LESSON XIII.

RULE.—A as a word, also a unaccented and ending a word, or constituting an unaccented syllable at the beginning of a word, has the sound of ä, but briefer.

Thus, America should be pronounced ämerikä, the two a's very brief, and, because not accented, both spoken lightly, like the final sound in Hannah.

Apply the Rule in pronouncing the last syllable of each of the following words: Anna, Cuba, Mendota, Pāna, algebra. Avoid saying amazed for a(b)mazed, awry for a(h) wry, and again for a(h)gain.

Call this sound "short Italian a," and represent it by ȧ.

The words aôrta and aerial, since they have the initial "unaccented a" immediately followed by a vowel, are exceptions to the second branch of the Rule.

Notice that Asa, Ada, āōrist, etc., have the initial a accented: the Rule does not pertain to initial a under

accent.

Utter, from memory, the following eight non-sonants, in the order here given, and after each its sonant: p, t, ç, k, f, th, s, sh.

Analyze deserve, Martha, pensive, quaked, Noah, Augusta, specie, eightieth, mendicant, modification, erysipelas.

Represent the foregoing list: also, screened, carriage(i), initial, special, equation, explosion, algebra, gauntlet, gutta-percha.

LESSON XIV.

The "short Italian a" is frequently found in monosyllables and in accented syllables, as well as in the posi tions named in Lesson XIII.

Speak ah explosively, as in Hannah, and with the falling slide, before each of the following words, and give the same sound to the a within the word: ah, task; ah, fast; ah, grass; ah, last; ah, aghast [the same sound twice]; ah, bath; ah, command; ah, staff. Review this practice attentively until the correct utterance becomes

easy.

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The subjoined list contains the most common words in which "short Italian a" is used with stress:

Advance, advantage, after, alas, amass, ant, ask, asp, bask, basket, blanch, blast, bombast, branch, brass, cask, casket, cast, caste, chaff, chance, chant, clasp, class, contrast, craft, dance, draft, draught, enhance, fast, flask, gasp, ghastly, glance, glass, graft, grass, lance, lass, last, mass, mast, pass, past, pastime, pastor, plaster, prance, quaff, raft, rafter, repast, shaft, slant, staff, task, trance, vast, waft.

The following list of proper names is inserted for convenience in drill. Let it be used until final unaccented a (a) is no longer heard as "short e,' ‚” “long a,” or “short i." Say Mendota, not Mendōti; Alabama, not Alabamā.

Asa, Ira, Joshua, Amanda, Amelia, Celia, Clara, Eliza, Julia, Laura, Martha, Melissa, Rhoda, Sophia, Africa, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania (ni-a), Virginia, Louisiana [Say Lo-i, not Lo-e; then, zi-an-a. Now, with strongest accent on "an," pronounce Lo'-i-zi-an'-a].

Represent grandly, aërial, aloof, polka, steady, acorn, sacred, knows, snare, partly, becomes, artisan, arnica, acid, Africa, Peoria, Alps, Norway, morrow, affair.

LESSON XV.

With one impulse pronounce tôl; also eōk. Compare these syllables with yawl, yoke. With one impulse pronounce get; ooz. Compare with wet, was. Which represents a more open sound, o or the w in wet? ē or the y in yoke? In Lesson VII., the elements o and è were called imperfect vowels, on account of the partial closure of the vocal tube during their formation. Each of these vowels when immediately followed by a vowel in the same syllable, becomes yet closer; o becomes w, as in wet; and ē (or i) y, as in yet, pinion. Practice uttering these elements in was and in you, and use w and y to represent them.

Why should the term participial elements or participles appropriately designate initial w and y? They have also been called vowel-consonants, and, by some, semi-vowels. Why?

Which form of the indefinite article is used before yard and watch? To which class, then, the vowel or the consonant, must w and y be regarded as more strictly belonging?

Analyze word, yard, worship, yacht (o), poniard (y), between, coquette [In a few words from the French, u is silent after q], zoology.

Represent the foregoing list; also, atheistic, acquaintance, auxiliary (gz), extension, dogma, convenience, square, familiar, quail, quadrille, distance, chance.

LESSON XVI.

Pronounce sing. Omit s and utter ing. Now omit i, and sound only ng. Do this several times. Give the three sounds separately, s i ng. The digraph ng denotes a simple sound. Represent this by an underlined thus, n.

