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RELATIONS OF VOWELS TO ELEMENTARY SOUNDS.

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represented by short e in many, any, says, &c. The change from a to o takes place most especially before l, as in wall, call. When the liquid l is followed by another Consonant, the l is generally sunk in the pronunciation, as in falcon, salmon, pronounced faucon, sammon.

26. Æ, an Improper Diphthong, is borrowed from the Latin, in which language it is always long. In English it is used only in words of Latin origin or formation; and it is sometimes long, as in pean, and sometimes short, as in cătĕra.

27. Ai, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long a, as in pail; to short a, in plaid, raillery; and sometimes to short e, as in said, again, against. It has the sound of long i in aisle, and of short i in fountain, curtain, &c.

28. Au, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to broad a in cause, and sometimes to the Italian a, as in aunt, and to long a in gauge. In hautboy (the t mute) it has the sound of long o. Aw, an Improper Diphthong, has the sound of broad a, as in maw. Ay, a Proper Diphthong in the word ay, is elsewhere an Improper Diphthong, and is equivalent to long a as in day, except in quay, which is pronounced ke.

29. E.-E represents two elementary sounds, the Fifth and the Sixth. 1. The long sound, as in mēte. 2. The short sound, as in mět. It has an obtuse sound in her. It is sometimes equivalent to long a, as in there, where; but were is properly pronounced wer (the e as in her). E is sometimes equivalent to short i, as in England.

30. Before an unaccented final syllable, when it precedes l or n, e sometimes has an indistinct, short sound, and is sometimes suppressed altogether. It is sounded in chapel, flannel, travel, chicken, vessel, kitchen, sudden, woollen, &c.; and it is suppressed in drivel, gravel, heaven, &c. At the end of words it is always mute, except in monosyllables which have no other vowels, and in some proper names, as Tempë, Lethë, &c.

31. The sound of e is generally suppressed in the preterites of verbs, and in participles, in ed, when the e is not preceded by d or t; as feared, praised, tossed, &c., pronounced feard, praisd, tost. In poetry, the sound of the e is sometimes retained; and to signify this, it may have over it the mark of the Dia'resis (a Greek word, meaning division or separation), as in praised, blessed, which when thus marked ought to be pronounced as words of two syllables. The acute or grave accent is sometimes used for the same purpose.

32. Ea, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in tea; to short e, as in head; to long a, as in break; to the Italian a, as in heart, hearth, &c. Ee, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in eel. Ei, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long a, as in veil; to long e, as in deceit; to long i, as in height; to short i, as in surfeit ; and to short e, as in heifer.

33. Eo, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in people; to short e, as in leopard, to long o, as in yeoman; and to short (, as in

George. Eu and ew (except, according to Walker, when preceded ly r) have the diphthongal sound of u, as in feud, dew. In sew, shew, and strew, ew sounds like long o.

34. Ey has the sound of long a, as in eyry. In key it has the sound of long e; and, when unaccented, it has the slight sound of e, as in galley, valley. Eye is equivalent to i. Eau has the sound of long o, as in beau; in beauty and its compounds, it has the sound of long u.

35. L-I represents two sounds: 1. The diphthongal, sometimes called the long sound, as in pine. 2. The Seventh elementary sound, called the short sound, as in pit. Before r this is equivalent to short u, as in thirst. It is sometimes equivalent to long e, as in machine.

36. I, unaccented, readily blends with the succeeding Vowel, as in motion, physician, concession. Ie, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long i, as in die; to long e, as in fiend; to short i, as in sieve; and to short e, as in friend. In terminations, like twentieth, in fiery, in Orient, the Vowels should be separated in the pronunciation; also in variegate. Ieu and iew, Triphthongs, have the sound of long u, as in lieu, review. 37. 0.- represents two elementary sounds, namely, the Eighth and the Ninth 1. The long, as in note. 2. The short, as in not. O is sometimes equivalent to oo, as in prove, and to u short, as in love, and to broad a, as in lord, and to short i in women, and to the u in full, as in wolf. When long, oo represents the Eleventh elementary sound.

38. Oa, an Improper Diphthong, is sometimes equivalent to long o, as in coal, boat, coat, soap, &c.; or to broad a, as in broad. Oe, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent sometimes to long o, as in foe, or to oo, as in canoe, or to long e, as in fœtus. Oi is a Proper Diphthong, and equivalent to oy, except in tortoise, pronounced tor'tiz, choir, pronounced kwir. 39. Ou is a Proper Diphthong. It is the most irregular in the language. It has the sound of short u in enough, country, flourish, &c.; the sound of oo in soup, group, tournament, uncouth, &c.; the sound of long o in though, soul, court, source, pour, &c.; the sound of short aw in cough, trough, &c.; the sound of broad a in ought, thought, &c.

