PRINCIPLES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. 1. THE First Principles or -Elements of Pronunciation are Letters 2. To these may be addea certain combinations of letters sometimes used in printing; as ct, st, £, sb, ah, sk, fi, ss, si, ssi, fi, ffi, ffl, and &c. or and per se and, or rather et per se and; ct, st, fl, fi, ,, sh, tk, f, ss, si, ssi, fi, fi, &. 3. Our letters, says Dr. Johnson, are commonly reckoned twenty-four, because anciently i and f. as well as u and t, were expressed by the same character; but as these letters, which had always different powers, have now different forms, our alphabet may be properly said to consist of twenty six letters. 4. In considering the sounds of these first principles of language, we find that some are so simple and unmixed, that there is nothing required but the opening of the mouth to make them understood, and to form different sounds. Whence they have the names of vowels, or voices or vocal wunda On the contrary, we find that there are others, whose pronunciation depends on the particular application and use of every part of the mouth, as the teeth, the lips, the tongue, the pa late, &c. which yet cannot make any one perfect sound but by their union with those vocal sounds; and these are called consonants, or letters sounding with other letters. Definition of Vowels and Consonants. 5 Vowels are generally reckoned to be five in number; namely, a, e, i, o, u; y and w are called Towels when they end a syllable or word, and consonants when they begin one. The definition of a vowel, as little liable to exception as any, seems to be the following: A Youri is a simple sound formed by a continued effusion of the breath, and a certain conformation et the mouth, without any alteration in the position, or any motion of the organs of speech, from Remment the vocal sound commences till it ends. 7. A consonant may be defined to be an interruption of the effusion of vocal sound, arising from • application of the organs of speech to each other. Agreeably to this definition, vowels may be divided into two kinds, the simple and compound The sumple .. o, are those which are formed by one conformation of the organs only; that is, the organs remain exactly in the same position at the end as at the beginning of the letter; where na in the compound vowels i anda, the organs alter their position before the letter is completely munded; nay, these letters, when commencing a syllable, do not only require a different position & the organs in order to form them perfectly, but demand such an application of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, as is inconsistent with the nature of a pure vowel; for the first of these bewers, 1. when sounded alone, or ending a syllable with the accent upon it, is a real diphthong, * posed of the sounds of a in father, and of e in the, exactly correspondent to the sound of the sae, and when this letter commences a syllable, as in min-ion, pin-ion, &c. the sound of e with Vara it terunates is squeezed into a consonant sound, like the double e heard in queen, different te the simple sound of that letter in queen, and this squeezed sound in the commencing i makes it exactly similar to y in the same situation; which, by all grammarians, is acknowledged to be a consonant. The latter of these compound vowels, u, when initial, and not shortened by a con. sonant, commences with this squeezed sound of e equivalent to the y, and ends with a sound given to o in woo and ca', which makes its name in the alphabet exactly similar to the pronoun you.t If, therefore, the ammon definition of a vowel be just, these two letters are so far from being simple vowels, that they may more properly be called semi-consonant diphthongs. 9. That y and we are consonants when they begin a word, and vowels when they end one, is generally acknowleds ed by the best grammarians; and yet Dr. Lowth has told us, that wo is equivalent to oo; but if this were the case, it would always admit of the particle an before it: for though we have no word in the language which commences with these letters, we plainly perceive, that if we had such a word, it would readily admit of an before it, and consequently that these let ters are not equivalent to w. Thus we find, that the common opinion, with respect to the double capacity of these letters, is perfectly just. 10. Besides the vowels already mentioned, there is another simple vowel sound found under the o in the words woo and coo; these letters have, in these two words, every property of a pure vowel, but when found in food, mood, &c. and in the word too, pronounced like the adjective two: here the oo has a squeezed sound, occasioned by contracting the mouth, so as to make the lips nearly touch each other; and this makes it, like the i and u, not so much a double vowel, as a sound between a Vowel and a consonant. Classification of Vowels and Consonants. 11. Vowels and consonants being thus defined, it will be necessary, in the next place, to arrange them into such classes as their similitudes and specific differences seem to require. 12. Letters, therefore, are naturally divisible into vowels and consonants. 13. The vowels are, a, e, i, o, u, andy and w when ending a syllable. 14. The consonants are, b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z, and y and w when beginning a syllable. 15. The vowels may be subdivided into such as are simple and pure, and into such as are com pound and impure. The simple or pure vowels are such as require only one conformation of the organs to form them, and no motion in the organs while forming. 