LESSON V.

SOUNDS OF THE CONSONANTS.

65 AFTER m, and before t, in the same syllable, b is silent; as in lamb, bomb, thumb, debtor, doubt, subtle; but succumb and rhomb are exceptions.

66. Before a, o, u, l, r, t, the sound of c is hard, and like that of k. Before e, i and y, it is soft, and sounds like s; except in sceptic (spelled also skeptic) and scirrhus, in which two words it is hard, like k. When c comes after the accent, and is followed by ea, ia, ie, or eous, it takes, like s, the sound of sh; as, o'cean, so'cial, &c.

67. The regular English sound of ch is that which it has in child chimney, &c. In words derived from the ancient languages, ch ↳ generally hard like k, as in ache, choler, chirography, distich, epoch, hemistich, scholar, stomach, &c. The exceptions are charity, chart and charter. Ch is hard in all words in which it is followed by l or r. In drachm, schism (pronounced sizm), and yacht (yõt), it is silent.

68. When arch, signifying chief, begins a word from the Greek language, and is followed by a vowel, it is pronounced ark, as in archangel, architect, archive, archipelago, architrave; but when arch is prefixed to an English word, it is pronounced so as to rhyme with march; as in archbishop, archduke, arch-fiend.

69. The termination ed of the past tense and participle takes the sound of d in many words; as in healed, sealed, pronounced heald, seald; and, in some words, it assumes the sound of t, as in distressed, stuffed, pronounced distrest, stufft. In handsome, stadtholder, and Wednesday, the d is not sounded.

70. The sound of ƒ is generally uniform, as in full, soft; but in the preposition of it has the sound of v. G is hard (as in gave) be fore a, o and u, except in gaol, usually written, as pronounced, jail. G, before e, i and y, is generally soft (as in gem, gibbet,gyves); but there are many exceptions to this, as in get, gibber, gibberish, gibbous, gimp, give, &c.; also in syllables added to words in g, as fog, foggy. G is mute before m or n in the same syllable, as in phlegm, gnaw, condign, apothegm, &c.

71. In some words gh has the sound of f, as in rough, laugh, &c.; in some the sound of k, as in hough, shough, lough; but in the greate, number of words his silent, as in high, thigh, inveigh, sleigh, drought, right, plougn (spelled by Webster plow), buugh, furlough,

&c In clough and slough, gh is sometimes silent, and sometimes has the sound of f.

72. The letter h is properly a mark of breathing or aspiration, such as may be heard in hat, horse, &c. At the beginning of some words it is silent, as in heir, heiress, honor, honesty, honorable, hour, &c. In hospital, humble, humor, humorous, herb, herbage, exhibit, exhaust, exhilarate, &c., the h, according to some authorities, is sounded. It is very slightly sounded after r, as in rhetoric, rhapsody.

73. In the word hallelujah, j has the sound of y. K has the same sound as c hard, and is always silent before n, as in knee, knock. L is silent in many words, as in chalk, would, could, falcon (pronounced faucon), salmon (pronounced sammon). M preserves its sound, except in accompt and comptroller, more commonly written, as pronounced, account, controller. In mnemonics, the initial m is silent.

74. N assumes the sound of ng when followed in the same syllable by k, c, ch, q, x, as in thank, cincture, anchor, banquet, anxious. After 7 and m in the same syllable, it is silent; as in kiln, condemn, hymn.

75. P is silent before s and t at the beginning of words; as in psalm, ptisan. Ph has generally the sound of ƒ, as in physic. In nephew and Stephen, it has the sound of v. In diphthong and triphthong, it has, according to Webster, the sound of f; according to Walker, the sound of p. In naphtha, it has the sound of p.

76. Q is always followed by u, and has usually the sound of kw, as in queen. In many words derived from the French qu has the sound of k, as in coquet, masquerade.

77. R is always more or less sounded. It has a jarring or trilled effect when it begins a syllable or word, with or without a consonant; ́ as in run, wrestle, shrill. It has its smooth sound when it is the last consonant in a syllable or word, as in armor, are (rhyming with far), err (rhyming with her). But when the next syllable begins with a vowel, it often commences with the sound of trilled r; as in arid, spirit, caravan, &c. In some few words the sound of the r has a tendency to transposition; as in apron, iron, pronounced apurn, iurn.

78. The common or regular sound of s is its hissing sound, like c soft, in son, this. It has also a vocal sound, like that of z, in wise, his, &c. It has the sound of sh, as in sure, in words ending in sion preceded by a consonant; of zh, as in pleasure, in sion preceded by a vowel; and it is sometimes silent, as in island, viscount. Shas always its hissing sound at the beginning of words, and generally its vocal sound (that of z) in plural terminations, where the singular

ends in a vowel, or in b, d, g, v, l, m, n, or r; as in peas, ribs, beds, &c., pronounced peaz, ribz, bedz.

79. T assumes the sound of sh (as in partial, na'tion), when it comes immediately after the accent, and is followed by the vowels ia, ie, or io. It is sometimes silent before le and before en; as in bustle, hasten, often; is silent in billet-doux, eclat, hautboy, mortgage; and in the first syllable of chestnut.

