The Grammar of English Grammars Part 22

"And Peace, O, Virtue! Peace is all thy own."--_Pope's Works_, p. 379.

"And peace, O virtue! peace is all thy own."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 16.

LESSON III.--MIXED.

"Fenelon united the characters of a n.o.bleman and a Christian pastor. His book ent.i.tled 'An explication of the Maxims of the Saints concerning the interior life,' gave considerable offence to the guardians of orthodoxy."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 321. "When natural religion, who before was only a spectator, is introduced as speaking by the centurion's voice."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 157. "You cannot deny, that the great mover and author of nature constantly explaineth himself to the eyes of men, by the sensible intervention of arbitrary signs, which have no similitude, or connexion, with the things signified."--_Berkley's Minute Philosopher_, p.

169. "The name of this letter is double U, its form, that of a double V."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 19. "Murray, in his spelling book, wrote 'Charles-Town' with a Hyphen and two Capitals."--See p. 101. "He also wrote 'european' without a capital."--See p. 86. "They profess themselves to be pharisees, who are to be heard and not imitated."--_Calvin's Inst.i.tutes, Ded._, p. 55. "Dr. Webster wrote both 'Newhaven' and 'Newyork' with single capitals."--See his _American Spelling-Book_, p. 111. "Gayhead, the west point of Martha's Vineyard."--_Williams's Univ. Gaz._ Write "Craborchard, Eggharbor, Longisland, Perthamboy, Westhampton, Littlecompton, Newpaltz, Crownpoint, Fellspoint, Sandyhook, Portpenn, Portroyal. Portobello, and Portorico."--_Webster's American Spelling-Book_, 127-140. Write the names of the months: "january, february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, october, november, december."--_Cobb's Standard Spelling-Book_, 21-40. Write the following names and words properly: "tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, sat.u.r.day, saturn;--christ, christian, christmas, christendom, michaelmas, indian, baccha.n.a.ls;--Easthampton, omega, johannes, aonian, levitical, deuteronomy, european."--_Cobb's Standard Spelling-Book, sundry places_.

"Eight Letters in some Syllables we find, And no more Syllables in Words are joined."

_Brightland's Gram._, p. 61.

CHAPTER II.--OF SYLLABLES.

A _Syllable_ is one or more letters p.r.o.nounced in one sound; and is either a word, as, _a, an, ant_; or a part of a word, as _di_ in _dial_.

In every word there are as many syllables as there are distinct sounds, or separate impulses of the voice; as, _gram-ma-ri-an_.

A word of one syllable is called a _monosyllable_; a word of two syllables, a _dissyllable_; a word of three syllables, a _trissyllable_; and a word of four or more syllables, a _polysyllable_.

Every vowel, except _w_, may form a syllable of itself; but the consonants belong to the vowels or diphthongs; and without a vowel no syllable can be formed.

DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS.

A _diphthong_ is two vowels joined in one syllable; as, _ea_ in _beat, ou_ in _sound_. In _oe_ or _ae_, old or foreign, the characters often unite.

A _proper diphthong_ is a diphthong in which both the vowels are sounded; as, _oi_ in _voice, ow_ in _vow_.

An _improper diphthong_ is a diphthong in which only one of the vowels is sounded; as, _oa_ in _loaf, eo_ in _people_.

A _triphthong_ is three vowels joined in one syllable; as, _eau_ in beau, _iew_ in _view, oeu_ in _manoeuvre_.

A _proper triphthong_ is a triphthong in which all the vowels are sounded; as, _uoy_ in _buoy_.

An _improper triphthong_ is a triphthong in which only one or two of the vowels are sounded; as, _eau_ in _beauty, iou_ in _anxious_. The diphthongs in English are twenty-nine; embracing all but six of the thirty-five possible combinations of two vowels: _aa, ae, ai, ao, au, aw, ay,--ea, ee, ei, eo, eu, ew, ey,--ia, ie_, (_ii_,) _io_, (_iu, iw, iy_,)--_oa, oe, oi, oo, ou, ow, oy,--ua, ue, ui, uo_, (_uu, uw_,) _uy_.

