xvi PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. and at the end of words; but there are some exceptions. § 96. Th marked thus, Th, th, has its soft, flat, or vocal sound, as in thine, then, with, mother, writhed, &c. NOTE. This sound differs from the foregoing only in being an utterance of voice instead of simple breath. It occurs chiefly between two Vowels in words purely English, as in leather, wither, heathen; also at the end of the verbs mouth, bequeath, and smooth; and when followed by a final e mute, as in breathe, clothe, &c. Nouns which, in the singular, end in th sharp, usually preserve the same sound in the plural, as death, deaths; sabbath, sabbaths, &c.; but in the plurals of the following seven words the th is vocal; namely, bath, cloth, lath, mouth, oath, path, and wreath, as, baths, cloths, laths, paths, &c. Some pronounce truths, in the plural, with ⚫ the vocal sound (truths), but this is sanctioned by no orthoëpist. $97. Th has the sound of t in phthisic (tiz/ik), thyme (tim), and their derivatives; and also in the proper names Thomas (tom/as) and Thames (temz.)- See § 105. -This latter sound usually occurs when the syllable which immediately follows the x begins with an accented vowel, as in auxiliary, exert, luxurious, and sometimes also in the derivatives of such words, even though the x is under the accent, as in exemplary, exhalation, &c. In anxious, noxious, luxury, and a few other words, the s which is the second element of the x, and the following i or the first element of the following u, instead of retaining their usual sound of y, are generally exchanged for the § 98. The sound of v (unmarked), as in sound of sh; thus, ank'shus, nok'shus, luk'shoovane, leave, civil, &c. V. NOTE.- This sound differs from that off only in being an utterance of the voice instead of the breath, the organs assuming precisely the same position for both sounds. V is never silent, except in sevennight (sen/nit), which is also written sennight. W. § 99. At the beginning of a word or of a syllable, as wet, worse, inward, this letter (which is unmarked) is a consonant, formed from, and nearly resembling, the vowel oo, but requiring for its utterance a closer position, or greater contraction, of the labial aperture; and this compression of the lips changes the quality of the sound, giving it a buzzing and articulative instead of a smooth and purely vocal character. NOTE.-After a vowel in the same syllable, w is generally silent, as in glow, thrown, &c., though sometimes significant, as in flaw. With e it unites to form a diphthong, which is generally sounded like long u, as in dew, few, new; but it is sounded like oo, or like u in rude, if the letter r stands before it, as in crew, shrew. It is often joined with a preceding o to represent the diphthongal sound otherwise expressed by ou, as in brow, cow, town. See § 36. W is always silent before r in the same syllable, as in wring (ring), wrote (rōt), awry (a-ry'); also in the words answer (an'ser), sword (sord), toward (to/ard), two (too). It is often represented by u occurring before another vowel in the same syllable, as quail, query, languid, assuage, &c. ry, &c. At the beginning of words, x has the sound of z, as in xanthic (zan'-), xebec (ze/-), xylography (zi'-), &c. Y. $102. The sound of y (unmarked), as in yawn, year, young, beyond, &c. NOTE. This sound-heard in English only at the beginning of a word or a syllable-is formed from the vowel e by a closer approximation of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, which destroys the pure vocality of the e. In the middle or at the end of a syllable, y is a vowel, and has precisely the sound that i would have in the same situation. -See §§ 13, 14, 32, 45, 51, &c. Y is often represented by i, when this letter occurs in an unaccented syllable before another vowel, and, at the same time, follows an accented syllable, as in familiar, minion, &c. Z. $103. The regular and leading sound of this letter (which is unmarked) is heard in zone, maze, hazy, frozen, &c. It is the vocal or sonant form of s. (See § 87.) In a few words it takes the sound of zh; as in seizure (sē/zhoor). (See § 104.) In rendezvous it is silent. Zh. of sh, and is uttered with the organs in precisely $104. This sound is the vocal correspondent the same position. NOTE. It has arisen, in all English words, from an attempt to pronounce the sound of z in maze (see § 103) and that of consonant y (see § 102) in immediate succession. Thus, fusion § 100. The true sound of these letters is in may be supposed to have been originally pro Wh. PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. xvii nounced fuz'yun, and then fa/zhun; grazier, | &c., one of them only is represented by an arfirst gräz/yer, and then grazh'er. - See § 92. ticulation of the organs; and the only reason for repeating the consonant is to indicate the fact that the preceding vowel has its short sound. The combination