| Title: | Kerr, John to Grahams?, 184- |
|---|---|
| ID | 4870 |
| Collection | Dear Uncle. Immigrant Letters to Antrim from the USA (1843-1852) [R.H. Roy] |
| File | roy/6 |
| Year | 184- |
| Sender | Kerr, John |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | schoolmaster |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | USA |
| Destination | Newpark, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Recipient | Grahams? |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | nephew-uncle |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 1213 |
| Genre | account of pronunciation in the country |
| Note | |
| Transcript | APPENDIX 2 For the amusement of Samuel G., James, David & Samuel K. I give some of the peculiarities of the manner of speaking and pronouncing in this country. I give none of the corruptions, or what I consider an improper pronunciation, but it is that mode which is sanctioned by the dictionaries and what I consider is correct. The standard dictionary is Walker First may I remark that there is no brogue, no patois in the language here. The brogue, you know, consists in a very rough pronunciation of the letter r and likewise that peculiar sliding of the tongue between the teeth in pronouncing such words as dross, drum, dirt, etc.. The patois is a forcible breathing before the vowels, such as notwithstanding for notwithstanding; this patois is not common in the north but it is in the south of Ireland. The brogue is common everywhere in Ireland, but you are taught to avoid it in reading. I will now begin at the first vowel and show you in what respect the pronunciation of this country and Ireland differs, and where you speak erroneously. The letter a is pronounced here, as it is in the words fate, late etc.. E as heard in me, mite etc; the other vowels as you pronounce them. You know a has four sounds; the first as heard in fate, the second in far, the third in fall are pronounced mostly right in Ireland; except in some words as cart, guard, which you do not pronounce with with the a as in far. But the fourth sound of a heard in fat, mat, can, rag, scamper etc., you pronounce generally wrong. You give the the a in man, fat etc. the same sound that you give it in mar, far - this is incorrect. Your dictionary shows a different sound. The manner in which a is pronounced in Ireland, in the words can, cat, carry, rag, bag, cap, gap, scamper, back is the true sound. Just give the same sound to a in the words fat, hat, rat, sap, fan and all words having the fourth sound of a, that you give in the words can, cat, carry, rag, cap etc. and you will be right. So much for a. You pronounce the first sound of e as heard in me, meter properly; and also the second sound heard in met, let properly. But when the e having the second sound comes before r as in perch, learn, err you sound it improperly. You have two erroneous ways of pronouncing e in this situation, the one is by Bounding perch, learn as parch, lam, the other is the way you sound it when reading. The one is as bad as the other. When e comes before r it should be pronounced in the same manner you pronounce the e in her, that is, a sound between u and i. The word earth is not pronounced arth or erth as you commonly name it in reading. It should be sounded nearly like u in the same situation, or a sound between i and u. Now for i. Of all the other letters i, in both its sounds, is pronounced most erroneously in Ireland. You give the proper sound to i when naming over the letters: but when you pronounce it wrong you join it to other letters, as in pine, line, etc., you pronounce it wrong. You change the sound too much likee. In some words you pronounce it right, as in five, hive, dive, also the pronoun mine, but in the noun mine, silver mine you squeeze it into the letter e. Just pronounce the letter i when it has the first sound, in all such words as mile, tile, line, right, kite, size, five, mire, sire, tire and as soon as you sound the y in the words my, thy, rye, sty, spy etc. by giving to it its full long sound almost like ai or ae pronounced as closely together as possible and you will be right. The Walker on the letter i, where he says the Irish pronounce it too much like the French i; the sound of which is e as in me. Now for the second sound of i, as heard in pin, tin etc, you sound as if written pen, or pan or something like it. It is pronounced nearly right in Belfast, but then they squeezed it a little to much into e (first sound). Fin, pin, tin etc. should be pronounced almost like feen, peen, teen, only shorter and not squeezed so much into e. You sound the i in king nearly right, but you do not pronounce the words sing, wing, ring etc. like it. William used to tell us how they pronounced bill in England. The second sound of i ought to be pronounced in every situation like the i in king, or as they sound bill in England. There are some exceptions asgirl, bird, dirt etc. where the i is pronounced almost like u, or something approaching to the sound of u. The letter o in all its sounds is properly pronounced in Ireland. There is a slight difference, however, in the sound of this letter, between this country and Ireland. The words more, do etc. having the second sound, are pronounced here with the lips and mouth wider than you do. You pronounce u in all its sounds nearly right, with this exception; you squeeze the first sound as heard in tube, cube, duke etc. into teube, keube, deuke with lips too close. With to the second sound you pronounce it a little like the third sound of o as heard on nor, for, it ought to be sounded shorter and closer. Also the third sound in full, bull is pronounced here with the mouth wider, and the sound approaching the first sound of o. You pronounce full and fool alike, but this is not right. In sounding full, the mouth should be opened wider than in the word fool, full should be pronounced a little nearer foal, coal than you pronounce it. You know the pronunciation of the words full, bull etc., rhyming with cull, mull etc. is entirely wrong. You pronounce oi as in oil properly; but you do not sound the diphthong ou as in sound properly. It should be pronounced in pound, round, sound, nearly as if written paound, raound, saound or rather paund, raund, saund giving a the second sound. The same may be said of ow, as in now which is pronounced here as if written naow, sounded as close together as possible. Everyone here speaks well, or as well as he can. No one is ashamed to pronounce properly. Not so in Ireland. Many there, who are able, will not speak well. They think it pride to speak their mother tongue correctly. They should speak Dutch then. But it is false modesty, or what the French call "mauvais honte" that prevents them. Surely it is the very consummation of folly to murder the King's English through a principle of modesty. If our language is English why should we not speak it properly and not a mixture of Irish, Dutch and Scotch with it? Yours ever John Kerr |
