Gatways mute before N in the same sy lable at the end of a word, exemplified in the words im- pugn, oppugn, propugn, expugn, impregn, &c. with the authorities of the most respecta- W, when silent, and when sounded X, is exactly similar to ks, and liable to the same alterations of sound Yas a consonant, and its different sounds 2, improperly resolved by Dr. Johnson into s hard . Accent on trisyllables Partial devendence of the English accent on that of the Greek and Latin Acrent on bolusyllables Enclitical accent exemplified in the termination logy, graphy, &c. 488 489 491 492 501 533 504 513, 518 515 522 527 The shortening power of the secondary accent exemplified in the uncertainty and inconsistency of Mr. Sheridan and Dr. Kenrick in their division of words into syllables The only possible case in which we can argue from the Latin quantity to the English The almost total independence of the English quantity on that of the Greek and Latin, exemplified by an enumeration of most of the dissy lables in our language derived from the Latin and Greek. Syllabication different according to the different ends to be attained by it 538 542 . 544 Causes of the prevalence of shortening the first syllable of dissyllables from these languages Uncertainty and inconsistency of Dr. Kenrick in his notation of the quantity of these vo-vels ibid these vowels ibid 547 551 Exception to the general rule of pronouncing these syllables when e is followed by r Uncertainty of our best orthoepists in their syllabication of such words, exemplified by a list from Sheridan, Kenrick, Scott, and Perry. Peculiar delicacy of the sound of these syllables 555 Tendency of o before r to go into the same obscurity as e, exemplified in the diversity and inconsistency of our be t orthoepists in marking these syllables 557 Table f the simple and diphthongal vowels, referred to as a key to the figures over the letters in the Dictionary 559 PRINCIPLES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. 1.THE First Principles or Elements of Pronunciation are Letters. The letters of the English language are: 2. To these may be added certain combinations of letters sometimes used in printing; as ct, ft, fl, fl, sb, sh, sk, ff, ff, fi, ffi, fi, ffi, ffl, and &c. or and per se and, or rather et per se and; &, ft, fl, fi, fl, fb, sb, sk, ft ; [], fi, fi, fi, ffi, &. 3. Our letters, says Dr. Johnson, are commonly reckoned twenty-four, be cause anciently i and j, as well as u and v, 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 sounds. On the con trary, 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 palate, &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, d, e, i, o, u; y and w are called vowels when they end a syllable or word, and consonants when they begin one. 6. The definition of a vowel, as little liable to exception as any, seems to be the following: A vowel is a simple sound formed by a continued effusion of the breath, and a certain conformation of the mouth, without any alteration in the position, or any motion of the organs of speech, from the moment 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 the application of the organs of speech to each other. 8. Agreeably to this definition, vowels may be divided into two kinds, the simple and compound. The simple a, e, 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; whereas in the compound vowels i and u, the organs alter their position before the letter is completely sounded; nay, these letters, when commencing a syllable, do not only require a different position of 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 letters, i, when sounded alone, or ending a syllable with the accent upon it, is a real diphthong, composed of the sounds of a in father, and of e in the, exactly correspondent to the sound of the noun eye; and when this letter commences a syllable, as in min-ion, pin-ion, &c. the sound of e with which it terminates is squeezed into a consonant sound, like the double e heard in queen, different from 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 consonant, commences with this squeezed sound of e equivalent to the y, and ends with a sound given to oo in woo and coo, which makes its name in the alphabet exactly similar to *How so accurate a grammarian as Dr. Lowth could pronounce so definitively on the nature of y and insist on its being 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 voweli; as iw, yew; iong, young. In the word ye the initial y has precisely the same sound with in the words vie, 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 i 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 trifling 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 ? the pronoun you*. If, therefore, the common 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 w are consonants when they begin a word, and vowels when they end one, is generally acknowledged by the best grammarians; and yet Dr. Lowth has told us, that w is equivalent to oo; but if this were the case, it would always admi. 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 letters are not equivalent to. 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 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 to 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, and y, 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 compound 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 organs to form them, and a motion in the organs while forming. These observations premised, we may call the following scheme * An ignorance of the real composition of, 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, judging of its nature from its name, never suspected that it was not a pure vowel, and constantly prefixed the article an before nouns beginning with this letter: as an union, an usefuí book. They were confirmed in this opinion by finding the on always adapted to the short ", as an umbir, 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, have frequently placed the a instead of an 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. 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 admit of an before them than year and youth. See Remarks on the word AN in this Dictionary. Nor |