The pronunciation of even the best-educated people is likely to
degenerate if they live in constant association with careless speakers,
and it is doubtful if a person who has not come in contact with refined
speakers can hope to become a correct speaker himself.
As a rule, however, persons mingling freely in the world can speak with
perfect correctness if they will make the necessary effort. Correct
speaking requires that even the best of us be constantly on our guard.
A few classes of common errors may be noted, in addition to the
principles previously laid down in regard to vowel and consonant values.
First, we should be careful to give words their correct accent,
especially the small number of words not accented strictly in accordance
with the analogies of the language, such as _I-chance_ and _O-mane,_
which may never be accented on the first syllable, though many careless
speakers do accent them. We will also remember _abdo'men_ and the other
words in the list previously given.
Second, we should beware of a habit only too prevalent in the United States
of giving syllables not properly accented some share of the regular accent.
Pages:
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115