18 
it be one, of the language itself. Wheres 
as the Cockney (this appellation is used 
only for the sake of distinction) does not, 
as [ shall soon endeavour to shew, give 
the letters their just, natural, and dis- 
tinct, sounds. By him, the sounds, espe- 
cially of the vowels are confounded. 
The writer of these remarks has been 
in the habit of taking particular notice of 
the accent of those persons with whom he 
has conversed, and has observed that 
this mistake is very frequently made by 
the inhabitants of the south-east counties, 
eckoning from Huntingdonshire as far as 
the Thames. For as to the dialect of 
those who live between the latter river 
and the English channel, he has had no 
opportunity of observing it. The citi- 
zens of London, aud the inhabitants of 
Cambridgeshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, and 
Saffolk, err chiefly in their manner of 
pronouncing the vowels a, 0, and w. The 
first is sounded by them, when short, as 
if it were long, or almost as € short; the 
_ second like the proper sound of a short; 
and the letter «, when short, sometimes 
like a, and sometimes like 0. To illus- 
trate these remarks by particular in- 
stances, 1 have examined young scholars 
in the most simple parts of speech, the 
sounds of ub, «b, &c. and found that they 
articulated ab like eb, or rather longer, as 
aib, or abe; ob, as ab should be sounded, 
and ub much the same, or a little like ob. 
any words also may be enuyerated, in 
which the sounds of the vowels are in 
like manner perverted, The common 
word butter is spoken batter by some, and 
by others botter. Man is sounded mane, 
or mdin, and sometimes as nearly like 
jnen as possible. At Bury, in Suffolk, 1 
once heard a person speak the words 
“ our house,” like the letters 7s: and 
another time I heard a female, who lived 
within the sound of St. Paul’s clock, use 
the short phrase—* I must have some,” 
and thongh she spoke like her neighbours, 
I will maintain that out of the four words 
three were pronounced wrong. She said, 
I most hed sam. Back, bail, baa, can, 
cat, catch, dam, fun, fut, ham, hat, lad, 
lamb, mad, pan, ran, Sam, Juck, are pro- 
riounced bake, bade, &c. giving the letter 
ain each word a long sound, sometimes, 
indeed, speaking it more like short e, but 
seldom or never giving it its natural and * 
proper sound. According to them it is 
always long, which is certainly not the 
case, every vowel having a long and short 
sound, and the vowel a as well as the 
rest. One example of the usual false 
. 
yw. F/ae5 
ws 
On the erroneous Pronuneiation of the E nglish 
[Aug. 15 
sound of o will be sufficient, and that is 
the word come, pronounced kam. A sin- 
gle instance of the sound of w will also 
be enough for a sample. The word 
duck is pronounced as if it were written 
dack, or dock. The reader will observe 
that it is always in the sound of the vow- 
els, when really short, that the mistake is 
made. Many other instances of false 
pronunciation might be adduced, ‘but 
those that have been already given will 
be thought sufficient as a specimen. 
This incorrect method of speaking is not 
peculiar to a few individuals, but is very 
common in the middle and lower ranks of 
society. Whether it be prevalent like- 
wise in the more genteel and fashionable 
circles, it is not for me to determine: 
but as it is well known, that all people - 
are prone to imitate their superiors, in 
dress, in every article of luxuriows and 
extravagant expenditure, and, in fact, in 
every thing else separate from every con- 
sideration of propriety; it may reason- 
ably be supposed, that persons in inferior 
and middle stations have contracted the 
erroneous habit here denouneed, partly 
from’ an injudicious, apish imitation of 
those who move in the higher walks of 
life. If so, it would appear that the 
gay, the polite, and the opulent, are nbt 
altogether exempt from this error, But 
there is no doubt that the bourgeois 
have carried their mimicry to an excess, 
similar to a certain officer belonging 
to Alexander the Great, whese head was 
alittle awry; the officer having a mind 
to compliment his master, laid his head 
fairly on his shoulder, for which exag- 
gerated and gross complaisanee he is re- 
lated to have received a smart box on 
the ear. And though my countrymen 
have no cause to apprehend a smnilar 
castigation, yet I should have thought 
a priori, if I had not so often witnessed 
the contrary, that the good understand- 
ing of Englishmen would teach them 
the folly of such ridiculous affectation, 
I appeal’ to my readers, if the practice 
here censured be not general; and, 
whatever other persons may think, I, for 
my part, am fully convinced, that it is as 
improper as it is general. Not one 
grammar that I have seen gives rules for 
such a pronunciation as that above no- 
ticed; nay, they all teach the contrary. 
Whence then does it derive its autho- 
rity? Has it received the sanction of any 
eminent. speaker or writer? How any 
schoolmaster.or critic can vindicate the 
practice, I am at a loss to conceive, It 
has” 
