of sound distinguishable in common usage must have the opposite effect, and tend to remove obscurity and indefiniteness. The vowel noted as the 6th in our scale is unquestionably in our mouths every day, and it must therefore find a place in the catalogue of our vocal elements.

This variableness of vowel quality is not observable in all words containing

7

7

7

the combinations in which it occurs. We never hear band, gas, hath, &c.,

5

5

5

but uniformly, band, gas, hath, &c.

In the Scottish dialect we hear in some words the 4th, and in others the 7th, instead of the English 6th vowel. Thus grass, brass, &c., are generally pro

7

7

nounced gress, bress, &c., and bath, dance, &c. bath, dance, &c.

Unaccented a in the syllable immediately preceding the accent, as in abolish, alacrity, bazaar, &c. has generally the sound of the 6th vowel; but among different speakers, it obscurely ranges through all the shades of sound from the * equal formations of each vowel class, a(n,) i(rk,) u(p,) onward almost to ah.

The unaccented final a, in comma, sofa, villa, &c., has always a more open sound than that of the a in fat, which is assigned to it by Walker; but its sound is less open than that of the accented a in papa. In such words, we have instances of the 6th element. In Scotland the a in this situation is closed 3 2 3

into a, or even to i: thus sofa is pronounced as if written sofay, or sometimes

2

sofy.

EXERCISES.

Unaccented.-abandon, ability, abode, above, abolish, abound, abundant, abyss, academy, academic, acoustic, adapt, adept, adopt, adorn, adult, again, aghast, ago, alacrity, alarm, alembic, alert, alive, alkalize, aloft, amalgam, amanuensis, amass, amaze, ameliorate, amenable, ascend, amidst, anoint, apace, apepsy, apology, apostate, arithmetic, arouse, aruspice, ashore, aside, asunder,atone, avail, avenge, aver, avert, avidity, avoid, avouch, avulsion, await, awake, award, aware, awhile; baboon, banana, barometer, basalt, bashaw, bazaar; cabal, cadet, cajole, charade, chateau, calamity, canal, canine, canoe, capacious, capitulate, caprice, career, caress, carotid, catarrh, cathartic, dragoon, facetious, familiar, fanatic; gazelle, gazette, gratuity, harangue; laburnum, laconic, lament laniferous; malign, mɑcaw,

*See General Vowel Scheme,-page 28.

machine, madonna, Mahomet, majority, mamma, marasmus, marine, maroon, material; oasis; pacha, pagoda, parade, paralogy, paralysis, parodial, paternal, pathetic, placard, platoon; ravine; sabaoth, sagacious, saliva, saloon, salubrious, savanna, savoy, stalactite, statistic, taboo, tarantula, tradition, trapezium, vanilla; syllable, idolatry, synagogue, logomachy, massacre, sympathy, apathy, comma, idea, era, sofa, errata, genera, potassa, diorama, dilemma, analemma panorama, diarrhoea, dyspnoea.

Accented. After, afterwards, alas, ask, bath, cast, castle, brass, class, clasp, craft, draft, fast, fasten, glass, graft, grasp, grass, last, mask, mast, master, nasty, pass, past, raft, rafter, rasp, sample, staff, task, vast, surpass, repast.

In words ending in nce and nt, custom wavers between the 5th and 6th vowels, as in dance, glance, chance; grant, plant, slant, &c. In words spelled with au before nt, we generally hear the 6th or 7th, as in aunt, gaunt, flaunt, taunt, &c.

3

The Article a generally has the 6th or 7th sound; though some speakers use the alphabetic vowel a.

OBSERVATIONS.-This Vowel, which is often called the open Italian A, is formed with the lips drawn back, the teeth considerably separated, and the tongue evenly depressed, so as to spread the sound in the mouth, and direct it in a broad current out of the expanded oral aperture. The slightest alteration in the position of the tongue or lips will affect the quality of the sound; and thus, though this element is very common in all languages, there are often minute differences which give it a distinctive character.

