ABSTRACT
TH E attempt to unify English speech by fostering an absolute standard of pronunciation was first begun by the orthoepists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The first definite comments on the most acceptable type of English may be found in books written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thus, in the preface to Hart’s Methode to Read English, 1570, reference is made to “ the Court, and London speaches, where the generall flower of all English countrie speeches, are chosen and vsed” . A more extensive and familiar statement of the same opinion appears in The Arte of English Poesie, 1589, in which the author advises the would-be poet on his choice of language:
This view of what constituted acceptable English-much the same as that which is still held-was accepted even by provincials. The Welsh schoolmaster, Owen Price, says in his Vocal Organ, 1665, “ I have not been guided by our vulgar pronunciation, but by that of London and our Universities where the language is purely spoken” , and in the Practical Phonography, 1701, of his compatriot, Dr. John Jones, English speech is defined as “ the Art of signifying the Mind by Humane Voice, as it is commonly used in England (particularly in London, the Universities or at Court” . There has, in fact, never been any serious opposition during the Modern period to this view of what type of English is most acceptable.