zh is used in works on pronunciation to indicate the sound here described, on account of the relationship of this sound to But although only one articulation is ever that commonly expressed by the digraph sh. But the two letters zh never come together in the used, or in fluent speech possibly can be used, proper orthography of any English word. The where a consonant is written twice, yet in some sound for which they stand is represented by zi words the articulation is dwelt upon for an ap(when the z occurs in, or is immediately pre-preciable space of time, producing an apparent ceded by, an accented syllable, and the i is fol- duplication of the sound. This effect takes lowed by another vowel, and occurs in an unac-place in many derived words in which the primcented syllable, as in glazier); by the zy im plied in zu (=zyoo), as in azure; by s in sym-itive ends or begins with the same letter as posium, &c.; by si in certain situations (see § that with which a superadded suffix or prefix 90); by ti in the single word transition, as sometimes pronounced; and by g in one or two words adopted from the French, as rouge. ASSIMILATION OF CONSONANTS. of English origin respectively begins or ends, as in soulless, foully, keenness, misstep, outtravel, unnatural. The same effect takes place in most compound words, in which the second part begins with the same sound as that with which the first part ends, as in post-town, head-dress, half-filled. See § 121. ACCENT. § 105. When a whispered and a vocal consonant come together in the same syllable, it is generally very difficult, in fluent pronunciation, to preserve each in its regular and appropriate sound. Hence it frequently becomes necessary to change the character of the one or of the other, in order to make the combination readily pronounceable. This is generally done, in Eng§ 107. Accent is a particular stress or effort lish, by assimilating the sound of the second of voice upon certain syllables of words, which consonant, whether whispered or vocal, to that distinguishes them from the others by a greater distinctness and loudness of pronunciation. of the first. Thus, in chintz, the vocal consoAccent is of two kinds, primary, as in in-tend', nant z assumes the sound of its whispered correspondent s, in order to unite with the whis- where the full force of the voice is on the last pered t. On the other hand, the s in winds is syllable, and secondary, as in super-in-tend', vocalized, or assumes the sound of z, for the where the first syllable is distinguished by a sake of corresponding with the vocal d. Some-stress greater than that laid on the second and times, though rarely, the sound of the first consonant is assimilated to that of the second, as in spasm (spazm). This affinity between these two classes of consonants is an important fact, and one which needs to be familiarly known. For there are four very common inflectional terminations which invariably come under its influence, namely: 1. Possessive forms in s, as maid's (maidz); 2. Plurals in s, as tubs (tubz), groves (grōvz); 3. S in the third person singular of verbs, as loads (loadz), smooths (smoothz); 4. Preterits and participles in d preceded by mute, as in dashed (dasht), ingulfed (ingulft). DUPLICATION OF CONSONANTS. e § 106. In many words, a consonant is doubled between two vowels; yet, in such cases, no more than one articulation is ever used in speaking. In banner, for example, we close the organs but once between the first and second syllables; nor is it possible to use both of the letters n without pronouncing ban, then intermitting the voice entirely, opening the organs, and closing them a second time. Hence, in all cases, when the same consonant is writ third syllables, though less than that laid on the last. In some words there are two secondary or subordinate accents, as in in-com/prehen/si-bil'i-ty. whether primary or secondary, is to shorten all NOTE. (1.) The general tendency of accent, vowels but u, when further back than the penultimate syllable, as in ten'ement, necessariness, an'atom'ical, person'ifica'tion, &c.; but we say lubricate, and not lubricate; truculency, and not truculency; superabun'dant, and not superabun'dant, &c. This tendency generally fails, if the accented syllable is followed by two unaccented vowels, as in pe'ri-od, ma'ni-ac,; or by two vowels of which the former only is unaccented, as in de'vi-a'tion, o'ri-en'tal. (2.) The primary and secondary accents are, in certain cases, so nearly equal that we interchange them freely, "making," as Walker remarks, "the secondary principal and the princavalcade, caricature, etiquette, reverie, conficipal secondary." Examples are ambuscade, dante, governante, invalid, n., parachute, &c. (3.) Many in America give a marked secondary accent in certain words which properly have but one accent, and that on a pre-antepenultimate syllable, as in ter'ri-to'ry, dif'fi-culty, ing fault may be corrected by