40. U.-- U represents three sounds: 1. The long or diphthongal, as in cube, mule, dupe, fume, student, due, stupid, constitution, resolution, &c. 2. The Tenth elementary sound, as in bull. 3. The Twelfth elementary sound, as in but. It is also equivalent to short i in busy, and to short e in bury. After r, long u has the sound of o in move; as rule.

41. Ua, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to the Italian a in guard; to short a, as in guarantee; to long a, or wa, in persuade. Ue is equivalent to long u, as in hue; to short e, as in guest; and is sometimes mute, as in league, antique, demagogue.

42. Ui, an Improper Diphthong, has the sound of long i, as in guide, of short i, as in conduit; of long u, as in juice. Uy, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long i, as in buy.

43 W.-W, from being partly a Vowel and partly a Consonant in its

RELATIONS OF CONSONANTS TO ELEMENTARY SOUNDE.

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and

ase, may be called a Semi-vowel. It has nearly the sound of ov, represents the Thirteenth elementary sound, as in wet. With o and e it forms Diphthongs, as in now, new. It is always mute before r; as in write, wrist. It is often joined to o at the end of a syllable without affecting the sound, as in grow.

44. Y.-Y, from being partly a Vowel and partly a Consonant, may be called a Semi-vowel. It represents the Fourteenth elementary sound, as in yet. It is equivalent to u, as in youth; to long i, as in cypress; to short i, as in synod, tyranny, &c.; to short u, as in myrrh.

When does

QUESTIONS. 24, 25. What are the elementary sounds of the letter a? the sound of a most usually change to o? How do you pronounce f-a-l-c-o-n, and s-a-l-m-o-n? 26. What is æ ? 27. Ai? To what sounds equivalent? 28. Au ? aw? xy? 29. What of e and its equivalents? 30, 31. Mention instances in which the sound of e is suppressed. 31. What is said of the mark of the Diæ'resis? 32. What are ea, ze, and ei? 33. Eo, eu, ew? 34. Ey, eau ? 35, 36. Mention a word in which the ong sound of z occurs. The short sound. What is ie? ieu and iew? 37. Mention a The short sound. 38. What are oa, oe, oi? The short sound.

word in which the long sound of o occurs.
39. Ou? 40. Mention words in which the long sound of u occurs.
41. Ua, ue. 42. Ui, uy. 43. What is w? y ?

LESSON IV.

RELATIONS OF CONSONANT LETTERS TO THE ELEMENTARY

SOUNDS.

45. B. B represents the Twenty-second elementary sound, as in bag, bib, bulb, bribe, hubbub, &c. In such words as debtor, subtle, redoubt, &c., and in lamb, comb, dumb, thumb, &c., the b is mute.

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46. C. Before another c, and before a, o, u, l, r, t, the sound of c is hard, and equivalent to k; as in can, come, cub, accurate, clip, crop, act; also where it ends a syllable, as in public. Before e, i and y, c is soft and equivalent to s; as in accent, flaccid, vacillate, cymbal, &c., except in sceptic, scirrhus, and their derivatives, where the c is hard, like k.

47. Ce and ci, followed by another vowel, often blend into the sound of sh, as in ocean, social. C is mute in arbuscle, corpuscle, muscle, czar, victuals, indict, Connecticut, &c. Followed by the letter h, c sometimes serves to express the sound of tsh; as in church, chivalry, birch; the sound of k, as in chorus, chimera, scheme, chirography, distich, &c.; the sound of sh, in machine, chagrin, chaise. Ch is sometimes mute, as in schism (pronounced sizm), yacht (pronounced yot), drachm. Where the Latin word drachma, however, is used, the ch should be sounded like k.

48. D. ruddy, &c.

D represents the Twenty-eighth elementary sound, as in did,
When ed is preceded by a hard consonant, and the e is mute.

the real sound of d is that of t. Words like the following, stuffed, tripped, plucked, &c., are all pronounced stuft, tript, pluckt, &c. D is mute in handsome, Wednesday, stadtholder.

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49. F. F represents the Twenty-third elementary sound, as in fell, fop. In of it is soft, having the sound of v.

50. G. Before a, o, u, l and r, g represents the Thirtieth elementary sound, as in gap, gone, gun, glory, grip. Before e, i and y, it generally represents the sound of j, as in gem, gibbet, gyration. There are several exceptions to this, however, among which are the following words, in which the sound of g hard (as in go, gap) is preserved, namely: get, gear, gewgaw, finger, linger, gibber, gibberish, gibbous, giddy, giggle, gimp, gird, girl, give; also syllables added to words ending in g as fog, foggy. G is mute before m or n in the same syllable, as in phlegm, gnaw, gnome, impugn, condign, apothegm, &c.