Habits of oral action-such as pouting the lips, keeping them close at the corners, &c. influence all the vowels-the open ones especially; so that this, the most open sound, is peculiarly liable to be affected by them. The effective speaker cannot be the slave of any habit of this kind. His lips and tongue must be pliable and plastic, and their action must be light and agile, that the most minute and momentary movements, either for articulation or emotional expression, may be performed with facility.

In English this vowel occurs chiefly before R, final, or followed by an articulation; but it is almost uniformly heard in alve and alm, (l not sounded) as in halve, calve, palm, calm, alms, &c. Before lf, as in calf, half, &c.; and in laugh, haunt, &c., we as frequently hear the less open sound of the preceding vowel, a(6.)

The 7th vowel is never short in English. In Scotland we hear an abrupt form of it in words which in English have the 5th and 6th sounds, as in man, mask, &c. but we comparatively seldom find the 7th vowel sounded in words which have that sound in English. Thus, bar, jar, star, calm, palm, father, &c. are generally pronounced almost as if spelled bawr, cawm, fawther, &c.; farm, heart, alarm, &c. are very commonly pronounced with the 4th vowel fch-rm, heh-rt, &c.; and guard, serjeant, large, &c. as regularly take the sound of the 3d vowel (monophthongal), and are pronounced as if written gayrd, sayrjeant, layrge, &c.

EXERCISES.

Unaccented.-Alegar, archangel, archaic, armorial, arthritic, articulate, artillery, artificer, arbitrement, artistic, armada, arsenical, barbaric, cardoon, cartoon, curvilinear, dotard, harpoon, harmonious, harmonics, linear, lunar, marmorean, monarch, narcosis, narcotic, narcissus, niggard, parhelion, participate, partition, partake, parterre, particular, rectilinear, sarcastic, sardonic, sugar, vinegar, wizard.

Accented.-(Before R[8], followed by a Breath Articulation.)Arc, arch, archery, architect, archives, arctic, arsenic, arson, art, artist, artifice, artery, article, bark, barter, carcass, carp, carpet, carpenter, cart, cartridge, cartilage, chart, charter, charta, clerk, embark, dark, dart, debark, depart, farce, garter, hark, harp, harsh, heart, hartshorn, hart, hearth, hearken, impart, larch, larceny, lark, march, marsh, mark, market, marquess, mart, martial, martin, Martinmas, martyr, parcel, parchment, park, parse, parsimony, parson, part, partner, partial, participle, partizan, sarcasm, scarf, shark, sharp, smart, spark, Spartan, start, startle, tart, tartan, Tartar.

In the following, and similar words, in which the vowel is before Breatharticulations, or Liquids followed by breath-articulations, good usage is pretty equally divided between the 7th and 6th vowels.

Aunt, can't, calf, daunt, draught, gaunt, gauntlet, half, haunt, haunch, laugh, launch, saunter, jaunt, taunt.

*(Before R[8], final, or followed by a Voice Articulation. )— Arbiter, arbour, arduous, are, argue, arm, armour, bar, barbarous, bard, barge, bargain, barley, barm, car, carbon, card, cardinal, carle, carnal, carve, charge, charm, charnel, charlatan, darling, darn, far, farthing, farm, garb, garble, garden, gargle, garland, garment, garner, garnish, harbour, hard, hardihood, harm, harmony, harness, harvest, lard, large, larmier, larva, mar, marble, marl, marmalade, marvel, nard, par, parboil, pardon, parliament, parlour, parvitude, sardonyx, scar, scarlet, shard, snarl, spar, star, starling, starve, tar, tardy, target, targum, tarnish, varlet, varnish, yarn, yard, garnish, jar, jargon, debar, guitar, alarm, enlarge, cargo, guard, serjeant, ardent, armament, carnival, guardianship.

