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THIRD FAULT.-Not sounding h after w.

The aspirate h is often sunk, particularly in the capital, where we do not find the least distinction of sound between while and wile, whet and wet, where and were, &c. The best method to rectify this, is to collect all the words of this description from a Dictionary, and write them down; and, instead of the wh, to begin them with heo in a distinct syllable, and so to pronounce them. Thus, let while be written and sounded hoo-ile; whet, hoo-et; where, hoo-are, whip, hoo-ip, &c. This is no more, as Dr. Lowth observes, than placing the aspirate in its true position before the w, as it is in the Saxon, which the words come from; where we may observe, that though we have altered the orthography of our ancestors, we have still preserved their pronunciation.

FOURTH FAULT-Not sounding h where it ought to be sounded, and inversely.

A still worse habit than the last prevails, chiefly among the people of London, that of sinking the h at the beginning of words where it ought to be sounded, and of sounding it, either where it is not seen, or where it ought to be sunk. This we not unfrequently hear, especially among children, heart pronounced art, and arm, harm. This is a vice perfectly similar to that of proncancing the v for the w, and the w for the r, and requires a similar method to correct it.

As there are so very few words in the language where the initial h is sunk, we may select these from the rest, and, without setting the pupil right when he mispronounces these, or when he prefixes k improperly to other words, we may make him pronounce all the words where his sounded, till he has almost forgot there are any words pronounced otherwise: then he may go over those words to which he improperly prefixes the h, and those where the h is seen, but not sounded, without any danger of an interchange. As these latter words are but few, I shall subjoin a catalogue of them for the use of the learner: heir, heiress, herb, herbage, honest, honesty, honestly, honour, honourable, honourably, hospital, hostier, hour, hourly, humble, humbly, humbles, humour, humorist- humorous, humorously, humorsome where we may observe, that humour and its compounds not only sink the k, but sound the u like the pronoun you, or the noun ew as if written yewmour, yewmorous, &c

Thus I have endeavoured to correct some of the more glaring errors of my countrymen, who, with all their faults, are still upon the whole the best pronouncers of the English language: for though the pronunciation of Loudon is certainly erroneous in many words, yet, upon being com. pared with that of any other place, it is undoubtedly the best; that is, not only the best by courte sy, and because it happens to be the pronunciation of the capital, but the best by a better title, that of being more generally received: or, in other words, though the people of London are er roneous in the pronunciation of many words, the inhabitants of every other place are erroneous in many more. Nay, harsh as the sentence may seem, those at a considerable distance from the capital do not only mispronounce many words taken separately, but they scarcely pronounce with purity a single word, syllable, or letter. Thus, if the short sound of the letter in trunk, sunk, &c. differ from the sound of that letter in the northern parts of England, where they sound it like the in ball, and nearly as if the words were written troonk, soonk, &c. it necessarily follows, that every word where the second sound of that letter occurs, must by those provincials be mispronounced. But though the inhabitants of London have this manifest advantage over all the other inhabi tants of the island, they have the disadvantage of being more disgraced by their peculiarities than any other people. The grand difference between the metropolis and the provinces is, that people of education in London are generally free from the vices of the vulgar; but the best educated people in the provinces, if constantly resident there, are sure to be strongly tinctured with the dialect of the country in which they live. Hence it is, that the vulgar pronunciation of London, though not half so erroneous as that of Scotland, Ireland, or any of the provinces, is, to a person of correct taste, a thousand times more offensive and disgusting.

DIRECTIONS to FOREIGNERS,

In order to attain a Knowledge of the Marks in this Dutionary, and to acquire a right Pronunciation of every Word in the English Language.

At the sounds of the vowels are different in different languages, it would be endless to bring pa rallel sounds from the various languages of Europe; but, as the French is so generally understood apon the Continent, if we can reduce the sounds of the English letters to those of the French, we shall render the pronunciation of our language very generally attainable; and this, it is presumed, will be pretty accurately accomplished by observing the following directions :

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ei bici di i ef ági etch ai djé qué ell em en o pi kiou arr ess ti iou vi dobliou ex ouai zedd The Freuch have all our vowel sounds, and will therefore find the pronunciation of them very easy. The only difficulty they will meet with seems to be i, which, though demonstrably co aposed of two successive sounds, has passed for a simple vowel with a very competent judge of English pronunciation. The reason is, these two sounds are pronounced so closely together as to require some attention to discover their component parts: this attention Mr. Sheridant never gave, or he would not have told us that this diphthong is a compound of our fullest and slenderest sounds à and è; the first made by the largest, and the last by the smallest aperture of the mouth. Now nothing is more cer tain than the inaccuracy of this definition. The third sound of 4, which is perfectly equivalent to the third sound of u, when combined with the first sound of e, must inevitably form the diphthong in boy, joy, &c. and not the diphthongal sound of the vowel i in idle, and the personal pronoun I; this double sound will, upon a close examination, be found to be composed of the Italian a in the last syllable of papa, and the first sound of e, pronounced as closely together as possible; and for the exactness of this definition, I appeal to every just English ear in the kingdom.

