Neither do the

shtsha or shtsho; never say zhdzha or zhdzho. Italians, whose sibilant system is very like our own. The Slavonic population, on the other hand, do; and make no difficulty of such sounds as shtshe, or shtshetsh. This practice of using their compound sibilants in complex combinations, makes the Slavonic sound-system look much more unlike the English than it really is.

CHAPTER II.

POWERS OF CERTAIN LETTERS AND COMBINATIONS.

§ 283. Single Vowels and Vowels followed by a Consonant and e Mute.-(1.) A has six sounds,-1, that of the a in fate; 2, that of the a in fat; 3, the a in father; and 4, the aw in bawl; 5, the o in not; 6, the e in bed. The fourth and fifth are sounds of o.

The sound of the a in fate is the long, that of the a in fat the short, sound of a. They are the two most usual powers of the letter. The sixth power is exceptional, and is only found in the words Thames, many, and any; pronounced Temz, menni, enni.

When a precedes a single consonant followed by a mute e, it is always sounded as in fate. Except in the word have, which is pronounced havv.

The following words are also considered exceptions, though it is doubtful whether they are really so:—

Are—which is generally pronounced arr. Are, however, with the a as in fate, is equally correct.

Bade-the preterit tense of bid, generally pronounced badd. Bade, however, with the a as in fate, is used by good speakers.

Gape-This is sometimes pronounced with the a sounded as in father. It is a pronunciation for which no good reason can be given. It is, perhaps, commoner on the stage than elsewhere.

A is sounded as in father, when it precedes lm, as in psalm, calm. Also in the word master. Also in certain words ending in lf, or lve-as calf, half, calve, salve.

When followed by th (as in thin), ns, nce, nt, nd, st, sk, sp, it is sometimes pronounced as in father, sometimes as in fat.

In words like bath, path-dance, glance, lance, France, prance -answer-grant, slant-slander-last, vast-basket—hasp,

it may safely be said that, in the last century, the habit of pronouncing the a as in father, and that in a decided manner, was general. With equal safety it may be added, that the present tendency is to sound the a as in fat. Hence the pronunciation is in a transitional state; and, perhaps, the sound now given to the a is of an intermediate character-not so broad as in father, nor yet so slender as in man.

In words derived from the Latin mando, where the and is final, the sound is always broad-as command, remand, demand.

Extract from Walker." There are certain words from the Italian, and Spanish languages-such as lumbago, bravado, tornado, farrago, &c., which are sometimes heard with this sound of a; but, except in bravo, heard chiefly at the theatres, the English sound of a is preferable in all these words." See remarks on i.

A, when long and followed by ll, in an accented syllable, is pronounced as the aw in bawl. It is also so sounded when followed by a single 7 succeeded by any consonant but p, b, ƒ, or v; as salt, bald, false, falcon.

Exceptions.-Words derived from the Arabic language, and beginning with al, as alchemist, alcoran, &c.

Exceptions.-Most words derived from the classical languages-as calculate.

Caution. It is only in accented syllables that the al = aw. Hence, in words like alternate the a is sounded as in fat, although álter is pronounced a'wlter. So it is in bals'amic; although balsam is sounded ba'wlsom, or ba'wsom.

Caution. In words like do'wnfall, although the all be unaccented, it is still pronounced broad. The reason of this is, that the monosyllable fall preserves its sound even when, by composition, it loses its accent. So likewise it is with also and almost. Whether we sound them álso and állmost, or alsó and allmost, the sound of a is the same (i. e. of aw).

Sometimes the 7 is omitted as well. Thus, falcon is pronounced fawcon and fawlcon.

Caution. In words like alley, valley, the a is short. Hence they are excluded from the rule under consideration.

A is sounded as aw in the word water (wawter).

A when short and preceded by w is pronounced as the o in

not, except when followed by the sounds of k, g, or ng. Thus, wan, want, was, what, &c., but not wax (waks), wag, twang. This is the case even when I follows; since we pronounce wallow and swallow, as wollo and swollo, rather than as wawlo and swawlo.

Observe. As q is always followed by u, and as qu= kw, the rule for pronouncing words like quantity and quality is contained in the preceding one. These are sounded, kwontity, kwollity.

(2.) E has four sounds-1, that of the e in bed; 2, that of the e in glebe; 3, that of the a in fat; 4, that of the i in pin. The second is really the long sound of the i in pin. The last two are exceptional.

E is never mute at the end of words derived from the Greek and Latin-as epitome, catastrophe, apostrophe, simile.

When e precedes a single consonant, followed by an e mute, it has the sound of the ee in feet. Except in the words where, there, and ere

before.

Were, therefore.-Walker directs that the word were, as well as the there in therefore, should be sounded as werr and therr. It is doubtful whether this is called for in the present state of our language.

The exceptional sounds of e are those of the a in fat, and of the i in pin. It has the former of these in clerk and sergeant; the latter in England and pretty, pronounced clark, sargeant, Ingland, pritty.

Whether Derby be sounded as it is spelt, or as Darby, the oftener, is uncertain. The tendencies are towards the former pronunciation.

Whether engine be sounded as it is spelt, or as ingine, the oftener, is also uncertain. The tendencies are towards the latter pronunciation.

In the plural termination spelt es, the real sound is izprais-es, praiz-iz. With e before a final unaccented / or n, the vowel sound is often scarcely perceptible at all; words like weazel and harden being sounded weaz'l, hard'n.

(3.) I has three sounds-1, that of the i in pin; 2, that of the i in pine; 3, that of the ee in feet. Of these the second is no true prolongation of the first, but a diphthong. The third

is found only in words derived from the modern foreign languages.

When i precedes a single consonant followed by e mute, it has the sound of the i in fine, or the diphthongal sound; except in certain words derived from the modern foreign languages.

Shire. In the last century the word was pronounced sheer by the best speakers. At present this usage is equivocal. Perhaps the best rule is to sound the i as in pine, when the syllable is accented, or out of composition, and as the i in fir when unaccented-Knight of the shire; Yorksherr.

Extract from Walker.-"The words that have preserved the foreign sound of i like ee, are the following:-ambergris, verdegris, antique, becafico, bombasin, Brasil, capuchin, colbertine, caprice, chagrin, chevaux-de-frise, critique (for criticism), gabardine, haberdine, sardine, trephine, quarantine, routine, fascine, fatigue, intrigue, glacis, invalid, machine, magazine, marine, palanquin, pique, police, profile, recitative, mandarine, tambourine, tontine, transmarine, ultramarine. In all these words, if, for the last i, we substitute 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 syllable, and the i long, as in tie and 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." Now as vertigo and serpigo, according to the English pronunciation of the Latin language, would not be pronounced verteego and serpeego, even in reading a classic author, it is not reasonable that they should so be pronounced in English. Indeed, it is only in words derived from the modern tongues that i should ever be sounded as ee. To pronounce initial as if written inéetial, is to speak as if we mistook a word of Latin for one of French origin. The same reasoning applies to words where a has its foreign power.

When i is in an unaccented syllable followed by a consonant, it is difficult to determine whether it has the sound of i in pine, or that of i in pin. Thus, a word like fidelity may be either fi-delity or fid-elity. In the following cases it is always diphthongal: