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apl, apl, apl, apl, epl, epl, &c.
adl, adl, adl, adl, edl, edl, &c.
adld, adld, adld, adld, edld, edld, &c.
apld, apld, apld, apld, epld, epld, &c.
arld, arld, arld, arld, erld, erld, &c.
angs, angs, angs, angs, engs, engs, &c.
angd, angd, angd, angd, engd, engd, &c.

angst, angst, angst, angst, engst, engst, &c.

angdst, angdst, angdst, angdst, engdst, engdst, &c.

These exercises, as before stated, should be practised with every variety of emphasis, inflection, pitch, force, tone, movement, &c.

According to Dr. Wallis, the author of an English grammar in the reign of Charles the Second, words beginning with st always denote firmness and strength, analogous to the Latin sto; as, stand, stay, staff, stop, stout, steady, statue, stamp, &c.

Words beginning with str intimate violent force and energy; as, strive, strength, stress, stripe, &c. Thr implies forcible motion; as, throw, throb, thrust, threaten, thraldom, thrill; gl, smoothness or silent motion; as, glib, glide; wr, obliquity or distortion; as, wry, wrest, wrestle, wring, wrong, wrangle, wrath, &c.; sw, silent agitation, or lateral motion; as, sway, swing, swerve, sweep, swim; sl, a gentle fall or less observable motion; as, slide, slip, slide, slit, slow, slack, sling; sp, dissipation or expansion; as, spread, sprout, split, spill, spring.

Terminations in ash indicate something acting nimbly and sharply; as, crash, dash, rash, flash, lash, slash; terminations in ush, something acting more obtusely and dully; as, crush, brush, hush, gush, blush.

"Many more examples of the same kind seem to leave no doubt that the analogies of sound have had some influence on the formation of words. At the same time, in all speculations of this kind, there is so much room for fancy to operate, that they ought to be adopted with much caution in forming any general theory.” - Chalmers.

"It is a fact familiar in the experience of most teachers, that, after the utmost care in the systematic cultivation of the utterance of young readers, by regular analytic exercises, the influence of colloquial negligence in habit is so powerful, that the same individual who has just articulated, with perfect exactness, the elements in a column, while he is kept mechanically on his guard against error by attention to details, -will, immediately on beginning to read a page of continuous expression of thought, relapse into his wonted errors of enunciation. To correct this tendency, no resort is so effectual as that of studying analytically a few lines, previous to commencing the usual practice of a reading-lesson. The attention must first be turned to the words as such, -as forms of articulation, then to their sounds in connection with their meaning.

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The following will be found useful modes of practising such exercises as are now suggested. Begin at the end of a line, sentence, or paragraph, so as to prevent the possibility of reading negligently; then,

First:- Articulate separately and very distinctly, every element in every word, throughout the line or sentence.

Second: - Enunciate clearly and exactly, every syllable of each word throughout the line or sentence.

Third:- Pronounce every word in the same style.

Fourth:

Read the line or sentence from the beginning, forward, with strict attention to the manner of pronouncing each word.

Fifth: - Read the whole line or sentence with an easy, fluent enunciation, paying strict attention to the expression of the meaning, but without losing correctness in the style of pronunciation.

This is, apparently, a merely mechanical drill; but its effects are strikingly beneficial in a very short time. The habits of classes of young readers have thus been, in some instances, effectually changed in a few weeks, from slovenliness and indistinctness to perfect precision and propriety, united to fluency and freedom of style."-Russell.

Concrete and Discrete Sounds.

When the voice flows in one continuous, uninterrupted stream of sound, it is called a concrete sound or movement; but when this stream is interrupted by breaks, it is called a discrete sound or movement. The former resemble the tones of the organ, the latter the distinct tones of the pianoforte.

When the letter a, as heard in the word day, is pronounced simply as an alphabetic element, without intensity or emotion, and as if it were a continuation, not a close of utterance, two sounds are heard continuously successive; the first has the nominal sound of this letter, and issues with a certain degree of fulness; the last is the element e, as heard in eve, gradually diminished to an attenuated close.

This opening fulness of sound, here described, has been denominated by Dr. Rush, the Radical movement, "because the following or vanishing portion of the elementary rises (in the vanish) concretely from it as from a base or root; " the last part he calls the Vanishing movement, "because it becomes gradually weaker, until it finally dies away into silence."

Vowel Sounds.

The vowels are divided into Monothongs, Diphthongs, and Triphthongs.

The Monothongs consist of one kind of sound throughout their concrete movement, and consequently are simple elements; they are represented by the italics in the following words: arm, all, an, eve, end, in, on, up, and full.

The Diphthongs consist of two vowel sounds, which coalesce so intimately that they appear like one uniform sound; they are represented by the italics in the following words: ale, ile, lose, tube.

The diphthong å, as well as 1, has a characteristic sound for its radical, and the monothong i for its vanish. These diphthongs, when carried through a wide range of pitch, as in interrogation with surprise, are converted into triphthongs, the third constituent being the monothong è.

The diphthong 8, as well as ů, has a characteristic sound for its radical, and the subvowel w for its vanish.

The Triphthongs consist of three vowel sounds which coalesce so intimately that they appear like one uniform sound; they are represented by the italics in the following words: old, our.

