THAT OXFORD ACCENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 263, 4 October 1933, Page 2

THAT OXFORD ACCENT.

DUE TO FAULTY VOCAL TONE. The remark by Mr J. H. Thomas, Secretary for the Dominions, that a Rhodes Scholar “does not use the Oxford accent, but the Morris-Oxford accent,” is recalled in an article by Mr. St. John Rumsev, instructor of speech at Guy’s Hospital. He declares that the ■ Oxford accent is not due to incorrect mouth-shapes, such as is the speech of curates and cockneys, but to faulty basis of the vocal tone. This produces a drawl, giving the impression of weary boredom with life generally, and the immediate audience in particular. The faulty tone is due to incorrect voice-production. “The throat muscles are tensed, instead of relaxed,” he says. “I am unawn re wily it is attributed to Oxford, -when it is heard both in Oxford and Cambridge, but it is even more prevalent in ‘artistic London.’ There is more drawl in Chelsea than in Oxford and Cambridge combined.” Commenting on professional differences of speech, Mr Rumsey said that solicitors speak slowly; to obtain time to think and remember what was said. Barristers speak quickly and incisively in order to muddle and frighten people.