We have now shown the essential differences of quantity in the simple elements of speech. There are others which arise from the COMBINATION of LETTERS into SYLLABLES, and SYLLABLES into WORDS. And first-What is a syllable? We have no non-vocal syllables; voice, therefore, is the first requisite: and the syllabic voice may be either confined to one letter, or distributed among several letters. The vowel part of a syllable may consist of two elements, -forming either a closing diphthong, as aye, owe, eye, hoy, how, &c., or an opening diphthong, as ear, air, ore, your, &c. If such words as fire, our, &c., which contain three vowel elements,-a closing diphthong followed by the open sound er,-be considered monosyllables, then the vowel part of a syllable might be said to contain a triphthong; but, when these words are fully pronounced, they are undoubtedly dissyllables, and perfect rhymes to higher, power, &c., which are never reckoned monosyllabic words. 8 In colloquial speech, fire, higher, our, power, and all words of this formation, are frequently contracted into one syllabic impulse; but this is by a slurring of the vowels, so that the close elements e and oo are not formed at all; the first combination ire (7-1-8) is converted into ah-air (7-4-8) or (7-5-8); and the second combination our (7-13-8) is converted into ah-ore (7-11-8). From our account of the formation of these vowels (page 26), it will be found that the mouth undergoes very little increase or diminution of vowel-aperture in these combinations; and consequently they may be uttered with such smooth indefiniteness as to blend into one concrete utterance, and so form but a monosyllable. Indeed, the whole of the possible shadings of vowel-sound between ah and e, or ah and oo, or conversely, might, we conceive, be flowingly blended into a monosyllabic utterance; but no return from the closing progression to an opening one, or conversely, could take place without destroying the monosyllabic effect.* * Dr Rush, in his excellent and undervalued work,-" The Philosophy of the Voice," says, that "It is the concrete function of the voice which alone constitutes a syllable." By the concrete function, is meant that tapering quality of all spoken sounds, as distinguished from the even tenor of the sounds of song. These tapering and even qualities, however, have reference, not to vowel formation, but to musical pitch. All speaking sounds thus taper, acutely or gravely, while, in song, the sounds maintain, for a definite time, one musical note. The "unbroken concrete" may, however, be continued through more than one syllable-for instance, in toy-ing, joy-ous, pray-est, high-est, show-y, &c. What, then, is it that syllables these words? Is it not the necessary opening of the sound for the last vowel, after the closing diphthong which precedes it? We have said that the syllabic voice may be either confined to one letter, or distributed among several. Thus :-Before and after the vowel may be placed a continuous vocal articulation. Let 3 us select, for an example, the vowel ai, to which let us add an initial and final Liquid;—thus, l ai n. This is still one syllable, and we may prefix and affix to it an Obstructive,-thus, bl ai nd. A Continuous Voice Articulation might still be added before and after-though we have not in English any initial continuous voice articulation followed by an obstructive :-this would give us the monosyllable zbl ai ndzh. An Obstructive might yet be added before and after this combination, without destroying the unity of the syllable, thus, dzblaindzhd. This barbarous-looking word is not so foreign to our language as at first sight it may appear. With the exception of the initial dz, the combination is a perfectly English one. We have the final combination complete in such words as cringed, changed, bulged, &c. The organs slide from point to point in these clustered articulations, and there is no openness in the sounds. The open continuous elements (liquids), it will be observed, are immediately before and after the vowel. They could not be elsewhere without creating other syllables-because for them the voice has a vowelopenness and purity. Thus and n often of themselves make syllables in English utterance,—though not in orthography,—as in middle, bidden, bible, even, fasten, thistle, &c.* The liquid 7 may be prefixed to either of the other liquids in the same syllable. Thus we still write In and Im, though we no longer pronounce the former, and only in a few words the latter; but neither of the other liquids (which are nasals) can be uttered before l in one syllable. The reason is, that the nasals shut the mouth, and are, therefore, before 1, which opens a free oral passage, the same as the obstructives B, D, G. We might then insert l before the n in the illustrative word we have given, and so * Our orthographic practice refuses to acknowledge any syllable that has not a vowel letter; so when we write a vowel with the liquid, as in these words, the syllabic effect of the liquid is not disputed; but if, as in spasm, rhythm, &c. we write no vowel, then, though the syllabic sound is the very same, we do not acknowledge the syllable. We grant that listen - lis-n is a dissyllable; but, with strange-ignorant-inconsistency, exclude rhyth-m from the same class, and call it a monosyllable. Either they are both monosyllables or both dissyllables, for their elements of sound are, letter for letter, of the same class. = present, as a monosyllabic combination, no fewer than five articulations after a vowel--dzblailndzhd. No voiceless articulations could be introduced among these vocal letters without cutting up the combination into as many syllables; nor could any voice-letter be inserted in a combination of breath-articulations without creating for every voice-articulation so added, a new syllable. Thus the letters spsflinktsths, in this arrangement, constitute a monosyllable; but separate the vocal articulations from the vowel, and insert them among the articulations, and the same letters will constitute a trissyllable;—thus, splsfiktnsths. Both these words are capable of distinct articulation; but it may cost the reader a little practice before he is able to enounce them with fluency. The following are all the articulative combinations which occur initial in English syllables. In the table at page 63, our main object was to show the effect of the articulations on the vowel quantities. The following table of the Articulative Combinations which are Final in English syllables, will show the numerous degrees of Syllabic Quantity which arise entirely from these constituents. Quantity is generally considered to have reference to Vowels only; but if it is intended to mean the duration of the enunciative process, it must include Articulations also. The practice of the following table will be found extremely useful in giving distinctness and fluency of articulation. The test of correctness is, -HEAR EVERY LETTER. The Liquids,-or, as their functions in syllables would rather require them to be called, transparent letters,—before a single final articulation, give the next degree of quantity greater than that of the single articulation: double articulations are the next longer then liquids before double articulations; then treble articulations; next liquids before treble articulations, and so on. But as the articulations are not all of the same duration, their combinations present a great many slighter differences of quantity. The Liquids are so thin a veil before Breath Articulations that they hardly for an instant intercept our view of the adjoining letter;-before Voice Articulations they become more massive, and two liquids are the longest double articulations in the language. Let the student prefix a vowel to the combinations in the following tables-long or short, but the same vowel throughout-and let him read them in the order in which we have arranged them, and he will be able to trace the nice gradations which connect by no less than twenty-one steps, the English extremes of voiceless combinations—sick and sixths; and by eighteen, the vocal combinations in hid and hinged. TERMINATIONAL SYLLABIC COMBINATIONS OF BREATH ARTICULATIONS. Note. The letter C, signifies CONTINUOUS; [(Cl.) close; (Op.) open;] and 0, OBSTRUCTIVE,—referring to our classification of the Articulations at page 11. {lpt, lkt, mpt, as in gulped, milked, stamped, inked, banked, lps, lts, Itsh. lks, nts, ntsh, C. mps, mts, ngks, Ift, 1st, and 0. nst, mst, 11. C. 12. C. {lfs, ths, nths, 13. Dble. mfs, ngths, O. and pts, kts, 14. 0. C. and pst, tst, tsht, 0. 15. O. & Dble. C.{ 16. C. C. kst, tths, fts, sps, sts, fifths. help'st, halt'st, filched, milk'st, twelfths. ... texts. ... sixths. TERMINATIONAL SYLLABIC COMBINATIONS OF VOICE ARTICULATIONS. |