Ten of these diphthongs, being variously sounded, may be either proper or improper; to wit, _ay,--ie,--oi, ou, ow,--ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_.

The proper diphthongs appear to be thirteen; _ay,--ia, ie, io,--oi, ou, ow, oy,--ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_: of which combinations, only three, _ia, io_, and _oy_, are invariably of this cla.s.s.

The improper diphthongs are twenty-six; _aa, ae, ai, ao, au, aw, ay,--ea, ee, ei, eo, eu, ew, ey,--ie,--oa, oe, oi, oo, ou, ow,--ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_.

The only proper triphthong in English is _uoy_, as in _buoy, buoyant, buoyancy_; unless _uoi_ in _quoit_ may be considered a parallel instance.

The improper triphthongs are sixteen; _awe, aye,--eau, eou, ewe, eye,--ieu, iew, iou,--oeu, owe,--uai, uaw, uay, uea, uee_.

SYLLABICATION.

In dividing words into syllables, we are to be directed chiefly by the ear; it may however be proper to observe, as far as practicable, the following rules.

RULE I.--CONSONANTS.

Consonants should generally be joined to the vowels or diphthongs which they modify in utterance; as, _An-ax-ag'-o-ras, ap-os-tol'-i-cal_.[110]

RULE II.--VOWELS.

Two vowels, coming together, if they make not a diphthong, must be parted in dividing the syllables; as, _A-cka'-i-a, A-o'-ni-an, a-e'-ri-al_.

RULE III.--TERMINATIONS.

Derivative and grammatical terminations should generally be separated from the radical words to which they have been added; as, _harm-less, great-ly, connect-ed_: thus _count-er_ and _coun-ter_ are different words.

RULE IV.--PREFIXES.

Prefixes, in general, form separate syllables; as, _mis-place, out-ride, up-lift_: but if their own primitive meaning be disregarded, the case may be otherwise; thus, _re-create_, and _rec'-reate, re-formation_, and _ref-ormation_, are words of different import.

RULE V.--COMPOUNDS.

Compounds, when divided, should be divided into the simple words which compose them; as, _boat-swain, foot-hold, never-the-less_.

RULE VI.--LINES FULL.

At the end of a line, a word may be divided, if necessary; but a syllable must never be broken.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The doctrine of English syllabication is attended with some difficulties; because its purposes are various, and its principles, often contradictory. The old rules, borrowed chiefly from grammars of other languages, and still retained in some of our own, are liable to very strong objections.[111] By aiming to divide on the vowels, and to force the consonants, as much as possible, into the beginning of syllables, they often pervert or misrepresent our p.r.o.nunciation. Thus Murray, in his Spelling-Book, has "_gra-vel, fi-nish, me-lon, bro-ther, bo-dy, wi-dow, pri-son, a-va-rice, e-ve-ry, o-ran-ges, e-ne-my, me-di-cine, re-pre-sent, re-so-lu-tion_," and a mult.i.tude of other words, divided upon a principle by which the young learner can scarcely fail to be led into error respecting their sounds. This method of division is therefore particularly reprehensible in such books as are designed to teach the true p.r.o.nunciation of words; for which reason, it has been generally abandoned in our modern spelling-books and dictionaries: the authors of which have severally aimed at some sort of compromise between etymology and p.r.o.nunciation; but they disagree so much, as to the manner of effecting it, that no two of them will be found alike, and very few, if any, entirely consistent with themselves.