16. The compound or impure vowels are such as require more than one conformation of the or gans to form them, and a motion in the organs while forming. These observations premised, we may call the following scheme 17. Two vowels forming but one syllable are generally called a diphthong, and three a triphthong: these are the following *How so accurate a grammarian as Dr. Lowth could pronounce so definitely on the nature of y and insist on its he ing always a vowel, can only be accounted for by considering the small attention which is generally paid to this part of grammar. His words are these: "The same sound which we express by the initial y, our Saxon ancestors in many instances expressed by the vowel e; as cower, your; and by the vowel i; as iw, yew; iong, young. In the word yes the initial y has precisely the same sound with i in the words viem, lieu, adieu: the i is acknowledged to be a vowel in these latter; how then can the y, which has the very same sound, possibly be a consonant in the former? Its initial sound is generally like that of in shire, or ee nearly; it is formed by the opening of the mouth without any motion or contact of the parts: in a word, it has every property of a vowel, and not one of a consonant." Introd. to Eng. Gram. page 3. Thus far the learned bishop; who has too fixed a fame to suffer any diminution by a mistake in so triffing a part of literature as this: but it may be asked, if y has every property of a vowel and not one of a consonant, why, when it begins a word, does it not admit of the euphonic article an before it? An ignorance of the real composition of u, and a want of knowing that it partook of the nature of a consonant, has occasioned a great diversity and uncertainty in prefixing the indefinite article an before it. Our ancestors, judg ing of its nature from its name, never suspected that it was not a pure vowel, and constantly prefixed the article an be fore nouns beginning with this letter: as an union, an useful book. They were confirmed in this opinion by finding the an always adapted to the short u, as an umpire, an umbrella, without ever dreaming that the short is a pure vowel, and essentially different from the long one. But the moderns, not resting in the name of a letter, and consulting their ears rather than their eyes, bave frequently placed the a instead of ar before the long u, and we have seen a union, a university, a useful book, from some of the most respectable pens of the present age. Nor can we doubt a moment of the propriety of this orthography when we reflect that these words actually begin to the ear with y, and might be spelled younion, youniversity, youseful, and can therefore no more admk of an before them than year and youth. See Remarks on the word An in this Dictionary. Consonants enumerated and distinguished into Classes. 18. The consonants are divisible into mutes, semi-vowels, and liquids. 19. The mutes are such as emit no sound without a vowel, as b, p, t, d, k, and c and g hard. 20. The semi-vowels are such as emit a sound without the concurrence of a vowel, as ƒ, v, 8, 2, X, g soft or j. 21. The liquids are such as flow into, or unite easily with the mutes, as l, m, n, r. But, besides these, there is another classification of the consonants, of great importance to a just idea of the nature of the letters, and that is, into such as are sharp or flat, and simple or aspi rated. The sharp consonants are, p, f, t, s, k, c hard.. 23. The simple consonants are those which have always the sound of one letter unmixed with others, as, b, p, f, e, k. g hard, and g soft, or j. 6. The mixed or aspirated consonants are those which have sometimes a hiss or aspiration joined with them, which mingles with the letter, and alters its sound, as t in motion, d in soldier, s in mission, and zin azure. 7. There is another distinction of consonants arising either from the seat of their formation, or from those organs which are chiefly employed in forming them. The best distinction of this kind seems to be that which divides them into labials, dentals, gutturals, and nasals. 28. The labials are, b, p, f, v. The dentals are, t, d, s, z, and soft g or j. The gutturals are k, 4, chard, and g hard. The nasals are, m, n, and ng. 29 These several properties of the consonants may be exhibited at one view in the following table, which may be called 30. Vowels and consonants being thus defined and arranged, we are the better enabled to enter upon an inquiry into their different powers, as they are differently combined with each other. But previous to this, that nothing may be wanting to form a just idea of the first principles of pronuncia. tion, it may not be improper to show the organic formation of each letter. Organic Formation of the Letters. 31. Though I think every mechanical account of the organic formation of the letters rather curious than useful, yet, that nothing which can be presented to the eye may be wanting to inform the ear, I shall in this follow those who have been at the pains to trace every letter to its seat, and mako us, as it were, touch the sounds we articulate. Organic Formation of the Vowels. It will be necessary to observe, that there are three long sounds of the letter a, which are formed by a greater or less expansion of the internal parts of the mouth. 