SECTION V.

SPECIAL RULES IN ARTICULATION.

NOTE. The most common defects in pronunciation consist principally of such errors as are specified in the following rules. They are often heard in familiar conversation, and, unless early corrected, will soon become a fixed habit both in reading and in speaking. It is, therefore, very important that teachers should keep these rules before their pupils, by a frequent reference to them, and by a daily exercise upon such examples as are here given.

RULE 1. Avoid suppressing letters in pronunciation; as, groun for ground; feas for feasts; pr-vent' for pre-vent'; lev'l for level; sud'n for sud'den, &c.

PRONOUNCE THE FOLLOWING. Land, stands, band'box; text, slept, guests; pre-vail', pro-voke'; fa'tal, chap'el, cav'il; sul'len, mit'ten, cab'in.

RULE 2. Avoid substituting the sound of one letter for that of another; as, ed'e-cate for ed'ucate; larg'ist for largest; a-gin' for a-gain'; pus-i”tion for po-si'tion, &c.

PRONOUNCE THE FOLLOWING. · ·Pop'u-lar, mod'est-y, cap'i-tal, prin'ci-pal, or'tho-dox, com'pro-mise, stim'u-late, sys'tem, yes'ter-day, ag'o-ny.

RULE 3. Avoid suppressing syllables in pronunciation; as, sev'ral for sev'er-al; 'fore for be-fore'; b'lief for be-lief; test'ment for test'a-ment, &c.

PRONOUNCE THE FOLLOWING. Trav'el-er, tel'e-scope, ven'ti-late, des'o-late, li'bra-ry, fam'i-ly, em'per-or, his'to-ry, a-rith'me-tic, sal'a-ry, ge-og'ra-phy, mem'o-ry, mis'er-y, i'vo-ry.

RULE 4. Avoid pronouncing ow like er; as, yel'ler for yellow; holler for hollow; swal'ler for swallow, &c.

PRONOUNCE THE FOLLOWING.

Nar'row, fellow, pil'

low, mel'low, bellow, sorrow, to-morrow, borrow, shadow, shal'low, tal'low, bil'low, wal'low.

RULE 5. Avoid pronouncing ing like in; as, writ'in for writing; read'in for read'ing; stop'pin for stop'ping, &c.

PRONOUNCE THE FOLLOWING.

Rail'ing, add'ing, pad'

ding, walk'ing, wad'ding, fall'ing, lin'ing, still'ing, will'ing, feel'ing, yell'ing, tell'ing, sterling, boast'ing, toss'ing, shoe'ing, rul'ing, pulling, whal'ing.

RULE 6. Avoid pronouncing ess like iss; as, fruit'liss for fruit'less; host'iss for host'ess; seam'striss for seam'stress; rude'niss for rude'ness, &c. PRONOUNCE THE FOLLOWING. Sail'less, care'less, bad'ness, match'less, leaf'less, clear'ness, vile'ness, wit'ness, for'tress, fond'ness, em'press, guilt'less, firm'ness.

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RULE 7. Avoid pronouncing a and e in the last syllable of the following classes of words like u; as, fra grunce for fra'grance; si'lunt for si'lent; ver'dunt for verdant, &c.

PRONOUNCE THE FOLLOWING.

Base'ment, peas'ant, pru'dent, va'grant, in'stant, rem'nant, en'trance, ser'pent, tan'gent, fer'vent, la'tent, de'cent, six'pence, ca'dence, sen'tence, pig'ment, tor'ment, rem'nant, sub'stance.

RULE 8. Avoid an imperfect utterance of the sub-vocals and aspirates in a succession of similar

sounds, and the blending of the sound of the last letter of one word with the word following; as, Mile days, for Mild days; Wile dea'gles, for Wild ea'gles; The pure rin art, for The pure in heart.

READ THE FOLLOWING. He sailed across the wide ocean. Clouds and darkness are round about him. And all that

in them is. The lake is dark and still.

world is passing away.

