LESSON II.

ELEMENTARY SOUNDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

18. By Elementary Sounds we mean the simplest possible sounds, from which all other sounds are compounded. In the spoken language, the Elementary Sounds are divided into two classes: 1, Vocalic or Vowel Sounds; 2, Consonantal or Consonant Sounds. The word vowel is from the Latin word vocālis, vocal; and it means what can be sounded, or form voice by itself.

19. The word consonant is formed from the Latin words con, with, sonans, sounding; because, although the consonantal sounds can be isolated, that is, separated from the vocalic, yet in practice they are joined to vocalic sounds and pronounced with them.

20. Thus the single sounds of b' or l' (pronounced as nearly as possible without the vowel sounds they have in pronouncing their alphabet names), if taken by themselves, cannot form a word, or even a syllable In order to do so, they must be joined to a vowel, and sovaded along with it. A vowel, on the contrary, may independently form a syllable, as in e-ject.

21. It should be understood that the alphabetical or name sound of a letter (by which we mean that sound which it has in the alphabet) is not a guide to the sound of that letter in the various combinations in which it is used in the formation of words. The sound of a is very different in the following words; father, fat, fate, fall The sound of e is very different in city and can. The sound of ou is very different in sound and soup.

22. The same letter or letters may represent various sounds. In fix ing the pronunciation of the alphabet, it would have been as proper to pronounce the first letter like the a in father as like the a in fate. Bearing in mind this distinction between letters and the sounds they stand for, the pupil will find that several letters or combinations of letters are often used to express the same sound; thus, the ea in great and the ei in vein have the same sound as the a in fate; the o in women has the same sound as the i in pit.

23. It has been already seen, however, that there are a certain number of sounds called Elementary Sounds. These sounds have been classified variously by various scholars. In the Table presented on page 18, we give the classification which seems to us to have the advantage of simplicity, precision and convenience.

24. By "Cognate Consonant Sounds" is meant a class of sounds

allied to each other, or resembling each other in sound. By the terms aspirate and vocal are meant, 1, By aspirate, those which, separated from their vowel sounds, require but a whisper for their distinct utterance; 2, By vocal, those which, separated from their vowel sounds, require the natural tone of the voice. Sometimes the terms sharp and flat are used instead of aspirate and vocal.

TABLE OF THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS IN THE ENGLISHI

15. That of h in hot, an aspirate, or simple breathing.

21. That of p in pan, aspirate. [29. That of k in kind,

aspirate. S vocal.

aspirate. 31.

sin,

aspirate.

zeal,

Svocal.

COMPOUND CONSONANT SOUNDS.

1. That of ch in chest (aspirate). | 2. That of j in jest (vocal).

* See T6, in regard to the significance of this sign (“).

25. The list of the Elementary Sounds in the English language ends with Number 34. There are six Compound Sounds. Of these, four are compounded by means of a vowel, and two by means of a consonant. The letters c, q and x, do not appear in the preceding Table, because, as representatives of sound, they are redundant. C expresses only what is as well expressed by either s or k; for instance, the words city and can are respectively pronounced sity and kan. ૨ is only kw (or cw), and x is only ks (or cs); for instance, the words queen and box, are respectively pronounced kween (or cween), and boks (or bocks, or bocs).

26. There are also Modified Vowel Sounds, not sufficiently decided to be classed as independent elementary sounds, but still exhibiting shades of difference, attention to which is essential to a pure and accurate articulation. The obscure sound of a vowel is an indistinct sound it has from the peculiarity of its position in a word, or to abridge the time of utterance. In obscuring a vowel sound, conform to the vowel's proper sound as much as is consistent with ease in utterance.

into what are they divided? of the word consonant? 20.

QUESTIONS.-18. What are elementary sounds, and What is the derivation of the word vowel? 19. What Illustrate the difference between vowels and consonants. 21. Do letters have always the same sounds they have in the alphabet? 22. May one letter stand for more than one sound? 24. What is meant by cognate consonant sounds? What is meant by this sign (") in the Table of Elementary Sounds? Repeat the elementary vowel sounds. The two vowel or consonant sounds. The consonant sounds. The cognate consonant sounds. 25, 26. Name the compound vowel sounds. The compound consonant sounds. The modified vowel sounds. What is meant by the word modified? (Pupils are referred to the Expiratory Index.) What do you learn from the note (p. 19) in regard to obscuring vowel sounds?

*In regard to the sounds of short a and short o before r, see ¶ 108. On the similarity of the sounds of er, ir, ur, &c., see ¶ 107, and ¶ 109.

