544 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



AUTHOEITY IN ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION". 



By Professor EDWIN W. BOWEN, 



ASHLAND, VA. 



FOE wellnigh two centuries a popular belief has prevailed through- 

 out the English-speaking world that there should be a standard 

 of pronunciation, which should be followed in all those countries where 

 English is the native tongue. Many people, holding this view, assume 

 that some such norm is unconsciously observed by men of education 

 and culture, who, because of their influence and rank, are generally 

 conceded the right to establish the customs of speech. It is but natural, 

 therefore, that men with greater or less claim to culture and education 

 should take it upon themselves from time to time to determine the 

 supposed standard of pronunciation. Thus as far back as the begin- 

 ning of the eighteenth century we find that the orthoepists of that 

 period undertook to ascertain and record the pronunciation of Eng- 

 lish as practiced in polite society. 



Now, the early orthoepists discovered, apparently to their astonish- 

 ment, that English pronunciation, even in the most cultured circles, 

 far from being fixed by ironclad rules, was quite an elastic thing, allow- 

 ing considerable latitude. Indeed, two centuries ago pronunciation 

 in English, as reflected by the best usage, was no more uniform than 

 it is to-day. Then as now, men recognized no fixed and absolute 

 standard of English pronunciation. They followed their own tastes and 

 individual preferences, despite the orthoepical suggestions and recom- 

 mendations of their contemporaries. Prejudice and caprice, too, in 

 those days, as in the present time, were factors to be reckoned with, so 

 that the path of the would-be authority on pronunciation was beset 

 with no slight difficulty. 



It must not be inferred, however, that the orthoepists themselves 

 were a unit and in perfect harmony as to current usage. On the con- 

 trary, they were frequently far apart in recording the pronunciation 

 sanctioned by the best society and differed quite as much as their 

 worthy successors of the present day. They sometimes indulged in 

 vituperation and severe censure at each others' expense and made no 

 attempt to conceal their disapproval of a rival's authority, which they 

 expressed in plain, vigorous Anglo-Saxon. Some of their sarcastic 

 remarks furnish spicy and entertaining reading to the student who is 

 willing to plod his way through the dreary waste of those forgotten 

 dust-covered tomes. 



