30 Colorado College Studies. 



show that the earliest settlers are fairly well represented by the 

 present inhabitants. I am well aware, as above remarked, that 

 this is not always a safe guide, but may, like tradition, some- 

 times mislead; still, in lieu of a better one it renders tolerably 

 efficient service. 



In the earlier days of these settlements the educational advan- 

 tages were naturally slight, but later the conditions for educa- 

 tion were about the same as those described in my article on 

 the Pronunciation of Fredericksburg, Va., printed in the Publi- 

 cations of the Modern Language Association of America, Vol. 5, 

 p. 188flP. In the same article (pp. 192-195) I have compiled two 

 Vowel Tables, one representing the vowel sounds of the Vir- 

 ginia English of the seventeenth century, and the other the 

 vowel sounds of to-day. In the present article I shall con- 

 stantly refer to them, 



I will here begin with the vowel a as heard in father (Sweet's 

 mid-back -wide).* Here, as in Fredericksburg, Va., we find the 

 clearer, lighter sound of a as in calm, psalm, palm, half, etc. 

 The other sound of these words {i. e., koeoem, soecem, poeoem, 

 hoeoef, etc., that is. Sweet's low-front- wide) is heard, though less 

 frequently than in Fredericksburg, Va., or in Charleston, S. C. 

 This sound of a in father (raid-back-wide) is also very common 

 in words like ask, demand, pass, trespass, etc., though the ten- 

 dency to the palatal a is strong. The two words ant and aunt 

 are both generally pronounced (cent, that is, low-front- wide), 

 though the latter is often pronounced (aant, that is, mid-back- 

 wide). The same remark applies to words like gaunt, haunt, 

 jannt, etc., where Sweet's low-front-wide ( = a in man) is 

 commonly heard, thus (goeoent, Hoeoent, Dzhoeoent, etc). Oc- 

 casionally one hears the mid-back- wide {= a in father); that is 

 phonetically represented (gaant, Haant, Dzhaant), but I have 

 never heard Sweet's low-back-narrow-round ( = a in laiv; 



* The signs of Sweet's Primer of Phonetics are used in this article, 

 except in quotations. 



