the introduction of the sibilant sounds of j, g, ch and c; the use of the letter z, and the consonantal sound of v, and a great deal of change and confusion in the vowel sounds. French influence assisted in the recognition of s as the general sign of the plural in nouns. To French we also owe a considerable number of the suffixes and prefixes by which derivatives are formed, and are probably indebted for our deliverance from that stiff and involved arrangement of sentences under which modern German still labours. (Mätzner.) ENGLISH GRAMMAR. INTRODUCTION. 1. Speech or language is the expression of thought by words. 2. Grammar (from the Greek gramma, 'letter') is the science that treats of speech or language. English Grammar is that portion of the science which treats of the speech of the English people. These 3. Words are significant combinations of sounds. sounds are represented to the eye by marks or symbols called letters (Latin litera), the whole collection of which is called the Alphabet (from alpha, beta, the names of the first two letters of the Greek Alphabet). The right mode of uttering the sounds that make up a word is called Orthoëpy (from the Greek orthos, right,' and epos, spoken word '). The right mode of representing the sounds that make up a word by letters is called Orthography (from the Greek orthos, 'right,' and grapho, I write '). 4. A sentence (Latin sententia, thought') is a collection of words of such kinds and arranged in such a manner as to express some complete thought. Words are of different sorts according to the purpose which they serve in a sentence. Thus, in the sentence "The little bird flies swiftly through the air," bird is the name of something that we speak about; the points out which bird is meant; little describes the bird; flies states what the bird does; swiftly denotes the manner in which the bird does this; through shows how the action of the bird is related to the air. The different sorts of words are called Parts of Speech. 5. Etymology (from Greek etymos,' true,' and logos, 'word' or 'statement') is that part of grammar which treats of words separately. Syntax (Greek syn, together,' and taxis, 'arrangement') is that part of grammar which treats of the way in which words are combined in sentences. THE ALPHABET. 6. The English alphabet consists now of twenty-six letters, each of which is written in two forms, the large letters being called Capitals, or Capital Letters* :-. A, a: B, b: C, c: D, d: E, e: F, f: K, k: L, 1: M, m: N, n: O, o : P, p: U, u: V, v: W, w : X, x : Y, y: Z, z. G, g: Q, q: H, h : I, i : J, 7. The English alphabet is the ordinary Roman alphabet, with the addition of the letter w. The old English (Anglo-Saxon) alphabet had no j, q‚† v, or z, and contained two symbols which have since been discarded, namely, (eth) and þ (thorn), which both stood for th. Instead of w the symbol b (wen) was used. Also for a time, in the Transition Period of English, the sign 3 was used for a sound like g or a guttural y. ୪ VOWELS. 8. The letters a, e, i, o, u are called Vowels (Latin vocalis, 'that can be sounded'). They can be sounded by themselves, with a continuous passage of the breath. The remaining letters are called Consonants (Lat. con 'together,' sonans 'sounding'). They either stop (partially or completely), or else set free the passage of the breath by which vowels are sounded. They therefore have a vowel either before or after them.§ 9. There are thirteen simple vowel sounds in English; the sounds of a in fall, father, fate, fat; the sounds of e in met and mete; the sound of i in pin; the sounds of o in not and note; the sounds of u in rule, pull, fur, and but. Of these sounds some are long, some short. The primary vowel sounds are (as in pin), ă (as in far), and й (as Capital letters are used at the beginning of proper names, for the nominative case singular of the personal pronoun of the first person, and for any noun, adjective, or pronoun, used in speaking of the Divine Being. They may also be used at the beginning of a common noun, when it is used in a special or technical sense, as Mood, Voice, Person, the Solicitor-General,' 'the Lord Chief Justice,' and at the beginning of a noun, or an adjective and a noun, denoting something specially important. Adjectives derived from proper nouns are also written with capitals. We also write His Majesty, Her Majesty, &c. The first word of a sentence and of a line of poetry must begin with a capital. + The very name of 9 is French,-queue = 'the tailed letter.' Both and are probably modified forms of d, p being a D which has had the backstroke lengthened both ways. In the oldest English there seems to have been no difference of sound between them. Some MSS. use in all cases, others p. When the sound of th in thing' became different from that of th in 'the,' was appropriated to the latter. The y in the old-fashioned way of writing 'the' (ye or ye) is a corruption of p. A vowel is the result of an open position of the organs of speech, a consonant is the result of an opening action of the organs of speech" (Melville Bell). : in full); all others are lengthenings, combinations, or modifications of these.* 10. When two dissimilar vowel sounds are uttered without a break between them, we get a vocal or sonant diphthong (Greek dis 'twice,' and phthonge 'sound'). There are four of them :— I. i, as in bïte, made up of the a in far and the e in mete. 2. oi, as in hoist, also written oy (boy) and uoy (buoy), made up of the sound of a in fall and e in mete. 3. eu, as in eulogy, also expressed in writing by u (mute), ew or ewe (few, ewe), eau (beauty), ui (suit), ue (hue), yu (yule). 