hunting, For fear of little men. 
 
 3. Harry wondered whether it was worse to be described 
 
 as sprightly than as handsome. 
 
 4. First turn on the lower tap and then turn on the top 
 
 tap too. 
 
 5. Ail his race reckons time by conferences. 
 
 6. You should undertake to do some useful work in 
 
 London. 
 
 7. He has probably requested Master Arthur to ride 
 
 over. 
 
 8. The cat sat on the mat. 
 
 W. PRUSSIA. 
 
 1. Go to the butcher's shop for a mutton chop, and to 
 
 the grocer's for cheese, chutney, and champagne. 
 
 2. Paul lost his punt pole in a pool. 
 
 3. Harry warmed to the work, and waited his oppor- 
 
 tunity. 
 
 4. For men may come and men may go, 
 
 But I go on for ever. 
 
 5. I had the impression that my brother-in-law regarded 
 
 teetotalism with something like disapproval. 
 
Examples for Practice* 107 
 
 6. A pun is a play upon words. Samuel Johnson said 
 4 He that would make a pun would pick a pocket/ 
 
 RHINE. 
 
 1. What have you done with your new cloak? 
 
 2. Have you left it at home ? 
 
 3. A merry maiden married in a murrey-coloured robe. 
 
 4. Your argument is wholly Hollow and unsound. 
 
 5. Every German woman should know how to make 
 
 her home comfortable. 
 
 SAXONY. 
 
 1. He was surprised, and she was no less surprised. 
 
 2. The uses of an unaffected youth's enthusiasm. 
 
 3. Green breadths of field and meadow. 
 
 4. One could not recall a word he had said. 
 
 5. In all these songs we sing this thing. 
 
 6. Sitting by the open window I watched the little birds 
 
 hopping along the grass. 
 
 7. Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 
 
 Thou art not so unkind, As man's ingratitude. 
 
 SCHLESWIG. 
 
 1. I am too well aware of my deficiencies. 
 
 2. Mrs. Smythe's address is unknown to me. 
 
 3. He is a most distant relation. 
 
 4. He said he was sad because he had a bad head. 
 
 5. I have noticed that the English are fond of mustard 
 
 with roast beef. 
 
 6. I give him a new suit of clothes every six months. 
 
 SILESIA. 
 
 1. Sometimes a rash promise proves rather troublesome. 
 
 2. He put his loose silver in the stoutest bag. 
 
io8 The Pronunciation of English, 
 
 3. You must not think your mother a bother. 
 
 4, The air was so thick I could see nothing of the 
 
 ships beyond the pier. 
 
 WESTPHALIA. 
 
 1. An old man with a quite young wife. 
 
 2. We women want a man to work for us always. 
 
 3. Did you notice the police at the Opera? 
 
 4. There was a great flutter of wings, and a wild duck 
 
 rose from the rushes and flew away. 
 
 5. A really right-minded dressmaker provides for a 
 
 pocket in every dress. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 1. Cleaning a floor the wrong way is only a waste of 
 
 time. 
 
 2. Mary brought the cattle home, driving them slowly 
 
 before her. 
 
 3. The doctor is thinking out the problem. 
 
 4. He gets more cross as he gets older. 
 
 5. A noble action is its own reward. 
 
 6. I want to find the owner of a pony. 
 
 7. Take this cup of sparkling wine. 
 
 8. It is quite worth six workmen's while. 
 
 9. To spend a week at the seaside is a very pleasant 
 
 way of taking a short holiday. 
 
 10. A great drove of oxen going over the bridge 
 
 frightened the women who were waiting to cross. 
 
 11. Considering the narrow path and the wild looks 
 
 and gigantic horns of the beasts, this could not be 
 accounted at all wonderful. 
 
 12. James Barker is going to row stroke in the boat race. 
 
 13. You might invite them to see it from the top of 
 
 your College barge. 
 
Examples for Practice* 109 
 
 14. The afternoon is sure to be cold ; no doubt you will 
 want your cloak. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 1. We are writing in the red room. 
 
 2. Her hair is the glory of a woman. 
 
 3. What a joke if he chokes ! 
 
 4. He appears to be a very polished gentleman. 
 
 5. Your eldest son has grown to be quite a big boy. 
 
 6. I suppose you have made enquiry as to the best ships 
 
 from England to German ports. 
 
 7. He has only been taught the language three months. 
 
 8. Many of the big brewers in England are very rich. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 1. The illumination of the streets at the Coronation 
 
 was well worth seeing. Thousands of people 
 walked around, looking at it. 
 
 2. I am no judge of athletic sports. 
 
 3. The dab-chick is a pretty little bird, which you may 
 
 see sometimes swimming about the river CherwelL 
 
 4. Success in examinations should be the reward of 
 
 those who work well. 
 
 5. It would be pleasant to have two or three bicycle- 
 
 rides together. 
 
 6. I hope I shall never see him again, even in my 
 
 dreams. I hate him ! 
 
 7. What shall we have for breakfast ? ham and eggs, or 
 
 omelette and hot toast ? 
 
 8. You are sure to encounter difficulties whatever course 
 
 you follow. 
 
no The Pronunciation of English. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 1. It was a bleak coast with dangerous shoals on which 
 
 by wind and wave the helpless ship was being 
 driven. 
 
 2. The fatal moment had arrived. 
 
 3. What will you wear on your birthday ? 
 
 4. Dick arose and picked a rose. 
 
 5. Did you notice the thick cloud of smoke that hangs 
 
 over London ? 
 
 6. I like to do my work at home. 
 
 7. My coachman drove me round to visit you. 
 
 8. In my whole life I have never seen a more dignified 
 
 servant. 
 
 9. Unknown and unowned he passed from human ken. 
 
 POLISH. 
 
 1. Wisdom is more precious than rubies. 
 
 2. Some folk like to indulge in tall talk. 
 
 3. Nobody broke the silence, which lasted so long that I 
 
 nearly went to sleep. 
 
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