53 The German c, heard in ball, wall, &c. is formed by a strong and grave expression of the breath through the mouth, which is open nearly in a circular form, while the tongue, contracting itself to the root, as to make way for the sound, almost rests upon the under jaw. 34 The Italian a, heard in father, closes the mouth a little more than the German a; and by raising the lower jaw, widening the tongue, and advancing it a little nearer to the lips, renders its sound 1. low and deep. J The slender a, or that heard in lane, is formed in the mouth still higher than the last; and in pranoaring it, the lips, as if to give it a slender sound, dilate their aperture horizontally; while the tongue, to assist this narrow emission of breath, widens itself to the cheeks, raises itself nearer the palate, and by these means a less hollow sound than either of the former is produced. 3. The e in e-qaz is formed by dilating the tongue a little more, and advancing it nearer to the palate and the lips, which produces the slenderest vowel in the language; for the tongue is, in the Sarmation of this letter, as close to the palate as possible, without touching it; as the moment the tangue touches the palate, the squeezed sound of ee in thee and meet is formed, which, by its descrip. to must partake of the sound of the consonant y. 77. The in -dol is formed by uniting the sound of the Italian a in father and the e in e-qual, and pronouncing them as closely together as possible. See Directions to foreigners at the beginning of the book, page 11. The in open is formed by nearly the same position of the organs as the a in water; but the true is advanced a little more into the middle of the mouth, the lips are protruded, and form a Fund aperture like the form of the letter, and the voice is not so deep in the mouth as when a is formed, but advances to the middle or hollow of the mouth. The sin u-n is formed by imiting the squeezed sound ee to a simple vowel sound, heard in wow and coo; the os in these words is formed by protruding the lips a little more than in o, forming a Of the Influence of Accent on the Sounds of the I etters. 69. It may be first observed, that the exertion of the organs of speech necessary to produce the accent or stress, has an obvious tendency to preserve the letters in their pure and uniform sound, while the relaxation or feebleness which succeeds the accent as naturally suffers the letters to slide into a somewhat different sound a little easier to the organs of pronunciation. Thus the first a in cabbage is pronounced distinctly with the true sound of that letter, while the second a goes into an obscure soun bordering on the i short, the slenderest of all sounds; so that cabbage and village have the a in the last syllable scarcely distinguishable from the e and i in the last syllables of col lege and vestige. 70. In the same manner the a, e, i, o, and y, coming before r in a final unaccented syllable, go into an obscure sound so nearly a proaching to the short u, that if the accent were carefully kept upon the first syllables of liar, lier, elixir, mayor, martyr, &c. these words, without any perceptible change in the sound of their last syllables, might all be written and pronounced, liur, liur, elixur, mayur, martur, &c. 71. The consonants also are no less altered in their sound by the position of the accent than the vowels. The k and s in the composition of r, when the accent is on them, in exercise, execute, &c. preserve their strong pure sound; but when the accent is on the second syllable, in exact, exonerate, &c. these letters slide into the duller and weaker sounds of g and z, which are easier to the organs of pronunciation. Hence not only the soft c and the s go into sh, but even the t before a diphthong slides into the same letters when the stress is on the preceding syllable. Thus in society and satiety the c and t preserve their pure sound, because the syllables ci and ti have the accent on them; but in social and satiate, these syllables come after the stress, and from the feebleness of their situation naturally fall into the shorter and easier sound, as if written soshial and sashiate. See the word SATIETY. A. 72. A has three long sounds and two short ones. 73. The first sound of the first letter in our alphabet is that which among the English is its name. (See the letter A at the beginning of the Dictionary.) This is what is called by most grammarians its slender sound (35) (65,) we find it in the words lade, spade, trade, &c. In the diphthong ai we have exactly the same sound of this letter, as in pain, gain, stain, &c. and sometimes in the diphthong ea, as bear, swear, pear, &c.; aay, twice we find it, contrary to every rule of pronunciation, in the words where and there, and ace in the anomalous diphthong ao in gaol. It exactly corresponds to the sound of the French in the beginning of the words étre and tête. 74. The long slender a is generally produced by a silent e at the end of the syllable, which enot only keeps one single intervening consonant from shortening the preceding vowel, but sometimes two thus we find the mute e makes of rag, rage, and very improperly keeps the a open even in range, change, &c. (See CHANGE) hat, with the mute e, becomes hate, and the a continues open, and, perhaps, somewhat longer in haste, waste, paste, &c. though it must be confessed this seems the privige only of a; for the other vowels contract before the consonants ng in revenge, cringe, plunge; and the ste in our language is preceded by no other vowel but this. Every consonant but n shortens every vowel but a, when seft g and esilent succeed; as bilge, badge, hinge, spunge, &c. 75. Hence we may establish this general rule: 4 has the