11 DECEMBER 1926, Page 19

" AMERICAN ENGLISH "

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] do not agree with Mr. St. John Ervine that the Ameri- can affirmative " Yah " is a corruption of the word " Yes,"

or with Mr. Ernest Law that it is a survival of the old English I ea.” The Dano-Norwegian for both Yea and Yes is ja—pronouneed Yoh. I don't know anything about Danish emigration to America, but I do know that until comparatively recently an immense number of Norwegians have emigrated there, and I think that may explain the adoption of some of their words.—

Eastftekl, Leicester.