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IX. HIBERNICISMS OF VOWEL SOUND.

90. VOWEL 1, in some words, pronounced 3 (long, monophthong) as in seat, meat, steal, easy, &c.; pronounced sate, aisy, &c.

91. Vowel 2, (in y final) as 1: as in happy, pretty, my, (unaccented) &c., pronounced happée, mee, &c.

92. Vowel 3, as a monophthong, long (see par. 65.) 93. Vowel 4, as French 'e mute' (the "Mid Mixed" vowel of Visible Speech) as in health, pleasure, friend,

&c.

94. Vowels 6 and 7 as 5, (long): as in bath, pass, castle, calf, ah, papa, &c.

95. Vowels 8 and 9, nearly as 10; as in her, sir, up, dull, blood, worm, Dublin, &c. The true sound cannot be indicated by Roman letters; it is the "Low Mixed Round" vowel of Visible Speech.

96. Vowel 10 nearly as 6; as in all, want, thought, honest, law, &c. The sound is the "Low Mixed Wide Round" vowel of Visible Speech.

97. Vowel 12, as a monophthong, (see par. 65.)

98. Vowel 13, in some words, nearly as 9; as in foot, look, stood, put, cushion, &c.

99. Diphthong 7-1 nearly as 10-1; as in why, I, time. and all words containing i. The true Irish sound is the

same as in par. 95.

100. Diphthong 10-1 nearly as 6-1. The sound is the same as in par. 96.

IOI. UNACCEnted VoweLS of all classes, as French "e mute" (the "Mid Mixed" sound of Visible Speech ;) as in religion, destroy, cabbage, surface, precipice, goodness, useless, paralysis, certain, knowledge, ornament, original, philosopher, rheumatism, pleasure, countenance, &c.

X. AMERICANISMS of VOWEL SOUnd.

102. The Author's opportunities have enabled him to furnish tolerably complete lists of Anglicisms, Scotticisms and Hibernicisms of Vowel Sound. He cannot pretend to an equally minute knowlege of American characteristics. The preceding analysis may be taken as a model by those who can in a similar manner exhibit the peculiar

ities of other Dialects. A few only of the more prominent Americanisms can be noted here.

103. Vowel 3, as a monophthong.

104. Vowel 8,—and the letter R before an articulation,—with a sound which is very peculiar, and cannot be represented by Roman letters. It is the "High Mixed" vowel of Visible Speech. The effect of R before an articulation is nearly that of Y; as in spohyt for sport.

105. Vowel 9, before R, with the same sound as the preceding.

106. Vowels 11 and 12, alike (monophthong.)

107. Diphthong 7-1, with the first element very long; as in tah-cem for time.

108. Diphthong 7-13 as 5-13, and often 4-13; as in deh-oon for down.

109. Diphthong 10-1, as 11-1 or 12-1.

110. Alphabetic U, when not pronounced simply as 13 (as in dooty for duty) has the diphthongal sound 1-13; as in neé-oo for new, feé-oo for few, &c.

III. NASAL QUALITY. This is the most marked feature in the American Dialects. A national relaxation of the soft palate seems to prevail, so that the inner ends of the nares remain uncovered. Vowels before or after the nasal Articulations m, n and ng are affected in the greatest degree; but many speakers never utter a purely oral vowel.

XI. DISTINCTION BETWEEN VOWELS AND

ARTICULATIONS.

112. Before proceeding to illustrate further the application of our Numerical Notation of Vowels, it is neccessary to explain the distinction between VOWELS and ARTICULATIONS, (or Consonants.) These primary classes of the elements of speech are united in Y`and W, which combine articulative quality with the sounds of the closest vowels 1, (ee,) and 13, (00.) Thus: prolong the sounds of y and w, as heard at the beginning of a word, (yea, way, &c.) and the y will then be found identical in sound with ee, and the w with oo. Yet that there is a difference between y and ee, and between w and 00,— and

one not merely of quantity,—will be evident on pronouncing these vowels twice in succession, in contrast with the words ye and woo-thus ĕě-ēē, ŏŏ-ōō. Let these double vowels be rapidly or slowly pronounced, they will not identify with the words ye and woo. An experiment will furnish the most simple and convincing illustration of the difference between these utterances, and between vowels and articulations generally.