• Nares' Elements of Orth.depy, page 2.

Se Section III. of his Prosodial Grammar prefixed to his Dictionary.

Holder, he most philosophical and accurate investigator of the formation and powers of the letters, says: "Our vul gar i, as in stile, seems to be such a diphthong (or rather syllable, or part of a syllable,) composed of a, i, or e, i, urá not a simple original vowel." Elements of Speech, page 95.

Dr. Wallis, speaking of the long English i, says it is sounded "eodem ferè modo quo Gallorum ai in vocibus main manus pain, panis, &c. Nempe sonum habet compositum ex Gallorum è foeminino et i vel y Grammatica Lingum Anglican, page 48.

The other diphthongal vowel u is composed of the French i, pronounced as closely as possible to their diphthong ou, or the English èè and 3, perfectly equivalent to the sound the French would give to the letters you, and which is exactly the sound the English give to the pluri of the second personal pronoun.

The diphthong oi or my is composed of the French â and i; thus toy and boy would be exactly expressed to a Frenchman by writing them tâi, bấi.

The diphthongs and ou, when sounded like ou, are composed of the French â and the diphthong on; and the Euglisa sounds of thou and nowe may be expressed to a Frenchman by spelling them thâon and ndou.

Wis no more than the French diphthong ; thus West is equivalent to Ouest, and wall to cuâll. Yis perfectly equivalent to the French letter of that name, and may be supplied by i; thus yoke, you, &c. is expressed by ioke, im, &c.

, or I consenant, must be pronounced by prefixing d to the French : thus jay, joy, &c. sound to a Frenchman as if spelled dié, djdi, &c. If any difficulty be found in forming this combination of sounds, it will be removed by pronouncing the d, ed, and spelling these words edjé, edjà, &c.

Ch, in English words not derived from the Greek, Latin, or French, is pronounced as if t were prefixed; thus the sound of chair, cheese, chain, &c. would be understood by a Frenchman as if the words were written tehere, tchize, théne.

Sh in English is expressed by ch in French; thus shame, share, &c. would be spelled by a Frenchman chéme, chére, &c.

The ringing sound ng in tong, song, &c. may be perfectly conceived by a pupil who can pro nounce the French word Encore, as the first syllable of this word is exactly correspondent to the sound in those English words; and for the formation of it, see Principles, No. 57; also the word ENCORE.

But the greatest difficulty every foreigner finds in pronouncing English, is the lisping consonant th. This, it may be observed, has, like the other consonants, a sharp and flat sound; sharp as in thin, bath; flat as in that, with. To acquire the true pronunciation of this difficult combination, it may be proper to begin with those words where it is initial: and first, let the pupil protrude his tongue a little way beyond the teeth, and press it between them as if going to bite the tip of it; while this is doing, if he wishes to pronounce thin, let him hiss as if to sound the letters; and after the hiss, let him draw back his tongue within his teeth, and pronounce the preposition in, and thus will the word thin be perfectly pronunced. If he would pronounce that, let him place the tongue between the teeth as before, and while he is hissing as if to sound the letter «, let him withdraw his tongue into his mouth, and immediately pronounce the preposition at. To pronounce this combination when final in bath, let him pronounce ba, and protrude the tongue beyond the teeth, pressing the tongue with them, and hissing as if to sounds; if he would pronounce with, let him first form w, put the tongue in the same position as before, and hiss as if to sound z. It will be proper to make the pupil dwell some time with the tongue beyond the teeth in order to form a habit, and to pronounce daily some words out of a Dictionary beginning and ending with these letters.

These directions, it is presumed, if properly attended to, will be sufficient to give such foreigners As understand French, and have not access to a master, a competent knowledge of English pronunion; but to render the sounds of the vowels marked by figures in this Dictionary still more easi be rehended, with those English words which exemplify the sounds of the vowels, I have associated suca French words as bave vowels exactly corresponding to them, and which immediate. ly convey the true English pronunciation. These should be committed to memory, or written down and held in his hand while the pupil is inspecting the Dictionary.