giving the accented cir'cum-stan'ces, in'ter-est'ing, &c. This dronsyllable a sharp percussion, which carries the xviii PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. DIVIDED USAGE. §108. In quite a large number of words, there is a diversity of practice among good speakers as to the place of the primary accent. This arises mainly from a conflict between certain great principles which affect the seat of the accent. A few of these will now be mentioned, with a view to account for this diversity. $109. FIRST PRINCIPLE. Derivatives take for a time, if not permanently, the accent of the original words from which they are formed, as resolve', from resolvo, aspect' (Shakespeare, Milton), from aspectus, Hindostanee, from Hindostan', &c. So also words derived from other English words by adding one or more syllables to their beginning or end; as, within' from in, improper from prop'er, poletess from polet, serviceable from service, re-adjustment from adjust', &c. $110. SECOND PRINCIPLE. Ease of utterance has some influence in deciding the place of the accent. Acceptable, receptacle, and u'tensil, fashionable in the days of Walker, have now taken the easier accentuation of acceptable, recept'acle, and uten'sil. Dyspep'sy has taken the place of dys'pepsy in the marking of Webster, Smart, Cull, Wright, Clarke, Cooley, &c., and is now the prevailing accentuation. On the same ground, ancestral is preferred to ancestral by Jameson, Webster, Boag, Clarke, and Cull, in conformity with campes'tral, and other similar words. These may serve as instances of the application of this principle. DISSYLLABLES. $111. THIRD PRINCIPLE. In words of two syllables, there is a tendency (though with numerous exceptions) to accent the former or penultimate syllable, as in a'gue, bar'on, com'mon, dis'cord, &c. NOTE. (1.) This tendency meets with a powerful counteraction in Principle No. 1, namely, that of derivatives retaining the accent of their primitives, as in amuse', deter', offend', &c. It is natural, in such formatives, to place the accent on the radical part of the word; and hence some hundreds of our dissyllables, especially verbs and adverbs, have their accent on the last syllable. (2.) Still, there is a constant struggle (especially among the common people, who are unacquainted with the derivation of words) to draw back the accent to the first syllable. Here arises another conflict, which produces a diversity of accent; and the common people, being a majority, are, on the whole, slowly gaining upon those who are tenacious of Principle No. 1. Thus, con'nate and in'nate (instead of connate and innate') are generally prevalent in America, and are now sanctioned by recent English orthoëpists. Retail (for retail) is now the marking of a majority of the orthoëpists. De'tail (for detail) is less prevalent, but is Prolix and pre'text (for prolix' and pretext') are widely prevalent (especially the former), and Bom'bast (for bombast') is the accentuation of are authorized by some recent lexicographers. Walker, Barclay, Richardson, Cull, and Webster; it is admitted by Worcester, and is extensively used in the United States. Bu'reau (for bureau') was admitted by Dr. Webster, and is very generally applied to the article of furniture, while bureau is sometimes used in refer ence to a department of the government. our dissyllables in which the same word is used § 112. We have about eighty cases among for a verb on the one hand, and a noun or an adjective on the other. To distinguish between them, we accent the nouns and the adjectives on the first syllable, and the verbs on the last, as, a con/vert, to convert'; a contract, to contract', &c. It is unnecessary to give the list in full, since the accent of nearly all these words has been long settled by general usage. NOTE.-There are a few cases of divided use in nouns, which will sooner or later be made to For example, conform to the general rule. usage will probably soon fix permanently on perfect for the adjective, and perfect for the verb; permit for the noun, and permit' for the verb; pro'test for the noun, and protest' for the verb; perfume for the noun, and perfume for the verb; proceeds for the noun, and proceed! for the verb; de'tail for the noun, and detail crease for the verb; retail for the noun, and for the verb; in'crease for the noun, and inretail for the verb; survey for the noun, and survey for the verb. There is a tendency among many to accent the first syllable of the noun ally, allies; and, although without sanction as yet from a single orthoëpist, it would not be surprising if this tendency should prevail, making the noun ally, allies, and the verb ally'. § 113. We have a few dissyllables which are at once nouns and adjectives. These are distinguished by accenting the nouns on the first syllable, and the adjectives on the last. TRISYLLABLES AND POLYSYLLABLES. $114. FOURTH PRINCIPLE. In words of three or more syllables, there is a