The Grammar of English Grammars Part 254

OBS. 2.--Dr. Johnson, in his "Grammar of the English Tongue," says, "_R_ has the same _rough snarling sound_ as in other tongues."--P. 3. Again, in his Quarto Dictionary, under this letter, he says, "_R_ is called the _canine letter_, because it is uttered _with some resemblance to the growl or snarl of a cur_: it has _one constant sound_ in English, such as it has in other languages; as, _red, rose, more, muriatick_." Walker, however, who has a greater reputation as an orthoepist [sic--KTH], teaches that, "There is a distinction in the sound of this letter, which is," says he, "in my opinion, _of no small importance_; and that is, the [distinction of] the rough and [the] smooth _r_. Ben Jonson," continues he, "in his Grammar, says, 'It is sounded firm in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the middle and ends, as in _rarer, riper_; and so in the Latin.' The rough _r_ is formed by jarring the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth near the fore teeth: the smooth _r_ is a vibration of the lower part of the tongue, near the root, against the inward region of the palate, near the entrance of the throat."--_Walker's Principles_, No. 419; _Octavo Dict._, p. 48.

OBS. 3.--Wells, with his characteristic indecision, forbears all recognition of this difference, and all intimation of the quality of the sound, whether smooth or rough; saying, in his own text, only this: "_R_ has the sound heard in _rare_."--_School Grammar_, p. 40. Then, referring the student to sundry authorities, he adds in a footnote certain "quotations," that are said to "present a general view of the different opinions which exist among orthoepists respecting this letter." And so admirably are these authorities or opinions balanced and offset, one cla.s.s against an other, that it is hard to tell which has the odds. First, though it is not at all probable that Wells's utterance of "_rare_" exhibits twice over the _rough snarl_ of Johnson's _r_, the "general view" seems intended to confirm the indefinite teaching above, thus: "'_R_ has one constant sound in English.'--_Johnson_. The same view is adopted by Webster, Perry, Kendrick, Sheridan, Jones, Jameson, Knowles, and others."--_School Grammar_, p. 40. In counterpoise of these, Wells next cites about as many more--namely, Frazee, Page, Russell, Walker, Rush, Barber, Comstock, and Smart,--as maintaining or admitting that _r_ has sometimes a rough sound, and sometimes a smoother one.

XIX. OF THE LETTER S.

The consonant _S_ has a sharp, hissing, or hard sound; as in _sad, sister, thus_: and a flat, buzzing, or soft sound, like that of _z_; as in _rose, dismal, bosom, husband. S_, at the beginning of words, or after any of the sharp consonants, is always sharp; as in _see, steps, cliffs, sits, stocks, smiths_. _S_, after any of the flat mutes, or at the end of words when not preceded by a sharp consonant, is generally flat; as in _eyes, trees, beds, bags, calves_. But in the English termination _ous_, or in the Latin _us_, it is sharp; as _joyous, vigorous, hiatus_.

_Ss_ is generally sharp; as in _pa.s.s, kiss, hara.s.s, a.s.suage, ba.s.set, ca.s.sock, remissness_. But the first two Esses in _possess_, or any of its regular derivatives, as well as the two in _dissolve_, or its proximate kin, sound like two Zees; and the soft or flat sound is commonly given to each _s_ in _hyssop, hussy, and hussar_. In _scissel, scissible_, and _scissile_, all the Esses hiss;--in _scissors_, the last three of the four are flat, like _z_;--but in the middle of _scissure_ and _scission_ we hear the sound of _zh_.

_S_, in the termination _sion_, takes the sound of _sh_, after a consonant; as in _aspersion, session, pa.s.sion, mission, compulsion_: and that of _zh_, after a vowel; as in _evasion, elision, confusion_.

In the verb _a.s.sure_, and each of its derivatives, also in the nouns _pressure_ and _fissure_, with their derivatives, we hear, according to Walker, the sound of _sh_ for each _s_, or twice in each word; but, according to the orthoepy of Worcester, that sound is heard only in the accented syllable of each word, and the vowel in each unaccented syllable is _obscure_.

_S_ is silent or mute in the words, _isle, island, aisle, demesne, corps_, and _viscount_.

XX. OF THE LETTER T.

The general sound of the consonant _T_, is heard in _time, letter, set_.

