80. As the mure l in calm, psalın, calf, kalf, &c. seems to lengthen the sound of this letter, so the abbreviation of some words by apostrophe seems to have the same effect. Thus when, by impatience, that grand corrupter of manners, as well as language, the no is cut out of the wo.. not, and the two syllables reduced to one, we find the a lengthened to the Italian or middle 4, as Arnot can't; have not, han't; shall not, sha'n't; &c. This is no more than what the Latin language is ub. ject to; it being a known rule in that tongue, that when, by conposition or otherwise, two short syllables become one, that syilable is almost always ong, as alius has the penultimate long because it comes from aliius, and the two short vowels in coago become one long vowel in cogo, &c. 81. The short sound of the middle or Italian a, which is generally confounded with the short sound of the slender a, is the sound of this vowel in man, pan, tan, mat, hat, &c.; we general. ; find this sound before any two successive consonants (those excepted in the foregoing remarks,, and even when it comes before an r, if a vowel follow, or ther be doubled; for if this consonant be doubled, in order to produce another syllable, the long sound becomes short, as mar, marry, car, carry, &c. where we find the monosyllable has the long, and the dissyllable the short sound; but if a come before r, followed by another consonant, it has its long sound, as in part, partial, &c. 82. The only exception to this rule is in adjectives derived from substantives ending in r: for in this case the a continues long, as in the primitive Thus the a in starry, or full of stars, is as long ns in star; and the a in the adjective tarry, or besmeared with tar, is as long as in the substantive tar, though short in the word tarr, (to stay.) 23. The third long sound of a is that which we more immediately derive from our maternal language the Saxon, but which at present we use less than any other: this is the ia fall, bail, gall, (33) we find a correspondent sound to this a in the diphthongs au and awe, as laid, law, sur, &c., though it must here be noted, that we have improved upon, our German parent, by giving a broader sound to this letter in these words than the Germans themselves would do, were they to pronounce then. 84. The long sound of the deep broad German a is produced by ll after it, as in all, wall, call; or indeed by one, and any other consonant, except the mute labials p, b, f, and r, as salt, bald, false, felchion, falcon, &c. The exceptions to this rule are generally words from the Arabic and Latin lan guages, as Alps, Albion, asphaltic, falcated, salve, clculate, amalgamate, Alcoran, and Alfred, &c.; the two last of which may be considered as ancient proper names which have been frequently latinized, and by this means have acquired a slenderer sound of a. This rule, however, must be understood of such syllables only as have the accent on them; for when at, followed by a consonant, is in the first syllable of a word, having the accent on the second, it is then pronounced as in the first syllables of al-ley, val-ley, &c. as alternate, balsamic, falcade, falcation, &c. Our modern orthography, which has done its utmost to perplex pronunciation, has made it necessary to observe, that every word compounded of a monosyllable with ll, as albeit, also, almost, donenful, &c. must be pronounced as if the two liquids were still remaining, notwithstanding our word-menders have wisely taken one away, to the destruction both of sound and etymology; for, as Mr. Elphinston shrewdly observes, Every reader, young and old, must now be so sagacious an analyst as to discern at once not only what are compounds and what their simples, but that al in composition is equal to all out "of it; or in other words, that it is both what it is, and what it is not." Prin. Eng. Language, vol L. page 60. See No. 404. 