The first constituent of d, as well as that of ou, is a sound characteristic of this element; and the diphthong & constitutes the second and third constituents of triphthongs.

Should it be asked why diphthongs and triphthongs are designated as elementary, when each may be resolved into greater simplicity, Dr. Rush replies, "Though compounded of different successive sounds, yet these are inseparable in utterance; and regarding an element as a single impulse of the voice, the diphthong must be classed with it."

The principal defects in articulation may be classed as

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First: Feebleness; — arising from the want of a full and forcible emission of voice, and of due energy in the action of the organs, particularly the tongue, the teeth, and the lips.

Second: Omission; -a fault occasioned by undue rapidity, and sometimes by an inadvertent compliance with incorrect custom; as, ån for ånd, in 'Is for in his, &c.

Third: Obscurity; - caused by the want of precision and accuracy in the functions of the organs, and a consequent want of definiteness or correctness in the sounds of letters and syllables; as, shall for shall — go-an for gò′-Ang, &c.

"The rule of practice, therefore, in regard to the exercises of reading and speaking, should be always to articulate with such energy, deliberateness, and accuracy, that every sound of the voice may be fully and exactly formed, distinctly heard, and perfectly understood. A drawling slowness, however, and a pedantic or irregular prominence of unaccented syllables, should be carefully avoided. Faults arising from slovenliness, and those which seem to spring from misdirected study, are equally objectionable.” — Russell.

8

PRONUNCIATION.

Articulation regards the functions of the organs of speech; Pronunciation, the sound produced by these functions, as conforming to or deviating from the modes of good usage.

Orthoëpy may be defined as the analysis of true pronunciation,— being that part of articulation which treats of the correct sounds given to single letters or single words, without reference to their mutual dependence on each other.

One of the most effectual methods of correcting errors in articulation will be found in analyzing the true pronunciation of words spelling words according to their sound, thus:

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from-f-r-3-m

shall-sh-â-1

facts-f-a-k-t-z

kindness-k-i-n-d'-n-ẻ-8
— g-l-d'—r-ẻ

-s-å-k'-r-l-f-l-z, &c.

"Speech being merely a collection of arbitrary sounds, used as signs of thought or feeling, it is indispensable to intelligible communication, that there be a general agreement about the signification assigned to given sounds; as otherwise there could be no common language. It is equally important that there be a common consent and established custom, to regulate and fix the sounds used in speech, that these may have a definite character and signification, and become the current expression of thought. Hence, the necessity that individuals conform, in their habits of speech, to the rules prescribed by general usage, or, more properly speaking, to the custom of the educated and intellectual classes of society, which is, by courtesy, generally acknowledged as the law of pronunciation. Individual opinion, when it is at variance with this important and useful principle of accommodation, gives rise to eccentricities, which neither the authority of profound learning, nor that of strict accuracy and system can redeem from the charge of pedantry.

"It is a matter of great importance, to recognize the rule of authorized custom, and neither yield to the influence of those errors which, through inadvertency, will creep into occasional or local use; nor, on the other hand, be induced to follow innovations or changes adopted without sufficient sanction. A cultivated taste is always perceptible in pronunciation, as in every other expression of mind; and errors in pronouncing are unavoidably associated with a deficiency in the rudiments of a good educa tion."- - Russell.

"A few brief stanzas may be well employed
To speak of errors we can all avoid.

Learning condemns beyond the reach of hope
The careless churl who speaks of soap for sōap;

Her edict exiles from her fair abode

The clownish voice that utters road for road;
Less stern to him who calls his cōat a coat,
And steers his bōat believing it a boat.
She pardoned one, our classic city's boast,
Who said, at Cambridge, most instead of mōst;
But knit her brow, and stamp'd her angry foot,
To hear a teacher call a root a root.

"Once more, speak clearly, if you speak at all;
Carve every word before you let it fall;
Don't, like a lecturer or dramatic star,
Try over-hard to roll the British R;

Do put your accents in the proper spot;
Don't let me beg you.

don't say "How?" for "What?"

And when you stick on conversation's burs,

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Don't strew the pathway with those dreadful urs." Holmes.

SYLLABICATION.

A syllable is so much of a word as can be pronounced by one impulse of the voice; as con, in confess.

An interruption of the concrete, whether made wilfully by pause, or necessarily by the occurrence of an abrupt or an atonic element, is unavoidably the end of one syllable, and the preface to the beginning of another.

A Monosyllable is a word of one syllable; as, love.

A Dissyllable is a word of two syllables; as, lovely.

A Trisyllable is a word of three syllables; as, loveliness.

A Polysyllable is a word of four or more syllables; as, unloveliness, illimitable.

The Ultimate is the last syllable of a word.

The Penult, or Penultimate, is the last syllable but one in a word. The Antepenult, or Antepenultimate, is the last syllable but two of a word.

The Preantepenult, or Preantepenultimate, is the last syllable but three of a word.

"The various lengths of syllables depend on the nature and arrangement of their constituent elements, in the execution of the radical and vanish.". Rush.

Quantity is the time occupied in pronouncing a letter, syllable, or word. It also includes earnestness. (See page 54.)

An immutable syllable is one that cannot be prolonged but with deformed pronunciation; as vict, in the word convict.

A mutable syllable is one which admits a slight change in quantity, bu, which, with undue prolongation, has the same offensive

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