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ase, may be called a Semi-vowel. It has nearly the sound of oo, and 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.

QUESTIONS.-24, 25. What are the elementary sounds of the letter a? When does the sound of a most usually change to o? How do you pronounce f-a-l-c-o-n, and 8-a-l-m-o-n ? 26. What is æ ? 27. Ai? To what sounds equivalent? 28. Au ? aw? ay? 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, ee, and ei ? 33. Eo, eu, ew? 34. Ey, eau ? 35, 36. Mention a word in which the long sound of i occurs. The short sound. word in which the long sound of o occurs. 39. Ou? 40. Mention words in which the 41. Ua, ue. 42. Ui, uy. 43. What is w?

What is ie ? ieu and iew ? 37. Mention a The short sound. 38. What are oa, oe, oi? long sound of u occurs. The short sound ?

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.

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.-D represents the Twenty-eighth elementary sound, as in did, ruddy, &c. 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.

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 uƒ, ami 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.

56. K. — K represents 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.

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 sound, as in makt. 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.

59. N.-Nrepresents 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 a 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 bosom ; 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 kör, the s and being mute. There is a question, whether it may not be more properly pronounced kör, 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 8 should have their full sound. The p is some times omitted in poetry; but then the word should be written as sounded, corse.

65. T.

T represents the Twenty-seventh elementary sound, as in take, tin, at, &c. Like s and c, it is aspirated when it comes immediately after an accented syllable, and is followed by the vowels ia, ie, or io, taking the sound, in these cases, of sh, as in partial, patient, nation, &c. Tis mute in mortgage and often (of'n).

66. Th (hard, or aspirate), as in thin, thorn, &c., represents the Twenty-fifth elementary sound. Th (soft), as in thine, represents the Twenty-sixth elementary sound. In the substantives breath, cloth, the th is hard, as in thin. In the verbs breathe, clothe, the th is soft, as in thine. In some nouns th is hard in the singular, as in bath, path, mouth, and soft in the plural, as in baths, paths, mouths. In some words the th is pronounced like t; as in Thomas, thyme.

67. V. — V represents the Twenty-fourth elementary sound, as in van, weave, hive, void, starve, wave, &c.

68. X..

-X represents, 1. The sound of ks, as in execute, tax, &c. 2. The sound of gz, as in exert, example, exalt, &c. 3. The sound of z, as in Xenophon, Xerxes.

69. Z.

Z represents the Thirty-second elementary sound, as in zeal; and the Thirty-fourth elementary sound, as in azure.

QUESTIONS.

45. Is b ever mute? 46. When is c sounded like k like 8 ? 47. Is c ever mute? What are the sounds of ch? How do you pronounce s-c-h-i-s-m and y-a-c-h-t? 48. What of D? 49. F2 50. When does g have the sound of j? Name some exceptions. When is g mute? 52, 53. What of gh? ough? 54. Is h ever mute? Ought it to be mute in? In? 55. What of J? 56. K? 57. L? 58. M? 59. N? 60. P 61. Q? 62. R2 63, 64. S? When do plural endings in s have the sound of z? 65. What of T? 66. Th? Name words in which th is soft. Hard. 67, 68, 69. What do v, x and y, represent?

LESSON V.

SYLLABLES.

70. A SYLLABLE is a single or compound sound, pronounced with all its articulations by a single impulsion of the voice. The word Syllable is derived from the Greek words syn (with) and labein (to take). Thus the three letters m-a-n, being taken with one another, form the word man, and thus constitute what the grammarians call a Syllable. The word man is not only a syllable, but a word also; which shows that words may consist of a single syllable.

71. Words consisting of a single syllable, as man, he, are called monosyllables, from the Greek word monos (alone). Words consisting of two syllables, as enter, tempest, are called dissyllables, from the Greek word dis (twice). Words consisting of three syllables, as incident, adjective, are called trisyllables, from the Greek word treis (three). Words consisting of more than three syllables, as supererogatory, indefinite, are

called polysyllables, from the Greek word polys (many). As a general rule, there must be in a word as many syllables as there are Vowel sounds perceptible to the ear.

QUANTITY.

72. Contrast the sound of the a in fat or the e in met with the a in fate and the e in mete, and it will be found that the time taken up in the utterance of the Vowel sounds in fate and mate is nearly twice as long as in the utterance of the Vowel sounds in fat and mat. The difference between long and short sounds is generally expressed by the marks and . The former, called a Makron (from a Greek word signifying long), is placed above long sounds; and the latter, called a Breve (from the Latin word brevis, signifying short), is placed above short sounds; as in gāte, glud.

73. In the English language it is the quantity of the Vowel which determines the quantity of the syllable. Short Vowels, though followed by several Consonants, form short syllables; and long Vowels form long syllables, even though few or no Consonants follow. Quantity must not be confounded with Accent. In the substantive com'pact, and the adjective compact, the Quantity of the Vowels is the same, although the Accent of the syllables is different

ACCENT.

74. Accent (from the Latin ad, to, and cano, I sing) is the distinguishing stress laid in pronouncing on certain syllables of words. Accent is to syllables what Emphasis is to sentences; it distinguishes one from the crowd, and brings it forward to observation. In the word tyrant, there is an emphasis or stress upon the first syllable; in the word presume, on the second syllable. This stress is called accent.

75. The circumstance of a syllable bearing an accent is sometimes expressed by a mark ('); in which case the word is said to be accentuated, that is, to have the accent signified in writing. The mark is generally placed at the end of the accented syllable; as in tor'ment, include', har'ass, equip'.

76. Monosyllables are necessarily without accent. Words of two syllables have one of them accented, and but one. Words of three and four syllables, derived from dissyllables, usually retain the accent of their primitives; as virtue, virtuous, virtuously. The preterite and participles of verbs retain the accent of the verbs. Words ending in tion, sion, tian, cions, tious, cial, tial, tiate, cient, tient, have the accent on the last syllable but one, called the penultimate syllable, or the penult; as in intention, apprehen'sion, &c.

77. Words ending in acal and ical, and in cracy, fluous, ferous, fluent, ogy, pathy, aphy, &c., have the accent on the last syllable but two, called the antepenultimate syllable, or the antepe'nult; as in fantastical, democ'racy, homeopathy, &c. Some words have a secondary accent, as vi olin',

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