The St. Louis Republic. [volume], June 11, 1905, SUNDAY MAGAZINE, Image 55

About The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
SPEECH OF THE PEOPLE
Influences Tlhat Aire ModeFniziimg English
By BRANOER MATTHEWS
Professor of Dramatic Literature in
Columbia UnivrnilXt New-YorK
"The Engl UK
Language 1 Alive
and Crowingi
It la Ever
Flexible-. Yielding.
Resourceful"
IT lj.-iiijK.-mil that a numK-r of an iutj.ort.int elec
trical jajf r came into the hands f a j.rofeMr
m the Knglish dcjartment of one of the leading
Anient an universities nut long ago; ami me of the
j.romuictit advcrtiM-mcnts caught his eye at once
'I he advertwr vaunted the merits of his "scj.iralclv
rxilliil 2 Meters " The jrofcss..r lowered the
Jsijfr for a moment ami wondered vaguely what
manner of thing a "sejiaratclv excited lio.rstcr"
might If. First of all. what was a l-ter? Sv
:i'llv. why si:-.ill. 1 it gel excited? Ami finally.
whv r.iil it If cxitil scj-aratclv ? He was moved
to ask a colleague in the electrical dejmrtnient.
who easily elaineI the meaning of the juhng
vur.! am! assurn! him that thee wot:M If under
stood at nil. e by all the exj-crts engaged in jrai lual
t-lectni.il work, however obMttie they might if
even to a jirofcsM-d student ot the language, ignorant
of the latest devclojirsicnts in this sjfcial art.
Within a few- days thereafter the professor
chained to hear other jhraM-s ibun from the
rajndlv in. rcasing vocabulary of the ele tricians.
He was told by a war corresjondcnt who hal re
cently Ifctt t the front with the Russian army,
that vodka ,i a "live wire." He was informed
that on a certain iv.Na a woman of uncertain
tcnjfr .t ' her trolley" He listened to an
indignant frien.l dolanng that an objn tionalIo
je.il hal I ecu m annoying that the sjfaker was
reailv " to throw him down on the thiril rail "
Ami then he recalled the stimiig stanza of the
lard : the Krittsh Kmj.ire. in which Mr. Kij.lmg
dul irn! the readiness ot the "Native Hum" o:t the
shores of the seven seas to lrink
To the hearth of our jfnjJt'" r-e"e
T her ill-j.a;hcl w:a.!v mm.
To the hush .; .ur .Jri-a-! high-altar
fit re the Al.'-ev mlr u We:
To the cnt of the si. -ground aje.
To the gain that : v-ars .ni.l mint
To the itank of the tjin rc.!it.
To the ' u-f-i.t of the lane!
Ami when he ha.l assembled these things in his
Vf 'v the j-roie-.r of Knglish xnv their sig
i an. e at last. Here under 1::- hand a new
- l-l.n. e of the growth of the language, of its eon
s' tilt e;.anMin. of its vitahtv ami of its health.
.aammmmV mmLLmmW imflmmi
mmV ammmV LmHmra5afcai
H. r,- , j.rijf aiMtn ilut the ll:m!ih lannae
v , al-'imlantlv alive, am! th.it however ttnnly
r ! it i-.tsht If in the jiat it w a forever tretih
i' j :' :reh !ra:iihfN lor the future. lt- work
w i- :i '' i -lie am! it wa kccj.inj: itM'lf fit for t!le
I !'. .I'.i'it that l.'ir.e.l K:..!e it. Heini; alive
, ' n t .le.t.l. it na in u.n.i:i! change. a.ljiKin-
-.' ?. The varvini: -trititnt inie. contmn-illv.
.'r.j; j'f rea.lv to meet the neie-it:e of the-
. .
r ' .
5'le t!i.it jfnk !
; i.nii-u langu-iKf i :i-t at vie- it ; a-:naKin
r It i : tim-ho! aA r:n;lite. like Latin:
Ti i- it .lea.!, like Latin It is alive am! irmwrn.;.