4. ou, as in noun. This is also expressed in writing by ow (now). When two of the letters called vowels are used to represent a simple vowel sound, we get an improper diphthong or digraph. 11. The letters w and y are commonly called semi-vowels. When they are followed by a vowel sound in the same syllable, their sound approaches that of a consonant, as in win, twin, you, yonder. They form a connecting link between vowels and consonants. When a vowel precedes them in the same syllable they combine with it to form either a diphthong or a simple vowel sound; as awe, how, dray, bey, buy. Y is a pure vowel whenever it is followed by a consonant (as in Yttria). It was always a pure vowel in Anglo-Saxon. 12. All the vowel sounds are produced by the unimpeded passage of the breath, when modified by the glottis into voice, through the tube of the mouth, which is made to assume different shapes by altering the form and position of the tongue and the lips. CONSONANTS. 13. Consonants or voice-checks are divisible into two chief classes :-A. Consonants which only partially stop the current of the breath, allowing it still to escape either past the tongue, or through the nostrils. These consonants have been termed by different writers continuous, spirant (i.e. breathing), or fricative (the breath, as it were, rubbing past). The continuous consonants are subdivided into Of these m and n are 1. The Liquids (or flowing sounds) 1, m, n, r. 2. The Sibilants (or hissing sounds). These are- Closely allied b. Compound-ch (in chest), equivalent to tsh; j (in jest) or soft g (in gentle), equivalent to dzh. is merely a double letter = ks (in next), or gs (in exact). 3. The Lisping sounds, th (in thin) and th (in this). 4. The Labials (or lip letters) f and v.† B. Consonants which wholly stop the passage of the breath. These *On observing the position of the organs of speech it will be found that a (= ah) is midway between i(ee) and (oo). If, without stopping the voice, a is made to pass into , the sound of o intervenes; if it is made to pass into i, the sound of a (in fate) intervenes. F, v, and th are sometimes classed among the mutes and called aspirates; but it would be better to discard the name. The sounds are perfectly simple, they are not really made by blending the sound of h with those of p, b, t and d. are commonly called Mutes.* They are p, b, t, d, k (or hard c), g. They are sometimes described as momentary, or explosive.† Labials, Dentals, and Gutturals. 14. All the consonants (or voice-checks), whether continuous or momentary, may be arranged in groups according to the organ of speech which is chiefly brought into action in forming them. These groups are 1. Labials (Latin labium 'lip") formed with the lips :-p, b, f, v, With these may be classed the semi-vowel w. m. 2. Dentals (Lat. dens 'tooth'), or Palatals (Lat. palatum 'palate ') formed by different sorts of contact between the tongue and the palate :—t, d, th, the trills 1 and r, the nasal n, and all the sibilants. 3. Gutturals (Lat. guttur 'throat') formed at the root of the tongue or the top of the throat :-k (or hard c), hard g and the nasal ng. H was a guttural letter in Anglo-Saxon, something like ch in the Scotch loch. It now forms a division by itself, being a simple impulse of the breath, and yet not a vowel. It is called an Aspirate (Lat. ad 'at,' spirare 'to breathe'). To the gutturals is allied the semi-vowel y. Hard (or Sharp) Consonants and Soft (or Flat) Consonants. 15. In pronouncing p, t, or k, it will be felt that the muscles which adjust the organs of speech are in a state of sharper tension than when b, d, or g is sounded. The former consonants have a hard or sharp sound, the latter a soft or dull sound. To the class of Hard § or Sharp Consonants (or Hard Checks) belong p, t, k (or hard c), f, th (in thin), s, sh, ch. To the class of Soft § or Flat Consonants (or Soft Checks) belong b, d, hard g, v, th (in this), z (in zeal), z (in azure), j or soft g. 16. Assimilation.-When a hard and a soft consonant come together, * Do not confound the Mutes with mute letters such as e in fate, or p in psalm. + This term is more fanciful than correct. It is the breath, not the stoppage of it, that explodes. The guttural sounds of ch and gh do not now belong to English; ch (hard) is sounded as k, and gh is silent, or sounded as f, Instead of the contrasted terms Hard and Soft, or Sharp and Flat, the older grammars (especially those for Latin and Greek) give us the terms thin and middle (the soft consonants being regarded as half-way between the thin and the aspirate mutes). Later writers use the terms surd and sonant, or breathed and voiced (which mean much the same as surd and sonant). The terms breathed and voiced are becoming very usual with writers on Phonetics. 'Breath' becomes 'Voice' when the vocal chords are stretched and set in vibration. Now if we adjust the organs of speech for one of the soft consonants (say b), it is possible to make a sort of sound in the mouth without opening the lips; but if we adjust the organs of speech for a hard consonant (as p), it is impossible to convert the breath in the mouth into voice without breaking the contact by which the consonant is formed, and letting the breath Hence is called a breathed consonant, and b a voiced consonant. These terms, however, are open to the objection that they put the cart before the horse.' A consonant like b does not get its peculiar quality as contrasted with by forming voice in the mouth, it must have its peculiar quality by the adjustment of the organs before voice can be produced. The two classes of consonants would be better described as tense and lax. If the terms sharp and flat are employed, it must be kept in mind that they involve no reference to a difference of pitch. out. |