long, open, slender sound, when followed by a single consonant, and e mute, aside, made, Jude, &c. The only exceptions seem to be, have, are, gape, and bade, the past time of to bid. 76. A has the same sound, when ending an accented syllable, as pa-per, ta-per, spec-ta-tor. The only exceptions are fa-ther, ma-ster, wa-ter. 77. As the short sound of the long slender a ' not found under the same character, but in the shorte (as may be perceived by comparing mate and met) (67,) we proceed to delineate the second sound of this vowel, which is that heard in father, and is called by some the open sound (34;) but this can never distinguish it from the deeper sound of tee a in a, ball, &c. which is still more open: by some it is styled the middle sound of a, as between the a in pole, and that in wall: it answers nearly to the Italian a in Toscano, Romana, &c. or to the final a in the naturalized Greek words, papa and mamma; and in baa; the word adopted in almost all languages to express the cry of sheep. We seldom find the long sound of this letter in our language, except in monosyllables ending with r, as far, tar, mar, &c. and in the word father. There are certain words from the Latin, Italian, and Spanish languages, such as lumbago, bravado, tornado, camisado, farrago, & which are sometimes beard with this sound of a; but except in bravo, heard chiefly at the Theatres, the English sound of a is preferable in all these words. 78. The long sound of the middle or Italian a is always found before in monosyllables, as car, fer, mar, &c. before the liquids Im; whether the latter only be pronounced, as in psalm, or both, as in psalmist; sometimes before lf, and le, as calf, half, calve, halve, salve, &c.; and, lastly, before the sharp aspirated dental th in bath, path, loth, &c. and in the word father: this sound of the a was formerly more than at present found before the nasal liquid n, especially when succeeded by c, t, or d, as dance, glance, lance, France, chance, prance, grant, plant, slant, stander, &c. 79. The hissing consonant s was likewise a sign of this sound of the a, whether doubled, as in glass, grass, buss, &c. or accompanied by t, as in last, fast, vast, &c.; but this pronunciation of a seeins to have been for some years advancing to the short sound of this letter, as heard in hand, land, grand, &c. and pronouncing the a in after, answer, basket, plant, mast, &c. as long as in half, calf, &c. borders very closely on vulgarity. It must be observed, however, that the a before n in monosyllables, and at the end of words, was anciently written with a after it, and so probably pronounced as broad as the German a ; for Dr. Johnson observes, "many words pronounced with a broad were "anciently written with an, as fault, mault; and we still write fault, vault. This was probably the "Saxon sound, for it is yet retained in the northern dialects, and in the rustic pronunciation, as "maun for man, haund for hand." But since the u has vanished, the a has been gradually pronounced slenderer and shorter, till now almost every vestige of the ancient orthography seems lost; though the termination mand in command, demand, &c. formerly written commaund, demound, &c. still retains the long sound inviolably.* Since the first publication of this Dictionary the public have been favoured with some very elaborate and judicions observations en English pronunciation, by Mr. Smith, in a Scheme of a French and English Dictionary. In this 50. As the mute l in calm, psalm, calf, half, &c. seems to lengthen the sound of this letter, so the bbreviation of some words by apostrophe seems to have the same effect. Thus when, by impa bence, that grand corrupter of manners, as well as language, the no is cut out of the word cannot and the two syllables reduced to one, we find the a lengthened to the Italian or middle a, as cannot can't; have not, han't; shall not, sha'n't; &c. This is no more than what the Latin language is sub ject to; it being a known rule in that tongue, that when, by composition or otherwise, two short syllables become one, that syllable is almost always long, as alius has the penultimate long because it comes from ass, and the two short vowels in coago become one long vowel in cogo, &c. 81. The short sound of the middle or Italian a, which is generally confounded with the short sound of the slender a, is the sound of this vowel in man, pan, tan, mat, hat, &c.: we generally find this sound before any two successive consonants (those excepted in the foregoing remarks,) and even when it comes before an r, if a vowel follow, or the r be doubled; for if this consonant be donbled, in order to produce another syllable, the long sound becomes short, as mar, marry, car, en, &c. where we find the monosyllable has the long, and the dissyllable the short sound; but if a come before r, followed by another consonant, it has its long sound, as in part, partial, &c. 82. The only exception to this rule is in adjectives derived from substantives ending in r; for in this case the a continues long, as in the primitive Thus the a in starry, or full of stars, is as long as in star: and the a in the adjective tarry, or besmeared with tar, is as long as in the substantive tar, though short in the word tarry, (to stay.) 83. The Laird long sound of a is that which we more immediately derive from our maternal language the Saxon, but which at present we use less than any other: this is the a in fall, ball, gall, (53) we find a correspondent sound to this a in the diphthongs au and aw, as laud, law, saw, &c.; though