i, long, as in pine; and y, as in by. - Smile, mile, vine, child, fly, height, might, type, isle, buy, defy, satiety, guide, guile, sky, kind, blight, flight, ally, apply, tiny, sinecure. i, short, as in pin; and y, as in myth.-Din, ring, prince, quince, whip, skip, lyric, city, servile, agile, busy, business, sieve, sift, cygnet, cynic, cylinder, wring, bring, Italian, tribune. o, long, as in note. Home, dome, glory, vocal, more, gore, only, both, oath, loathe, explode, historian, poet, foe, dough, glow, soldier, yeoman, beau, bureau, coeval, encroach, note, votive, devotion. O,' short, as in not. - Mob, rob, sob, was, wash, wand, dot, got, watch, wasp, bond, fond, from, prompt, prospect, fossil, foster, docile. O, long and close, as in môve; and u, as in rule. Prove, mood, lose, rule, true, ruin, druid, moon, root, swoon, remove, disapprove, smooth, rude, rural, fruitless, truant, prudent, brutal. u, long, as in tūbe; and ew, as in new.-Tune, fuse, cure, lure, duty, curate, few, pew, Tuesday, cubic, music, pursuit, resume, during, endure, luminary, beautiful, revolution, involution. u, short, as in tub; and o, as in son. - Just, must, tun, fun, hug, rug, such, clutch, dove, does, rough, son, ton, one, some, tongue, nothing, come, husky. u, middle, as in fûll. — Bush, push, could, would, should, good, hood, wolf, pulpit, butcher, cushion, cuckoo, wool, woollen, puss, foot, pulley, book. u, short and obtuse, as in für; e, as in her; i, as in fir; and y, as in myrrh. - Burn, murmur, further, herd, fern, person, merge, mercy, sir, bird, virtue, dirk, dirt, mirth, myrrh, myrtle, syrtis. Oi, as in voice; and oy, as in boy.- Boil, coil, coy, böğ. toy, void, coin, joint, joist, poise, noise, employ, rejoice, avoid, appoint, embroil, foible, oyster. ou, as in sound; and ow, as in now. - Pound, proud, brown, vow, endow, noun, town, doubt, devout, plough, trout, ground, shout, vowel, thou, around. 1 The sound of a marked thus [a], is that of long a qualified by being followed by the letter r. Some orthoepists regard it as short e prolonged. The common pronunciation, in some parts of the United States, of this class of words is, to give the vowel before r the sound of short a, prolonged, but this pronunciation is not sanctioned by the dictionaries. 2 This sound is an intermediate one between that of a in fat and a in far. It is found in a class of words, mostly monosyllables, ending in aff, aft, ass, ast, ask, asp, with a few in ance and ant. Among different speakers the quality of this sound ranges through every practical shade, from a in fat to a in far. There is a class of words ending in f,ft, ss, st, and th, in which o is marked, in most pronouncing dictionaries, with the short sound, though some orthoepists give it the sound of a broad in fall; as, off, often, offer, coffee. scoff, aloft, soft, cross, loss, toss, cost, frost, lost, broth, cloth, cough, trough, &c. To these may be added gone and begone, and also some words ending in ng ; as, long, along, prong, song, strong, thong, wrong. A medium between short o and broad a is, perhaps, the practice of the best speakers. VOWEL SOUNDS IN UNACCENTED SYLLABLES. Vowels marked with a dot underneath, thus (a, ẹ, i, o, u, y), are found so marked only in syllables which are not accented, and which are slightly or hastily articulated. This mark indicates a slight stress of voice in uttering the appropriate sound of the vowel, rather than to note any particular quality of sound. In a majority of cases this mark may be regarded as indicating an indistinct short sound, as in mental, travel, peril, idol, forum, carry : — friar, speaker, nadir, actor, sulphur. In many cases, however, it indicates a slight or unaccented long sound; as in sulphate, emerge, obey, duplicity, educate. The difference between the long, and obscure long sound, may be readily distinguished. In the word fate, the a is long; in the word fatality, the first a is obscure long. The case is similar with the o in the words note and notorious. In the word deliberate, when a verb, as, "I will deliberate," the a is long; when an adjective, as, "A deliberate act," it is obscure long. The common errors in the pronunciation of words of this class are, either a complete suppression of the vowel sound, or the substitution of a sound of some other vowel. This suppression or perversion of sound is much increased by the hurried manner in which many persons are accustomed to speak or read. Thus we hear reb'l for rebel; pashunt for patient; p'rcede for precede; ev'ry for every; cuncern for concern; momunt for moment, edecate for educate; advăcate for advocate; windur for window; pop'lar or popelar for popular; awfle for awful, &c. S., general is this fault, that the ear becomes accustomed to the mproper sounds from infancy; hence arises the difficulty in remedying the defect, for the habit of indistinct utterance is thus early acquired and firmly established. In pronouncing words containing unaccented syllables, care should be taken to avoid a formal and fastidious prominence of sound. The two extremes which ought to be equally avoided, are, carelessness on the one hand, and extreme precision on the other, as if the sounds of the letters were constantly uppermost in the mind. a, obscure, as in mental. - Musical,' comical, critical, numerical, fatal, principal, original, criminal. Special, beneficial, artificial, commercial, initial, credential, reverential, essential, impartial. Ascendant, defendant, defiance, reliance, variance, countenance, performance. 