51. The sound of ng in king, throng, &c., when at the end of a word, or in singer, ringing, &c., in the middle of a word, is not the natural Bound of the combination n and g, each letter retaining its natural power and sound, but is a simple elementary sound, for which the combination ng is a conventional * mode of expression.

52. Gh, at the beginning of a word, retains the sound of g in gave, with the exception of a slight aspiration represented by the h; as in ghost, gherkin. In other situations, gh is generally mute; as in high, fight. It is sometimes equivalent to f; as in laugh, cough, trough, draught; and sometimes to g hard, as in burgh.

53. Ough is sometimes equivalent to ooh, as in through; also to owh, as in bough, plough, drought, droughty; also to uf, as in enough, rough; and to auf as in trough. In slough it sometimes has the sound of uf, and sometimes of ou. See this word in the Index.

54. H.-H represents the Fifteenth elementary sound, as in hat. It is mute at the beginning of a number of words; as in heir, honor, hour, &c. By some orthoëpists it is incorrectly said to be mute in hospital, hostler, humble, humor, humorous, &c., exhale, exhibit, exhort, &c. In such words as whale, what, whist, whither, the h should be distinctly aspirated. It should be but slightly aspirated after r, as in rheum, rhubarb, rhetoric, rhapsody, &c.

55. J. J represents a compound sound, and is equivalent to dzh, as in jest. In hallelujah it has the sound of y. It was formerly identified with the vowel i, and mingled with it in English dictionaries.

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56. K. Krepresents the Twenty-ninth elementary sound, as in kid. It never comes before a, o, or w. It is used before e, i and y, because in that position c would run the chance of being sounded as s. Thus in kid, if this word were written with a c, it would be liable to be sounded sid. As a general rule, k is never used where c would serve the purpose. Before n, k is always mute, as in know, kneel knife.

* Conventional means agreed upon, or settled by custom.

RELATIONS OF CONSONANTS TO ELEMENTARY SOUNDS.

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57. L. L represents the Nineteenth elementary sound, and is soft and liquid, as in love, billow, linger. Le at the end of words is sounded like el, as in table, shuttle, &c. L is mute in many words, as in calf, half, chalk, talk, balm, calm, would, could, should, alms, &c.

58. M.

-

M represents the Seventeenth elementary so-ind, as in make. It generally preserves its sound, except in such words as accompt, comptroller, &c., now usually written account, controller. In mnemonics, the initial m is mute.

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59. N. represents the Eighteenth elementary sound, as in now. It is mute when it ends a syllable and is preceded by l or m, as in kiln, hymn, column, condemn, &c. Ng represents the Sixteenth elementary sound, as in wing.

60. P.- P represents the Twenty-first elementary sound, as in pope It is sometimes mute before n, s, and t, at the beginning of words; as in pneumatics, psalm, ptisan. It is mute in the middle of words between m and t, as in empty, sumpter; also in the words raspberry, receipt, corps.* Ph has the sound of f, as in physic, philosophy, diphthong, digraph, triumph, caliph, &c. In Stephen and nephew, it has the sound of v; and in naphtha, the h is silent.

61. Q.Q, accurately speaking, is neither a letter nor an abbreviation. It is always followed by u, as in quill, quart, &c.; and qu must be regarded as a single sign, equivalent to, but scarcely an abbreviation of, kw. In some words of French origin the u is mute; as in coquet, masquerade, etiquette, &c.

62. R. R represents the Twentieth elementary sound, as in run, trill. It has a trilled or vibratory sound when it begins a syllable or word, with or without a consonant; as in run, wrestle, pray, rural, shrill, &c. But it has its smooth sound when it is the last consonant in a syllable or word; as in ardor, here, are (the a as in far), more, adore, wonder, abhor, err (the e as in her), defer, &c. In some few words the sound of r has & tendency to transposition; as in apron, iron, pronounced apurn, iurn.

63. S represents the Thirty-first elementary sound, as in sir, yes, &c. It has also the sound of z in zeal, as in bēsom; and also the sound of sh, as in sure; and also the sound of zh, as in pleasure, composure, hosier, &c. It is sometimes mute, as in island, aisle, corps (pronounced kor, in French; kōre by Walker), demesne, puisne, viscount.

64. When a word ends in a soft consonant, b, v, d, g, the plural termination is not the sound of s, but that of z (stagz, dogz), although s is the letter written. Such also is the case in words ending in the Vowels or Liquids; for we say peaz, beanz, hillz, not peace, beance, hillce.

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* Both Webster and Worcester make the pronunciation of this word kōr, the s and being mute. There is a question, whether it may not be more properly pronounced kor, rhyming with nor. The dropping of the sound of the consonant letters p and 8 seems to be borrowed from the French; and why should not the pronunciation conform to the French? In the word corpse, the p and s should have their full sound. The p is someimes omitted in poetry; but then the word should be written as sounded, corse.

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