strong tendency to accent the antepenult, or third syllable from the end, as in el'oquent, accident, opportunity. NOTE. This tendency is counteracted by that of derivation (Principle No. 1. See § 109); and here arises another "conflict," which, to some extent, arrays our scholars on the one side, and the body of the people on the other. PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. xix clined to say contemplate, demon'strate, confis'- | rar'efy, sanc'tify; qui'etude, latitude; society, cate, obdurate, &c. (forgetting that they come acid'ity, dep'uty. from participles, contempla'tus, demonstra'tus, &c.), because by Latin rules their second syllable is long; while the mass of the people, who know nothing of Latin, and are governed by English analogies, are equally bent on saying con'template, demonstrate, ob'durate, &c. The latter pronunciation is now very extensively heard, and thus we have a "divided usage" in respect to these and similar words. cented in almost all words having the sound § 119. The penultimate syllable is to be acof sh, or zh, or of consonant y immediately before the last vowel or diphthong; e. g., dona'tion, concession, illu'sion, controversial, vermillion, opinion. THE TERMINATIONS IC AND ICS. § 120. Words ending in ic and ics (derivatives from words in kos or icus, in Greek or Latin, or formed after the same analogy) have their accent on the penult: as, epidem'ic, scientific, &c. The following words are exceptions, having the accent on the antepenult; namely, § 115. It is a just principle, laid down by Walker, that "when words come to us whole from the Greek or Latin, the same accent ought to be preserved as in the original." Hence the following words ought to be accented as here marked: namely, Abdo'men, horizon, deco'rum, diploma, muse'um, sonorous, acumen, bitu'-ag'aric, Arabic, arithmetic, arsenic, n., cath'men, and, on like grounds, farra'go, and others. Yet the strong tendency of our language to accent the antepenultimate in all words of three or more syllables has caused this principle to be violated in some cases, as in amazon, min'ister, orator, &c. § 116. Words of more than two syllables having the same orthography are generally distinguished by a difference of accent, as at'tribute, n., and attribute, v., misconduct, n., and misconduct', v., o'verthrow, n., and overthrow', V. In such cases, the nouns have the accent further from the end. § 117. With a very few exceptions, words of more than two syllables having the following terminations take the accent on the antepenult, or last syllable but two: -gony; as, cosmog'ony, theog'ony; -grapher; as, lexicographer, stenographer; -graphy; as, photography, typography; as, philologer, astrologer; -loger; -logist; as, entomologist, physiologist; -logy; as, chronology, mythology; -loquy; as, colloquy, soliloquy; -meter; as, barometer, hygrometer; -metry; as, altimetry, geometry; -nomy; as, astronomy, economy; -parous; as, ovip'arous, viviparous; -pathy; as, ap'athy, antipathy; -strophe; as, apostrophe, catastrophe ; -tomy; as, anatomy, lithotomy; -trophy; as, atrophy, hypertrophy; -vorous, as, carnivorous, graminiv'orous. § 118. Words of more than two syllables, ending in -cate, -date, -gate, -fy, -tude, and -ty, preceded by a vowel, have, for the most part, the accent on the antepenult; as deprecate, rus'ticate, reciprocate; antedate, elucidate, ac olic, choleric, ephem'eric, her'etic, lu'natic, pleth'- § 121. When two words of similar formation and the same accentuation are contrasted with each other, the accent is transferred to the syllable of difference (unless this is already accented, as in eminent, im'minent), and the regularly accented syllable takes a secondary accent; thus, undo' is pronounced un'do' when opposed to do or to out'do', and in'tervene' is pronounced intervene when used antithetically to su'pervene'. So also with am'puta'tion and imꞌputa/tion, biren'nial and tri'en'nial, op'pose' and sup'pose!; exercise and ex'or'cise; prophet' and profit; donor' and do'nee'. § 122 When separately pronounced, all monosyllabic words have their vowel as distinctly sounded as if under accent. But in connected discourse, certain classes of monosyllables, such as articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs, are usually unemphasized, and their vowel is liable to the same corruption of quality as that in an unaccented syllable of a word. But when used antithetically to other words, they are emphasized, receiving a full and distinct stress of voice. Thus, we say a, your, that, the, frăm, for, &c., when we pronounce the words by themselves; but in actual use they become nearly or quite ŭ, yur, that, thŭ, frăm, fur, &c. The following passage from the "Spectator," No. 80, well illustrates this tendency to a corruption of the vowel sound in unemphasized monosyllables:-"My lords, with humble submission that that I say is this, that that that that gentleman has advanced is not that