Message-ID:

A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking.

tech / sci.lang / John Walker born (18-3-1732)

John Walker born (18-3-1732)

<utbnck$ota2$1@dont-email.me>

https://news.novabbs.org/tech/article-flat.php?id=18639&group=sci.lang#18639

Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: benlizro@ihug.co.nz (Ross Clark)
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: John Walker born (18-3-1732)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 22:54:24 +1300
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 20
Message-ID: <utbnck$ota2$1@dont-email.me>
Reply-To: r.clark@auckland.ac.nz
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 09:54:28 -0000 (UTC)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="6fb700a7203cbb48a98f7ef98106fb22";
logging-data="816450"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/T46R/B9h6RhhuYk8KUStNzcVH/FSXi5U="
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101
Thunderbird/52.9.1
Cancel-Lock: sha1:fgLk7pK8fnXl+ybNcx+fdr+lBAk=
Content-Language: en-GB
X-Mozilla-News-Host: news://news.eternal-september.org:119

by: Ross Clark - Tue, 19 Mar 2024 09:54 UTC

Johnson's dictionary had only sporadic notes on pronunciation of
'difficult' items. Walker produced the first complete pronouncing
dictionary of English. A fascinating snapshot of late 18th century
upper-class (London) speech, including some of the first indications of
r-dropping, and value judgments about disapproved variants.

Also includes "Rules to be observed by the Natives of Scotland, Ireland
and London for avoiding their respective peculiarities." The "Natives"
of London were of course "my countrymen, the Cockneys".

His notation for vowels involves tiny diacritics directly above the
vowel letter, which, upon magnification, turn out to be numerals (1-4),
each one indicating a different vowel sound. Not very practical,
particularly when trying to read an old copy of the book.

http://www.johnwalkerdictionaries.co.uk/doku.php?id=elocution

http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/library/WalkerCriticalPronouncingDictionary1803.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walker_(lexicographer)

Subject	Author
John Walker born (18-3-1732)	Ross Clark