Questions at Issue in Our English Speech

Excerpt: "Perhaps the true explanation of this variation be tween British and American usage is found in the fact that America is a new country, and hence tradition here does not carry such binding authority as in the Old World. There the pronunciation has been handed down by word of mouth, from generation to generation, among a people to the manner born. Here conditions are much altered. America has a large foreign-born element, and consequently many of the people cannot claim English as t...