Page:Essays and studies; by members of the English Association, volume 1.djvu/50



POLYSYLLABLES

Present pronunciation according As written in

English word. to Mr. Jones, expressed in Mr. Jones' Victorian spelling. phonetic.

suggest sergest safest

idea ideer aidia

produce prerduce pradjuis

sublime serblime sa'blaim

terror terrer 'tera

common commern 'koman

equally equerly 'r.kwali

pleasure pleaser 'plesa

affection erfecshern a'fekjan

arising erising a'raizirj

character charercter 'kserakta

subordinate serbordernate sa'bo:damt

gradations grerdations gra'deijnz

prevalent preverlernt 'prevalent

above erbove obAV

supposed serposed sapouzd

again ergain a'gein

efforts efferts 'efats

The word experience is given thus : iks'piarians, which victorianized to the eye would be something like this : ixpeeerierns. I should not have been surprised if Mr. Roose- velt, when he visited the Clarendon Press the other day, had pointed out to the Delegates (Delergerts I suppose I should call them) that so long as Oxford countenanced the pronounc- ing of Latin as English, they are bound to uphold a better standard of English pronunciation than this. Certainly the current pronunciations given above fully expose the position of those who defend the English pronunciation of Latin on the theory that every nation should pronounce dead lan- guages according to their native practice. What Latin and