85. The w has a peculiar quality of broadening this letter, even when prepositive: this is always the effect, except when the vowel is closed by the sharp or flat guttural k or gx, ng, nk, or the sharp labialf, as wax, waft, thwack, twang, 'wank: thus we pronounce the a broad, though short in wad, wan, want, was, what, &c. and though other letters suffer the a to alter its sound before /l, when one of these letters goes to the formation of the latter syllable, as tall, tal-low; hali, hal-!w; call, cal-im, &c.; yet we see w preserve the sound of this vowel before a single consorant, 28 wal-low, sical-low, &c. 86. The q including the scund of the to, and being no more than this letter preceded by k, ought, according to analogy, to broaden every a it goes before like the w; thus quantity ought to be pronounced as if written kwontity, and quality should rhyme with jollity; instead of which we frequently near the w robbed of its rights in its proxy; and quality so pronounced as to rhyme with legality, while to rhyme quantity, according to this affected mode of pronouncing it, we must on such words as plantity and consonantity. The a in Quaver and Equator is an exception to this rule, from the preponderancy of another which requires a, ending a syllable under the accent, to have the slender sound of that letter; to which rule, father, master, and water, and perhaps, quadrant, are the only exceptions. 87. The short sound of this broad a is heard when it is preceded by w, and succeeded by a single consonant in the same syllable, as wal-low, swal-low, &c. or by two consonants in the same syllable, as want, wast, wasp, &c. but when l or r is one of the consonants, the a becomes long, as walk, swarm, &c Irregular and unaccented Sounds. 3. But besides the long and short sounds common to all the vowels, there is a certain transient indistinct pronunciation of some of them, when they are not accented, that cannot be so easily settled. When the accent is not upon it, no vowel is more apt to run into this imperfect sound thar the a; thus the particle a before parti iples, in the phrases a-going, a-walking, a-shooting, &c. seems, says Dr. Lowth, to be the tine and genuine preposition on a little disguised by familiar use and quick pronunciation: the same indistinctness, from rapidity and coincidence of sound, has confounded the pronunciation of this mutilated preposition to the ear, in the different questions that's o'clock, when we would know the hour, and what's a clock, when we would have the description of that horary machine; and if the accent be kept strongly on the first syllable of the word tolerable, as it always ought to be, we find scarcely any distinguishable difference to the ear, if we substitute u or o instead of a in the penultimate syllable. Thus tolerable, tolerohle, and toleruble, are ex actly the same word to the ear, if pror ounced without premeditation or transposing the accent, for work he departs frequently from my judgment, and particularly in the pronunciation of the letter a when succeeded by st, st, or, and another consonant, as pass, fast, chance, &c. to which he annexes the long sourd of a in father. That this was the sound formerly, is highly probable from its being still the sound given it by the vulgar, who are generally de last to alter the common pronunciation, but that the short a in these words is now the general pronunciation of the polite and learned world, seems to be candidly acknowledged by Mr. Smith himself; and as every correct ear would be disgusted at giving the a in these words the full long sound of the a in father, any middle sound ought to be discountenanced, as tending to render the pronunciation of a language obscure and indefinite. (168) Ben Jonson in his Grammar classes salt, malt, bain, and calm, as having the same sound of aj and aunt, as having the me diphthongal sound as audience, author, law, saw, drum, &c. the real purpose of distinction, and inwards, outwards, &c. might, with respect to sound, be spek inwards, outwurds, &c. Thus the word man, when not under the accent, might be written mun in roblemun, husbandman, woman; and tertian and quartan, tertium and quartum, &c. The same observa. tion will hold good in almost every final syllable where a is not accented. as medal, dial, giant, bias, &c. defiance, temperance, &c.; but when the final syllable ends in age, ote, or ace, the a goes into a somewhat different sound. See y0 and 91. 89. There is a corrupt, but a received pronunciation of this letter in the words any, many, Thames, where the a sounds like short e, as if written enny, menny, Tems. Catch, among Londoners, scems to have degenerated into Ketch; and says, the third person of the verb to su, has, among all ranks of people, and in every part of the united kingdoms, degenerated into sez, rhyming with Fez. 90. The a goes into a sound approaching the short i, in the numerous termination in age, when the accent is not on it, as cabbage, village, courage, &c. and are pronounced nearly as if written catbige, villige, courige, &c. The exceptions to this rule are chiefly among words of three syllables, with the accent on the first; these seem to be the following · Ådage, presage, scutage, hemorrhage, vassalage, carcelage, guidage, pucelage, mucilage, cartilage, pripilage, orphanage, villanage, appanage, concubinage, barmage, patronage, parsonage, personage, equipage, ossifrage, saxifrage, umpirage, embassage, hermitage, heritage, parentage, patronage. 