_T_, immediately after the accent, takes the sound of _tch_, before _u_, and generally also before _eou_; as in _nature, feature, virtue, righteous, courteous_: when _s_ or _x_ precedes, it takes this sound before _ia_ or _io_; as in _fustian, bastion, mixtion_. But the general or most usual sound of _t_ after the accent, when followed by _i_ and an other vowel, is that of _sh_; as in _creation, patient, cautious_.

In English, _t_ is seldom, if ever, silent or powerless. In _depot_, however, a word borrowed from the French, we do not sound it; and in _chestnut_, which is a compound of our own, it is much oftener written than heard. In _often_ and _soften_, some think it silent; but it seems rather to take here the sound of _f_. In _chasten, hasten, fasten, castle, nestle, whistle, apostle, epistle, bustle_, and similar words, with their sundry derivatives, the _t_ is said by some to be mute; but here it seems to take the sound of _s_; for, according to the best authorities, this sound is beard twice in such words. _Th_, written in Greek by the character called _Theta_, ([Greek: th] or O capital, [Greek: th] or [Greek: th] small,) represents an elementary sound; or, rather, two distinct elementary sounds, for which the Anglo-Saxons had different characters, supposed by Dr.

Bosworth to have been applied with accurate discrimination of "the _hard_ or _sharp_ sound of _th_," from "the _soft_ or _flat_ sound."--(See _Bosworth's Compendious Anglo-Saxon Dictionary_, p. 268.) The English _th_ is either sharp, as in _thing, ethical, thinketh_; or flat, as in _this, whither, thither_.

"_Th initial_ is sharp; as in _thought_: except in _than, that, the, thee, their, them, then, thence, there, these, they, thine, this, thither, those, thou, thus, thy_, and their compounds."--_W. Allen's Grammar_, p. 22.

_Th final_ is also sharp; as in _south_: except in _beneath, booth, with_, and several verbs formerly with _th_ last, but now frequently (and more properly) written with final _e_; as _loathe, mouthe, seethe, soothe, smoothe, clothe, wreathe, bequeathe, unclothe_.

_Th medial_ is sharp, too, when preceded or followed by a consonant; as in _Arthur, ethnic, swarthy, athwart_: except in _brethren, burthen, farther, farthing, murther, northern, worthy_. But "_th_ between two vowels, is generally flat in words purely English; as in _gather, neither, whither_: and sharp in words from the learned languages; as in _atheist, ether, method_"--See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 22.

"_Th_, in _Thames, Thomas, thyme, asthma, phthisis_, and their compounds, is p.r.o.nounced like _t_."--_Ib._

XXI. OF THE LETTER U.

The vowel _U_ has three sounds which may be considered to be properly its own:--

1. The open, long, full, primal, or diphthongal _u_; as in _tube, cubic, juvenile_.

2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _u_; as in _tub, b.u.t.ter, justice, unhung_.

3. The middle _u_, resembling a short or quick _oo_; as in _pull, pulpit, artful_.

_U_ forming a syllable by itself or _U_ as naming itself is nearly equivalent in sound to _you_, and requires the article _a_, and not _an_, before it; as, _a U, a union_.

_U_ sometimes borrows the sound of some other vowel; for _bury_ is p.r.o.nounced _berry_, and _busy_ is p.r.o.nounced _bizzy_. So in the derivatives, _burial, buried, busied, busily_, and the like.

The long or diphthongal _u_, commonly sounded as _yu_, or as _ew_ in _ewer_,--or any equivalent diphthong or digraph, as _ue, ui, eu_, or _ew_.--when it follows _r_ or _rh_, a.s.sumes the sound of slender _o_ or _oo_; as in _rude, rhubarb, rue, rueful, rheum, fruit, truth, brewer_.

DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH U.

_U_, in the proper diphthongs, _ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_, has the sound of _w_ or of _oo feeble_; as in _persuade, query, quell, quiet, languid, quote, obloquy_.

_Ua_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _middle a_; as in _guard, guardian_. 2. Of _close a_; as in _guarantee, piquant_. 3. Of _obscure e_; as in _victuals_ and its compounds or kindred. 4. Of _open u_; as in _mantuamaker_.

