The Grammar of English Grammars Part 253

_I_, in the situation last described, readily coalesces with the vowel which follows, and is often sunk into the same syllable, forming a proper diphthong: as in _fustian, quotient, question_. The terminations _cion, sion, and tion_, are generally p.r.o.nounced _shun_; and _cious_ and _tious_ are p.r.o.nounced _shus_.

_Ie_ is commonly an improper diphthong. _Ie_ in _die, hie, lie, pie, tie, vie_, and their derivatives, has the sound of _open i. Ie_ in words from the French, (as _cap-a-pie, ecurie, grenadier, siege, bier_,) has the sound of _open e_. So, generally, in the middle of English roots; as in _chief, grief, thief_; but, in _sieve_, it has the sound of _close_ or _short i_.

In _friend_, and its derivatives or compounds, it takes the sound of _close e_.

TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH I.

The triphthongs ieu and iew both sound like open or long u; as in lieu, adieu, view.

The three vowels iou, in the termination ious, often fall into one syllable, and form a triphthong. There are two hundred and forty-five words of this ending; and more than two hundred deriva- tives from them. Walker has several puzzling inconsistencies in their p.r.o.nunciation; such as fas-tid-i-ous and per-fid-ious, con-ta-gi-ous and sac-ri-le-gious. After c, g, t, or x, these vowels should coalesce: as in gra-cious, re-li-gious, vex-a-tious, ob-nox-ious, and about two hundred other words. After the other consonants, let them form two syllables; (except when there is a syn- seresis in poetry;) as in dw-bi-ou-s, o-di-ous, va-ri-ous, en-vi-ous.

X. OF THE LETTER J.

The consonant _J_, the tenth letter of the English alphabet, has invariably the sound of _soft g_, like the _g_ in _giant_, which some say is equivalent to the complex sound _dzh_; as, _jade, jet, jilt, joy, justice, jewel, prejudice_.

XI. OF THE LETTER K.

The consonant _K_, not silent, has uniformly the sound of _c_ hard; and occurs where _c_ would have its soft sound: as in _keep, looking, kind, smoky_.

_K_ before _n_ is silent; as in _knave, know, knuckle_. In stead of doubling _c final_, we write _ck_; as in _lack, lock, luck, attack_. In English words, _k_ is never doubled, though two Kays may come together in certain compounds; as in _brickkiln, jackknife_. Two Kays, belonging to different syllables, also stand together in a few Scripture names; as in _Akkub, Bakbakkar, Bukki, Bukkiah, Habakkuk. Hakkoz, Ikkesh, Sukkiims_. _C_ before _k_, though it does not always double the sound which _c_ or _k_ in such a situation must represent, always shuts or shortens the preceding vowel; as in _rack, speck, freckle, c.o.c.kle, wicked_.

XII. OF THE LETTER L.

The consonant _L_, the plainest of the semivowels, has a soft, liquid sound; as in _line, lily, roll, follow. L_ is sometimes silent; as in _Holmes, alms, almond, calm, chalk, walk, calf, half, could, would, should.

L_, too, is frequently doubled where it is heard but once; as in _hill, full, travelled_. So any letter that is written twice, and not twice sounded, must there be once mute; as the last in _baa, ebb, add, see, staff, egg, all, inn, coo, err, less, buzz_.

XIII. OF THE LETTER M.

The consonant _M_ is a semivowel and a liquid, capable of an audible, humming sound through the nose, when the mouth is closed. It is heard in _map, murmur, mammon_. In the old words, _compt, accompt, comptroller_, (for _count, account, controller_,) the _m_ is sounded as _n. M_ before _n_, at the beginning of a word, is silent; as in _Mnason, Mnemosyne, mnemonics_.

XIV. OF THE LETTER N.

The consonant _N_, which is also a semivowel and a liquid, has two sounds;--the first, the pure and natural sound of _n_; as in _nun, banner, cannon_;--the second, the ringing sound of _ng_, heard before certain gutturals; as in _think, mangle, conquer, congress, singing, twinkling, Cen'chrea_. The latter sound should be carefully preserved in all words ending in _ing_, and in such others as require it. The sounding of the syllable _ing_ as if it were _in_, is a vulgarism in utterance; and the writing of it so, is, as it would seem by the usage of Burns, a Scotticism.

_N final_ preceded by _m_, is silent; as in _hymn, solemn, column, d.a.m.n, condemn, autumn_. But this _n_ becomes audible in an additional syllable; as in _autumnal, condemnable, d.a.m.ning_.

XV. OF THE LETTER O.

The vowel _O_ has _three_ different sounds, which are properly its own:--

1. The open, full, primal, or long _o_; as in _no, note, opiate, opacity, Roman_.

2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _o_; as in _not, nor, torrid, dollar, fondle_.

3. The slender or narrow _o_, like _oo_; as in _prove, move, who, to, do, tomb_.

_O_, in many words, sounds like _close_ or _curt u_; as in _love, shove, son, come, nothing, dost, attorney, gallon, dragon, comfit, comfort, coloration. One_ is p.r.o.nounced _wun_; and _once, wunce_. In the termination _on_ immediately after the accent, _o_ is often sunk into a sound scarcely perceptible, like that of _obscure e_; as in _mason, person, lesson_.

DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH O.

_Oa_, an improper diphthong, has the sound of _open_ or _long o_; as in _boat, coal, roach, coast, coastwise_: except in _broad_ and _groat_, which have the sound of _broad a_.

_Oe_, an improper diphthong, when _final_, has the sound of _open_ or _long o_: as in _doe, foe, throe_: except in _canoe, shoe_, p.r.o.nounced _canoo, shoo_. _OE_, a Latin diphthong, generally sounds like _open e_; as in _Antoeci, foetus_: sometimes, like _close_ or _curt e_; as in _foetid, foeticide_. But the English word _f~etid_ is often, and perhaps generally, written without the _o_.

_Oi_ is generally a proper diphthong, uniting the sound of _close o_ or _broad a_, and that of _open e_; as in _boil, coil, soil, rejoice_. But the vowels, when they appear together, sometimes belong to separate syllables; as in _Stoic, Stoicism. Oi_ unaccented, sometimes has the sound of _close_ or _curt i_; as in _avoirdupois, connoisseur, tortoise_.

_Oo_, an improper diphthong, generally has the slender sound of _o_; as in _coo, too, woo, fool, room_. It has, in some words, a shorter or closer sound, (like that of _u_ in _bull_,) as in _foot, good, wood, stood, wool_;--that of _close u_ in _blood_ and _flood_;--and that of _open o_ in _door_ and _floor_. Derivatives from any of these, sound as their primitives.

_Ou_ is generally a proper diphthong, uniting the sound of _close_ or _curt o_, and that of _u_ as heard in _bull_,--or _u_ sounded as _oo_; as in _bound, found, sound, ounce, thou. Ou_ is also, in certain instances, an improper diphthong; and, as such, it has _six_ different sounds:--(l.) That of _close_ or _curt u_; as in _rough, tough, young, flourish_. (2.) That of _broad a_; as in _ought, bought, thought_. (3.) That of _open_ or _long o_; as in _court, dough, four, though_. (4.) That of _close_ or _curt o_; as in _cough, trough, lough, shough_: which are, I believe, the only examples.

(5.) That of _slender o_, or _oo_; as in _soup, you, through_. (6.) That of _u_ in _bull_, or of _oo_ shortened; only in _would, could, should_.

_Ow_ generally sounds like the proper diphthong _ou_,--or like a union of _short o_ with _oo_; as in _brown, dowry, now, shower_: but it is often an improper diphthong, having only the sound of _open_ or _long o_; as in _know, show, stow_.

_Oy_ is a proper diphthong, equivalent in sound to _oi_; as in _joy, toy, oyster_.

TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH O.

_OEu_ is a French triphthong, p.r.o.nounced in English as _oo_, and occurring in the word _manoeuvre_, with its several derivatives. _Owe_ is an improper triphthong, and an English word, in which the _o_ only is heard, and heard always with its long or open sound.

XVI. OF THE LETTER P.

The consonant _P_, when not written before _h_, has commonly one peculiar sound; which is heard in _pen, pine, sup, supper_. The word _cupboard_ is usually p.r.o.nounced _kubburd_. _P_, written with an audible consonant, is sometimes itself silent; as in _psalm, psalter, pseudography, psychology, ptarmigan, ptyalism, receipt, corps_.

_Ph_ generally sounds like _f_; as in _philosophy_. In _Stephen_ and _nephew, ph_ has the sound of _v_. The _h_ after _p_, is silent in _diphthong, triphthong, naphtha, ophthalmic_; and both the _p_ and the _h_ are silent in _apophthegm, phthisis, phthisical_. From the last three words, _ph_ is sometimes dropped.

XVII. OF THE LETTER Q.

The consonant _Q_, being never silent, never final, never doubled, and not having a sound peculiar to itself, is invariably heard, in English, with the power of _k_; and is always followed by the vowel _u_, which, in words _purely English_, is sounded like the narrow _o_, or _oo_,--or, perhaps, is squeezed into the consonantal sound of _w_;--as in _queen, quaver, quiver, quarter, request_. In some words of _French_ origin, the _u_ after _q_ is silent; as in _coquet, liquor, burlesque, etiquette_.

XVIII. OF THE LETTER R.

The consonant _R_, called also a semivowel and a liquid, has usually, at the beginning of a word, or before a vowel, a rough or pretty strong sound; as in _roll, rose, roam, proudly, prorogue_. "In other positions," it is said by many to be "smooth" or "soft;" "as in _hard, ford, word_."--_W.

Allen_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The letter _R_ turns the tip of the tongue up against or towards the roof of the mouth, where the sound may be lengthened, roughened, trilled, or quavered. Consequently, this element may, at the will of the speaker, have more or less--little or nothing, or even very much--of that peculiar roughness, jar, or whur, which is commonly said to const.i.tute the sound. The extremes should here be avoided. Some readers very improperly omit the sound of _r_ from many words to which it pertains; p.r.o.nouncing _or_ as _awe, nor_ as _knaw, for_ as _faugh_, and _war_ as the first syllable of _water_. On the other hand, "The excessive _trilling_ of the _r_, as practised by some speakers, is a great fault."--_D. P. Page_.