3 Peaceable, agreeable, sociable, amiable, detestable, abominable, respectable, tolerable, valuable. a, obscure long, as in sulphate. - Abandon, abed, ability, about, abolish, afloat, again, alarm, amaze, apart, arise, away, canal, caress, catarrh, cathedral, separate, carbonate, apostasy. 6 e, obscure, as in travel.- Travel, chapel, gravel, counsel, moment, confidence, dependent, impudent, silence, anthem, eminent, settlement. Goodness,' boundless, sameness, plainness, laziness, bashfulness, bitterness, manliness, steadiness. e, obscure long, as in emerge. - Belief, believe, benevolent, before, behold, delight, delineate, deliver, deny, denounce, prepare, precede. i, obscure, as in ruin. - Invincible, forcible, audible, illegible, feasible, sentinel, possibly. o, obscure, as in idol. Collect,10 command, commence, commission, committee, compose, comply, concern, convert, consult, convulse. 12 o, obscure long, as in obey.—Domain," colossal, corroborate, history, rhetoric, memorable, memory, composition," compromise, melody, advocate. Potato," tobacco, motto, fellow, window, meadow, willow, billow, follow, to-morrow, sorrow. u, obscure, as in sulphur.-Awful," fearful, playful, dutiful, graceful, fearfully, beautifully. - 16 u, obscure long, as in educate. Articulate, acourate, masculine, regular, particular, emulate. Pleasure, exposure, erasure, nature, feature, pres sure, leisure, imposture. y, obscure, as in truly. Envy, lady, safety, marrying, carrying. 1 Not music'l. 2 Not ascendunt. 8 Not peaçuble, or peac❜ble. 5 Not trav❜l. 6 Not momunt. 8 Not b'lief. 9 Not invincible. 10 Not cullect. 11 Not dumain. 12 Not corrðb’rate. 16 Not artic❜late. EXERCISES ON THE CONSONANT SOUNDS. In pronouncing the words in the following exercises, force and clearness of sound should be given to the consonant elements. The letters to which attention is more particularly directed are printed in Italics. b, as in babe. - Bad, bag, bat, beet, bear, bought, beast, stab, ebb, tube, globe, inhabit, babble, babbler, bound, beastly, bind, binder, begin, began, beggar. ch, as in church. Chair, chat, charm, check, churn, chirp, hatch, march, switch, scorch, satchel, touching. d, as in did.- Deed, debt, mad, modest, would, should, deduce, added, wedded, dated, side, sided, deduced. f, as in fife. Fame, feud, fanciful, proffer, crafty, enough, rough, cough, trough, laugh, laughter, fatal, fireman, ferry, futile, physic, phantom. - g, as in gag.-Game, gag, plague, vague, ghost, guard, gone, jug, egg, guilt, gewgaw, guinea, give. h, as in hold. Hay, hate, high, huge, hot-house, human, who, behest, hap-hazard,' upholder, offhand, childhood, nuthook, withhold, ink-horn, gig-horse, racehorse, perhaps, unhinge, unhappy. j, as in joy. —Jam, jar, jilt, gesture, genius, gentle, giant, gibbet, gypsy, edge, ledge, judge, judgment, justice, jury, June, July. k, as in kirk. Car, coil, seek, music, talk, vaccinate, flaccid, chasm, echo, choir, chorus, coquette, etiquette, epoch, architect, cucumber, conquest. 1, as in lull.—Bell, lurk, isle, pale, lark, loll, lively, lovely, hail, tall, sweetly, holy, awfully. m, as in maim.-Man, morn, mound, mammon, moment, blame, hymn, dome, memory, memento. n, as in nun. Nine, linen, nay, gnat, can, keen, noun, condign, gnaw, kneel, banner, kitchen, hyphen. ng, as in song. —King, ring, flinging, singing, anger, congress, nothing, prolong, drink, plank, monk, lynx, tinker, distinct, rankle, monkey, conquer, anchor. P, as in pipe. - Peer, pin, pool, happy, pippin, puppet, rapid, tropic, pupil, piper, creep, grope, stop, steep. r,2 (trilled,) initial, or before a vowel, as in rap. 2 Ray, rough, raw, rend, rebel, Roman, rot, rest, room, ride, rise, rural, around, enrich. r, (untrilled,) final, or before a consonant, as in nor.— Far, our, ear, eternal, murmur, former, torpor, servant, border, adore, appear, murmuring, forbear. B, as in seal. Sin, sign, suit, dose, sinless, science, transcend, psalm, scene, schism, beside, poesy, heresy. sh, as in shine.- Shade, shine, gash, rash, sash, associate, mansion, enunciation, expansion, ocean, action, caution, nation, notion, station, promotion, chevalier, champaign. |