_Ue_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _open u_; as in _blue, ensue, ague_. 2. Of _close e_; as in _guest, guesser_. 3. Of _close u_; as in _leaguer_. _Ue final_ is sometimes silent; as in _league, antique_.

_Ui_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _open i_; as in _guide, guile_. 2. Of _close i_; as in _conduit, circuit_. 3. Of _open u_; as in _juice, sluice, suit_.

_Uo_ can scarcely be called an improper diphthong, except, perhaps, after _q_ in _liquor, liquorice, liquorish_, where _uor_ is heard as _ur_.

_Uy_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _open y_; as in _buy, buyer_. 2. Of _feeble y_, or of _ee feeble_; as in _plaguy, roguy_.

TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH U.

_Uai_ is p.r.o.nounced nearly, if not exactly, like _way_; as in _guai-a-c.u.m, quail, quaint_. _Uaw_ is sounded like _wa_ in _water_; as in _squaw_, a female Indian. _Uay_ has the sound of _way_; as in _Par-a-guay_: except in _quay_, which nearly all our orthoepists p.r.o.nounce _kee_. _Uea_ and _uee_ are each sounded _wee_; as in _queasy, queer, squeal, squeeze_. _Uoi_ and _woy_ are each sounded _woi_; as in _quoit, buoy_. Some say, that, as _u_, in these combinations, sounds like _w_, it is a consonant; others allege, that _w_ itself has only the sound of _oo_, and is therefore in all cases a vowel. _U_ has, certainly, in these connexions, as much of the sound of _oo_, as has _w_; and perhaps a little more.

XXII. OF THE LETTER V.

The consonant _V_ always has a sound like that of _f flattened_; as in _love, vulture, vivacious_. In pure English, it is never silent, never final, never doubled: but it is often doubled in the dialect of Craven; and there, too, it is sometimes final.

XXIII. OF THE LETTER W.

_W_, when reckoned a _consonant_, (as it usually is when uttered with a vowel that follows it,) has the sound heard at the beginning of _wine, win, woman, woody_; being a sound less vocal than that of _oo_, and depending more upon the lips.

_W_ before _h_, is usually p.r.o.nounced as if it followed the _h_; as in _what, when, where, while_: but, in _who, whose, whom, whole, whoop_, and words formed from these, it is silent. Before _r_, in the same syllable, it is also silent; as in _wrath, wrench, wrong_. So in a few other cases; as in _sword, answer, two_.

_W_ is never used alone as a _vowel_; except in some Welsh or foreign names, in which it is equivalent to _oo_; as in "_Cwm Cothy_," the name of a mountain in Wales; "_Wkra_" the name of a small river in Poland.--See _Lockhart's Napoleon_, Vol. ii, p. 15. In a diphthong, when heard, it has the power of _u_ in _bull_, or nearly that of _oo_; as in _new, now, brow, frown_. _Aw_ and _ow_ are frequently improper diphthongs, the _w_ being silent, the _a_ broad, and the _o_ long; as in _law, flaw,--tow, snow_.

_W_, when sounded before vowels, being reckoned a _consonant_, we have no diphthongs or triphthongs beginning with this letter.

XXIV. OF THE LETTER X.

The consonant "_X_ has a _sharp_ sound, like _ks_; as in _ox_: and a _flat_ one, like _gz_; as in _example_. _X_ is sharp, when it ends an accented syllable; as in _exercise, exit, excellence_: or when it precedes an accented syllable beginning with a consonant; as in _expand, extreme, expunge_. _X_ unaccented is generally flat, when the next syllable begins with a vowel; as in _exist, exemption, exotic_. _X initial_, in Greek proper names, has the sound of _z_; as in _Xanthus, Xantippe, Xenophon, Xerxes_"--See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 25.

XXV. OF THE LETTER Y.

_Y_, as a _consonant_, has the sound heard at the beginning of _yarn, young, youth_; being rather less vocal than the feeble sound of _i_, or of the vowel _y_, and serving merely to modify that of a succeeding vowel, with which it is quickly united. _Y_, as a vowel, has the same sounds as _i_:--

1. The open, long, full, or primal _y_; as in _cry, crying, thyme, cycle_.

2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _y_; as in _system, symptom, cynic_.