The Grammar of English Grammars, Goold Brown [ebook reader for manga txt] 📗

in regard to the whole number of the sounds which constitute the oral elements of the English language, our educational literati,—the grammarians, orthoepists [sic—KTH], orthographers, elocutionists, phonographers, and lexicographers,—are found to have entertained and inculcated a great variety of opinions. In their different countings, the number of our phonical elements varies from twenty-six to more than forty. Wells says there are "about forty elementary sounds."—School Gram., §64. His first edition was more positive, and stated them at "forty-one." See the last and very erroneous passage which I have cited at the foot of page 162. In Worcester's Universal and Critical Dictionary, there appear to be noted several more than forty-one, but I know not whether this author, or Walker either, has anywhere told us how many of his marked sounds he considered to be severally different from all others. Sheridan and Jones admitted twenty-eight. Churchill acknowledges, as undisputed and indisputable, only twenty-six; though he enumerates, "Of simple vowel sounds, twelve, or perhaps thirteen" (New Grammar, p. 5,) and says, "The consonant sounds in the English language, are nineteen, or rather twenty."—P. 13.

OBS. 2.—Thus, while Pitman, Comstock, and others, are amusing themselves with the folly of inventing new "Phonetic Alphabets," or of overturning all orthography to furnish "a character for each of the 38 elementary sounds," more or fewer, one of the acutest observers among our grammarians can fix on no number more definite or more considerable than thirty-one, thirty-two, or thirty-three; and the finding of these he announces with a "perhaps," and the admission that other writers object to as many as five of the questionable number. Churchill's vowel sounds, he says, "may be found in the following words: 1. B_a_te, 2. B_a_t, 3. B_a_ll; 4. B_e_t, 5. B_e_; 6. B_i_t; 7. B_o_t, 8. B_o_ne, 9. B_oo_n; 10. B_u_t, 11. B_u_ll; 12. Lovel_y_; 13. _W_ool."—New Grammar, p. 5. To this he adds: "Many of the writers on orthoepy [sic—KTH], however, consider the first and fourth of the sounds above distinguished as actually the same, the former differing from the latter only by being lengthened in the pronunciation. They also reckon the seventh sound, to be the third shortened; the twelfth, the fifth shortened; and the eleventh, the ninth shortened. Some consider the fifth and sixth as differing only in length; and most esteem the eleventh and thirteenth as identical."—Ib.

OBS. 3.—Now, it is plain, that these six identifications, or so many of them as are admitted, must diminish by six, or by the less number allowed, the thirteen vowel sounds enumerated by this author. By the best authorities, W initial, as in "_W_ool." is reckoned a consonant; and, of course, its sound is supposed to differ in some degree from that of oo in "B_oo_n," or that of u in "B_u_ll,"—the ninth sound or the eleventh in the foregoing series. By Walker, Murray, and other popular writers, the sound of y in "Lovel_y_" is accounted to be essentially the same as that of e in "B_e_." The twelfth and the thirteenth, then, of this list, being removed, and three others added,—namely, the a heard in far, the i in fine, and the u in fuse,—we shall have the fourteen vowel sounds which are enumerated by L. Murray and others, and adopted by the author of the present work.

OBS. 4.—Wells says, "A has six sounds:—1. Long; as in late. 2. Grave; as in father. 3. Broad; as in fall. 4. Short; as in man. 5. The sound heard in care, hare. 6. Intermediate between a in man and a in father; as in grass, pass, branch."—School Grammar, 1850, p. 33. Besides these six, Worcester recognizes a seventh sound,—the "A obscure; as in liar, rival"—Univ. and Crit. Dict., p. ix. Such a multiplication of the oral elements of our first vowel.—or, indeed, any extension of them beyond four,—appears to me to be unadvisable; because it not only makes our alphabet the more defective, but is unnecessary, and not sustained by our best and most popular orthoepical [sic—KTH] authorities. The sound of a in liar, (and in rival too, if made "obscure") is a borrowed one, pertaining more properly to the letter u. In grass, pass, and branch, properly uttered, the a is essentially the same as in man. In care and hare, we have the first sound of a, made as slender as the r will admit.

OBS. 5.—Concerning his fifth sound of a, Wells cites authorities thus: "Walker, Webster, Sheridan, Fulton and Knight, Kenrick, Jones, and Nares, give a in care the long sound of a, as in late. Page and Day give it the short sound of a, as in mat. See Page's Normal Chart, and Day's Art of Elocution. Worcester and Perry make the sound of a in care a separate element; and this distinction is also recognized by Russell, Mandeville, and Wright. See Russell's Lessons in Enunciation, Mandeville's Elements of Reading and Oratory, and Wright's Orthography."—Wells's School Grammar, p. 34. Now the opinion that a in care has its long, primal sound, and is not properly "a separate element," is maintained also by Murray, Hiley, Bullions, Scott, and Cobb; and is, undoubtedly, much more prevalent than any other. It accords, too, with the scheme of Johnson. To count this a by itself, seems too much like a distinction without a difference.