.ml tlu-retore it is mt vet :io! am! !eter:niniI:
i l- i-wr :!eil'le. yiriiitnc resourt eful. a it h.i
a'w i Kvti vlmi- it earliest lw.nin.: It i n.w
t'u .ite t.ni;tie that the great K::u; Alfrti! ;ke.
am! t it i not the same, for it has outgrown its
v. i.!.Ihn-lothes am! attair.ei! to the stature of a
r c' :nan. It a in the infancy o: llncltsh
th it Wret! achievii! the tnarvelou iiteriiry feat
? .Tea'mtf a jirise stvie. a feat which. I'reileric
Ha"is,.n asM-rt. cm If evj.laincii n!v "hv re-tne-rler:ni:
that the lancuae which Alfred sjoke
ami wrote av.-is not exactlv -:iriy Kntsh. nor middle
Lni'lidi. H':h U-ss the hwhly on jiite am! ti--se'Ia'ed
m.o.ii. v!iu h we tall the latest and coil
temjMimry Hnlish. It was only the Nmy skeleton
of our Lndi'Ii. what the Palatine mount ot Romulus
was to iinjfrial Rome, what Wes-e was to the
J.ri-ent emj.ireof the Mnecn. Hut it wa the lcie-J
of our lommon tongue, it was the i-oiic with the
marroxv in tiietn. ready to If clothed in llesh and
e uij.jfd witii inew and nerves. Hut this simj.le
ami uusoj.histiiatcd tonitue the genius of our
S.inoii iiero xi iim.i1 and tnoldul that he founded a
j.rose rfyle. ami taught the Hnglidi rae to trtit
to their own mother-tongue from the first; to If
jiroud of it. to cultivate it. to record it in the deed-
of their ancestor, and to hand it on as a national
smi.!i f.r their children."
Ahrcd sJioweil the same courage that Il.intc
was to reveal a little later when lie those to make
Hf of the language of his own jfoj.Ie. instead of
e;rcsing hmwlf in the more learned Latin
familiar toall scholars hut familiar tostholars only.
"Till Dante's time." s-o Lowell 'reminded us. "the
Italian jfts thotight no language gl enough !
jut tlu-ir nothings into lmt Latin and indeed a
dead tongue was the Ifst for dead thoughts -lmt
I'atite found the common sj.,iih of Ploreiue. in
which men i'argaituil and Millet! ami made love,
good enough for him. and out of the world around
him made a jxfin siuh as m Korian ever sang."
Alfred and Dante and I'liaticer mvih all of them
to have had an intuitive knowledge of the fact
wiiiih later j.lr.lologiial M-iciue has not et stte
cinhi! in getting acicjitcd the fact that every
language is lm on the lijis of tho-e who tie it.
and that it lives in isnnmon sjH,-Ji :ind in tlaily
ue. rtitl'.er than in grammar and in dictionaries..
Language wa jk-en long If fore it was written:
am! t he sjK.ken tongue loM-ss.imothing of its vivacity
and even of its vitality when at last it is written
down, when it is ;rej.arcd to make its apff.il to the
ee rather than to the ear. There is a freshness
a! -out the sj.ken word vhvh the written word,
and more esjf.-i.illy the jrinted wr.rd. has often
!st. This freshness ;5k. real masters of jjhii li are
forever striving to reia;ture. and their writings are
dtreit am! vig.rotts and inviting in ;r.jirtion as
they suciced in litis endeavor. It was Lowell, a
sh.lar of the widest reading and a most ai!nit
wielder of literary ailu!ot! am! i'lustrtitton. v.lio
ti. e t.-M a friend fmnkly that "Hoys and !l.-uk-guards
have always ifen ttty mast-rs in language "
Most of t:s iive fatlil to lay tirtn hold of tliis
jirini-ij!e. that tin sj,ken nl is jiriinarv and
that the written won! is Mi-ondary only. Failing
to eras; it. we fail to -tx. ix ii.nMHuenies; am! we
are likely to fail into the common error of acrej.tmg
a grammar as a o!e of rules which rnu-st If olf vel.
