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the two vowel sounds. But the Cockney custom of interposing an R between two vowels, as in the sentences, "Is Papa r at home?"—" What an idea r it is!"&c. is not to be countenanced. This vulgarism is confined to words ending with the open vowels, Nos. 6, 7, and sometimes 10; the formative apertures of which are of nearly the same expansion as that of the English (R=)S.

157. English speakers too commonly confound the Breath with the Voice forms of the articulations Y and W, and so pronounce alike such words as hue and you, which and witch, whale and wail, whither and wither, whig and wig, &c.

K-G, as in Kind, Guard, &c.

158. In pronouncing such words as key and caw, geese and gauze, it will be observed that the obstructive position of the tongue for the initial articulation is not precisely the same before the open as before the close vowel; accommodating itself to the formation of the subsequent vowel, the tongue is much more advanced before ee than before aw. Indeed, the points of contact are not exactly the same before any two vowels. The closest lingual vowels are associated with the most anterior consonant positions, and the open and labial vowels with the most posterior. A peculiar Anglicism arises from the violation of this principle in certain cases. K and G before the 7th and 8th vowels, as in card, guard, kind, guile, girl, &c. are articulated from the anterior instead of the posterior positions: so that the breath which follows the articulative "action" has the vowel quality of ee; and an effect is produced something like that of the articulation y. This effect is greatly overdone by those who pronounce ee or y in such words. "Kee-ind,” and “ky-ard,” are affected caricatures of this delicate Anglicism. following and their derivatives, are the leading words that partake of this peculiarity :

card, kind, garden, guard, girl, guide, guile, guise.

XVIII. SCOTTICISMS OF ARTICULATION.

The

159. The leading Scotticism of Articulation consists in the uniform and rough trilling of the tongue for the letter R, in all situations.

160. Another very general Scotch peculiarity consists in giving a vowel sound to the letter L when final, especially when it follows the 4th vowel; the L, in such words as sell, bell, well, swell, &c. being pronounced nearly like ul. Thus-seh-ul, beh-ul," &c.

161. The articulation ng is pronounced as n before th as in length, strength, &c,; and in the final unaccented syllable ing,-as in seeing, believing, &c.; pronounced lenth, strenth, seein, believin, &c.

162. The Breath Obstructive Articulations, especially the letter T, are, in the West of Scotland pronounced without any articulative action, but with a mere glottal catch, accompanying the articulative position as in better, butter, &c. pronounced bě-er &c.

163. The Breath form of the articulation Th, is pronounced instead of the Voice form, in the words though, thither, with, beneath, paths, &c. A substitution of Breath for Voice forms of articulation is also very generally heard in the words of, as, nephew &c., pronounced off, ass, nefyoo, &c.; and the substitution of Voice for Breath forms is likewise common in the words if, us, transact, philosophic, &c.. prouonced iv, uz, tranzact, philozophic &c.

164. The omission of y before ee, and of w before oo, as in year, yield, wool, &c. is another northern peculiarity. Ludicrous ambiguities sometimes arise from these omissions; as when we hear of an old man "bending under the weight of (y)ears and infirmities."

165. The addition of a gluttural effect to h and wh is a Celtic peculiarity-harsh and unpleasing to the unaccustomed ear.

166. The pronunciation of the before the syllabic sounds of ' and 'n in castle, apostle, pestle, often, is a Scotticism almost confined to these words.

XIX. HIBERNICISMS OF ARTICULATION.

167. Irish Articulation is characterized by a general looseness of oral action, which gives a peculiar softness to the transition from an obstructive articulation to the succeeding vowel. The effect is coarsely imitated by interpolating an / between the elements, as in p(h) ut for put, t(h)ake for take, c(h)oat for coat, &c.

168. The sound of t, especially at the end of a word, is from the same cause, but little different from that of s; such words as bet and hat being pronounced nearly as bess and hass.

169. The sound of 7 final is formed with a convexity of the middle of the tongue which gives the the effect of Italian gl; as in well, smile, till, &c., where the final element has almost the sound of eel. This is the converse of the Scotch peculiarity noticed in par. 160 where 7 has the open quality of ul.

170. The sound of s before an articulation has the effect of sh; as in sky, scrape, sleep, snow, star, stripe, sweet, &c., pronounced shky, shcrape, shleep, &c.

XX. AMERICANISMS OF ARTICULATION.

171. The leading Americanism of Articulation is associated with the letter R. This element has none of the sharpness of the English R which, however softly, is struck from the tip of the tongue. The American R has a very slight vibration, with the tongue almost in the position for the French vowel e mute. The high convex position of the tongue for the American r final or before an articulation-when the sound is almost that of the English y has been noticed in par. 104.

172. The feeble and indefinite vibration of the American articulate R leads to a habit of labialising the sound when it is between vowels, as in very, spirit, &c. This gives a firmness to the articulation but altogether changes its character: the r becomes long and almost syllabic. Thus: vě-wr-y, spi-wr-it, &c.

