The historical study of the mother tongue: An introduction to philological method
Book Description
This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1907. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XV THE STUDY OF PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH Although it has been found convenient, as a matter of systematic arrangement, to reserve this subject until the end of the present work, it is neverthel...
MoreThis historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1907. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XV THE STUDY OF PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH Although it has been found convenient, as a matter of systematic arrangement, to reserve this subject until the end of the present work, it is nevertheless strongly to be recommended that, in teaching, the study of actual living English should serve as the starting-point of, and as the preparation for, the historical study of our language. The reason for this must have become apparent from the general tenor of this book. The first preparation for a competent study of the history of a language is some training in phonetics, and for this the native spoken language must serve as a basis. The first lessons in accurate observation and analysis of speech sounds must be learned, as has been repeatedly pointed out, from one's own speech, and that of one's associates. From the study of the sounds of his own language, the student will naturally proceed to examine the structure, the accidence, and syntax of the spoken form of English. The methods of such an investigation have been exemplified in Mr. Sweet's Primer of Spoken English, 1900, and this admirable work may serve as a model to the teacher who conducts a class in the subject, though it must naturally be borne in mind that just as Mr. Sweet has described 339 22--2 his Owh pronunciation, so the student must learn to observe and describe his own, noting the points of agreement and of difference between his own speech habits and those of his associates, and between that set forth in the Primer. When at least some knowledge of the facts of contemporary English has been gained, the next step is to inquire how they arose; and to answer this question involves an inquiry into the earlier forms of our language. For this, one trained to observe the facts of actually existing speech ...
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