ACCENTUATION. ACCENT is stress of voice on a particular syllable, to distinguish it from others in the same word. It contributes to the harmony and distinctness of utterance, and is often necessary in discriminating the different significations of the same word. When two syllables in the same word are accented, that receiving the greater stress is called the primary accent, and the other the secondary. The secondary, whether occurring before or after the other, is almost always one syllable from it. Words of many syllables have sometimes more than one secondary accent. The following rules for accentuation, being comparatively free from exceptions, will be found of great service to the learner, if they are thoroughly committed to memory. RULES FOR ACCENT. 1. Words of two syllables formed by annexing to words of one syllable, al, age, ant, ance, ed, en, er, ent, ment, ing, ive, ish, ist, less, ness, ship, some, or ful, have the accent on the first. 2. Words of three syllables ending in ly or ness, preceded by ed, less, ing, ish, ive, ous, some, or ful, have the accent on the first syllable. 3. All words of two syllables ending in le, with no other tonic element in the same syllable, all of three syllables ending in able, ably, ible, ibly, and all of four syllables ending in ableness and ibleness, have the accent on the first. 4. Words ending in acal, ical, efy, ify, ity, tude, ulous, inous, erous, and orous, except canorous and sonorous, have the accent on the last syllable but two. 5. All words ending in cracy, gamy, graphy, pathy, logy, phony, nomy, tomy, thropy, and all of three or more syllables ending in ative, except creative, have the accent on the last syllable but two. 6. All words ending in sive, and all ending in tive, preceded by a single consonant, except adjective and substantive, have the accent on the last syllable but one. 7. All words ending in ia, iac, ial, ion, ious, eous, tion and sion, have the accent on the preceding syllable. What is Accent? What effect has it upon utterance? What other use has it? How does the primary accent differ from the secondary? How far remote is the secondary accent from the primary? What is rule first? Rule second? Rule third? Rule fourth? Rule fifth? Rule sixth? Rule seventh ? 8. Many words of two syllables, when used as nouns or adjectives, have the accent on the first syllable; and when used as verbs, on the second syllable. ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Accent on the first syllable. Brutal, manage, claimant, clearance, mated, woollen, archer, solvent, payment, sheeting, active, whitish, nameless, thickness, hardship, lonesome, lonely, spoonful. 2. Accent on the first syllable. Blessedly, blessedness, harmlessly, harmlessness, glaringly, glaringness, childishly, childishness, actively, activeness, pompously, pompousness, lonesomely, lonesomeness, truthfully, truthfulness. 3. Accent on the first syllable. Noble, culpable, culpably, legible, legibly, capableness, legibleness. 4. Accent on the last syllable but two. Heliacal, fanatical, rarefy, diversify, impurity, latitude, sedulous, voluminous, pestiferous, carnivorous. 5. Accent on the last syllable but two. Democracy, polygamy, geography, sympathy, astrology, euphony, astronomy, anatomy, philanthropy, relative. 6. Accent on the last syllable but one. Convulsive, consumptive, preventive, illusive, attractive. 7. Accent before the termination. Regalia, demoniac, material, christian, dissensious, loquacious, farinaceous, dissensions, admiration. 8. Accent according to signification. They may concert all the plans they can think of, but they shall not defeat my concert. At the present time, I present you with no present. I did not record the record you speak of, nor did I comment with severity upon your comment. What is rule eighth? Show the application of the rules to the several words in the illustrations. Give the reason why the same word in the eighth illustration is accented differently. Which accent alone is usually marked in dictionaries and spelling-books? PRONUNCIATION. PRONUNCIATION unites a correct articulation with proper accentuation. Its standard is the usage of refined and cultivated society. A good pronunciation of one's mother tongue constitutes so essential an element in even an ordinary education, that its possession can hardly entitle to praise, while its deficiency cannot but be regarded as a great fault. Pronunciation may be rendered faulty, otherwise than from wrong accentuation, in three ways: — 1. By omission of one or more elements; as, 'round, 'scribe, 'cur, 'xist, ev'ry, pr'vent, d'part, sev'ral, w'at, vess'l, an', gover'ment, wool'n, bein', doo', wa', for around, ascribe, occur, exist, every, prevent, depart, several, what, vessel, and, government, woollen, being, door, war. 2. By sounding letters which should be silent; as, sounding the b in subtle, the h in honest, the e in grovel, the o in unison. 3. By perversion of sounds; as, ubundance, eatuble, buhold, cumpare, seperate, winder, potater, nachure, forchune, Gord, lawr, for abundance, eatable, behold, compare, separate, window, potato, nature, fortune, God, law. Learners, in order to perfect their pronunciation, should frequently consult some approved dictionary, and carefully observe the language of the best speakers. Many very common errors may be avoided by an observance of the following RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION. 1. A unaccented before a consonant always has the sound of a heard in at. 2. A final has the sound of a in arm. 3. A when used as a word, if emphatic, sounds long, as a in ale; but when not under emphasis, it sounds short, as a in at. 4. E in ed final, when preceded by d or t, has its short sound, as in end; but when preceded by any other consonant, it is silent, and the d has its proper sound, unless it comes after the elementary sounds of f, k, p, s, and sh, when it sounds like t. 5. E in the word the, before a word beginning with a vowel, sounds long, like e in eve; but when used without What is Pronunciation? What is its standard? What is said about a good pronunciation? In how many ways may pronunciation be rendered faulty? What is the first fault mentioned? What the second? What the third? How may learners improve their pronunciation? Give the first rule. The second. The third. The fourth. The fifth. emphasis before a word beginning with a consonant, the e is short, like e in ebb. 6. O final, except in who, do, to, two, too, and their compounds, has the sound of o in old. 7. O in final unaccented syllables, before m, p, t, ny, and ry, has generally the sound of u in up. 8. U coming immediately after the accent, has the long sound of u in use, slightly articulated. 9. Y in my, emphatic, sounds long, like y in type; but when not emphatic, the y sounds short, as y in hymn. 10. In pronouncing very long words, or a succession of words with similar sounds, particular pains should be taken to have the utterance distinct and accurate. ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. A unaccented. Abode, abuse, acute, adopt, atone, amuse, citadel, diadem, privateer, curative, capable, orator, primary, notary, realize, ligament, permanence, caravan, infamy. 2. A final. Comma, dogma, stigma, era, sofa, umbrella, opera, retina, peninsula, phenomena, influenza, panorama, formula, stamina, America, Indiana. 3. Ed final. Blinded, budded, fended, counted, fainted, trusted, farmed, scanned, rolled, called, laughed, blacked, capped, crossed, pushed. 4. O final. Embargo, tomato, potato, mulatto, negro, tobacco, morocco, prunello, musqueto. 5. O unaccented before m, p, and ny, and ry, final. Atom, fathom, venom, buxom, gallop, develop, envelop, bigot, pivot, idiot, patriot, agony, ebony, felony, colony, harmony, monotony, memory, pillory, factory, victory, ivory, armory. 1 6. U after the accent. Educate, modulate, nature, creature, capture, vesture, in Give the sixth rule. The seventh. The eighth. The ninth. The tenth. Show the application of the rules to the several illustrations. What is accent? Point out the accented syllable in each example. jure, vulture, admixture, manufacture, petulance, importunate, salutary, credulous, tremulous, regular, popular. 7. A, the, and my. Did you speak of a* man, or of the* man? A cloud of dust was raised at the distance of a few rods. I strike for my liberty, and not for yours. An arrow from my bow had pierced their chief. My lords, I am stating one or two of the prominent evils of the system. The gentleman has lost the way to the city. 8. Very Long Words. The unceremoniousness of their communicability is wholly inexplicable. Most hypocritically he managed his part in the counter-revolutionary movement. Authoritatively and peremptorily he forbade all intercommunication. Such extraordinary untractableness manifested anything but disinterestedness. 9. Succession of Similar Sounds. The blind man bewailed the blast. Who can say crackers, crime, cruelty, crucible? I think it my duty to do my duty, when it is my duty to do my duty. Her rough and rugged rocks, that rear their hoary heads high in air. I never saw such a saw as this saw, saw six sleek slim saplings. We wistfully watched wrathful waters wildly play. Lamely limped the lonely lion along the lane. I say that that, that that man said, is not that, that that man told him. When a twister twisting would twist him a twist, Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round; A round roll Robert Rowley rolled round; round What is elocution? Upon what does good pronunciation depend? * The long sound of the vowel by emphasis. |