Are independent changes of pronunciation "evils" ?

Sweet is sweeping us! 

In the last quarter of the 19th century, Henry Sweet stated that English sound has been undergoing so many changes. He observes the unexpected way in which the pronunciation diversify and touches on the future of English. 

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Indeed, many of these changes are already in progress. I have myself heard take time pronounced in a way which made it sound not very unlike tike tarm, and this from speakers who, although not very refined, certainly belonged to the upper middle class.

 The result of these and similar changes will be that in another century any fixed scheme of reform adopted now will be nearly as unphonetic as our present Nomic spelling. It must also be remembered that by that time England, America, and Australia will be speaking mutually unintelligible languages, owing to their independent changes of pronunciation.

 The only way to meet these evils is strictly to subordinate spelling to pronunciation. (196)

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He fears that English speakers of England, America, and Australia will some day fail to communicate each other. It is interesting that he then describes "their independent changes of pronunciation" as "evils." 

Almost a hundred year later, such "evils" are sweeping the world. I wonder how he feels about it.

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Works Cited:

Sweet, Henry. A Handbook of Phonetics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1877.

Touches of Sweet, not so sweet, Henry Sweet 02

Another article on the probable model of Henry Higgins, the formidable Henry Sweet.

Although he belongs to the upper class, the character Henry Higgins does not show so often that well behaved manners of a gentleman. In "My Fair Lady", Higgins goes to his mother's box at Ascot horse race to ask her cooperation in testing Eliza's debut to the upper class. To Mrs. Higgins, her son's presence is "a disagreeable surprise"

Mrs. Higgnins

What a disagreeable surprise. Ascot is usually the one place I can come with my friends and not run the risk of seeing my son, Henry. Whenever my friends meet him, I never see them again.

From her words, we can see how easily Henry offends others.

Now, how about our Henry Sweet? There is an episode Shaw writes in his preface to "Pygmalion". Sweet was also a man who can easily get on the nerves of others.

Once, in the days when the Imperial Institute rose in South Kensington, and Joseph Chamberlain was booming the Empire, I induced the editor of a leading monthly review to commission an article from Sweet on the imperial importance of his subject. When it arrived, it contained nothing but a savagely derisive attack on a professor of language and literature whose chair Sweet regarded as proper to a phonetic expert only. The article, being libellous, had to be returned as impossible; and I had to renounce my dream of dragging its author into the limelight.

("Pygmalion" preface)

Shaw's big effort to bring the brilliant scholar into the limelight, it was flushed down the drain by the scholar by himself. Poor Shaw... 

"Smoke-free"

Walking through the campus, I often see posters or signs that says

“smoke-free”

I think many people get easily confused by its meaning.

Does that mean I can smoke here, or am not allowed? The phrase is tricky, indeed!

Being “free” sounds like “you can do anything as you wish.” 

You feel released from some ties and obligations, taking the word sounds highly positively.

Yet, you cannot take "smoke free" as such and smoke as you like. It means actually the opposite (as the sign clearly shows): "you are prohibited from smoking."

In this sense of "free," OED defines,

     3 (c). Clear of something which is regarded as objectionable or problematic. With of, from.

Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage notes: 

"-free" is a suffix used in dozen's of common words such as acid-free (paper), alcohol-free, duty-free, fat-free, hands-free, interest-free, smoke-free, tax-free. A hyphen should separate it from the word it is joined to, i.e. alcohol-free not *alcohol free or *alcoholfree, hands-free rather than *handsfree or *hands free.  (327-28)

To be continued.

Works Cited:
Butterfield, Jeremy. ed. Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. 4th ed.Oxford Clarendon, 2015.

Touches of Sweet, Henry Sweet 01

The musical "My Fair Lady" is based on the play "Pygmalion" written by Bernard Shaw. The original has a preface and an epilogue which are not included in the musical, and they relate to us some interesting aspects of early 20th century London.

