The Grammar of English Grammars Part 252

_Ch_ is generally sounded like _tch_, or _tsh_, which is the same to the ear; as in _church, chance, child_. But in words derived from the learned languages, it has the sound of _k_; as in _character, scheme, catechise, chorus, choir, chyle, patriarch, drachma, magna charta_: except in _chart, charter, charity_. _Ch_, in words derived from the French, takes the sound of _sh_; as in _chaise, machine_. In Hebrew words or names, in general, _ch_ sounds like _k_; as in _Chebar, Sirach, Enoch_: but in _Rachel, cherub_, and _cherubim_, we have Anglicized the sound by uttering it as _tch_. _Loch_, a Scottish word, sometimes also a medical term, is heard as _lok_.

"_Arch_, before a vowel, is p.r.o.nounced _ark_; as in _archives, archangel, archipelago_: except in _arched, archer, archery, archenemy_. Before a consonant it is p.r.o.nounced _artch_; as in _archbishop, archduke, archfiend_."--See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 10. _Ch_ is silent in _schism, yacht_, and _drachm_. In _schedule_, some utter it as _k_; others, as _sh_; and many make it mute: I like the first practice.

IV. OF THE LETTER D.

The general sound of the consonant _D_, is that which is heard in _dog, eddy, did_. _D_, in the termination _ed_, preceded by a sharp consonant, takes the sound of _t_, when the _e_ is suppressed or unheard: as in _faced, stuffed, cracked, tripped, pa.s.sed_; p.r.o.nounced _faste, stuft, cract, tript, past. D_ before _ia, ie, io_, or _eou_, when the accent precedes, generally sounds like _j_; as in _Indian, soldier, tedious, hideous_. So in _verdure, arduous, education_.

V. OF THE LETTER E.

The vowel _E_ has _two_ sounds properly its own,--and I incline to think, _three_:--

1. The open, long, full, or primal _e_; as in _me, mere, menial, melodious_.

2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _e_; as in _men, merry, ebony, strength_.

3. The obscure or faint _e_; as in _open, garden, shovel, able_. This third sound is scarcely perceptible, and barely sufficient to articulate the consonant and form a syllable.

_E final_ is mute and belongs to the syllable formed by the preceding vowel or diphthong; as in _age, eve, ice, ore_. Except--1. In the words, _be, he, me, we, she_, in which it has the open sound; and the article _the_, wherein it is open before a vowel, and obscure before a consonant. 2. In Greek and Latin words, in which it has its open sound, and forms a distinct syllable, or the basis of one; as in _Penelope, Pasiphae, Cyanee, Gargaphie, Arsinoe, apostrophe, catastrophe, simile, extempore, epitome_.

3. In the terminations _ere, gre, tre_, in which it has the sound of _close_ or _curt u_, heard before the _r_; as in _acre, meagre, centre_.

Mute _e_, after a single consonant, or after _st_ or _th_, generally preserves the open or long sound of the preceding vowel; as in _cane, here, pine, cone, tune, thyme, baste, waste, lathe, clothe_: except in syllables unaccented; as in the last of _genuine_;--and in a few monosyllables; as _bade, are, were, gone, shone, one, done, give, live, shove, love_.

DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH E.

_E_ before an other vowel, in general, either forms with it an _improper_ diphthong, or else belongs to a separate syllable. We do not hear both vowels in one syllable, except perhaps in _eu_ or _ew_.

_Ea_, an improper diphthong, mostly sounds like _open_ or _long e_; as in _ear, fear, tea_; frequently like _close_ or _curt e_; as in _head, health, leather_: sometimes, like _open_ or _long a_; as in _steak, bear, forswear_: rarely, like _middle a_; as in _heart, hearth, hearken. Ea_ in an unaccented syllable, sounds like _close_ or _curt u_; as _in vengeance, pageant_.

_Ee_, an improper diphthong, mostly sounds like one _open_ or _long e_; as in _eel, sheep, tree, trustee, referee_. The contractions _e'er_ and _ne'er_, are p.r.o.nounced _air_ and _nair_, and not like _ear_ and _near.

E'en_, however, preserves the sound of _open e. Been_ is most commonly heard with the curt sound of _i, bin_.

_Ei_, an improper diphthong, mostly sounds like the _primal_ or _long a_; as in _reign, veil_: frequently, like _open_ or _long e_; as in _deceit, either, neither, seize_: sometimes, like _open_ or _long i_; as in _height, sleight, heigh-ho_: often, in unaccented syllables, like _close_ or _curt i_; as in _foreign, forfeit, surfeit, sovereign_: rarely, like _close e_; as in _heifer, nonpareil_.

_Eo_, an improper diphthong, in _people_, sounds like _open_ or _long e_; in _leopard_ and _jeopard_, like _close_ or _curt e_; in _yeoman_, according to the best usage, like _open_ or _long o_; in _George, Georgia, georgic_, like _close o_; in _dungeon, puncheon, sturgeon_, &c., like _close u_. In _feoff_, and its derivatives, the _close_ or _short_ sound of _e_ is most fashionable; but some prefer the long sound of _e_; and some write the word "_fief." Feod, feodal, feodary, feodatory_, are now commonly written as they are p.r.o.nounced, _feud, feudal, feudary, feudatory_.

