whole. Speakers with these imperfections, pass very well in common conversation; but when they are required to pronounce with emphasis, and for that purpose to be more distinct and definite in their utterance, here their ear fails them: they have been accustomed only to loose, cursory speaking, and for want of firmness of pronunciation, are like those painters who draw the muscular exertions of the human body without any knowledge of anatomy. This is one reason, perhaps, why we find the elocution of so few people agreeable when they read or speak to an assembly, while so few offend us by their utterance in common conversation. A thousand faults lie concealed in a miniature, which a microscope brings to view; and it is only by pronouncing on a larger scale, as public speaking may be called, that we prove the propriety of our elocution."-WALKer.

11.ALLOWABLE FLUCTUATION IN THE SOUND OF SOME UNACCENTED VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS.

(a) A, final in a syllable without accent, receives a sound between that of a as heard in ah, and that of u in fur. Ex. a-bound, tra-duce, di-a-dem, ide-a.

(b) A, followed by a consonant in a syllable without accent, receives a sound which wavers between that in at and that in ut. In colloquial pronunciation it will tend towards the latter sound; in deliberate reading or speaking, it will decline less from the former. Ex. combat, nobleman.

(c) O, followed by a consonant in a final syllable without accent, acquires the sound of short, or shut u, as heard in tub; and if not in a final syllable, it approaches that sound.

In a final syllable, o is sounded decidedly as u: thus mammock, cassock, method, pistol, custom, author, carrot, &c. are pronounced mammuck, cassuck, methud, &c.

The same sound is adopted in the numerous class of words ending in on, sion, and tion; as tendon, bludgeon, syphon, million, champion, centurion, occasion, nation, &c.

The case is the same in unaccented monosyllables:thus, The sense of (uv) words is learned from (frum) use.'

(d) O, not in a final syllable, approaches the sound of short u: command, conjecture, recollect, recommend. Consult Walker's Dictionary on these words.

(e) The sound of u which comes after l, j, s, t, and d, circumstanced as in lute, sluice, juice, censure, leisure, nature, verdure, wavers between the sound of u as heard in rude and that in cube *.

(f) The words the, to, your, for, my, vary in their sound according to their situation.

When the precedes a word beginning with a vowel, the e is sounded plainly and distinctly; but when it precedes a consonant, it has a short sound, little more than the sound of th without the e. This difference will be perceptible by comparing the oil, the air, &c. with the pen, the hand, &c. It is obvious in the following couplet :

"Some, foreign writers, some our own despise ;
The ancients only, or the moderns prize."

* See Smart's Theory,' &c. p. 37.

Q

To, likewise, is pronounced long before a vowel, and short before a consonant. This distinction will be evident, by the following examples: to ask, to end, to open, to utter, to begin. "One man went to Eton; another went to London."

Your and for, when unaccented, have their vowels shortened into a sound like that heard in fur: "Give me your (yur) hand; I wish for (fur) help *.

"

When my is not accented, the y is pronounced as the y in ably, lady.

12. FAULTY PRONUNCIATION OF UNACCENTED

VOWELS.

E, i, o, in unaccented syllables, are erroneously sounded like short u; and u like e.

I. In unaccented commencing syllables,

e final in the syllable, is improperly sounded like short u:

event, uv-vent; especial, us-special; before, büf-fore; believe, bul-lieve; beneath, bun-neath; peruse, pur-ruse; repent, rup-pent, &c.

i final in the syllable +, is improperly sounded like üh:

* Another intermediate sound, namely, between the a in fate and u in fur, is sometimes given to the i in virtue, virgin, &c. ; but it is here omitted, on account of its not being very generally adopted.]

† When i ends a syllable immediately before the accent, it is sometimes pronounced long, as in vi-tality, where the first syllable is sounded exactly like the first of vial; and sometimes short, as in digest, where the i is pronounced as if the word were written de-gest. Consult Walker's 'Principles,' No. 115 to No. 138; also Smart's 'Practical Grammar,' pp. 113, 134.

bisect, buh-sect; direct, düh-rect; digest, düh-gest; minute, muh-nute, &c.

o final in the syllable, is improperly sounded like u * : obey, ub-bey; oblige, ub-blige; opinion, up-pinion; society, sus-siety, &c.

II. In unaccented middle syllables,

ible is improperly sounded like ubble: visible, vis-ubble, &c.

il

isy

ity

ul: family, fam-ully, &c.

ussy: hypocrisy, hypoc-russy, &c.

utty: charity, char-utty, &c.

un: agony, agun-ny, &c.

e: particular, partic-e-lar, &c.

regular, reg-e-lar, &c.

monument, mon-e-ment.

augury, aug-e-ry.

III. In unaccented final syllables,

ed is improperly changed into ud: committed, committed, &c.

el

emn

ence

ent

es t

ess

eth

ip

it

ite

ow

ul: gospel, gospul, &c.

umn: solemn, solumn, &c.

unce: patience, patiunce, &c.
unt: silent, silunt, &c.

uz: wishes, wishuz, &c.

uss: goodness, goodnuss, &c.
uth: sinneth, sinnuth, &c.
up: worship, worshup, &c.

ut: spirit, spirut, &c.

ut: infinite, infinut, &c.

ur: window, windur, &c.

The termination ful is sometimes incorrectly pro

* The fluctuating sound of the o, noticed in p. 225, takes place when o is followed by a consonant in the syllable.

E is properly sounded as u in final unaccented syllables before r: as in writer, reader, pronounced as if written writur, readur; but in commencing unaccented syllables, as in erroneous, eruption, &c., e retains the sound it has in met and me.

nounced with the short sound of the u; thus beautiful, dutiful, &c. instead of beautifull, dutifull.

13.

SUPPRESSING UNACCENTED VOWELS WHERE THEY SHOULD BE SOUNDED, AND SOUNDING THEM WHERE THEY SHOULD BE SUPPRESSED.

The termination ED in the past tense and participle.

Most clergymen think that the verbal and participial ed should be distinctly sounded in reading the ChurchService. This practice is supposed to help to form a dignified distinction between the language of divine worship and that of ordinary conversation.

The exception, according to Walker, is when the ed is preceded by a vowel: thus he recommends that the e should be suppressed in justified, glorified, &c. This exception is admitted for the evident purpose of preventing the difficulty of utterance, occasioned by the hiatus of the vowels. For this reason the exception should extend to words ending with y or w, when those letters are sounded as vowels: as in obeyed, strayed, owed, bestowed, &c. The elision of the e in words having these and similar terminations, is uniformly adopted by Poets; who, though very uncertain guides with respect to the position of accent, must be admitted to be good judges of what sounds are to be regarded as smooth and harmonious. It must however be noticed, that if the accent does not immediately precede the w, that letter seems to acquire the power of a consonant: thus in the word 'hallowed,' in the Lord's Prayer, the general ear seems to

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