;

Sin, sing: which of these words, by the addition of k, (sin-k, sing-k) forms to the ear the word sink? Pronounce plan; now, without changing the last sound of the word, add the sound k. You do not thus speak the word plank. Is there a difference in sound between the word fin and the first syllable of finger? What is the second syllable of finger? of singer? Is the sound n composed of the sounds n and g? Show what is the fact in the case. In analyzing, determine whether n has its own proper sound or that known as "the sound of ng."

Practice in uttering the initial element in low; also that in mow, and that in no. Represent these respectively by l, m, and n.

The sonants, 1, m, n, r, and n are called liquids, on account of the freedom which they display in uniting, both among themselves and with other consonants; they have no cognates.

Analyze and Represent singer, linger, lynx, English (not e), blanket, conquer, yonder, watching, plumb, mongrel (u), congress, familiarity, wreath, anger, farewell, paltry, mother, donkey, quiescent, language.

LESSON XVII.

Compare the initial breathings in the words hen and when. The former is simply unmodified breath. Represent this by h.

The latter breathing, represented, wherever it occurs

in an English word, by wh, has usually been regarded by orthoëpists as compound: viz., as composed of h followed by w. Now w is a sonant; and if the common view were correct, we should hear a sonant before the "short e,” in when, whet. Wh will be found to be the sign of mere breath emitted while the lips are in position for giving the sonant w. Represent this aspirate by hw (or, more briefly, by a written attached to the stem of a written h). Call this "the modified aspirate"; the sound of h, the unmodified aspirate."

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Pronounce the following words: whoop, where, which, who, what, whose, whom, whether, whole, while. Five of the foregoing words begin with "the unmodified aspirate. Which are they?

Analyze and Represent the preceding list; also wharf, scarf, thwart, distinguish, original, distinct, tongue, liquid, experiment, opinion.

LESSON XVIII.

We have now studied forty elements.

There remain

four compound vowels, called diphthongs, as heard in isle, type; oil, boy; out, cow; tune, few.

The first, called "long i," composed of ä
"second (without name)

"third

and e, denoted by i.

ô and i,

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oi.

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ä and ọ,

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i and o,

ů.

fourth, called "long u," See "Remarks on the Chart," preceding Lesson I. Pronounce the first syllable of the word music. Now omit the first element, and sound only u. [The name of the letter u and the sound u are not quite the same.] Does the u in music sound precisely like that in unit? What is the difference. Like which of the two is the u in manual? When "long u" stands as the first letter of a syllable, the vowel-consonant y is heard before it; in the midst of a syllable it should not be. Unit is thus analyzed: yu yu, nit, nit, yunit. But mute has not the sound of y: m ū t, mut. Use, yū; gradual, yū; lute, u [not yu, not lyūt].

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Long u" is never immediately preceded in the same word by the sound of r, sh, or zh. When such might seem to be the case, the u drops its initial element (i), and only o is heard. Hence true, fruit, cherubic, drew, sure, are pronounced tro, frọt, çerobik, dro, shor. In treasure, gar

rulous, cherubim, the syllable containing the u not being under accent, u (short oo) is heard rather than o. Ch is regarded by most orthoëpists as having a like influence over u, as in chew, pronounced ço.

Three Cautions concerning the Diphthongs.

1. Neither element of a diphthong should be uttered as distinctly as when not thus combined; nor should either be made so full as greatly to preponderate over the other.

2. Studiously avoid using â as the first element in the third diphthong. This is the very prince of errors. Say cow, not kao; bound, down, found, gown, howl, loud, mouth, noun, proud, south.

3. The practice of omitting the first element of the fourth diphthong, except when preceded by r, sh, zh, or ç, should be shunned. Say constitution, not constitootion; produce not prodoos; duty, not dooty; music, flute, institūte, lūminous, beauty, June.

LESSON XIX.

Each simple long vowel, except ō, has its kindred, or cognate, short vowel. Below, under each of seven of the long vowels, is printed the kindred explosive vowel. Pronounce the first upper, then the one beneath, and so on. A remarkable likeness will be observed.

ē ĕā å ä

i u e a

The vowels of the second line are formed with a more open mouth than the corresponding long vowels; but their distinguishing feature is explosiveness. From both these causes the "short vowels are more difficult of utterance. Bean is more easily pronounced than bin, trade than tread, mate than met, mermaid than murrain; and an indolent person or an invalid is not unlikely to say hând for hand, ep for up, and ôn for on.

Orthoëpists do not recognize any correspondent for ō. We must pronounce h-o-l-e and w-h-o-l-e precisely alike; also h-o-l-y and w-h-o-l-l-y. Say rō, road; bō, boat.

Close observation upon ō will convince the student that it is not strictly an element: the close, or "vanish,"