_Eu_ and _ew_ are sounded alike, and almost always with the diphthongal sound of _open_ or _long u_; as in _feud, deuce, jewel, dew, few, new_.

These diphthongs, when initial, sound like _yu_. Nouns beginning with this sound, require the article _a_, and not _an_, before them; as, _A European, a ewer_. After _r_ or _rh, eu_ and _ew_ are commonly sounded like _oo_; as in _drew, grew, screw, rheumatism_. In _sew_ and _Shrewsbury, ew_ sounds like _open o_: Worcester, however, prefers the sound of _oo_ in the latter word. _Shew_ and _strew_, having the same meaning as _show_ and _strow_, are sometimes, by sameness of p.r.o.nunciation, made to be the same words; and sometimes distinguished as different words, by taking the sounds _shu_ and _stroo_.

_Ey_, accented, has the sound of _open_ or _long a_; as in _bey, prey, survey_: unaccented, it has the sound of _open e_; as in _alley, valley, money. Key_ and _ley_ are p.r.o.nounced _kee, lee_.

TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH E.

_Eau_, a French triphthong, sounds like _open o_; as in _beau, flambeau, portmanteau, bureau_: except in _beauty_, and its compounds, in which it is p.r.o.nounced like _open u_, as if the word were written _buty_.

_Eou_ is a combination of vowels sometimes heard in one syllable, especially after _c_ or _g_; as in _crus-ta-ceous, gor-geous_. Walker, in his Rhyming Dictionary, gives one hundred and twenty words ending in _eous_, in all of which he separates these vowels; as in _ex-tra-ne-ous_.

And why, in his p.r.o.nouncing Dictionary, he gave us several such anomalies as _fa-ba-ce-ous_ in four syllables and _her-ba-ceous_ in three, it is not easy to tell. The best rule is this: after _c_ or _g_, unite these vowels; after the other consonants, separate them.

_Ewe_ is a triphthong having the sound of _yu_, and forming a word. The vulgar p.r.o.nunciation _yoe_ should be carefully avoided.

_Eye_ is an improper triphthong which also forms a word, and is p.r.o.nounced like _open i_, or the p.r.o.noun _I_.

VI. OF THE LETTER F.

The consonant _F_ has one unvaried sound, which is heard in _fan, effort, staff_: except _of_, which, when simple, is p.r.o.nounced _ov_.

VII. OF THE LETTER G.

The consonant _G_ has two sounds;--the one _hard_, guttural, and peculiar to this letter; the other _soft_, like that of _j. G_ before _a, o, u, l, r_, or at the end of a word, is hard; as in _game, gone, gull, glory, grace, log, bog_; except in _gaol. G_ before _e, i_, or _y_, is soft; as in _gem, ginger, elegy_. Except--1. In _get, give, gewgaw, finger_, and a few other words. 2. When a syllable is added to a word ending in g: as, _long, longer; fog, foggy_.

_G_ is silent before _m_ or _n_ in the same syllable; as in _phlegm, apothegm, gnaw, design. G_, when silent, usually lengthens the preceding vowel; as in _resign, impregn, impugn_.

_Gh_ at the beginning of a word has the sound of _g hard_; as in _ghastly, gherkin, Ghibelline, ghost, ghoul, ghyll_: in other situations, it is generally silent; as in _high, mighty, plough, bough, though, through, fight, night, bought. Gh final_ sometimes sounds like _f_; as in _laugh, rough, tough_; and sometimes, like _g hard_; as in _burgh_. In _hough, lough, shough_, it sounds like _k_, or _ck_; thus, _hock, lock, shock_.

VIII. OF THE LETTER H.

The sound of the consonant _H_, (though articulate and audible when properly uttered,) is little more than an aspirate breathing. It is heard in _hat, hit, hot, hut, adhere_.

_H_ at the beginning of a word, is always sounded; except in _heir, herb, honest, honour, hospital, hostler, hour, humble, humour_, with their compounds and derivatives. _H_ after _r_, is always silent; as in _rhapsody, rhetoric, rheum, rhubarb. H final_, immediately following a vowel, is always silent; as in _ah, Sarah, Nineveh, Shiloh_.

IX. OF THE LETTER I.

The vowel _I_ has three sounds, each very common to it, and perhaps properly its own:--

1. The open, long, full, or primal _i_; as in _life, fine, final, time, bind, child, sigh, pint, resign_. This is a diphthongal sound, equivalent to the sounds of _middle a_ and _open e_ quickly united.

2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _i_; as in _ink, limit, disfigure, mimicking_.

3. The feeble, faint, or slender _i_, accentless; as in _divest, doctrinal, diversity_.

This third sound is equivalent to that of _open e_, or _ee_ uttered feebly.

_I_ generally has this sound when it occurs at the end of an unaccented syllable: except at the end of Latin words, or of ancient names, where it is _open_ or _long_; as in _literati, Nervii, Eli, Levi_.

In some words, (princ.i.p.ally from other modern languages,) _i_ has the full sound of _open e_, under the accent; as in _Porto Rico, machine, magazine, antique, shire_.

Accented _i_ followed by a vowel, has its open or primal sound; and the vowels belong to separate syllables; as in _pliant, diet, satiety, violet, pious_. Unaccented _i_ followed by a vowel, has its feeble sound; as in _expatiate, obedient, various, abstemious_.

DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH I.