Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/150

562 The English Language in America a French word, or as a more or less domesticated form of either? What other word is it like? Shall the spelling be allowed fuU weight? In general, of two forms already in existence which shall be preferred ? To such questions it is only to be expected that the two countries should in many instances make different responses. British English frequently makes more effort to imitate a modem French pronunciation in trait, chamois, turquoise, charade, imbecile, and vase, where Americans frankly accept them as native words. It is, however, the French tradition rather than the Latin which Americans foUow in preferring [i] to [ai] forms in the terTsimaXoris-ide,-irie,-itis,-igue. Dr. Johnson's spelling has undergone some simplification in both countries : almanack, musick, errour, horrour, interiour, successour, emperour, oratour, have everywhere dropped un- necessary letters. The abandonment of the French -our for Latin -or has gone a little further in the American printing- houses; honour, humour, vigour, harbour, labour, neighbour, valour, clamour, clangour, saviour, and a few others have joined the overwhelming majority of -or words. British men of letters could be cited who have employed the same simplification. Other French spellings like theatre and centre are less common in America than in England. Parallel to the simplification of almanacik) are ■wag(g)on, travel{l)er. Of the British attempts to distinguish by the spelling story, narrative (plural stories), from storey, floor (pi. storeys), and curb (bit) from kerb (stone), the first has some etymological argument in its favour, but neither has commended itself to American usage. Britons themselves are quite as likely to spell cider and pajamas in the fashion always employed in America as they are to write cyder and pyjamas. ' The spelling book has exerted a powerful influence in Amer- ica, where so many speakers have learned their language in the school and looked to it as a more compelling authority than the sometimes uncertain tradition of the home. The notion that all the letters of a word are entitled to a certain respect, reinforced by the native slowness of utterance, has led to the retention of unstressed vowels in tapestry, medicine, venison, and ' The spelling used in this chapter, as of this history in general, conforms ordinarily to British usage.