am! we are j-rone to hold v.; a dictionary as a final
authority to settle all 'juestioni of u?age and or-
"TKe Improve
ment in American
Style l Due to
Oietablikintf
the Dictionary
and Discrowning
the Grammar"
thograjihy ami jironunci.it ion. Hut the grammarian
had no warrant to et uj as a lawgiver, ami he lias
no commission to do more than declare what he
ha ascertained as to the structure and the con
dition of tlie language at that j.jfcial jfriod of its
changing history wlmh he has undertaken to ex
jilam. It is as a rnord of fats am! of tendencies
that a grammar is valuaMe; and its value is dimin
ished in jiroort!on as the grammarian mistakes
his tiffne and risks himself in dogmatic judgments.
And as a grammar has no authority in itself, so
.-i1m a di ttonary has m autliority of its own. Its
value lies in the niittracy with vvlinli it lias re
cinlel tlie fats. As a president of the Mlern
Language ,ss.iation statnl it jilainly a few v-:ii-s
ago. tiie trained sAln.lars Ink ujHn a di tionary
Mtnj.ly as "a more or less iucomj.lete list of the
words and jihrascs umiI in a language in some
jfriiol of its life, witli definitions (often inexact)
of these words and j.hrasfs,."
The dictionary, however amjle. however fre
quent, its Mijfj.letnents, must always remain "more
or less ituomjilete." for the language kccjs on
growing an.l c.janding and resjnding to tiie
une.NjfituI muls of those who ue it. even while
the most rcicnt Mi.jIement is getting itself into
j.rint. Ami there is need also to emjhasic the
fait that the language has grown .'old cjam!cd so
abundantly that no dictionary-maker h:is ever
dared to attempt to in. hide all the wools within
hi rcaih. The sjfiial vicahularics of tlie several
arts and m-icikcs are enormously distended, and
only tlie more imjrtant words of these sj.,-, ial
vifahiilaricscan if iiiiludol even in tliedi. tionanes
whiih are lauiuil to eteinl to several volunu-s.
The sjfcial terms of the electrician sm h as
"live wire" and "thinl rail" and "scj.aratcly e
citnl lNMer" are riiordol only in jarl cvm in
the Icsiion.s of that sine. Tile sjfial tenns of
the stage and tiie theater were caret title lollettui
a More of years ago l.y a touj.le of exjfrts for one
of the foremost of American dictionaries; and they
j.rovn! to if so many that onlv the most significant
and the most likely to lv sougilt for were inserted. m
Th-se theatri. al tenns were not evanescent slang;
they were tlie tolnii. al words usil with alolute
eactm-s i.y tile tiioiis.-inds of men and women
connected witli the stage. S.tne of them were
known also to tiie theater-going j.ul'Iii . xuih as
"Ui-offue" and "rctum-chok." ".-ut-droj." and
"stag, -hands"; lmt many more stti h as "sky
iM.nlers" and "cut-wing." "luimh -lights" and
"star-traji." "raking-j.itic" and "l.tHlH,ard-tiiket"
would j.roia!Iy not convey any clear and dciuute
v!ea to the most of tlnse vvh throng into tlie
thcat. r.
It is front these sj-cial vH-alularie that the
langitige is constantly enlargcil and enniheI
Front tlii-se yjfci.d Vfiealittlane. familiar only to
tlie j.raititiom-r of the several arts, certain words
and terms and jihrases are sati hed tiji and enter
into general use. For a Mti.n they may If looked
t:;n as intruders, as little If tter than slang, and
not a few of them fail to establish themselves in
time. unaMe to make good a right of domicile m
tlie select lexicon of literary usage. Hut wiair of
them j-rsisl and justify their claims to accej.tame
even !y M-hoIars. Xotliing tnre clearly indicates
the taste am! the tact of an author than the wav
in which he deals with these novel locutions. M-ne
of them barbaric and to if rejected without