91. The a in the numerous termination ate, when the accent is not on it, is pronounced somewhat differently in different words. If the word be a substantive, or an adjective, the a seems to be shorter than when it is a verb: thus a good ear wil discover a difference in the quantity of this letter, in delicate and dedicate; in climate, primate, and ultimate; and the verbs to calculate, to regulate, and to speculate, where we find the nouns and adjectives Lave the a considerably shorter than the verbs Innate, however, preserves the a as long as if the accent were on it: but the unaccented termina tions in ace, whether nouns or verbs, have the a so short and obscure as to be nearly similar to the u in us; thus palace, solace, menace, pinnace, populace, might, without any great departure from their common sound, be written pallus, sollus, &c. while furuce almost changes the a into i, and might be written furniss. 92. When the a is preceded by the guttura's, hard g or e, it is, in polite pronunciation, softened by the intervention of a sound like e, s) that card, cart, guard, regard, are pronounced like ke-ard, ghe-ard, re-ghe-ard. When the a is pronounced short, as in the first syllables of candle, gunder, &c. the interposition of the e is very perceptiole, and indeed unavoidable: for though we can pronounce guard and cart without interposing the e, it is impossible to pronounce garrison and carriage in the same manner. This sound of the a is taken notice of in Steele's Graininar, page 49, which proves it is not the offspring of the present day (160,) and I have the satisfaction to find Mr. Smith, a very accurate inquirer into the subject, entirely of my cpinion. But the sound of the a, which I have found the most difficult to appreciate, is that where it ends the syilable, either immediately before or after the accent. We cannot give it any of its three open sounds without hurting the ear: thus in pronouncing the words abound and diadem, ay-bound, ab-bound, and aw-bound; di-ay-dem, di-ah-dem and di-at-dem, are all improper; but giving the a the second or Italian sound, as ah-bound, and di-ah-dem, seems the least so. For which reason I have, like Mr. Sheridan, adopted the short sound of this letter to mark this unaccented a: but if the unaccented a be final, which is not the case in any word purely English, it ther. seems to approach still nearer to the Italian a in the last syllable of pupa, the a in father; as may be heard in the deliberate pronunciation of the words ideu, Africa, Delta, &c. (88.) See the letter A at the beginning of the Dictionary. nd E. 93. The first sound of e is that which it has when lengthened by the mute e final, as in glebe, theme, &c. or when it ends a syllable with the accent upon it, as se-cre-tion, ad-he-sion, &c. (36.) 94. The exceptions to this rule are, the words where and there; in which the first e is pronounced like a, as if written whare, thare; and the auxiliary verb were, where the e has its short sound, as if written wer, rhyming with the last syllable of pre-fer, and ere, (before,) which sounds like air. When there is in composition in the word therefore, the e is generally shortened, as in were, but in my opinion improperly. 95. The short sound of e is that heard in bed, fed, red, wed, &c.; this sound before r is apt to slide into short u; and we sometimes hear mercy sounded as if written murcy: but this, though very near 18 not the exact sound. Irregular and unaccentea Sounds. 