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Perhaps the greatest advantage to foreigners and provincials will be derived from the classifica tion of words of a similar sound, and drawing the line between the general rule and the exception. This has been an arduous task; but it is hoped the benefit arising from it will amply repay it. When the numerous varieties of sounds annexed to vowels, diphthongs, and consonants, le scattered without bounds, a learner is bewildered and discouraged from attempting to distinguish them; but when they are all classed, arranged, and enumerated, the variety seems less, the number smaller and the distinction easier. What an inextricable labyrinth do the diphthongs ea and on form as they lie loose in the language! but classed and arranged as we find them, No. 226, &c. and 313, &r the confusion vanishes, they become much less formidable, and a learner has it in his power, by repeat. ing them daily, to become master of them all in a very little time.

The English accent is often an insurmountable obstacle to foreigners, as the rules for it are so various, and the exceptions so numerous; but let the inspector consult the article Accent in the Principles, particularly No. 492, 505, 506, &c. and he will soon perceive how much of our language is regularly accented, and how much that which is irregular is facilitated by an enumeration of the greater number of exceptions.

But scarcely any method will be so useful for gaining the English accent as the reading of verse This will naturally lead the ear to the right accentuation; and though a different position of the accent is frequently to be met with in the beginning of a verse, there is a sufficient regularity to render the pronouncig of verse a powerful means of obtaining such a distinction of force and feebleness as is commonly called the accent: for it may be observed, that a foreigner is no less distinguishable by placing an accent upon certain words to which the English give no stress, than by placing the stress upon a wrong syllable. Thus if a foreigner, when he calls for bread at table, by saying, give me some bread, lays an equal stress upon every word, though every word should be pronounced with its exact sound, we immediately perceive he is not a native An Englishman would pronounce these four words like two, with the accent on the first syllable of the first, and on the last syllable of the last, as if written giveme somebréd; or rather, givme sumbréd; or more commonly, though vulgarly, gimme somebréd. Verse may sometimes induce a foreigner, as it does sometimes injudicious natives, to av the accent on a syllable in long words which ought to have none, as in a couplet of Pope's Essay on Criticism:

"False eloquence, like the prismatic glass,

"Its gaudy colours spreads on every place."

Here a foreigner would be apt to place an accent on the last syllable of eloquence as well as the first, which would be certainly wrong, but this fault is so trifling, when compared with that of laying the accent on the second syllable, that it almost vanishes from observation; and this misaccentuation, verse will generally guard him from. The reading of verse, therefore will, if I am not mistalen, be found a powerful regulator, both of accent and emphasis.

CONTENTS

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H, when sounded, and when mute

Jits uniform sound

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K, when sounded, and when mute

L, when sounded, and when mute

M, when sounded, and when mute

N, when it has its naso-guttural sound

When it has its ringing sound in the participial termination ing

P, when sounded, and when mute

PH, its uniform sound

Q, its diferent sounds, when combined with u

R, when its sound is transposed

When it is to be pronounced rough, and when smooth

S, its different sounds

When it is to be pronounced like z

When it is to be pronounced like sh and th

Mr. Sheridan's errour in this point detected

T, its diferent sounds

How slides into sh in the numerous termination tion

Why it slides into this sound before u, preceded by the accent

Mr. Sheridan's errour in this point detected

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When the h is silent in this combination

TH, its different sounds

T, when silent

V, its uniform sound

W, when silent, and when sounded

X, is exactly similar to ks, and liable to the same alterations of sound

Mr. Sheridan's errour in this point detected

Y, as a consonant, and its diffrent sounds

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The shortening power of the secondary accent exemplified in the uncertainty and incoUsis-
tency of Mr. Sheridan and Dr. Kenrick in their division of words into syllables

On Syllabication.

Syllabication different according to the different ends to be attained by it
Syllabication ex-biting the sound of a word, depending, in some measure, on the nature of the
letters prior to actual pronunciation

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Table of the simple aud diphthongal vowels, referred to as a key to the figures over the let-

ters in the Dictionary

Tendency of o before r to go into the same obscurity as e, exemplified in the diversity and

Inconsistency of our best orthöepists in marking these syllables

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2. To these may be added certain combinations of letters sometimes used in printing; as ct, st fi, sb, sh, sk, ff, ss, si, ssi, fi, ffi, fil, and &c. or and per se and, or rather et per se and; ct, st, fi, fi, el, sb, sh, sk, ff, ss, si, ssi, fi, ffi, &.

3. Our letters, says Dr. Johnson, are commonly reckoned twenty-four, because anciently i and f, as well as u and r, 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 contrary, we find that there are others, whose pronunciation depends on the par ticular 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 Vowels when they end a syllable or word, and consonants when they begin one.

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6. The definition of a vowel, as httle 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 ot..er.

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 svllable, as in min-ion, pin-ion, &c. the sound of e with which it terminates is squeezed into a consonant sound, like the double heard in queen, different from the simple sound of that letter in queen, and this squeezed sound in the commencing & makes

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