A CURRENT VARIATION IN ENGLISH 

 PRONUNCIATION. 



BY HENRY L. BROOMALL. 



The scholastic ideas which dominate popular education 

 obscure the real nature of language by arranging all its facts 

 around and under the "rule" of the grammarian and the 

 " authority' " of the lexicographer. These terms mean abso- 

 lutism. They inculcate the notion that any form of speech 

 which does not conform to the grammar-book and the diction- 

 ary is wrong. They make no allowance for progress in 

 grammar, pronunciation or significance. They would treat 

 our living language as if it were a dead tongue, as if it had 

 no speakers to think, feel and act in advance of their ances- 

 tors. Any variation from the "authority" is condemned 

 as deterioration, degeneration or backsliding from the true 

 doctrine. 



In previous articles* in this journal it has been shown 

 that many forms of language now legitimated by the gram- 

 mar-book and dictionary were once mere errors of speech and 

 that many current errors of speech seem now to be develop- 

 ing under the same causes and conditions toward future legit- 

 imation. In short, there are errors of speech representing 

 intellectual progress — not deterioration. And further, the 

 authoritative dictionary itself affords evidence of these evolu- 

 tionary changes when it acknowledges that more than one 

 pronunciation of a word may be correct. 



Of the 2234 cases of variant pronunciation sanctioned by 

 the Century Dictionary, 1029 are variations in consonants f, 

 and, of these, 533 are words in which / or d, followed by i or 



*"Tlie Significance of Errors of Speech," Proc. Del. Co. Inst. Sci., 

 Vol. I, p. 30, et seq. 



t " Variations of Accent in English Words," Proc. Del. Co. Inst. 

 Sci., Vol. V, p. 29. 