96. The e at the end of the monosyllables he, he, me, we, is pronounced ee, as if written bee, hee, &c It is silent at the end of words purely English, but is pronounced distmctly at the end of some words from the learned languages, as epitome, simile, catastrophe, apostrophe, &c. 97. The first e in the poetic contractions, e'er and ne'er, is pronounced like a, as if written air and nair. 98. The e in her is pronounced nearly like short u; and as we hear it in the unaccented terminations of writer, reader, &c. pronounced as if written writur, readur, where we may observe that ther being only on a jar, and not a definite and distinct articulation like the other consonants, instead of stopping the vocal efflux of voice, lets it imperfectly pass, and so corrupts and alters the true sound of the vowel. The same may be observed of the final e after r in words ending in cre, gre, tre, where the e is sounded as if it were placed before the r, as in lucre, maugre, theatre, &c. pronounced bukur, maugur, thestur, &c. See No. 418. It may be remarked, that though we ought cautiously to avoid pronouncing the e like u when under the accent, it would be nimis Atticé, and border too much on affectation of accuracy to preserve this sound of e in unaccented syllables before r; and though terrible, where e has the accent, should never be pronounced as if written turrible, it is impossible without pedantry to make any difference in the sound of the last syllable of splendor and tender, sul· phur and suffer, or martyr and garter But there is a small deviation from rule when this letter begins a word, and is followed by a double consonant with the accent on the second syllable in this case we find the vowel lengthen as if the consonant were single. See EFFACE, DESPATCH, EMBALM. 99. This vowel, in a final uuaccented syllable, is apt to slide into the short i: thus faces, ranges, praises, are pronounced as if written faciz, rangis, praiziz; poet, covet, linen, duel, &c. as if written poil, covil, linin, duil, sc. Where we may observe, that though the e goes into the short sound of i, it is exactly that sound which corresponds to the long sound of e See Port Royal Grammaire, Latin, Page 142 100. There is a remarkable exception to the common sound of this letter in the words clerit, serjeant, and a few others, where we find the e pronounced like the a in dark and margin. But this exception, I imagine, was, till within these few years, the general rule of sounding this letter before r, followed by another consonant. See MERCHANT. Thirty years ago every one pronounced the first syllable of merchant like the monosyllable march, and as it was anciently written marchant. Service and servant are still heard among the lower order of speakers, as if written sarvice and sarrant; and even among the better sort, we hear sometimes the salutation, Sir, your sarrant though this pro nunciation of the word singly would be looked upon as a mark of the lowest vulgarity. The proper names, Derby and Berkeley, still retain the old sound as if written Darby and Barkeley: but even these, in polite usage, are getting into the common sound, nearly as if written Durby and Burkeley. As this modern pronunciation of the e has a tendency to simplify the language by lessening the number o exceptions, it ought certainly to be indulged. 101. This letter falls into an irregular sound, but still a sound which is its nearest relation, in the words, England, yes, and prettu, where the e is heard like short i. Vulgar speakers are guilty of the same irregularity in engine, as if written ingine: but this cannot be too carefully avoided. 102. The vowel e before I and in the final unaccented syllable, by its being sometimes suppressed and sometimes not, forms one of the most puzzling difficulties in pronunciation When any of the liquids precede these letters, the e is heard distinctly, as woollen, flannel, women, syren; but when any of the other consonants come beière these letters, the e is sometimes heard, as in novel, sudden; and sometimes not, as in swiel, raven, &c. As no other rule can be given for this variety of pronuncia tion, perhaps the best way will be to draw the line between those words where e is pronounced, and those where it is not; and this, by the heip of the Rhyming Dictionary, I am luckily enabled to do. In the first place, then, it may be observed, the e before 1, in a final unaccented syllable, must always De pronounced distinctly, except in the following words: Shekel, weasel, ousel, nousel, (better written muzzle,) navel, ravel, snivel, rivel, drivel, shrivel, shovel, grovel, hazel, drazel, nozel. These words are pro. nounced as if the e were omitted by an apostrophe, as shek'l, weas'l, ons'l, &c. or rather as if written sheckle, weazle, ouzle, &c.; but as these are the only words of this termination that are so pronounced, great care must be taken that we do not pronounce travel, gravel, rebel (the substantive,) parcel, chapel, and vessel, in the same manner; a fault to which many are very prone. 