An English Pronouncing Dictionary [antikvár]

EDITOR'S PREFACEIt is a great satisfaction to me that I am privileged to include in myModern Language Series an English Pronouncing Dictionary byProf. Daniel Jones, whose reputation as a phonetician extends farbeyond the limits of this country. It is a work of permanent value asthe record, by a competent and careful observer, of a certain type ofEnglish speech in the first part of the twentieth century.Prof. Jones, in his introduction, indicates clearly the class of peoplewhose speech is represented. His concern has been to represent itfaithfully, and as far as I am able to judge his efforts have beensuccessful.It may be pointed out that this form of speech is very widely used byeducated people in Southern England, and that those whose home iselsewhere, and whose dialect differs from it considerably, often makeconcessions to it, in order that they may be more generally understood.This has been the case, to a marked degree, in the 'great public schools'where this kind of speech prevails; and the influence of these schoolshas been a very great (but, I believe, neither the only, nor even thegreatest) factor in rendering acceptable what Prof. Jones has sometimescalled 'public school pronunciation/ I am disposed to ascribe theconsiderable extension of this form of speech since the middle of thenineteenth century chiefly to the influence of women in the home, tothe increased attention paid to speech in our educational system, andto quickened intercourse among members of the English-speakingworld.There are many who think that for the purposes of social intercourseand of various kinds of public speaking (such as the pulpit and the stage)we require a 'standard speech' and that, when a language is spread aswidely over the world as ours is, a generally recognized form of speechis no less desirable than a common literary language. Every dialecthas its interest and its appeal; but one who knows only his dialect findshimself at a disadvantage, if he should be called upon to pass beyondthe limits within which that dialect is spoken, and it may well bedoubted whether his aesthetic appreciation of our literature is notimpaired.If in our schools we regard it as desirable to deal with the pupils'speech at all, we must have some idea of the kind of speech we wishthem to acquire; and the clearer that idea is, the more effective will ourefforts be. My own feeling is that our aim should be to secure a formof speech that shall be not merely intelligible but pleasing to thegreatest number of educated speakers of English; and that implies notonly an unobjectionable pronunciation but good voice production.Those who take an interest in these problems will find that Prof.Jones's dictionary supplies them with an admirable basis for discussion;and it will help them to realize (what they too often fail to realize) thatbefore expressing views as to how people ought to speak, it is well tohave some knowledge of how people actually do speak. It is a fatallyattractive subject for dogmatizing; but the assumption of infallibility