3. Coalescents ar, er, or, and Italian a followed by r, tend toward ur.

4. Long oo tends toward short oo.

Some of these tendencies are very slight, and others are very marked. The degree of each it is impossible to specify; it can be learned only by hearing correct articulation. To some of those tendencies there seem to be exceptions, and this serves to increase the difficulty. The following examples will be of advantage:

A, verging toward .-Monday, Tuesday, mountain, certain, village, cabbage, orange. But in 'chocolate,' 'delicate,' 'intricate,' 'ultimate,' we have exceptions, the a verging rather toward short e. The same is true in 'miscellany,' 'momentary,' and other words of similar termination. In verbs ending in ate the long a sound is usually retained.

ē, verging toward .-Genesis, remorse, elegant, society, enemy, coffee, college. The e in society, enemy, elegy, &c., is sometimes corrupted into short u.

ě, verging toward -Wicked, basket, riches. Here the proper bending is exceedingly slight. In some words, as poem, solemn, emblem, the e is frequently corrupted into short u.

ǎ, verging toward .-Palpable, culpable, mental, ballad cavalcade.

ä, verging toward ž.—Cuba, sofa, comma, idea.

å, verging toward .-Douglass, compass, cutlass, breakfast, distance, gallant.

ō, verging toward .-Polite, pomade, potato, tobacco. Ŏ, verging toward pivot, fagot, mammoth.

.-Commerce, companion, compel,

Coalescent ar, verging toward ur.-Parental, thereat, thereon, preparation.

Coalescent er, verging toward ur.-Exasperate, assertion, conversation, perdition.

Coalescent or, verging toward ur.-Camphor, languor, actor, tenor, victor, captor, reformation.

Italian a followed by r, verging toward ur.- -Dollar, altar, nectar, barbarous.

oo, verging toward oo.-To-day, to-morrow, together, erudition.

Worcester marks vowels in unaccented syllables with a period or dot underneath; Webster leaves them unmarked.

It must be observed that Worcester employs this character to indicate a slight stress of voice, and not to note any particular quality of sound, as will be seen in the following examples, in which the italicized vowels are thus marked liar, palace, abbacy-brier, fuel-elixir, ruin-actor, confess-truly, martyr.

XIV.

WORDS OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED.

TO THE TEACHER.-Have the student pronounce these words with a strongly marked accent. After the faults have been corrected, frequent repetition will soon fix the correct pronunciatiou. The lesson will also afford further practice in phonetic spelling.

2.

ally

occult extant

composite pyramidal athenæum compensative confident telegraphist aureola conservator condolence excretory camelopard contumacy

diverse connoisseur isothermal capillary hymeneal legislative capitoline suicidal

contour coquetry

compeer controvert perfunctory chalcedony photographer

frontier corridor

excise illustrate construe lethargic

ornate 3.

overt

expletive

periphrasis coliseum prolocutor provocative combatable irrefragable quadrupedal comparable apotheosis approbative refutable pharmaceutist

colportage promulgate recitative

allopathist penult objurgate sacristan recognizance matutinal

portent sepulture splenetic reconnoissance legislature

surnamed defalcate

subsidence reparable

mediaeval

TO THE TEACHER.-The difficulties of this lesson have reference to syllabies. tion; those of the last to accent. Have the student first tell the number of syllables in a word, and then pronounce the word firmly with that number of syllables. This lesson may also be used for phonetic spelling.

1. The letter b following m in the same syllable, is generally silent, as in lamb, limb, numb, tomb, &c., but in rhomb and succumb, it is retained.

2. The sound of sh is often incorrectly made like zh in such words as Asia, Asiatic, nausea, nauseous, Persia, Persian.

3. The sound of t in the termination tle following 8 is generally suppressed; as, apostle, epistle, thistle, whistle, bustle, hustle, castle, jostle.

4. Care should be taken to preserve the aspirate or breath sound of th in the plurals truths, youths, breaths. In the plurals baths, laths, paths, moths, cloths, oaths, mouths, sheaths, swaths, wreaths, the th is vocal. It is also vocal in booth and booths, but aspirate in withe and withes.

In the adjective forms, as, blithe, lithe, and in the verb forms bathe, clothe, mouth, sheathe, wreathe, &c., the th is Vocal.

5. The letter a when used as an article is always given its long or name sound when emphatic. When unemphatic it becomes obscure Italian a, even verging toward short u when rendered very lightly.

6. The article the, when emphatic, is pronounced with e long. When unemphatic before a vowel the e verges toward short i. Before a consonant sound, it passes through all the degrees of change from long e to obscure short u, according to the degree of emphasis.

7. The vowel of the pronoun my, when quite unemphatic, may take the sound of short i. In forms of address, so frequently used by English dramatists, the short i is preferred; as, "My lord, the queen would speak with you, and pres ently."

8. The sound of 8 when followed by that of long u, or the pronoun you, is often incorrectly changed to sh. The sound of % followed by that of sh is, in like manner, changed to zh. The following examples may serve to illustrate these two faults: 'God bless you,' 'We shall miss you,'' He will pass Utica,' 'As sure as you go,' 'I was sure he would come.'

9. While care should be taken not to drop the d of the conjunction and, yet to sound it fully, in every instance, as some authors would have us do, would be the veriest pedantry. In uttering the word, the organs pass from the n position into that of d, but the power given to the latter sound depends greatly npon the first sound of the next word. To finish the d perfectly would be not only to mar the fluency of speech, but also to break the magnetic chain of thought.

10. With all the irregularities of our language, it is not to be wondered at that words are frequently mispronounced. Many of the forms are so arbitrary, and the caprices of the age so numerous, that few persons can claim to be above criticism in the matter of pronunciation. And yet, whatever apology or excuse for faults we may discover in this, we should be more ready to apply such excuse to others' pronunciation than to our own.