103. E before n in a final unaccented sy ilable, and not preceded by a liquid, must always be sup. pressed in the verbal terminations in en, as to loosen, to hearken, and in other words, except the fol lowing: Sudden, mynchen, kitchen, hyphen, chicken, ticken (better written ticking,) jerken, aspen, platen, palen, marten, latten, patten, learen or leven, stoven, mittens. In these words the e is heard distinctly, con trary to the general rule which suppresses the ei. these syllables, when preceded by a mute, as harden, heathen, heaven, as if written hard'n, heath'n, heav'n, &c.: nay, even when preceded by a liquid in the words fallen and stolen, where the e is suppressed, as if they were written fall'n and stoll'n: gar. den and burden, therefore, are very analogically pronounced gard's and burd'n': and this pronuncia tion ought the rather to be indulged, as we always hear the 2 suppressed in gardener and burdensome, as if written gard'ner, and burd'nsome. See No. 472. 104. This diversity in the pronunciation of these terminations ought the more carefully to be attended to, as nothing is so vulgar and childish as to hear swivel and hearen pronounced with the distinctly, or novel and chicken with the e suppressed. But the most general suppression of this letter is in the preterits of verbs, and in participles ending in ed: here, when the e is not preceded by dort, the e is almost universally sunk (362,) and the two final consonants are pronounced in one syllable: thus loved, lived, barred, marred, are pronounced as if written lovd, lird, bard, mard. The same may be observed of this letter when silent in the singulars of nouns, or the first persons of verbs, as theme, make, &c. which form themes in the plural, and makes in the third person, &c. where the last e is silent, and the words are pronounced in one syllable. When the noun or first person of the verb ends in y, with the accent on it, the e is likewise suppressed, as a reply, two replies, he replies, &c. When words of this form have the accent on the preceding syllables, the e is suppressed and the y pronounced like short i, as cherries, marries, carries, &c. pronounced cherriz, marriz, carriz, &c. In the same manner, carried, married, embodied, &c. are pronounced as if written carrid, marrid, em bodid, &c. (282.) But it must be carefully noted, that there is a remarkable exception to many ot these contractions when we are pronouncing the language of Scripture: here every participial ea ought to make a distinct syllable, where it is not preceded by a vowel: thus, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ?" Here the participles are both pronounced in three syllables; but in the following passage, "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified" called pre serves the e, and is pronounced in two syllables; and justified and glorified suppress the e, and are pronounced in three. 1. .105. This letter is a perfect diphthong, composed of the sounds of a in father, and e in he, pronoun. ced as closely together as possible (37.) When these sounds are openly pronounced, they produce the familiar assent ay: which, by the old English dramatic writers, was often expressed by : hence we may observe, that unless our ancestors pronounced the vowel I like the 9 m oil, the present pro nunciation of the word ay in the House of Commons, in the phrase the Ayes have it, is contrary to ancient as well as to present usage: such a pronunciation of this word is now coarse and rustic. This sound is heard when the letter is lengthened by finale, as time, thine, or ending a syllable with the accent upon it, as ti-tle, di-al; in monosyllables ending with nd, as bind, hud, mind, &c.in three words ending with l, as child, mild, wild; and in one very irregularly ending with at, a pin. (37.) 106. There is one instance where this letter, though succeeded by final e, does not go into the broad English sound like the noun eve, but into the slender foreign sound like e. This is in the word shire, pronounced as if written sheer, both when single, as a knight of the shire; or in composition, as in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, &c. This is the sound Dr. Lowth gives it in his Grammar, page 4 and it is highly probable that the simple shire acquired this slender sound from it tendency to be romne slender in the compounds, where it is at a distance from the accent, and where all the vowels have a natural tendency to become short and obscure. See SHIRE. 