it must here be noted, that we have improved upon our German parent, by giving a broader d to this letter in these words than the Germans themselves would do, were they to pronounce 84. The long sound of the deep broad German a is produced by ll after it, as in all, wall, call; or, indeed by one 1, and any other consonant, except the mute labials p, b, f, and v, as sall, bald, false, fashion, falcon, &c. The exceptions to this rule are generally words from the Arabic and Latin lanpages, as dips, Albion, asphaltic, falcated, salve, calculate, amalgamate, Alcoran, and Alfred, &c.; the two last of which may be considered as ancient proper names which have been frequently latinized, and by this means have acquired a slenderer sound of a. This rule, however, must be understood of such syllables only as have the accent on them; for when al, followed by a consonant, is in the first syllable of a word, having the accent on the second, it is then pronounced as in the first syllables of arter, mal-ley, &c. as alternate, balsamic, falcade, falcation, &c. Our modern orthography, which has done its utmost to perplex pronunciation, has made it necessary to observe, that every word compounded of a monosylable with u, as albeit, also, almost, downful, &c. must be pronounced es if the two liquids were still remaining, notwithstanding our word-menders have wisely taken one away, to the destruction both of sound and etymology; for, as Mr. Elphinston shrewdly observes, Every reader, young and old, must now be so sagacious an analyst as to discern at once not only what are compounds and what their simples, but that al in composition is equal to all out of it, or in other words, that it is both what it is, and what it is not." Prin. Eng. Language, vol 1 page 60. See No. 404. The has a peculiar quality of broadening this letter, even when prepositive: this is always the effect, except when the vowel is closed by the sharp or flat guttural k or g, x, ng, nk, or the sharp tabial, as war, walt, thwack, twang, twank: thus we pronounce the a broad, though short in € 36, WTFL, SOCJt, was, whot, &c. and though other letters suffer the a to alter its sound before ll, when one of these letters goes to the formation of the latter syllable, as tall, tal-low; hall, hal-low; call, sama, ko; yet we see we preserve the sound of this vowel before a single consonant, as wal-low, . The q meluding the sound of the w, and being no more than this letter preceded by k, ought, areording to analogy, to broaden every a it goes before like the w; thus quantity ought to be proBored as if written kontity, and quality should rhyme with jollity; instead of which we frequently bear the robbed of its rights in its proxy; and quality so pronounced as to rhyme with legality, whide to rhyme quantity, according to this affected mode of pronouncing it, we must coin such words as pusetts and cantity. The a in Quaver and Equator is an exception to this rule, from the preterancy of another which requires a, ending a syllable under the accent, to have the slender Boezen of that letter, to which rule, father, master, and water, and perhaps, quadrant, are the only 67 The short sound of this broad a is heard when it is preceded by w, and succeeded by a single Ceriozulit in the same syllable, as wal-low, swal-low, &c. or by two consonants in the same syllable, woww at, wait, wasp, sic. but when I or r is one of the consonants, the a becomes long, as walk, swarm, &c. Irregular and unaccented Sounds. But besides the long and short sounds common to all the vowels, there is a certain transient Beurt pronunciation of some of thein, when they are not accented, that cannot be so easily d. When the accent is not upon it, no vowel is more apt to run into this imperfect sound than tara: thus the particle a before parti iples, in the phrases a-going, a-walking, a-shooting, &c. , Dr Lowth, to be the true and genuine preposition on a little disguised by familiar Bu qark pronunciation: the same indistinctness, from rapidity and coincidence of sound, las confounded the pronunciation of this mutilated preposition to the ear, in the different questions cork, when we would know the hour, and what's a clock, when we would have the descript of that borary machine; and if the accent be kept strongly on the first syllable of the word ms, as it always ought to be, we find scarcely any distinguishable difference to the ear, if we Lautute a ero mstead of a in the penultimate syllable. Thus tolerable, toleroble, and tolerable, are ex W LLE SKIM Word to the ear, if pronounced without premeditation or transposing the accent, for work te seguits freely from my judgment, and particularly in the pronunciation of the letter a when succeeded by 2. asud sitter ormaruant, as par, last, chance, &c. to which he annexes the long sound of a lu father. That Last ned furnmay, is highly probable from its being still the sound given it by the vulgar, who are generally 15 alter the comraen pronunciation; but that the short a in these words is now the general pronunciation of the in war sowi kmarked warit, see is to be candidly acknowledged by Mr. Smith himself; and as every correct ear would far damer, uni að gong the « in these words the full long sound of the a in father, any middle sound ought to be dis marmi, as tending to render the pronunciation of a language obscure and indefinite. (163.) are in hac turatimar classes salt, malt, balm, and calm, as having the same sound of a; and aunt, as having the polloning ad sunod na sadience, anther, law, sau, draw, &c. |