In obscuring vowel sounds, a just medium should be observed betweer that precision which demands a distinct conformity to one of the regular sounds of the vowel, and that looseness which gives it the positive sound of some other vowel. Thus, in the word rival, while it would impede a

LESSON III.

SOUNDS OF THE VOWELS.

27. ACCORDING to the preceding Table of the Elementary Sounds, the se und of a in father (called Italian a) is the leading vowel sound in the English language. In the enumeration of the sounds of a, it has generally been the practice to place the long sound of a (as in fate) at the head of the list. But later orthoëpists have preferred the order which we have adopted.

28. The Italian a is placed first, because it is the simplest and most easily enounced; because it is the first enounced by children; because it is the most common vowel sound; and because it stands at the head of most alphabets.

29. This first sound of a should be slightly modified in such words as pass, dance, waft, command, &c., in which the a should not be as broad as in father, nor as close as in flat, but a sound between the two. Some orthoëpists call the sound, thus modified, intermediate a.

30. The second sound of a is its short sound, as in mat. The third is its long sound (sometimes called its name or alphabet sound), as in tame, which is modified when in combination with the liquid r, as in care.

31. The fourth sound of a is its broad sound, as in fall, which is shortened when the a is preceded by w, and succeeded by a single consonant in the same syllable; as in wal-low, &c. ; or by two consonants in the same syllable, as in want, &c.: but when l or r is one of the consonants, the a becomes long, as in walk, swarm, &c.

32. The elementary sounds of e are its long sound, as in mēte, and its short sound, as in met. It is sometimes equivalent to long a, as

proper rapidity of utterance to attempt giving to the a its regular short sound, we can still come so near to it that the sound of the vowel will not d. generate into u, thus converting the word into rivul.

БІ

Teachers are much at variance in regard to this class of vowel sounds. 1th Webster, Worcester and other orthoëpists, we have classed them under the head of obscure. The true sound lies in a partial and easy, but not to careless obscuration. The tendency of all changes in pronunciation a accent has been to an abridgment of the time of utterance, and any attempt to introduce a formal avoidance of obscuration cannot be long or generally al pted. We may as well yield to the tendency, and regulate it as best

we may.

in there, ere (meaning before), e'er (contracted from ever), ne'er (contracted from never), &c. Sometimes e has a short and obtuse E sound, as in brier, fuel; and sometimes it has the sound of short i, as in England.

33. In many instances, when preceding 7 and n in final unaccented syllables, the sound of the e is dropped; as in drivel, grovel, heaven, hearken, given, open, &c., which are pronounced as if written grov'l, heav'n, &c. In the following and some other exceptions, the sound of the e (Walker says the short sound, Webster the obscure) is retained: revel, chapel, chicken, vessel, sudden, novel, travel, sloven, counsel, model, woolen, flannel, &c.: not rev'l, sudd'n, &c.

34. The e mute (or unsounded), in words like robe, hive, serves to show that the preceding vowel is long; but there are exceptions, as in give, live, where the preceding vowel is short. E is always mute at the end of words, except in monosyllables (like the, me) which have no other vowels; and sometimes in proper names and words from the Greek and Latin, as Phebe, Tempë, syncopë, ex-temporë.

35. The sound of e is generally suppressed in the preterites of verbs and in participles in ed, when the vowel is not preceded by d or t; as in feared, loved, revealed, tossed; pronounced feard, lovd, reveald, tost. When it is intended, in poetry or elsewhere, that the sound of the e should be retained, this may be signified by putting the mark of the diaresis (see T11) over the e, thus: feared, revealed. The adjectives agëd, wingëd and learnëd, are pronounced in two syllables.

36. The long or alphabetical sound of i (as in mind) being regarded as a diphthongal, compound sound, is not included in our Table of Elementary Sounds, but will be found among the Compound Vowel Sounds. This sound, according to Walker, is composed of the sounds of a in father and e in he, pronounced as closely together as possible. According to others, the real elements of the sound are the a in fat followed by the y in yet, rapidly pronounced. The nature of this compound sound (i long) is disguised by the spelling. It is erroneously supposed by many to be the sound of i in pit, lengthened in the pronunciation.

37. The short sound of i (as in pin) represents the seventh elementary sound. Before r it is equivalent, in some words, to short u, as in first. In a class of words derived mostly from the French and Italian, i has the sound of long e, as in antique, magazine, caprice, pique, fatigue, quarantine. But i has its short sound in măsculine, feminine, juvenile, &c.