107. The short sound of this letter is heard in him, thin, &c. and when ending an unaccented sylla ble, as ran-i tu, qual-i-ty, &c. where, though it cannot be properly said to be short, as it is not closed by a consonant, yet it has but half its diphthongal sound. This sound is the sound of e, the last les ter of the diphthong that forms the long ; and it is not a little surprising that Dr. Johnson should ar that the short was a sound wholly diderent from the long one. (551) 108. When this lett is succeeded by r, and another consonant not in a final syllable it has exact ly the sound of e in vermin, vernal, &c. as virtue, virgin, &c. which approaches to the sound of short u, but when it comes before r, followed by another consonant in a final syllable, it acquires the sound of u exactly, as bird, dirt, shirt, squirt, &c. Mirth, birth, gird, girt, skirt, girl, whirl and irm, are the only exceptions to this rule, where i is pronounced like e, and as if the words were written, merth, berth, and ferm. 109. The letter r, in this case, seems to have the same influence on this vowel, as it evidently has on a and o. When these vowels come before double r, or single r, followed by a vowel, as in arable, carry, marry, orator, horrid, forage, &c. they are considerably shorter than when the r is the final letter of the word, or when it is succeeded by another consonant, as in arbour, car, mar, er, nor, for. In the same manner the i, coming before cither double r, or single r, followed by a vowel, preserves its pure, short sound, as in irritate, spirit, conspiracy, &c.; but when r is not followed by another consonant, or is the final letter of a word with the accent upon it, the i goes into a deeper and broader sound, equivalent to short e, as heard in virgin, virtue, &c. So fir, a tree, is perfectly similar to the first syllable of ferment, though often corruptly pronounced like fur, a skin. Sir and stir are exactly pronounced as if written sur and stur. It seems, says Mr. Nares, that our ancestors distinguished these sounds more correctly. Bishop Gardiner, in his first letter to Cheke, mentions a witticism of Nicholas Rowley, a fellow Cantab with him, to this effect: "Let handsome girls be called virgins, "plain ones vurgins." "Si pulchra est, virgo, sin turpis, vurgo vocetur." Which, says Mr. Elphinston, may be modernized by the aid of a far more celebrated line "Sweet virgin can alone the fair express, "Fine by degrees, and beautifully less: "But let the hoyden, homely, rough-hewn vurgin, Engross the homage of a Major Sturgeon' 110. The sound of i, in this situation, ought to be the more carefully attended to, as letting it fall in to the sound of u, where it should have the sound of e, has a grossness in it approaching to vulgarity Perhaps the only exception to this rule is, when the succeeding vowel is u; for this letter being a semi-consonant, has some influence on the preceding i, though not so much as a perfect consonant would have. This makes Mr. Sheridan's pronunciation of the iin virulent and its compounds, like that in virgin, less exceptionable than I at first thought it; but since we cannot give a semi-sound of short i to correspond to the semi-consonant sound of u, I have preferred the pure sound which I think the most agreeable to polite usage. See Mr. Garrick's Epigram upon the sound of this letter under the word VIRTUE. Irregular and unaccented Sounds. 111. There is an irregular pronunciation of this letter which has greatly multiplied within these few years, and that is, the slender sound heard in ee. This sound is chiefly found in words derived from the French and Italian languages; and we think we show our breeding by a knowledge of those tongues, and an ignorance of our own: "Report of fashions in proud Italy, When Lord Chesterfield wrote his letters to his son, the word oblige was, by many polite speakers pronounced as if written obleege, to give a hint of their knowledge of the French language; nav Pope has rhymed it to this sound: "Dreading ev'n fools, by flatterers besieg'd, But it was so far from having generally obtained, that Lord Chesterfield strictly enjoins his son to avoid this pronunciation as affected. In a few years, however, it became so general, that none but the lowest vulgar ever pronounced it in the English manner; but, upon the