Society for Pure English Tract 1 (Oct 1919) | Page 3

on the principle of preferring their more English forms. It
would plainly be useful for writers to be acquainted with such matters;
and a list of all such words with their English history would be a good
example of the sort of academic service which this Society might

render.
II. The large and necessary importation of foreign words into the
English language has undoubtedly weakened its ancient word-making
powers; and while all fantastic and awkward inventions and
ill-sounding compounds should be avoided, it seems desirable to give
at least a fair chance to words formed out of English material. Such
new English words, especially new English compounds, need, it would
seem, to be used for some little time before we can overcome our
dislike of them, while terms of Greek and Latin origin, however
cumbrous and unsuitable they may be, are accepted almost without
question. We would discourage such unimaginative and artificial
formations, and on principle prefer terms made of English material,
which are easily understood and naturally spoken by English-speaking
people.
III. Until recent years English writers were in the habit of
experimenting somewhat freely in language, and to their word-coining
activity we owe many of our current and most useful terms. But since
Carlyle there have been until lately few experiments of this kind. Many
words are added every year to the English vocabulary, but they are for
the most part the deliberate creations of scientific writers; while the
very men who should concern themselves with this matter stand aloof,
and leave it to those who by nature and profession are least sensitive to
the aesthetic requirements. We would therefore encourage those who
possess the word-making faculty to exercise it freely; and we hope in
the future that suggestions from our members may help men of science
and inventors in their search for new and appropriate names.
IV. Although men of letters may occasionally add to the resources of
the language by word-coinage, their main activity is and must be one of
selection. They are forced, for the most part, to choose their vocabulary
from the supplies at hand, and by their choice they do much to give
prevalence to the words which meet with their approval. Now,
believing that language is or should be democratic both in character and
origin, and that its best word-makers are the uneducated, and not the
educated classes, we would prefer vivid popular terms to the artificial
creations of scientists. We shall often do better by inquiring, for
instance, not what name the inventor gave to his new machine, but
what it is called by the workmen who handle it; and in adopting their

homespun terms and giving them literary currency, we shall help to
preserve the living and popular character of our speech.
V. The present spread of education, and the enforcement of a uniform
and town-bred standard of speech throughout the schools of the country,
is destroying dialects and local forms with great rapidity. These have
been studied by specialists, and their value is fully recognized; but the
attitude of the educated classes towards them is still contemptuous or
indifferent. This ignorant contempt is to be regretted for many reasons.
Not only is some knowledge of dialects needful for any true
understanding of the history and character of our language, but the
standard speech has in the past derived much enrichment and what is
called 'regeneration' from the picturesque vocabularies of local
vernaculars. The drying-up of these sources cannot but be regarded as a
misfortune. We shall therefore actively encourage educated people, and,
above all, teachers in country schools, to take a more sympathetic
interest in the forms and usages of local speech. The Scotch Education
Board has recently ordered that dialect should not be unduly
discouraged in Scottish schools, and advised that children should be
allowed some use of their natural speech in class. We hope that this
example may be followed all over the country. We also believe that a
knowledge of provincial pronunciation, and a familiarity with the
richness and beauty of the vowel sounds which it often preserves,
especially in the North, would be of value to those who speak the
standard language, and would certainly lead to some correction of the
slurred and indistinct way of speaking which is now regarded as correct
English, and deliberately taught as such on the Continent.
VI. As to idiomatic pronunciation involving speech-rhythm. The
literary taste of the eighteenth century, as typified in Dr. Johnson,
consciously discredited idioms which it held to be ungrammatical; and
this error persists. A simple instance is the growing loss of our enclitics.
The negative not was enclitic after the verb, and this gave us our
_shan't_, _don't_, _won't,_ &c. Dr. Johnson held the not to be too
important a qualification to leave unaccented. Again, where