Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/313

 12 S. V. Nov., 1919.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

the story of this octogenarian lady's life -during the German occupation. Miss Cun- ningham, who is of Ulster birth, has now returned to Belfast. Her grandmother, Miss Kimmins, was, it appears, a sister of the great -grandmother of President Wilson.

N. W. HILL.

RALPH GRIFFITHS (12 S. v. 236, 279). For Ralph Griffiths (not Griffith) see the 4 D.N.B.,' and Forster's 'Life of Gold- smith,' passim. EDWARD BENSLY.

0n

Spoken and Written English. By Henry Brad- ley. (Oxford, Clarendon Press. 2s. net.) THE brief heading we give is that on the cover of this pamphlet, a reprint of a paper read at the International Historical Congress of 1913, and issued in the Proceedings of the British Academy. Dr. Bradley, in charge of the Great Oxford Dictionary, is our best authority on English, and we welcome this record of his views destined for general circulation. The relations between spoken and written English are seldom seriously considered, while the average speaker and writer go along merrily in their sloppy way, ignoring obvious deficiencies. Going down to first principles, Dr. Bradley pro- duces some shrewd criticisms on the advocates of simplified spelling. He shows that we have no justification for regarding " the history of English spelling as a story of nothing but blundering and stupid and indolent conservatism." The immense world of print to-day has a great advantage in j influence over spoken English, and Dr. Bradley's j final word is that "English is far more unsuited than the European tongues to be written pho- I netically." Written language has developed i independently of spoken, particularly in the i vast vocabulary which is made out of Greek and Latin words, and is being daily increased by men of science. Now the great pur- pose of written language is to convey meaning, not sound. In fact, many words have, reverting j to the oldest forms of writing, become ideographs. The phonetic value of the letters is forgotten, and a spelling, phonetically incorrect, will tell the practised reader what is meant quicker than the most accurate of philological symbols. Such a reader associates a group of letters with a certain jword, or as much of that group as he needs I "foil" and expects a verb, he makes out the ias, we imagine, readers of music know that cer-
 * to read. If, for instance, he has got as far as
 * word "follow" without reading the " ow," just
 * tain notes must be combined in chords, and do

snot need to read all of them to play them cor- jrectly. What precisely goes on in the mind of 'the practised reader it is difficult to say, and Dr. Bradley's record of his own experience is of great interest.


 * A main difficulty in English is the amount of

(words with different meanings and the same pro- (nunciation, or^roughly the same. This causes con-

fusion in speech, as Dr. Bradley shows amusingly in the case of an Oxford orator, and gives a chance to the punster. It also tends to loss of words. Thus " son " has disappeared from dialects in many parts of England, though "daughter" is in every- day use. The confusion between "son" and "sun " has certainly something to do with this.

Some *rery interesting remarks are made on the prevalence of "undemocratic" words in our lan- guage, words such a appeal to the classically educated. It is pointed out that 4i it is on the resemblance of their customary written form to the written form of Latin or Greek words that their mental effect depends. If their spelling were materially changed, the motive for using them would be gone, and multitudes of them would become obsolete." Dr. Bradley regards the use of such words as "a symptom of disease." But the use of sonorous words of some kind is an ineradicable instinct in humanity. Are we to throw away the majestic polysyllables of Greece and Rome, and what are we going to put in their place? The supersession of the present literary vocabulary with all its traditions seems a heavy price to pay for one that will rest on the sound foundation of the oral vernacular. Poets may and do occasionally attempt a little reform in spelling, but general reform is a vastly more difficult matter. It would have to be adopted by a preponderant part of the newspaper world, and some agreement as to the best among a crowd of different pronun- ciations would have to be reached. At present the world seems tending more to a facetious and rejoicing ignorance in such matters than to acqui- escence in the verdict of those who know.

We have only dealt with one or two points in Dr. Bradley's survey of the subject. It needs close attention throughout, and is well worth it.

A Concise Guide to the Town and University of Cambridge. By John Willis Clark, M.A. 6th edition, 1919. (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, Is. Qd.)

THIS handy book has enjoyed popularity for over twenty years. Since 1910 when the author died, there have been two editions. This, the second, differs very little from its predecessor of 19 1 6, tor the obvious reason that building arid other deve- lopments were hindered or stopped by the War. Why is it that the guide talks of Andrew Dokett's statue and Dokett Building in Queen's College? Dockett usfd to be the accepted University spelling, and we have not heard of any change. We regret that the front cover is marred by the advertisement on the insido which shows through.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.

ERNEST COOPER, late H. G. Commin, of Bourne- mouth, in his last Catalogue of 1,294 items, has some interesting books, for the most part from The Manor House, Hayling Island, and comprising ' Don Quixote,' coloured plates by Clarke, in original boards. 121. ; vols. i to xxxv. of ' Archaeo- logia,' with Indexes, bound in half russia, a good clean, sound set. 10^. lO*. ; Hutchins 1 ' History of Dorset,' third and best edition, 101. 10s. ; Catlin's ' North American Indians.' coloured plates, 2 vols., 51. ICM. ; ' Numismatic Journal and Proceedings of British Numismatic Society,' edited bv W. J.