(Final, or before Voice Articulations—l silent.)—Almond, alms, almry, balm, calve, brahma, halı, halve, malmsey, mamma, papa, palm, qualm, salve, father, psalm, jaundice.

=

DIPHTHONG 7-1.

OBSERVATIONS.-This combination is the alphabetical sound of the letter I in English, and a very common element of speech. The first part of the diphthong is liable to considerable dialectic and individual modification, as are all the open formations,—5, 6, 8, 9, &c. ; but the combination of the extremes of the vowel scale,—7-1 : ah-ee,—is generally recognised as the correct English diphthong. The most usual departures from this in England are to 6-1 and 8-1. In Knowles's dictionary, this diphthong is analyzed into 10-1, which, however, confounds it with another diphthong,—as in isle and oil,-from which that author makes it differ only in some ill-defined abruptness of maxillary action. The student has but to blend the most open sound he habitually makes in such words as far, papa, palm, &c. with the first vowel, to produce that

* The combination of the 7th vowel with R, is truly a diphthong, though, from the slight difference in the formation of its elements, it is not very obviously so. The comparison, however, of such words as arm and alm, barm and balm, carve and calve, farther and father, will clearly manifest the diphthongal quality.

form of this diphthong which suits his habit of speech; but, if he open his ears to the utterance of educated Englishmen, free from peculiarities of oral action, he will find that the radical part of the diphthong is nothing short of the broad Italian ah. It must be remembered, however, that the sound is much more abrupt than in the separate or interjectional utterance of that vowel. (See page 73.)

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5

There is a tendency in all diphthongs in careless utterance to slide into a sound intermediate in form to their component elements. Thus we often hear the 5th or even the 4th vowel substituted for 7-1. In Scotland, especially, is this common: the almost regular utterance of this English diphthong, when final, being vowel 4 or 5, as in I, eye, my, buy, &c., pronounced eh, meh, beh, &c. Sometimes the same sound is used before R, and fire, wire, &c. are pronounced fehr, wehr, or fa-r, wa-r, &c. When the vowel is in other situations, as in night, idle, crime, wild, &c. the Scotch use a diphthong compounded of their peculiar vowel (4th Lingual, G. V. S. page 28) with the First vowel. This combination is heard, independently, in the Scotch pronunciation of the word aye, and,—in some words,—in the termination ay, as in pay, Tay, &c. —and frequently otherwise instead of vowel 3, probably from the same tendency that opens the radical part of this vowel to 4, in English mouths.

In Ireland the general form of this diphthong is 9-1, or even 10-1,-but abruptly uttered,-which has doubtless led Mr Knowles to set down 10-1 as the formation of the English diphthong.

The letter R, after a long vowel, always having a vowel sound in itself, forms, in combination with this diphthong, a triphthong; the elements of which are 7-1-8, as in fire, wire, higher, &c.; words which, fully pronounced, are dissyllables: but, to render the combination as monosyllabic in effect as possible, the middle element of the triphthong is frequently opened colloquially to vowel 3 or 4.

Unaccented.

EXERCISES.

Iambus, iconoclast, idea, identify, idolatry, Ionic, iota, biangulous, bipetalous, cycloidal, diathesis, diameter, diæresis, diecian, dilate, dilemma, diocesan, dioptrics, diurnal, gigantic, gyration, hiatus, hibernal libation, myology, nihility, nigrescent, nitrometer, phytivorous, primeval, privation, sciatic, psychology, quiescence, Riphean, sciagraphy, scribatious, sialogogue, sidereal, stupify, edify, gratify, triennial, trinomial, triumphal, viaticum, vicegerent, villi, vivaceous.

Accented.-I. Iodine, ire, iris, Irish, iron, bias, brier, buyer, client, cyanite, diaphragm, dialogue, diadem, diamond, diet, dire, dying, fiat, friar, giant, hierarch, hire, liar, liable, lion, lyre, mire,