INTRODUCTION

TO THE

PHONIC ANALYSIS.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

1. This drill must be thorough, or it will be worth but little. THE TEACHER MUST MASTER THE ANALYSIS BEFORE HE CAN TEACH IT. Let him be sure of this, at least,-that, before calling upon a pupil to utter a given element, he is prepared to utter it himself.

2. ALLOW NO FEEBLE WORK. In recitation, the pupil should stand erect, have the lungs well supplied with air, and utter each element forcibly. Before, as well as after, analyzing a word, the pupil should pronounce it with all the clearness and precision he can command. If the word is other than a monosyllable, still more repetition is recommended; thus,-melody; mel melō melodi di melody: proficiency; pro pro | fi fi prōfi' | sh e n shen prōfishěn | s ĭ să | proficiency.

3. PHONIC WRITING is a valuable aid to both teacher and pupil. At the end of each of several of the Lessons, is a list of ten or more words, which the pupil is expected to write in neat letters, appropriately marked, when necessary, as in the Phonic Chart, and present for the teacher's inspection. The latter, by this thorough mode of examination, is enabled to acquaint himself more fully than he could by an oral examination only, with the care and progress of each member of the class.

4. Explicit directions should be given in regard to the paper which is to be passed in. The letters should be joined, as in good penmanship. The following points, also, may

well be regarded as worthy of attention: 1. The form and size of the paper. 2. The place for the pupil's name, and how fully that name should be written. 3. The arrangement of the words—whether in one column or in two, or in horizontal lines. 4. Whether capital initials shall be used. 5. Perfect legibility and neatness should be insisted

on.

5. While marking the errors found in a written classexercise, the teacher should make a list of such errors as are most frequent, in order that to these he may call the attention of the whole class. Or, still better, after reasonable time has been allowed, each pupil may be called on to state how every word that he finds marked by the teacher should have been written.

6. The Phonic Chart is inserted before the Lessons for convenience of reference, and not with the intention that it shall form the subject of the first efforts of the pupil. The "Lessons," as numbered, may be found too long; perhaps most of them embrace quite enough for two or even three exercises. Here, as in all other study and drill, the motto should be, Not how much, but how well.

7. After the Lessons have been mastered, there will still be need of study and drill; and, for these, almost any paragraph or stanza of the Reading Exercises offers something that will reward study.

8. The teacher should bear in mind that, while indistinctness of utterance is the almost universal error in reading, yet it is possible to carry a class to the opposite and scarcely less objectionable extreme.

PHONIC ANALYSIS.

LESSON I.

ELEMENTARY SOUNDS-VOWELS AND CONSONANTS DEFINED.

(An Elementary Sound is a sound which can not be separated into unlike sounds. Thus the word awe consists of one elementary sound. Pronounce awe. Can Pronounce

you separate the sound into sounds unlike ? ought. Do it slowly. Can you separate that sound into unlike sounds? If so, into how many? How many elementary sounds, then, in ought? How many in bought? [You must find out by listening, not by looking.]

How many elements (elementary sounds) in sought? call? they? law? flaw? theme? post? ah?

While pronouncing the word ah, do the lips touch each other at all? Does the tongue, at any moment while pronouncing ah, touch either the lips or the roof of the mouth? What is the position of the tongue? of the lips? Do the lips change position while speaking the word papa? awe? paw? maw?—The tongue, lips, teeth, and hard palate, or roof of the mouth, are called organs of speech. Which of the organs of speech meet in beginning to speak the word bay? they? fall? tea? saw? ah? awe?-The whole mouth, from the opened lips to the roots of the tongue, is called the passage of the mouth, or the vocal tube. Is the passage of the mouth fully open in speaking the word ah? How is it in pronouncing they? tea? Is the vocal tube closed at any time while speaking the word pray? tea? Does the tongue touch the palate at all in beginning the word lay? Tell how the tongue is placed, and where the musical breath, or tone, seems to flow while you sound the 7.

A Consonant is an element of speech formed by means of a partial or a complete closing of the vocal tube.

A Vowel is an element of speech formed without a closing of the vocal tube.

LESSON II.

THE NAMES OF LETTERS ARE SELDOM THE SAME AS THEIR SOUNDS.

In "spelling aloud" the words came, cat, call, care, calf, you name c-a (See, Aye) as the first two letters of each word. So far, then, the spelling is the same for all the words. Yet, by this spelling, you do not once utter the sound with which each word begins. You say See (c), and in doing so you hear what sounds? Is either of these the first sound you hear when you pronounce came? Then, too, a is the second sound of only one of the five words. Which one? When you "spell aloud," that is, when you name the letters, you do it without regard to their sounds. Tee, Aitch, O, Yew, Jee, Aitch, do not sound very much like the two sounds in though. Indeed, o is the only letter that really has a sound in the word though.

In these lessons in Phonic Analysis, you are to think what sound or sounds should be given in uttering a word. Sometimes you will be asked to utter each sound separately, and sometimes to write such letters as have been agreed upon to represent these sounds. It is well for you to remember that the ear, rather than the eye, is to assist you in determining the sounds.

A word is commonly written with quite as many letters as it has sounds; often, with more. In the word am, are there as many sounds as letters? in this? thaw? so? sew? ooze? phthisic? enough? fox?

One reason why there are more letters on a page than there are sounds represented, is, that there are several simple sounds in our language which are always represented by two letters. For example, we have no single letter that stands for the first sound in the word this. The same is true of the words child, show, when, thin. Two letters used together to denote one sound, are called a digraph. In the word sing, n and g form a digraph. Why?