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N ew sw eek, D ecem ber 27, 1943 N ew sw eek , D ecem bek 72 professor of social studies at the Univer sity of Minnesota, had previously re vealed that American children were no as dumb as some reports indicated whei it came to the history of their countr ( N e w s w e e k , N o v . I S ) . Now he say that the reason they don’t remembe dates is that teachers try to cram “a who! barrelful" down their throats. Actually they should be taught only 33 historic: dates—in this order. has, and that the only solution for na tions with a growing world conscious ness is a common language. Away w ith Q ,W ,X : Last week Mario Pei was ready with his contribution to this end—a hitherto unpublished pho netic alphabet. It eliminates tluee su perfluous” symbols, Q, VV, and X, and adds five new ones: one from the Greek, one from the international phonetic al phabet, one from the Icelandic, and two from the Cyrillic alphabet. Pei then sug gests the international use of English, since it is “probably the most wide spread of all.” Moreover, it is ^gram matically “comparatively simple,” syn tactically “direct and straightforward to the point of bhmtness,” and has a vo cabulary of “the world’s most fortunate blend of two great linguistic stocks, the Germanic and the Latin-Romance, with plenty of Greek and other languages thrown in.” ~ But as every American knows, Eng lish has one tremendous drawback—its complex spelling. Phonetics would elimi nate this difficulty and still make use of the tongue’s advantages. The most im portant points of Pei’s plan: Sovloto lie saw religion reborn in Russia EDUCATION of /iir *ne lu rch idc ie •k- Master Tongue of Dr. Pei When Australia’s fair sticks and sninnies throw a shivoo, it's always more a matter of fiddlydids than triddlybits. And just as in America, many diners and cobbers smooge with the wrong people, although some, of course, remain dinkie die. Even a wartime liquor shortage doesn’t interfere: on a real larrikin you can get just as shikkered on plonk as anything else.® C There should be “an invariable sound for each symbol; an invariable symbol for each sound”—giving different sym bols to words like though, through, cou g h , and plou gh. C The so-called “long” sounds of a, i, 0, and u are actually diphthongs. For ex ample, the long a of lute is really the e of m et quickly followed by the i of it; the long u of use is the i of it quickly followed by the u of rude, etc. The child of the future could much more easily associate rait with the sounds now con veyed by right, rite, w rite, and a r ig h t, although it is difficult for us. To Dr. Mario Pei, there's nothing to bo gained by ignoring the fact that dif ferences not only in pronunciation but in idiom and slang often make it difficult for those who theoretically speak the same language to understand one an other. Hence in his widely known W ar Linguistics Courses at Columbia Uni versity the Italian-born professor acts accordingly. With the aid of a unique, 1 quadruple-jointed textbook which he wrote himself, he teaches future officers io and government workers the variations -cuof the English language-from New Zea .ury land to the British Isles. But more in lies, triguing, the students get in the same and course a workable skeleton outline of the seven other languages with which a person can be understood anywhere in nd the world: German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, and Japa nese. They also learn how to recognize 30 others. _ . Even this is not enough for Dr. Pei. % Although he himself can handle 30 of e the 250 tongues he can recognize, his t linguistic ability falls far short of the t 2,769 separate languages spoken through out the world. Thus he concludes that no one else will do much better than he f C Obviously a given symbol used in other languages constructed on Greek, Roman, Gothic, or Cyrillic characters may be pronounced differently than in English. (The vowel sounds of lot, cot, Dr. Pei, the global linguist not, etc., in most languages is indicated by a rather than o .) Thus a compromise between languages would be necessary, using the pronunciation of a particular symbol which is already most preferred. Dates to Remember All the adults quizzed In the mining town of Herrin, 111., knew that prohibi tion started in 1920, but that was the only bright spot of historical knowledge in the country. By contrast, two Dallas, Texas, people had forgotten that the present war started in 1939, and four non-Republicans were unaware that the New Deal began in 1933. The United Press survey which brought these results was prompted last week by a release on the recently com pleted study by the Committee on Ameri can History in Schools and Colleges. Although the full report will not be pub lished until Dec. 28, Dr. Edgar B. W es ley, chairman of the committee and / ha’ lo u d bT frai neim, fra l k£>jdora kam, f r a i u i l 0 bT don an yrf) a z i t ^ l z I n he'vyn; g i v 08 friB hlT t r e s p y S y g / n s t . o e ) , 'g' From the Ic e la n d ic, representing the th_ as pronounced in t h i s . 17 or •fraln i z fry k£jdora, and frfy p a u y r , 8 nd fry g lo rl, f o r e v y r ) . linen. j "fj and l T d 08 n a t f n t u terapte'luiyn, bo t d i l ^ v y r os fram T v y l . Sen io r H igh : 1619, first America legislature meets in Virginia; 1649, To eration Act of Maryland; 1817, ugre ment with Canada; 1933, the New Dea 1857, 49red Scott decision; 1765, tl Stamp Act; 1887, Interstate Commerc Commission; 1898, war with Spain; 182 Monroe Doctrine; 1914, beginning of fii World W ar; 1920, Nineteenth Amen ment; 1939, beginning of the secoi World W ar. , ‘ C An early objector to Wesley’s sele tion of dates was Hugh Russell Frasi chairman of the Committee on Americ. History and idea man for The New Yo T im es s history quiz ( N e w s w e e k , Ap 1 9 ), The grade-school student, he sai should be required to know only fi dates—and not things like Magellai From the Creek, representing the ^ 0 th as pronounced in th in . d e l a u r d / i l i b r e d , and fo r g it v 08 a u r d a t e ( t r e s p y s y z ) a z uT f o r g i v a u r d e t y r s (frouz Ju n io r H ig h : 1775, beginning of Re\ olutionary W ar; 1787, Constitution. Convention; 1793, invention of cotto gin; 1876, Centennial Exposition; 178 surrender of Cornwallis; 180 /, inventio of the steamboat; 1812, second w: against England; 1869, completion < first transcontinental railroad; 1820, Mi souri Compromise; 1844, first suecessfi telegraph; 1861, beginning of Civil Wo The fiv e new symbols: Aur F a d y r , ’ hu ( h u i o ) a r t In h e vy n, •W hen Australia’s good guy* and gal* throw • ►urty, it’s mure u m atter of pounds than threepence, tnd ju 't as in Am erica, many boy* and girl* smooch d th the wrong people, ulthough some, of course, email) true blue. liven , a wartime liquor shortage loc-rn’t in terfere: on ft real spree you can get Just * drunk on wine ft* anything eUe. G ram m ar Sch ool: 1492, the discover of America; 1620, landing of the P i grims; 1607, settlement of Jamestowr 1776, Declaration of Independent 1519, Magellan’s voyage; 1763, Frenc and Indian W ar; 1819, acquisition < Florida; 1789, inauguration of Washing ton; 1848, acquisition of Mexican terr tory; 1803, Louisiana Purchase. _ t. 27, 194? ||| From the In tern atio n al Phonetic Alphabet, representing representing the diphthong n £, as in song. From the S la v ic , representing.the L U Ui sh as pronounced in she. From the S la v ic , representing the m Ere n l j H f zh a* pronounced in azure. ■ The Lord’s Prayer written in Pei’s invariable symbols . . . and the five non-English characters he has chosen f
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