Another enlightening extract from The Queen's English (see previous post). Henry Alford, the author, was clearly an amateur(ish) philologist and fellow linguaphile. I'm sure he would have made an interesting blogger.
115. A complaint respecting slovenly pronunciation has been sent me, which seems to bring before us a matter of some delicacy and uncertainty. A correspondent blames rightly the slovenly habit of pronouncing "Abel," "Mabel," "Ethel," as if they were "Able," "Mable," "Ethle ;" and speaks with proper severity of Walker, who, in his "Pronouncing Dictionary," has set down "evle" as the pronunciation of "evil." So far seems clear. But, when we come to the question, whether all words [ending?] in -el or -il are to be rigidly pronounced in full, we are, I think, compelled to yield somewhat to custom. Nay, custom has, as matter of fact, prevailed in some cases, even to the alteration of our conventional spelling. What was once "battail," then "battel," has now become "battle ;" "chattail," or "chattel," has become "cattle ;" "subtile," or "subtil," has become "subtle ;" "castell," or "castel" has become "castle." The word "devil" is far more frequently pronounced "devvle," than "de-vill;" indeed, this latter pronunciation, in the mouth of an affected precisian, is offensive. Good taste, and the observance of usage, must in such matters be our guides.
- How disappointing to read the phrase "sent me", which seems inconsistent with entry 442 from the same publication. Although a defensible ellipsis, I don't think it scans very well.
- Note how clumsy the punctuation appears when placed inside the quotation marks. The use of italics is tacit admission that the text is not as readable as it might be. Perhaps he should have dispensed with the quoting entirely. Come to think of it, I wouldn't have used quite so many commas.
- I believe the Walker referred to is a Mr John Walker, and this is his dictionary.
- The word precisian (not a spelling mistake) is used to mean a purist or pedant.
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