OBS. 2.--The object of syllabication may be any one of the following four; 1. To enable a child to read unfamiliar words by spelling them; 2. To show the derivation or composition of words; 3. To exhibit the exact p.r.o.nunciation of words; 4. To divide words properly, when it is necessary to break them at the ends of lines. With respect to the first of these objects, Walker observes, "When a child has made certain advances in reading, but is ignorant of the sound of many of the longer words, it may not be improper to lay down the common general rule to him, that a consonant between two vowels must go to the latter, and that two consonants coming together must be divided. _Farther than this it would be absurd to go with a child_."--_Walker's Principles_, No. 539. Yet, as a caution be it recorded, that, in 1833, an itinerant lecturer from the South, who made it his business to teach what he calls in his t.i.tle-page, "An _Abridgment_ of Walker's Rules on the Sounds of the Letters,"--an _Abridgement_, which, he says in his preface, "will be found to contain, it is believed, all the important rules that are established by Walker, and to carry his principles _farther_ than he himself has _done_"--befooled the Legislature of Ma.s.sachusetts, the School Committee and Common Council of Boston, the professor of elocution at Harvard University, and many other equally wise men of the east, into the notion that English p.r.o.nunciation could be conveniently taught to children, in "four or five days," by means of some three or four hundred rules of which the following is a specimen: "RULE 282. When a single consonant is preceded by a vowel under the preantepenultimate accent, and is followed by a vowel that is succeeded by a consonant, it belongs to the accented vowel."--_Mulkey's Abridgement of Walker's Rules_, p. 34.

OBS. 3.--A grosser specimen of literary quackery, than is the publication which I have just quoted, can scarcely be found in the world of letters. It censures "the principles laid down and ill.u.s.trated by Walker," as "so elaborate and so verbose as to be wearisome to the scholar and useless to the child;" and yet declares them to be, "for the most part, the true rules of p.r.o.nunciation, according to the a.n.a.logy of the language."--_Mulkey's Preface_, p. 3. It professes to be an abridgement and simplification of those principles, especially adapted to the wants and capacities of children; and, at the same time, imposes upon the memory of the young learner twenty-nine rules for syllabication, similar to that which I have quoted above; whereas Walker himself, with all his verbosity, expressly declares it "_absurd_," to offer more than one or two, and those of the very simplest character. It is to be observed that the author teaches nothing but the elements of reading; nothing but the sounds of letters and syllables; nothing but a few simple fractions of the great science of grammar: and, for this purpose, he would conduct the learner through the following particulars, and have him remember them all: 1. _Fifteen distinctions_ respecting the "cla.s.sification and organic formation of the letters." 2. _Sixty-three rules_ for "the sounds of the vowels, according to their relative positions." 3. _Sixty-four explanations_ of "the different sounds of the diphthongs." 4. _Eighty-nine rules_ for "the sounds of the consonants, according to position." 5. _Twenty-three heads_, embracing a hundred and fifty-six principles of accent. 6. _Twenty-nine_ "_rules_ for dividing words into syllables." 7. _Thirty-three "additional principles;"_ which are thrown together promiscuously, because he could not cla.s.s them. 8. _Fifty-two pages_ of "irregular Words," forming particular exceptions to the foregoing rules. 9. _Twenty-eight pages_ of notes extracted from Walker's Dictionary, and very prettily called "The Beauties of Walker." All this is Walker simplified for children!

OBS. 4.--Such is a brief sketch of Mulkey's system of orthoepy; a work in which "he claims to have devised what has heretofore been a _desideratum_--a mode by which children in our common schools may be taught _the rules_ for the p.r.o.nunciation of their mother tongue."--_Preface_, p.

4. The faults of the book are so exceedingly numerous, that to point them out, would be more toil, than to write an accurate volume of twice the size. And is it possible, that a system like this could find patronage in the metropolis of New England, in that proud centre of arts and sciences, and in the proudest halls of learning and of legislation? Examine the gentleman's credentials, and take your choice between the adoption of his plan, as a great improvement in the management of syllables, and the certain conclusion that great men may be greatly duped respecting them.

Unless the public has been imposed upon by a worse fraud than mere literary quackery, the authorities I have mentioned did extensively patronize the scheme; and the Common Council of that learned city did order, November 14th, 1833, "That the School Committee be and they are hereby authorized to employ Mr. William Mulkey to give a course of Lectures on Orthoepy _to the several instructors of the public schools_, and that the sum of five hundred dollars is hereby appropriated for that purpose, and that the same amount be withdrawn from the reserved fund."--See _Mulkey's Circular_.