There was a probable model of Professor Higgins, and Shaw mentions about him in the preface of "Pygmalion" : Henry Sweet (1845 - 1912), a formidable phonetician, philologist and grammarian of the late 19th century. From reading his preface, you can see that the new science, phonetics was IN in those days, and the specialists seemed to be in great need to salvage their English language from spreading chaotic mess. Shaw had great respect and admiration to Sweet, and he goes in length in writing how great Sweet was. However, we can see that Sweet was not a person who was easy to deal with, just like Higgins in "Pygmalion".

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His great ability as a phonetician (he was, I think, the best of them all at his job) would have entitled him to high official recognition, and perhaps enabled him to popularize his subject, but for his Satanic contempt for all academic dignitaries and persons in general who thought more of Greek than of phonetics.  ("Pygmalion" preface  by Bernard Shaw)
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Satanic contempt... how heated could you get...
To Sweet, phonetics was the utmost subject of all academia.

to be continued.

"Scape" in "landscape"

There are various ways of referring to "landscape" in Japanese.

風景、景色、眺め、景観

We also have "景勝," often used as a phrase "景勝の地," which means a scenic spot or historic sight.

What I wonder about is why the word contains "勝."
"勝" carries a strong sense of "winning, victory," while it also points to scenic beauty and place.

My guess is that the "landscape" is deeply connected with the history of "victors." In a way, "landscape" is something "shaped" by force of conquerors. I would like to look further into this issue, but before that, let me check the element that makes up the word.

Obviously, "landscape" can be divided into two parts, "land" and "scape," both of which have its origin in Old English. Yet, the OED cites the first entry of "landscape" in the beginning of 17th century; In the form of "landscape," it never existed in Old English time.

As to the etymology, it comes from Dutch "landschap"

"Scape" is the same as OE "scipe," which remains until today as suffix "ship" as in friendship, relationship, kinship, etc., denoting "the state or condition."

It was a highly productive suffix in Old English, surviving up to present, but OED notes "few have a history extending beyond the 15th century." Here are the list of examples that is of no present use:

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OE:
"árodscipe" (briskness)
"dolscipe" (folly)
"druncenscipe" (drunkenship)

ME:
"glædscipe" (gladship)
"gódscipe" (goodship)
"láþscipe" (hardship)
"prútscipe" (pride)
"shendship" (disgrace)
"snelscipe" (boldness)
"wildship" (wildness)
"wódscipe" (madness)
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Numerous "ships"! You may wonder why it has gradually lost its productivity.

In the future, "skinship" could be enrolled in the dictionary, but now it is only used (preferably) among Japanese in the sense of "heartwarming mingling of people."

Suspicious unclaimed objects and persons

This was a sign I saw on a train I took today. I read it over and over.

Which adjectives are describing the word "persons"?

<Possibilities and the outcome>

"Please inform the station staff or train crew immediately..."

nil (0) : if you notice any (0) persons in the station or on the train.

  → So practically, no one can be at in the station or ride the train

suspicious : if you notice any suspicious persons in the station or on the train.

 → The most plausible and reasonable choice.

suspicious unclaimed : if you notice any suspicious unclaimed persons in the station or on the train.

 → ... my imagination goes wild...

It really does look suspicious.

"posilutely"

Stimulated by Maki's post on "absobloominglutely" and browsing through the dictionary, I bumped into the word “posilutely.”

This is a compound word, a blend of "positively" (adv) and "absolutely" (adv), 

According to the OED, it is a slang originated in U. S.

I didn't know the word. Nor have I heard so far, used it myself.

It means:

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Emphatically; without a doubt, irrefutably. Also used as an emphatic affirmative: yes, certainly, definitely. Freq. paired with absotively adv.

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Is there "Absotively" also!?

I just think that "posilutely" sounds less comfortable than "absolutely," but on second thought, "p" sound might produce an exhilarating feeling.

No English conversation made is without "absolutely."

Some English learners might remember the first time when they were able to reply by saying "absolutely." The word's casualness and fascination enable other words to come in and create new, diverse expressions.