80. Th has two sounds: one aspirate, as in thin, breath; the other vocal, as in this, smooth, breathe, &c. In some nouns this aspirate in the singular, as in bath, path, mouth; and vocal in the plural, as in baths, paths, mouths. The h is silent in asthenic, asthma, isthmus, phthisic, phthisical, Thomas, Thames (pronounced Těmz), thyme.

81. V has but one sound, as in valve, and is nearly allied to f; but v is vocal, and ƒ aspirate. W, at the beginning of words, is a consonant. It is always silent before r; as write, wren, wrist. In English, w is always followed by another vowel, except when followed by h or r, as in when, wreck; but this case is an exception only in writing, and not in pronunciation, for h precedes w in utterance; when being pronounced hooen.

82. The sound of wh is heard in which, what, whale, &c. The w is sometimes silent, as in whole, who, whose, whom, whoop. The reader's attention should be carefully directed to the preservation of the aspirate sound in words beginning with wh, so as to mark the distinction in utterance between such words as whale, wail; which, witch; wheel, weal; whist, wist; whit, wit; whither, wither; whether, weather, &c. It is a common fault to slur the aspirate.

83. The regular sound of x is its aspirate sound, like ks, as in excellent, tax. It has a vocal sound like gz when the next syllable following begins with an accented vowel, as in exalt, example (pronounced egzalt, egzample). At the beginning of words it has the sound of z, as in Xenophon. It is silent at the end of the French compound word, billet-doux (pronounced billa doo', and meaning a tender billet or love-letter), and is pronounced like s in beaux; often and better written beaus.

84. Z has the sound of vocals, as in zone. It assumes the sound of zh when it is preceded by the accent and a vowel, and is followed by ie or long u; as in glaʼzier, a'zure, seizure.

QUESTIONS. -65. When is b silent? 66. When does c sound like k? likes? like sh? 67. What of ch? €8. When is arch pronounced ark? When to rhyme with march? 69. What of the termination ed? In what words is the d silent? 70. What of f? g? 71. gh? 72. h? 73. j? k? l? m? 74. n? 75. p? 76 q? 77. r? 78. s? 79. t? 80. th? 81. v? w? 82. wh? 83. x? 84. z?

LESSON VI.

ACCENT, SYLLABICATION, ETC.

85. READ what is said on the subject of ac'cent in ¶ 14. All the words in the English language, of more than one syllable, have one syllable accent'ed, and some words have more than one; as, in'dirisibility. Almost all words of more than four syllables have both a primary and a secondary accent. Many words are distinguished by the accent alone; thus we say, an in'sult, to insult'; the month of August, an august' person; half a minute, a minute' inquiry, &c.

86. A mon'osyllable is a word of one syllable; a dissyllable, a word of two syllables; a tris'yllable, a word of three syllables; and a polysyllable, a word of more than three, or of many.

87. Syllabication is the proper formation of syllables. Persons often measure off their words into wrong syllables in speaking. We hear them say preface for preface; sy'nod for syn'od; trophy for trophy; progress for progress; an'tipodes (making only three syllables), when the word should be pronounced an-tip'o-dēs (in four syllables); extem'pore (making only three syllables), when it should be ex-tempo-rë, in four syllables. Good readers will study to avoid blunders like these. Consult your dictionary.

88. The following is a list of dissyllables which when used as nouns or adjectives have the accent on the first syllable, and when used as verbs on the second:

*So accented as a noun only: the adjective like the verb

89. In the words ally and romance, the accent is on the last syllable, whether they be nouns or verbs. The noun desert', signifying merit, has the accent on the last syllable; also dessert, signifying a service of fruit after meat. Accent the last syllable in pretence', finance', pretext', research', resource', recess', burlesque', revōlt'.

90. Some tris'yllables when nouns are accented on the first syllable, and when verbs on the third; as coun'terchange, counterchange'; coun'termand, countermand'; o'verflow, overflow; rep'rimand, reprimand'; in'terdict, interdict'; o'vercharge, overcharge'; o'verthrow, overthrow'; &c.

EI

91. In the following tris'yllables orthoëpists I differ as to whether the accent should be on the first or second syllable. Walker, who represents the best English usage, places the accent on the second syllable, thus contem'plate, compen'sate, concentrate, consum'mate, constellate, demon'strate, expurgate, extir'pate. Webster says con' template, &c.; and the word is frequently so accented by the poets.

92. In almost, the accent may be either on the first or second syllablė. Shakspeare uses it both ways. In the word or'thoëpy, Walker and Webster place the accent on the first syllable; and this is consistent with its Greek use. In the following words, acceptable, commendable, aggrandizement, Walker places the accent on the first syllable, Webster and most other orthoëpists on the second. In legislative, legislature, both these authorities place the accent on the first syllable.

93. The usual tendency in our language has been, and is, to throw the accent further back from the end of the word; a tendency which seems to arise solely .rom an endeavor to save time and labor by rapidity of utterance. But sometimes this object is better attained by throwing the accent on some other syllable than the first. In cases of doubtful accent, the easiest is likely to prevail.