beg, egg, keg, leg, peg, eglantine, segment, integrity, regulate, regnant, impregnable, phlegmon, negligent, segregate, tegument.

8

4 (long-only before R).-I. Airy, bearable, daring, fairy, garish, flaring, glaring, hairy, heiress, carious, Mary, prairie, pairing, tearing, vary, variable, wearer, sharing, chary, charily, comparing, unvarying, sparing, staring, scarer, ensnaring, swearer; heirloom, scarecrow, prayerless, yarely; bear, bare, dare, air, Ayr, ere, e'er, Eyre, heir, fare, fair, glare, hair, lair, mare, ne'er, pare, pear, pair, prayer, rare, spare, stare, scare, snare, tear, tare, wear, ware, yare, share, chair, there, where.

In bricklayer, stage-player, rate-payer, &c., where layer, payer, &c. are unaccented, the monosyllabic form 4-8 is generally heard, as in prayer; but when these or similar words are emphatic, as in the sentence, "a good worker makes the best player," the dissyllabic form 3-1-8 should be preserved.

Words of the same Pronunciation, but different Orthography.

asperation

aspiration

FIFTH VOWEL.

OBSERVATIONS.-This vowel is characteristically an English one. Its formation is slightly more open than that of the preceding sound-by the depression of the middle of the tongue backwards. The vowels from ee to eh are produced by depressions of the fore-part, while the middle or back of the tongue

remains elevated; those from eh to ah bring down the middle of the tongue, and so evenly enlarge the whole cavity of the mouth.

The tendency to interchange the vowels 4 and 5 has been noticed under the former of these. In Scotland, it is not unusual to hear the 4th sound in the effort to hit the peculiar English formation 5, which the unaccustomed organs do not readily take with precision. Mincing and affected speakers in England pronounce 4 instead of 5, as-"The ettitudes were edmirable." In some words this change is established by almost universal custom; as in any, many, pronounced enny, menny.

The 5th vowel, when initial, is liable to be confounded with the 6th or 7th in the article a, as in

There is a shade of difference in the articulation as well as in the vowel-sound of these combinations, though the distinction is not generally attended to.

In Scotland, the 5th vowel is seldom heard; the usual pronunciation of all words with that element in English, being a short sound of a (7), as in are. Thus the verb tarry has in Scotland the same sound as the adjective tarry in England but more abrupt; cap has a short sound of ca(r)p, back of ba(r)k, &c.

EXERCISES.

Unaccented.-Abbreviate, abduce, abhor, abjure, absent, (v.) absolve, absorb, abstain, acclaim, accredit, accrue, accumulate, acquiesce, address, adhere, adjacent, adjure, administer, admire admonish, advert, advise, afflict, aggress, allude, alternate, ambition, antarctic, anterior, antique, appertain, apprehend, asbestos, ascertain, assuage, assume, atlantean, annual, banian, baptize, caviare, hallucinate, disturbance, diaphragm, diagonal, epigram, heroical, headland, collateral, general, principal, lineal, dissonant, consonant, epitaph, cenotaph, lactescent, lampoon, lascar, magnetic, mandamus, mazarine, myriad, nankeen, olympiad, orgasm, plantation, pleonasm, regal, spheroidal, transmit, transfer, transform, translate, tattoo, vagrant, vandyke, woodland.

Accented. II. Accident, accurate, acid, acetate, acme, acrid, act, action, actual, affable, affluent, apathy, apple, aphony, aphorism, apogee, apophthegm, appetite, apposite, apsis, apt, aquiline, ash, aspect, asperate, asinine, assassin, assonance, asthma, at, atlas, atmosphere, atom, atrophy, attic, attitude, axe, axiom, axis; bachelor, back, baffle, baptism, bashful, bat, batch, batten, battle, cap, capital, captain, cat, category, catholic, catch, clap, clatter, crackle, drachma, facile, fact, faculty, fashion, fat, fatuous, flap, flash, flatter, flatulent, fracture, gap, gash, glacier, gracile, graphic, grapple, gratify, hackney, hap, happen, hatch, jackal, jasper, lacerate, lack, lapidary, lapse, lassitude, lateral, latin, latitude, lattice, lax; macerate, machinate, mackerel, maculate, map, masculine, massacre, match, mat, matin, matrimony, matter, maxim, nap, naphtha, napkin, nascent, pacify, packet, pap, paralysis, passion, passive, patent, patch, patrimony, placid, platter, practice, quack, raffle, rapid, rat, rational, rattle, relapse, refractory, sack, sacrament, sacrilege, saffron, sapphire, satchel, satin, satire, satisfy, saturate, Saturday, Saxon, scaffold, scatter, scrap, scratch, slash, snap, snaffle, spatter, sprat, stack, static, statue, stratagem, tacit, tabid, tactic, tap, tapestry, tax, that, thrash, thwack, tractable, traffic, trappings, vacuate, vaccinate, vacillate, vapid, vascular, vat, waft, wax.