publication of this nobleinan's letters, which was about twenty years after he wrote them, his authority has had so much in fluence with the polite world as to bid fair for restoring the i, in this word, to its orignal rights; and we not unfrequently hear it now pronounced with the broad English i, in those rcies where, a few years ago, it would have been an infallible mark of vulgarity. Mr. Sheridan, W. Johnston, and Mr. Barclay, give ooth sounds, but place the sound of oblige first. Mr. Scott gives both, but places obleege first. Dr. Kenrick and Buchanan give only oblige; and Mr. Elphinston, Mr. Perry, and Fenning, give only bleege; but though this sound has lost ground so much, yet Mr. Nares, who wrote about eighteen years ago, says, "obige still, I think, retains the sound of long e, notwithstanding the pro"scription of that pronunciation by the late Lord Chesterfield." 12. The words that have preserved the foreign sound of i, like ee, are the following: Ambergris, raegris, antique, berafico, bombasin, brazil, capivi, capuchin, colbertine, chicppine, or chopin, caprice, cha grin, chevaux-de-frise, critique, (tor criticism,) festucine, frize, gabardine, haberdine, sordine, rugine, trephine, quarantine, routine, fascine, fatigue, intrigue, glocis, invalid, machine, magazine, marine, palanquin, rique police, profile, recitative, man-da-rine, tabourine, tambourine, tontine, transmarine, ultramarine. In all these words, if for the last we subst tute ee, we shall have the true pronunciation. In signior the first i is thus pronounced. Mr. Sheridan pronounces vertigo and serpigo with the accent on the second sylla. ble, and the i long as in tie aud pie. Dr. Kenrick gives these words the same accent, but sounds the i as e in tea and pea. The latter is, in my opinion, the general pronunciation; though Mr Sheridan's supported by a very general rule, which is that all words adopted whole from the Latin preserve the Latin accent. (503, b.) But if the English ear were unbiassed by the long i in Latin, which fixe. the accent on the second syllable, and could free itself from the slavish imitation of the French and Italians, there is little doubt but these words would have the accent on the first syllable, and that the would be pronounced regularly like the short e, as in Indigo and Portico. See VERTIGO. 113. There is a remarkable alteration in the sound of this vowel, in certain situations, where it changes to a sound equivalent to initial y. The situation that occasions this change is, when the f precedes another vowel in an unaccented syllable, and is not preceded by any of the dentals thus we hear iary in mil-iary, bil-iary, &c. pronounced as if written mil-yary, "bil-yary, &c. Min-ion and pin-ion as if written min-yon and pin-yon In these words the i is so totally altered to y, that proBouncing the ia and io in separate syllables would be an error the most palpable; but where the other iquids or mutes precede the i in this situation, the coalition is not so necessary for though the two latter syllables of convivial, participiul, &c. are extremely prone to unite into one, they may, however he separated, provided the separation be not too distant The same observations hold good of e, as malleable, pronounced mal-ya-ble. 114. But the sound of the i, the most difficult to reduce to rule, is when it ends a syllable immedi ately before the accent. When either the primary or secondary accent is on this letter, it is invaria. bly pronounced either as the long i in title, the short i in tittle, or the French i in magazine; and when it ends a syllable after the accent, it is always sounded like e, as sen-si-ble, ra-ti-Ty, &c. But when it ends a syllable, immediately before the accent, it is sometimes pronounced 102g, as in vi-ta-li-ty, where the first syllable is exactly like the first of ri al; and sometimes short, as in di-gest, where the i is pronounced as if the word were written de-gest. The sound of the i, in this situation, is so little reducible to rule, that none of our writers on the subject have attempted it; and the only method to give some idea of it, seems to be the very laborious one of classing such words together as have the i pronounced in the same manner, and observing the different combinations of other letters that may possibly be the cause of the different sounds of this. 115. In the first place, where the i is the only letter in the first syllable, and the accent is on the