OBS. 5.--p.r.o.nunciation is best taught to children by means of a good spelling-book; a book in which the words are arranged according to their a.n.a.logies, and divided according to their proper sounds. Vocabularies, dictionaries, and glossaries, may also be serviceable to those who are sufficiently advanced to learn how to use them. With regard to the first of the abovenamed purposes of syllabication, I am almost ready to dissent even from the modest opinion of Walker himself; for ignorance can only guess at the p.r.o.nunciation of words, till positive instruction comes in to give a.s.surance; and it may be doubted whether even the simple rule or rules suggested by Walker would not about as often mislead the young reader as correct him. With regard to the second purpose, that of showing the derivation or composition of words, it is plain, that etymology, and not p.r.o.nunciation, must here govern the division; and that it should go no further than to separate the const.i.tuent parts of each word; as, _ortho-graphy, theo-logy_. But when we divide for the third purpose, and intend to show what is the p.r.o.nunciation of a word, we must, if possible, divide into such syllabic sounds as will exactly recompose the word, when put together again; as, _or-thog-ra-phy, the-ol-o-gy_. This being the most common purpose of syllabication, perhaps it would be well to give it a general preference; and adopt it whenever we can, not only in the composing of spelling-books and dictionaries, but also in the dividing of words at the ends of lines.

OBS. 6.--Dr. Lowth says, "The best and easiest rule, for dividing the syllables in spelling, is, to divide them as they are naturally divided in a right p.r.o.nunciation; without regard to the derivation of words, or the possible combination of consonants at the beginning of a syllable."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 5. And Walker approves of the principle, with respect to the third purpose mentioned above: "This," says that celebrated orthoepist, "is the method adopted by those who would convey the whole sound, by giving distinctly every part; and, when this is the object of syllabication, Dr. Lowth's rule is certainly to be followed."--_Walker's Principles_,--No. 541. But this rule, which no one can apply till he has found out the p.r.o.nunciation, will not always be practicable where that is known, and perhaps not always expedient where it is practicable. For example: the words _colonel, venison, transition, propitious_, cannot be so divided as to exhibit their p.r.o.nunciation; and, in such as _acid, magic, pacify, legible, liquidate_, it may not be best to follow the rule, because there is some reasonable objection to terminating the first syllables of these words with _c, g_, and _q_, especially at the end of a line. The rule for terminations may also interfere with this, called "Lowth's;" as in _sizable, rising, dronish_.

OBS. 7.--For the dividing of words into syllables, I have given six rules, which are perhaps as many as will be useful. They are to be understood as general principles; and, as to the exceptions to be made in their application, or the settling of their conflicting claims to attention, these may be left to the judgement of each writer. The old principle of dividing by the eye, and not by the ear, I have rejected; and, with it, all but one of the five rules which the old grammarians gave for the purpose.

"The divisions of the letters into syllables, should, unquestionably, be the same in written, as in spoken language; otherwise the learner is misguided, and seduced by false representations into injurious errors."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 37. Through the influence of books in which the words are divided according to their sounds, the p.r.o.nunciation of the language is daily becoming more and more uniform; and it may perhaps be reasonably hoped, that the general adoption of this method of syllabication, and a proper exposition of the occasional errors of ignorance, will one day obviate entirely the objection arising from the instability of the principle. For the old grammarians urged, that the scholar who had learned their rules should "strictly conform to them; and that he should industriously avoid _that random Method of dividing by the Ear_, which is subject to mere jumble, as it must be continually fluctuating according to the various Dialects of different Countries."--_British Grammar_, p. 47.

OBS. 8.--The important exercise of oral spelling is often very absurdly conducted. In many of our schools, it may be observed that the teacher, in giving out the words to be spelled, is not always careful to utter them with what he knows to be their true sounds, but frequently accommodates his p.r.o.nunciation to the known or supposed ignorance of the scholar; and the latter is still more frequently allowed to hurry through the process, without putting the syllables together as he proceeds; and, sometimes, without forming or distinguishing the syllables at all. Merely to p.r.o.nounce a word and then name its letters, is an exceedingly imperfect mode of spelling; a mode in which far more is lost in respect to accuracy of speech, than is gained in respect to time. The syllables should not only be distinctly formed and p.r.o.nounced, but p.r.o.nounced as they are heard in the whole word; and each should be successively added to the preceding syllables, till the whole sound is formed by the reunion of all its parts.