The fashion of this

QUESTIONS.-What is the design of these special rules in articulation? What is the first? Give the examples. Pronounce the words under it. What is the second rule, &c.?

EXERCISE.

APPLICATION OF THE SPECIAL RULES IN ARTICULATION.

[In making a practical application of these rules, the teacher may give the erroneous pronunciation, and then require the learner to correct it, and also to point out the error, and repeat the rule which is violated. Some of the letters and syllables, most liable to be suppressed or mispronounced, are printed in italics in the following piece; and the words of the exercise in erroneous pronunciation, here introduced, may also be found in the reading lesson.]

ERRORS IN PRONUNCIATION. Do not say an for and, [see Rule 1 ;] kitch'in for kitch'en, [see Rule 2;] li'bry for li'bra-ry, [see Rule 3 ;} fol ler for follow, [see Rule 4;] morn'in for morn'ing, [see Rule 5 ;] bus'i-niss for bus'i-ness, [see Rule 6;] mo'munts for mo'ments, [see Rule 7 ;] An di can for And I can, [see Rule 8.]

SPARE MOMENTS.

1. A lean, awkward boy came one morning to the door of the principal of a celebrated school, and asked to see him. The servant eyed his poor clothes, and, thinking he looked more like a beggar than any thing else, told him to go around to the kitchen.

2. The boy did as he was directed, and soon

appeared at the back door. "I should like to see Mr. Brown," said he.

3. "You want a breakfast, more likely," said the servant; "and I can give you that without troubling him."

4. "Thank you," said the boy; "I have no objections to a bit of bread; but I should like to see Mr. Brown, if he can see me.".

5. "Perhaps you want some old clothes," said the servant, again eying the boy's patched trowsers. “I guess he has none to spare; for he gives away a great many;" and, without at all minding the boy's request, she went about her work.

6. “Can I see Mr. Brown?" again asked the boy, after eating his bread and butter.

7. "Well, he's in the library; if he must be interrupted, he must, I suppose; but he does like to be alone sometimes," said the girl, in a peevish tone.

8. She seemed to think it very foolish to admit a boy so poorly clad into her master's presence. However, she wiped her hands, and bade him follow her.

9. Opening the library door, she said, "Here's somebody, sir, who is very anxious to see you."

10. I do not know how the boy introduced himself, or how he made his business known; but I know that, after talking a while, the principal put aside the volume which he was studying, and took up some Greek books, and began to examine the new comer.

11. The examination lasted some time. Every question which the principal asked, the boy readily answered. “Indeed!” exclaimed the principal, “ you certainly do well;" at the same time looking at the boy from head to foot, over his spectacles. "Why, my boy, where did you pick up so much?"

12. "In my spare moments," answered the boy. 13. Here he was, a poor boy, having but few oppor tunities for schooling, and yet almost fitted for college, by simply improving his spare moments.

14. Truly, are not spare moments the "gold-dust of time"? How precious they should be! And yet how foolishly we are apt to spend them! What account can you give of your spare moments? What can you show for them? Look and see.

15. This boy could tell you how much, how very much, can be laid up by wisely improving them; but there are many boys, I am afraid, in the jail, or in the gambling-house, who, if you could ask them when they began their wicked practices, might answer, "In my spare moments!" O, be very careful how you spend your "spare moments."

QUESTIONS. How may an application of the special rules in articulation be made? Where are the words of the exercise in erroneous pronunciation found? What is the error in pronunciation when you say an for and? Repeat the rule that is violated. What is the error when you say kitch'in for kitch'en? &c. What instruction may be derived from this reading lesson?

CHAPTER III.

ACCENT.

Accent is a more forcible utterance of some one syllable in a word, so as to distinguish it from the others. It is marked thus ('); as in merchant, con-sent', in-ter-cede'.

In most cases, the pupil will have no difficulty in determining on which syllable of a word the accent should be placed; but when there is a doubt, he should always refer to the dictionary, in which all the accented syllables are marked, as in the above examples.