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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 lik el, as in table, shuttle, &c. L is mute in many words, as in calf, hal, chalk, talk, balm, calm, would, could, should, alms, &c.

58. M. M represents the Seventeenth elementary sound, 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.

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 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 besom; 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 kõr, 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 ≈ (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.

* Both Webster and Worcester make the pronunciation of this word kōr, the s and p being mute. There is a question, whether it may not be more properly pronounced kōr, 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 sometimes omitted in poetry; but then the word should be written as sounded, cõrse.

65. T.

T represents the Twenty-seventh elementary sound, as in take, fin, 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 Wine. 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.

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V represents the Twenty-fourth elementary sound, as in van, weare, 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.

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- 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 ? like 8 ? 47. Is e 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. F? 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. R? 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 conBisting 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 fut 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 gate, 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 loug 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 accent ated, 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', hur'ass, equip'.

Words of two sylla

76. Monosyllables are necessarily without accent. bles 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, cious, 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, homœopathy, &c. Some words have a secondary accent, as violin',

legʻislator, an'imadvert'; and some words of seven or eight syllables have one primary and two secondary accents; as in'divis'ibil'ity, incom'prehen sibility.

78. A great number of words are distinguished by the difference of accent alone; thus we say, an attribute, to attrib'ute; the month of August, an august person; a written com'pact, a compact' crowd; half a min'ute, a minute' inquiry. The accent applied to words of this class, with a double meaning, is called discriminative accent. A Rhetorical accent is one applied for the purpose of contrast. Of course it holds good only where it is used for that purpose; as, "this corruptible must put on incorruption."

79. The following list of words, in which the Discriminative accent is employed to distinguish different parts of speech having the same form, is given by Walker. It is composed of nouns and verbs, the accent being on the first syllable in the former, and on the second syllable in the latter. 80. Ac'cent, accent'; affix, affix'; augment, augment'; bom'bard, bombard'; cement, cement'; colleague, colleague'; collect, collect'; com'pound, compound'; com'press, compress'; concert, concert'; con'crete, concrete'; con'duct, conduct'; con'fine, confine'; con'flict, conflict'; con'tract, contract'; con'voy, convoy'.

81. Con'serve, conserve'; con'sort, consort'; con'test, contest'; con'trast, contrast'; con'verse, converse'; con/vert, convert'; des'cant, descant'; des'ert, desert'; di'gest, digest'; es'cort, escort'; es'say, essay'; ex'port, export'; extract, extract'; ex'ilc, exile'; fer'ment, ferment'; frequent, frequent'.

82. Im'port, import'; in'cense, incense'; in'sult, insult'; object, object'; perfume; perfume'; pre'fix, prefix'; prem'ise, premise'; pres ́age, presage; present, present'; produce, produce'; project, project'; pro'test, protest'; rebel, rebel'; refuse, refuse'; subject, subject'; survey, survey'.

83. In the adjectives ab'sent and ab'stract, the accent is on the first syllable; in the verbs, it is on the second. In the noun com'pact, the accent is on the first syllable, and in the adjective on the second. In the words ally' and romance', the accent is on the last syllable whether they be nouns or verbs. Accent the last syllable in the following words: desert' (signifying merit), dessert (signifying a service of fruit after meat), finance', pretence', pretext', research', resource', recess', burlesque, revōlt. Accent the first syllable in ex'quisite, mis'chievous, tap'estry, con'trary, designate, recognize, advertise, pre'cedent (when a noun), sorcerer (the o as in nor), ap'erture, rev'ëry, in'novate, ped'estal, dis'putant, post'humous, dy'nasty.

84. In contem'plate, confiscate, compensate, concentrate, consum'mate, constellate, demon'strate, expur'gate, and extir'pate, orthoëpists 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. Poets often place it on the first.

85. In the following words the last syllable but one should be accented, aro'ma, aspirant, abdo'men, deco'rum, inqui'ry, oppo'nent, precë'dent (when an adjective), precë'dence, hori'zon, compo'nent, condolence, manda'mus, pantheon, clandestine, affi'ance, compliant, defal'cate, muse'um, pilas'ter, inter'stice, bitu'men, interne'cine.

86. Accent the first syllable in the following words: con'tumacy, ex'emplary, bibliopole, lam'entable, hor'tatory, tem'perament, com'parable, desʼultory, in'teresting, con'sequently, cir'cumstances, rep'ertory, leg'islative, cem'etery. In no'menclature, and ju'dicature, there is a partial accentual stress on the a.

87. Accent the an-te-pe'nult (last syllable but two) in the following: compu'table, contemplative, retrib'utive, resto'rative, centrifugal, centrip'etal, adver'tisement, daguerreotype (pronounced da-ger'otype). Accent the pe'nult (last syllable but one) in the following: coadju'tor, homicidal, adamante'an, empyre'an, Europe'an, adverti'ser.

QUESTIONS-70. What is a syllable? 71. A monosyllable? dissyllable? trisyllable? polysyllable? Can you give the derivation of these words? 72. What is meant by the quantity, long or short, of vowels? 73. Does quantity differ from accent? 74. What is accent? 75. The mark of accent? 78. May words be distinguished by accent alone, even when spelled alike? 79. Give specimens of nouns and verbs that are spelled alike but distinguished by accent. 80-84. Give specimens of trisyllables in which the first syllable is accented; the second. Words of four syllables in which the first is accented; the second.

LESSON VI.

ARTICULATION.

88. THE derivation and meaning of the term articulation have been explained in paragraphs 5 and 6. At first signifying the jointing of speech by the utterance of consonants and of syllables, it comprehends, in its more extended signification, the whole subject of the exact pronunciation of elementary sounds and their syllabic combinations in language. 89. " · Every articulation," says Bell, "consists of two parts a position and an action. The former brings the organs of speech into approximation or contact, and the latter separates them, by a smart percussive action of recoil, from the articulative position. This principle is of the utmost importance to all persons whose articulation is defective. On its application distinctness entirely depends. Let it be carefully noted: audibly percussive organic separation is the necessary action of every articulation."

90. We have seen that defects in articulation may proceed either from over-eagerness in utterance or from sluggishness and inattention. We will here cite some of the Vowel and Consonant sounds that are most frequently marred by a vicious articulation. The proper sound of the a in

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