OBS. 6.—On his sixth sound of a, Wells remarks as follows: "Many persons pronounce this a incorrectly, giving it either the grave or the short sound. Perry, Jones, Nares, Webster, and Day, give to a in grass the grave sound, as in father; while Walker, Jamieson, and Russell, give it the short sound, as in man. But good speakers generally pronounce a in grass, plant, etc., as a distinct element, intermediate between the grave and the short sound."—School Gram., p. 34. He also cites Worcester and Smart to the same effect; and thinks, with the latter, "There can be no harm in avoiding the censure of both parties by shunning the extreme that offends the taste of each."—Ib., p. 35. But I say, that a needless multiplication of questionable vowel powers difficult to be discriminated, is "harm," or a fault in teaching; and, where intelligent orthoepists [sic—KTH] dispute whether words have "the grave or the short sound" of a, how can others, who condemn both parties, acceptably split the difference, and form "a distinct element" in the interval? Words are often mispronounced, and the French or close a may be mistaken for the Italian or broadish a, and vice versa; but, between the two, there does not appear to be room for an other distinguishable from both. Dr. Johnson says, (inaccurately indeed,) "A has three sounds, the slender, [the] open, and [the] broad. A slender is found in most words, as face, mane. A open is the a of the Italian, or nearly resembles it; as father, rather, congratulate, fancy, glass. A broad resembles the a of the German; as all, wall, call. [fist] The short a approaches to the a open, as grass."—Johnson's Grammar, in his Quarto Dictionary, p. 1. Thus the same word, grass, that serves Johnson for an example of "the short a" is used by Wells and Worcester to exemplify the "a intermediate;" while of the Doctor's five instances of what he calls the "a open," three, if not four, are evidently such as nearly all readers nowadays would call close or short!

OBS. 7.—There are several grammarians who agree in ascribing to our first vowel five sounds, but who nevertheless oppose one an other in making up the five. Thus, according to Hart, "A has five sounds of its own, as in fate, fare, far, fall, fat,"—Hart's E. Gram., p. 26. According to W. Allen, "A has five sounds;—the long or slender, as in cane; the short or open, as in can; the middle, as in arm; the broad, as in all; and the broad contracted, as in want."—Allen's E. Gram., p. 6. P. Davis has the same sounds in a different order, thus: "a [as in] mane, mar, fall, mat, what."—Davis's E. Gram., p. xvi. Mennye says, "A has five sounds; as, 1 fame, 2 fat, 3 false, 4 farm, 5 beggar."—Mennye's E. Gram., p. 55. Here the fifth sound is the seventh of Worcester,—the "A obscure."

DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH A.

The only proper diphthong in which a is put first, is the word ay, meaning yes: in which a has its middle sound, as in ah, and y is like open e, or ee, uttered feebly—ah-ee. Aa, when pronounced as an improper diphthong, and not as pertaining to two syllables, usually takes the sound of close a; as in Balaam, Canaan, Isaac. In many words, as in Baäl, Gaäl, Gaäsh, the diæresis occurs. In baa, the cry of a sheep, we hear the Italian sound of a; and, since we hear it but once, one a or the other must be silent.

Æ, a Latin improper diphthong, common also in the Anglo-Saxon, generally has, according to modern orthoëpists, the sound of open e or ee; as in Cæsar, ænigma, pæan;—sometimes that of close or short e; as in aphæresis, diæresis, et cætera. Some authors, judging the a of this diphthong to be needless, reject it, and write Cesar, enigma, &c.

Ai, an improper diphthong, generally has the sound of open or long a; as in sail, avail, vainly. In a final unaccented syllable, it sometimes preserves the first sound of a; as in chilblain, mortmain: but oftener takes the sound of close or short i; as in certain, curtain, mountain, villain. In said, saith, again, and against, it takes the sound of close or short e; and in the name Britain, that of close or short u.

Ao, an improper diphthong, occurs in the word gaol, now frequently written as it is pronounced, jail; also in gaoler, which may be written jailer; and in the compounds of gaol: and, again, it is found in the adjective extraordinary, and its derivatives, in which, according to nearly all orthoëpists, the a is silent. The name Pharaoh, is pronounced F=a'r=o.

Au, an improper diphthong, is generally sounded like broad a; as in cause, caught, applause. Before n and an other consonant, it usually has the sound of grave or middle a; as in aunt, flaunt, gaunt, launch, laundry. So in laugh, laughter, and their derivatives. Gauge and gauger are pronounced gage and gager, and sometimes written so.

Aw, an improper diphthong, is always sounded like broad a; as in draw, drawn, drawl.

Ay, an improper diphthong, like ai, has usually the sound of open or long a; as in day, pay, delay: in sayst and says, it has the sound of close or short e.

TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH A.

Awe is sounded au, like broad a. Aye, an adverb signifying always, has the sound of open or long a only; being different, both in sound and in spelling, from the adverb ay, yes, with which it is often carelessly confounded. The distinction is maintained by Johnson, Walker, Todd, Chalmers, Jones, Cobb, Maunder, Bolles, and others; but Webster and Worcester give it up, and write "ay, or aye," each sounded ah-ee, for the affirmation, and "aye," sounded =a, for the adverb of time: Ainsworth on the contrary has ay only, for either sense, and does not note the pronunciation.

II. OF THE LETTER B.

The consonant B has but one sound; as in boy, robber, cub. B is silent before t or after m in the same syllable; as in debt, debtor, doubt, dumb, lamb, climb, tomb. It is heard in subtile, fine; but not in subtle, cunning.

III. OF THE LETTER C.

The consonant C has two sounds, neither of them peculiar to this letter; the one hard, like that of k, and the other soft, or rather hissing, like that of s. C before a, o, u, l, r, t, or when it ends a syllable, is generally hard, like k; as in can, come curb, clay, crab, act, action, accent, flaccid. C before e, i, or y, is always soft, like s; as in cent, civil, decency, acid.

In a few words, c takes the flat sound of s, like that of z; as in discern, suffice, sacrifice, sice. C before ea, ia, ie, io, or eou, when the accent precedes, sounds like sh; as in ocean, special, species, gracious, cetaceous. C is silent in czar, czarina, victuals, indict, muscle, corpuscle, and the second syllable of Connecticut.

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,