Arkansas

AHEAD SAW IT IS. The History of the Settling of a Question of Pronouncing a State's Name. From the Philadelphia Ledger. Office Secretary of State, Little Rock, Ark., September 12,'96. $ Mr. S. E. Simmonds, Philadelphia, Pa. Dear Sir: Your letter of the 7th inst., to the Philadelphia Ledger making inquiry in reference to the correct pronunciation of the name of this state was forwarded to Governor Clark, and by him handed to me for reply. For many years there was contention among even our best-informed citizens as to the correct pronunciation of the name of this state. Most persons pronounced it as it was spelled, while others, especially the early settlers and their descendants, pronounced -the name as if spelled Ar-kan-saw, following, as they believed, the pronunciation used by the Arkansas Indians, the aborigines of the country, from whom the territory derived its name. From 1844 to 1848 our state was represented in the United States senate by Mr. Chester Ashley and Mr. Ambrose Sevier. Mr. Chester Ashley, a New Englander by birth, and probably the brainiest senator we ever had, always pronounced the name of the state phonetically as it is spelled, Ar-kan-sas. Mr. Sevier, a Tennesseean, the grandson of Colonel John Sevier, the hero of King's Mountaih, and the governor of the state of "Franklin" as Tennessee was then called, always gave to the last syllable of the name of his adopted Btate the pronunciation of the broad A, as if it were spelled Ar-kan-saw. At that time as you know, Mr. Dallas was vice president, and made the greatest and most courtly presiding officer the senate ever had, Aaron Burr excepted. Mr. Dallas, in addressing Mr. Ashley, always said, "The senator from Ar-kan-sas," while Mr. Sevier was always the senator from Ar-kan-saw. The opinion of the people differed on this subject, as did the opinion of our senators. Finally, to settle the disputation, the general assembly of 1881 appointed a learned and able committee to investigate the whole subject. This committee made a critical and exhaustive examination, and, based upon the report of this committee, the general assembly unanimously adopted the following concurrent resolutions: Concurrent resolution declaring the proper pronunciation of the name of the state of Arkansas. "Preamble: Whereas, Confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state, and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings; and "Whereas, The matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Boeiety and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation, as derived from history and the early usage of the American immigrants; be it therefore "Resolved, By both houses of the general assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians, and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound, and that it should be pronounced in three syllables, wifh the final V silent, the 'a' in each syllable with the Italian sound, aud the accent on the first and last syllables, being the pronunciation formerly, universally and now still most commonly used, and that the pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of 'a' in man and the sounding of the terminal 's' is an innovation to be discouraged. March. 1881." This closedthe discussion.,. Everybody now pronounces the name of the state Ar-kan-saw, and it would be little less than high treason for any one to pronounce it differently. I send you a report of this office, containing a short sketch of the state's early history, which may prove of some interest to you. Hoping the above explanation is satisfactory, I am, yours truly, ' H. B. Armistead, Secretary of State.