XXI. SYLLABIC QUANTITY,

173. Two degrees of vowel quantity -long and short, -are generally recognised, but there are many minuter degrees arising from the influence of articulations on preceding vowels. Thus all vowels are comparatively short before Breath articulations, and comparatively long before Voice articulations; but they are shorter before another vowel than before any articulations. Among vowels, separately considered, there are three degrees of quantity; I. Short monophthongs; II. Long monophthongs; III.

Diphthongs. Among articulations there are five degrees ; 1. Breath Obstructive: II. Breath Continuous; III. Voice Obstructive; IV. Voice Close Continuous; Voice Open Continuous,-or Liquids.

V.

174. The Open Continuous Articulations, or Liquids, are L, and the Nasals M, N, and ng. Rhas been commonly included as a Liquid, but it has none of the coalescent and quantitative characteristics of the Liquid. The term "Liquid" is applied to elements that flow into, and seem to be absorbed by, the articulation that follows. L, M, N, and ng are peculiarly affected by the succeeding articulation. Before Breath articulations, they are SO extremely short as hardly to add any perceptible quantity to the syllables as in lap and lamp, quit and quilt, flit and flint, thick and think, &c. : but before Voice Articulations they are long and sonorous, and add greatly to the duration of the Syllabic utterance; as in head and held, bad and band, juggle and jungle, &c. R is so softened away as almost to lose its articulative quality before an articulation; but its sound is not absorbed as that of the Liquids ; —it is rather slurred and omitted.

175. The following Lists contain examples of Monosyllabic Combinations arranged in the order of their quantitative duration,- the shortest first. The classes marked with an asterisk (*) contain Liquids before Breath Articulations.

176. Breath Articulations.-'Step, sit, black; -'if. both, gas, wash :-*"help, felt, elk, tent, lamp, dreamt, bank;**self, health, else, Welsh, ninth, dance, nymph. strength;—"apt, act;-"steps, depth, feast, eighth[t-th], watch, ox ;-left, wasp, fast, ask;-safes, fifth, deaths:

*gulped, milked, stamped, inked;-*10alps, bolts, belch, bulks, prints, inch, imps, tempts, thanks;—"ingulfed, fail'st, against, dream'st, sing'st ;-gulfs, healths, tenths, nymphs, lengths;-adepts, sects;-1shap'st, sat'st, patched, next:-thefts, asps, costs, desks;16fifths;-twelfths;-18help'st, halt'st, filched, milk'st. want'st, flinched, limp'st, tempt'st, think'st ;-1texts ;20sixths.

177. Voice Articulations.-'Babe, trade, plague ;2leave, bathe, ease, rouge;-"ale, lame, own, tongue ;

'bulb, old, hemmed, end, wronged:-"delve, ells, aims, bronze, pangs;-'stabbed, begged;—'cabs, adze, edge. eggs-saved, seethed, grazed, rouged ;—"graves, bathes; —1helm ;—"bulbed;—"bulbs, builds, bilge, lands, finds, fringe delved, bronzed-shelves-helmed ;"films;—"judged ;.—"bilged, changed.

178. Mixed Articulations. 'Breadth; - stabb'st, add'st, begg'st:-"striv'st :-'hold'st ;-delv'st ;—"lov'd'st.

XXII. DIFFICULT COMBINATIONS.

179. In many of the above combinations there is a difficulty of distinct enunciation which will be readily removed by reference to the principle explained in par. 144. Give to every articulation its appropriate "action."

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180. A tendency to indistinctness is especially felt in combinations of the Breath Obstructives such as pt and kt, which are of very frequent occurrence. All verbs ending in por k have the sounds of pt or kt in the past tense, as stopped, walked, &c. The following is a list of words for exercise. Pronounce the pt and ct like the words" pit" and "kit" WHISPERED. Thus ǎ-p()t, stri-k()t, &c.

Apt, strapped, kept, slept. whipped, shipped, lopped. cupped, shaped, steeped, piped. hoped, cooped, chapter. styptic, reptile, rapture, captain; act, tact, sect. erect. strict, hacked, shocked, ducked, poked, looked, walked, ached, leaked, liked, cactus, lacteal, affected, lecture. picture, dictate, instructive, octave, doctor.

181. The following Words and Sentences embody similar principles of difficulty. Repeat each of them several times quickly, and with firm accentuation.

Acts. beef, beef-broth, chaise, come, copts, cut, cloud-capt, eighths, (t-ths.) etiquette, faith, fifths, inked, judged, knitting, laurel, literal, literally, literary. literarily, linen. little, litter, memnon, mimic, move, muff, needle, puff, puffed, plural, peacock. quick, quaked, quiet, rail, railroad, raillery, ruler, rural, rivalry, roller, runnel. saith, sash. sashes, search, such, sects, sixths, sooth, soothe, Scotch, slash, sloth, slain. slipped, snail. statist, statistics, shuts, this, thither, thief, thatch, thrash, texts, twelfths, vivid, vivify, vivification, weave, wife, weep, whiff, whip.

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