that XX RULES FOR SPELLING. RULES FOR SPELLING CERTAIN CLASSES OF WORDS. FOUNDED ON THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF DR. WEBSTER, AS EXHIBITED IN THIS VOLUME. § 123 (1). The letters f and 1, at the end of monosyllables, and standing immediately after single vowels, are generally doubled; as in staff, cliff, doff, puff; all, bell, hill, toll, null. The words clef, if, of, and sol, are exceptions. § 124 (2). The letter s, at the end of a monosyllable, and standing immediately after a single vowel, is generally doubled, except when it is used to form the possessive case or plural of a noun, or the third person singular of a verb; as in grass, press, hiss, moss, truss. The only important exceptions are as, gas, has, was, yes, his, is, thus, and us. § 125 (3). Besides ƒ, l, and S, the only consonants that are ever doubled at the end of a word are b, d, g, m, n, r, t, and z. The following list contains all, or nearly all, the words in which these letters are doubled; namely, abb, ebb; add, odd, rudd; egg; lamm; inn, bunn; err, shirr, burr, purr; mitt, butt; fizz, frizz, fuzz, buzz. § 126 (4). A consonant standing at the end of a word immediately after a diphthong or double vowel is never doubled. The words ail, peat, haul, door, and maim, are examples. § 127 (5). Monosyllables ending with the sound of k, and in which c follows the vowel, have usually k added after the c; as in black, fleck, click, knock, and buck. Lae, sac, talc, zinc, soc, arc, marc, orc, and fisc, are exceptions. Words of more than one syllable, ending in ic or iac, which formerly ended in k, also words derived from the Latin or Greek, or from other sources, and similar to these, or formed in an analogous manner, are now written without the k; as, maniac, elegiac, cubic, music, public. The word derrick is an exception. Words of more than one syllable, in which c is preceded by other vowels than i or ia, commonly end in ck; as, arrack, barrack, hammock, hillock, wedlock. The words almanac, sandarac, limbec, rebec, xebec, manioc, and havoc, are exceptions. Almanac, limbec, and havoc, however, are sometimes written with k after the c, especially in England. § 128 (6). In derivatives formed from words ending in c, by adding a termination beginning with e, i, or y, the letter k is inserted after the c, in order that the latter may not be inaccurately pronounced like s before the following vowel; as, traffic, trafficked, trafficking, trafficker; zinc, zincky. § 129 (7). In derivatives formed by adding a termination beginning with a vowel to mon lable, when these words end in a single consonant (except x) preceded by a single vowel, that consonant is doubled; as, plan, planned, planning, planner; bag, baggage; hot, hotter, hottest; cabal', caballer; begin', begin'ning, begin'ner. The consonant is doubled in these words in order to preserve the short sound of the vowel, as otherwise the latter would be liable to be pronounced long. Words of this class, in which the final consonant is preceded by qu followed by a single vowel, form no exception to the rule, since the u performs the office of the consonant w; as, quit, quitted, quitting. doubled, The derivatives of the word gas (except gassed, gassing, and gassy) are written with but one s; as, gaseous, gaseity, gasify. Excellence, as being from the Latin excellens, retains the double |, though one I has been dropped from the termination of excel'. Besides these, the only exceptions to the rule are those derivatives in which the accent of the primitive is thrown back upon another syllable; as, prefer', preflerence. It is no exception to this rule that chancellor, and the derivatives of metal and crystal, as metalloid, metallurgy, crystalline, crystallize, and the like, are written with the since they are derived respectively from the Latin chancellarius (through the French), and metallum, and the Greek κpúσraλλos. So also the word tranquillity retains the double as being from the Latin tranquillitas, while the English derivatives of tranquil, though often written with two l's, are more properly written with only one; as, tranquilize, tranquilizer, &c. § 130 (8). When a diphthong, or a digraph representing a vowel sound, precedes the final consonant of a word, or the accent of a word ending in a single consonant falls on any other syllable than the last, or when the word ends in two different consonants, the final consonant is not doubled in derivatives formed by the addition of a termination beginning with a vowel; as, daub, daubed, dauber; brief, briefer, briefest ; travel, traveling, traveler; act, acted, actor. The final consonant is doubled in the derivatives of a few words ending in g, in order to diminish the liability to its being pronounced like j, before e or i; as humbug, humbugged, humbugging; periwig, periwigged. The word woolen is more generally thus written, in the United States, with one ; but in England it is written woollen. |