Alchymy, alcohol, alkali, alphabet, altercate, altitude, ample, amputate, ancestor, anchor, ankle, antre, anthem, antic, antler, anxious, balcony, bank, banquet, banter, blanch, blanket, calx, calculate, camp, camphor, canker, cancer, cant, canto, cramp, crank, dank, flank, halcyon, hamper, handkerchief, lamp, lank, lantern, mansion, mantle, mantelpiece, palpable, pamphlet, pantry, philanthropy, panther, plank, rampant, rancour, rant, samphire, sanctify, scalp, scamper, shank, stamp, talc, tamper, tantalize, thank, trample, trance, tranquil, transit, transient, transom, transport, vamp, vanquish.

III. Abbey, abbot, abbess, adage, adder, adequate, agaric, agonism, alibi, aliment, aliquant, aliquot, allegory, alley, aloe,

alum, amaranth, amazon, amethyst, amity, analyse, anarchy, anecdote, anile, animal, annals, anodyne, arable, arid, aristarch, arrogate, arrow, avarice, average, azote, azymous, babble, baggage, balance, ballad, ballast, banner, bladder, cabbage, cabinet, callender, callid, calumny, cameo, cannon, canopy, caraway, carol, cavalry, clamour, dagger, dally, damage, dazzle, dabble, dragon, drama, fagot, family, famine, fathom, galaxy, gallant, gamut, gaseous, gather, grammar, granary, gravel, habit, haddock, haggard, harass, havock, hazard, inhabit, janitor, labyrinth, ladder, lammas, laneate, larynx, lather, madam, malady, malice, mammon, manacle, manage, marigold, manifest, manner, mariner, marrow, marry, narrow, navigate, palate, palace, palliate, pallid, panic, parable, paradox, paragon, paragraph, parallel, parallax, paraphrase, parasite, parergy, parish, parody, parrot, parricide, planet, radical, rally, raillery, ramify, ravage, ravish, Sabbath, saddle, salad, salary, sally, sallow, salmon, salique, savage, scarify, shadow, shallow, Spanish, stagger, stammer, stannic, straggle, tabid, tallow, talon, tariff, trammel, travail, traverse, vagabond, valance, valid, vanish, waggon.

IV. Abb, abdicate, abject, ablative, abnegate, ablepsy, abrogate, adze, aggerate, adjunct, adjutant, admiral, adnoun, adverb, advocate, agitate, aglet, agnate, aggrandize, aggravate, aggregate, albatross, album, algebra, algid, almoner, alveary, amber, ambient, amble, ambush, amnesty, aneurism, anger, angle anguish, annual, antalgic, anvil, as, bad, badger, bag, balneal, band, bang, cambist, camlet, can, candid, canvas, dam, damsel, dandle, dandy, dangle, bland, brag, bramble, brandish, cram, clang, fag, fangle, flag, flagellate, flambeau, fragment, gad, gag, galvanism, gamble, glad, gland, gradual, granulate, grand, halberd, halliard, hand, handle, hang, handiwork, Iambus, jaguar, jangle, jamb, January, jasmine, javelin, lad, lamb, lambative, land, language, laniard, lazuli, mad, madrigal, magic, magistrate, magnify, magnet, majesty, man, manganese, mangle, manual, manuscript, pansy, nag, pad, padlock, plaid, pageant, pan, pander, plan, plasm, quagmire,

N

rag, ramble, random, remand, harangue, sad, sagittal, salutary, salvable, salver, sand, sandal, sanguine, scandal, scramble, shag, shambles, shamrock, sham, slab, slander, span, spaniel, stag, stallion, stand, stanza, strand, strangle, swag, tag, talmud, tambour, tan, tangle, than, tragedy, valiant, value, valve, van, vandal, vanguard, wag, withstand, yam.

OBSERVATIONS.—Usage is considerably divided in England with respect to the pronunciation of some words ending in and, aunt, ath, ass, ast, ask, &c. ; some speakers giving them the open sound of ah, while others pronounce them with the 5th vowel. With reference to the more open sound in these cases, Mr Walker has remarked,—" This pronunciation of a seems to have been for some years advancing to the short sound of this letter, as heard in hand, land, grand, &c. ; and pronouncing the a in after, answer, basket, plant, mast, &c., as long as in half, calf, &c., borders very closely on vulgarity." But between a(t) and a(re) there is a great organic difference, sufficient to admit of at least one distinctly intermediate sound; and such a sound is undoubtedly heard in our language, and is the most common variety of vowel-quality in these irregular cases. The extreme pronunciations 5 and 7 are at the present day comparatively seldom heard. The precise quality of the prevailing intermediate sound cannot be correctly noted: for it ranges among different speakers through every practicable shade of sound within these limits. But the recognition of a distinctly mediate sound may give us more uniformity in its employment. Perhaps the best standard of this vowel-quality would be the French sound of a in mal, or in the article la.

Speaking of a middle sound between vowels 5 and 7, Mr Walker remarks,— "As every correct ear would be disgusted at giving the a in such words as past, last, chance, &c. the full sound of a in father, any middle sound ought to be discountenanced, as tending to render the pronunciation of a language obscure and indefinite." The theoretical discountenancing of any sound in general use has undoubtedly this tendency; but the classification of every variety