113. Prolong the sound of the first vowel (ee,) and while doing so strike the tongue upwards with the tip of a finger from below the chin: and the ee will be changed to YE by each stroke; prolong also the thirteenth vowel (oo,) and while doing so, approximate the edges of the lips, by the action of the finger and thumb, and the oo will be changed into woo, by every approximation. In

forming the vowels ce and 00, the organs are in the

closest positions they can assume without influencing the sound by a degree of vibration of the edges of the contracted lingual or labial aperture. In forming y and w, a compressive action of the tongue and lips creates this oral, articulative effect; while it gives the emission of the succeeding vowel a degree of articulative percussion that arises from previous interception or obstruction.

114. VOWELS, then, are glottal sounds merely modified by the shape of the mouth, aud having no oral sound: and ARTICULATIONS are appulsive actions of the oral organs, originating a sound within the mouth-a puff or hiss of breath,-from the closed organs, or through the contracted or interstitial apertures formed by the various appositions of the plastic agents of articulation.

115. The articulations y and w often occur in pronunciation, when the letters are not written. The common English diagraph qu is sounded kw; and the alphabetic sound of the letter U is equivalent to y-13-y-00. The letters e and i are often contracted into y, as in species. Asia, question, &c. pronounced speesh-yiz, aish-ya. kwest-yun, &c.

XII. VOWEL. NOTATION.

116. In the passages which are subjoined for analytic exercise, mark over every spoken vowel-letter the number of its sound, according to the Scheme at par. 42; and

indicate the sounds of y and w, when the letters are not written. Also show when R has its vowel quality (No. 8) and underline it when it has both its vowel and articulate effects. Thus :

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У 13

13 8 y 13 1-9

y 13 2

The letter m,

Quake, assuage, &c., use, your, curious, beauty, &c. 117. The indefinite article, a, is pronounced (approximately) No. 6. The definite article, the, is pronounced No. 2 when not emphatic. The pronominal adjectives my and mine are pronounced No. 2 when they are not accented or emphatic, and 7-1 when under emphasis. The final letters le, and often also el and en, are pronounced without any vowel sound,—the l and n having in themselves syllabic purity of voice; as in bible, thistle, hazel, bevel devil, bidden, deaden, dozen, heaven, &c. also, is similarly syllabic in such words as rhythm, spasm,* &c. In all such cases write a cipher (0) over the 1, n, or m, to indicate a SYLLABLE with no vowel. Take no notice of silent letters, but recognise and note every sound. The plural termination es is pronounced No. 2; and the verbal terminations es, est, eth, ed, &c., are pronounced No. 4. The final letters ed are not syllabically pronounced, except after t, or d, or for distinctiveness between different parts of speech of the same orthography, as in learned, blessed, &c., which are monosyllables, (learn'd, blest, &c.,) when verbs, and dissyllables, (learned, bless-ed, &c.,) when adjectives.

118. EXAMPLE OF VOWEL NOTATION.

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With the syllabic and n a vowel letter is always written, and all grammarians acknowledge the syllable, which is thus perfect to the eye: but such words as rhythm, prism. &c: having no vowel letter, are commonly reckoned monosyllables, though to the ear they are perfectly dissyllabic. The words prism and prison=priz'n have sound for sound alike, and both are equally therefore dissyllables.

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EXERCISE IN VOWEL NOTATION.

119. Mark the vowels &c. in the following Selected Words, and then compare the marking with the Key annexed.

Accli'vous, acquiesce, adver'tisement, ancho'vy. answer, antipodes, aeronaut, alienable. apophthegm, apothe'osis, aro'ma, aspi'rant, bandana. banian', battalion, bellows, (s) bowline, breeches. Briton, Britain, brevier', brev'et, (adj.) brevet', (s) cesu'ra, capuchin', captious. comparable, chas'tisement, chlorine, colonel, complaisant', con'trary, cor'ollary, curule. coadju'tor, courier,

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