second, beginning with a consonant, the vowel has its long diphthongal sound, as in idea, identity, idolatry, idoneous, irascible, ironical, isosceles, itinerant, itinerary. Imagine and its compounds seem the only exceptions. But to give the inspector some idea of general usage, I have subjoined examp of these words as they stand in our different Pronouncing Dictionaries: idea Sheridan, Scott, Buchanan, W. Johnston, Kenrick. idea. Perry. identity. Sheridan, Scott, Buchanan, W. Johnston, Kenrick. Trascible. Perry. isosceles. Sheridan, Scott, Perry. linerary. Sheridan, Scott, W. Johnston, Kenrick. Minerary. Perry. Winerant. Sheridan, Scott, W. Johnston, Nares. Itinerant. Buchanan, Perry. 116. When i ends the first syllable, and the accent is on the second, commencing with a vowel, n generally preserves its long open diphthongal sound. Thus in di-ameter, di-urnal, &c. the first syllable is equivalent to the verb to die. A corrupt, foreign manner of pronouncing these words, may sometimes mince the i into e, as if the words were written de-ameter, de-urnal, &c.; but this is disgusting to every just English ear, and contrary to the whole current of analogy. Besides, the vowel that ends and the vowel that begins a syllable are, by pronouncing the i long, kept more distinct, and not suffered to coalesce, as they are apt to do if has its slender sound. This proneness of the e, which is exactly the slender sound of i, to coalesce with the succeeding vowel, has produced such monsters in pronunciation as joggraphy and jommetry, for geography and geometry, and jorgics for georgies. The latter of these words is fixed in this absurd pronunciation without remedy; but the two former seem recovering their right to four syllables; though Mr. Sheridan has endeavoured to deprive them of it, by spelling then with three. Hence we may observe, that those who wish to pronounce correctly, and according to analogy, ought to pronounce the first syllable of biography, as the verb to buy, and not as if written be-ography. 117. When i ends an initial syllable without the accent, and the succeeding syllable begins with a consonant, the i is generally slender, as if written e. But the exceptions of this rule are so numerous, that nothing but a catalogue will give a tolerable idea of the state of pronunciation in this point. 118. When the prepositive bi, derived from bis (twice,) ends a syllable immediately before the acrent, the i is long and broad, in order to convey more precisely the specific meaning of the syllable. Thus bi-capsular, bi-cipital, bi-cipitous, bi-cornous, bi-corporal, bi-dental, bi-furious, bi-furcated, bi-linguous, bi-nocular, bi-pennated, bi-petalous, bi-quadrate, have the i long. But the first syllable of the words Bitumen and Bituminous having no such signification, ought to be pronounced with the i short. This is the sound Buchanan has given it; but Sheridan, Kenrick, and W. Johnston, make the 2 long, as in Bible. 119. The same may be observed of words beginning with tri, having the accent on the second syllable. Thus tri-bunal, tri-corporal, tri-chotomy, tri-gintals, have the i ending the first svllable long, as in tri-al. To this class ought to be added, di-petalous a:vi di-lemina, though the i in the first syllable of the last word is pronounced like e, and as if written de-lemma, by Mr. Scott and Mr. Perry, but long by Mr. Sheridan, Dr. Kenrick, and Buchanan; and both ways by W. Johnston, but placing the short first. And hence we may conclude, that the verb to b-sect, and the noun bi section, ought to have the i at the end of the first syllable pronounced like buy, as Mr. Scott and Dr Kenrick have marked it, though otherwise marked by Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Perry, and Buchanan. 120. When the first syllable is chi, with the accent on the second, the i is generally long, as chiragrical, chi-rurgic, chi-rurgeon, chi-rographist, chi-rographer, chi-rography. Chi-mera and chi-merical have the i most frequently short, as pronounced by Buchanan and Perry, though otherwise marked by Sheridan, Scott, W. Johnston, and Kenrick; and, indeed, the short sound seeins now established. Chicane and chicanery, from the French, have the i always short; or more properly slender. 121. Ci before the accent has the i generally short, as civilian, ci-vility, and, think, ci-licious and inerulent, though otherwise marked by Mr. Sheridan. Ci-barious and ci-tation have the i long. D |