Lk, elk, 100. K. Ngk, bank, thank, slink, wink, drink, link. Sk, scare, scan, school, scale, scope, scutcheon, sceptic. silk, wilk, milk, bulk. Rk, dark, park, mark, clerk. 101. G. Rg, burgh. UNACCENTED SYLLABLES. 102. The unaccented syllables of words are very liable to be either omitted, slurred, or corrupted. The pages of a dictionary present the best practice. The following words may point out error; each syllable should be distinctly pronounced. Particular, eminence, fatal, violet, diamond, singular, regular, oratory, opinion, terrible, honourable, rebel, prudent, prudence, sobriety, mischievous, horrible, elegant, perpendicular, jocular, conspiracy, remarkable, piety, satiety, angular, history, geography, advocate, absolute, obsolete, domestic, &c. ACCENT. 103. ACCENT is that impulse of voice, or of articulation, which gives phonic prominence to certain syllables or words. Accent is of two kinds, SYLLABIC and SENTENTIAL. Syllabic accents belong only to single words; sentential accents are employed in oratorical words, and are considered under that division.-Section 115, et seq. 104. Accent and emphasis are frequently considered synonymous, but their organic action is different. Emphasis depends on forcible expiration from the chest; accent is regulated by the sonorous and explosive power of the pharynx.-Sections 1, 6. 105. Without accent, speech would be merely a succession of syllables delivered in equal time. Every word of more than one syllable is distinguished by the forcible (heavy) utterance of one, and the light utterance of the other; thus: fa"-ther, de-mand". In some words of three syllables, and in most words of four or more, especially when the accent is taken from its usual seat, or when the word is too long to be easily or agreeably uttered with a single accent, a secondary accent is introduced in addition to the primary, thus: com'-pre-hend", ac'-ci-den"-tal, dec'-la-ra"-tion. As a general rule, liable to a few exceptions, it may be stated, that every THIRD syllable requires an accent, and every fifth at least a primary accent. 106. All words of four syllables, accented on the first, are duplicates of dissyllabic words, and require a secondary accent on the third, thus: har"moni'zing, necessar'ily, &c. Words of five or more syllables require the introduction of two or more secondary accents, thus: tran'substantia"tion, in'divi'sibil"ity, incom'prehen'sibil"ity. 107. Both the primary and secondary accents are fixed by custom; but in many trisyllabic and polysyllabic words the secondary accent may be either omitted or retained at pleasure. 108. The general rules (liable to numerous exceptions) with regard to the position of the accent are:-Dissyllabic nouns and adjectives are accented on the first syllable; verbs, adverbs, and prepositions on the latter: the accented syllable generally precedes all common terminations, such as ness, less, ly, ful, tion, ing, sion, &c.; and all tri syllabic and polysyllabic words have the accent removed as far back as possible that is, on the antepenultimate. 109. The following words are inserted as exercises in accentuation: they in general consist of such as are either difficult or indeterminate, In a matter of taste and agreement, influenced by fashion, it is not pretended that the accents can be always logically or analogically placed. It is sufficient to say that in all difficult or doubtful words, the opinion of the best orthoepists, in conjunction with the practice of the best speakers, has been followed. WORDS LIABLE TO MAL-ACCENTUATION. Ab"dica'tive, abdo'men, accep'table, ac'cessary, accli'vous, acu'men, ad'amante"an, ad'mirable, adju'tor, co'adju"tor, ad"vertise, ad"verti'ser, advertisement, ancho'vy, antip'odes, ad"ula'tory, aer'omancy, aer'onaut, alienable, ap'othe"osis, aro'ma, aspi'rant, asylum, asyn'deton, bal'cony, bandan'a, banian', bat tal'ion, bitu'men, blasphemous, bow'line, brevet' (s. and v.) brev'et (adj.), brevier, cesu'ra, calibre (lee), cam"elopard' calo'ric, cap'uchin" (sheen), carbine', celibacy, centrifugal, centrip'etal,commen'dable, commit'tee, com'parable, incom'parable, condolence, chas'tisement, chlo'rine, clandes'tine, cochineal', com'plaisant", com'plaisance", compen'sate, con'fessor, confiscate, con'sistory, consum'mate, con'trary, contrite', contem'plate, con'versant, corollary, cou'rier, deco'rous, dep"reca'tory, decre'tal, derivative, des'ultory, des'uetude, di'abe"tes, diach'ylon, diær'esis, dim'issory, dis'putable, indis'putable, dyn'asty, dys'entery, egotism, el'egi"ac, enervate, eq'uable, ep'icure"an, erra'tum, ev'anes"cent, exemplary, extir'pate, fa'bric, fanat'ic, fari'na, finance', fune'real, fusil', glac'ier (glas), gon'dola, gua'vo (gwa), heg'ira (ge), hered'itary, het'eroge"neous, horizon, hymene"al, im'becile" (seel"), im'pious, indeco'rous, im"preca'tory, indis'putable, indis'soluble, in'imi"cal, inter'calar, in'terfe"rence, inter stice, in'tricate, in'valid" (leed, s.), invalid (adj.), ir'reme"diable, Lascar', lab'oratory, lam'entable, legu'men, machi'nist (chi=shee), Mahom'et, martinet", med'icament, med'ici"nal, mes'entery, met"onym'y, mis'cellany, mis'chievous, mob'ile (mob), mountainous, national (nash), no"menclature, o'asis, ob'durate, omega, or'chestre, omnip'otent, om'nipresence, oppo'nent, or'ison, pacha' (shaw), pan'ace"a, panegyric, pan"egyri'ze, paro'quet", peremptory, phrenet'ic, phreni'tis, pleth'ora, plethor'ic, prolix', quanda'ry, ratan', recep'tacle, rec'itative" (teev), recep'tory, recon'dite, rep'ertory, refragable, irrefragable, revenue, sali'va, sati'ety, seques'ter, seques'trate, sono'rous, stalac'tite, stalagmite, sub'altern, subjec'ted, suc'cessor, synec ́doche, the'atre, troubadour", uten'sil, verti'go (tee). TRANSPOSITION OF ACCENT. 110. When words that have a partial sameness of formation occur antithetically in a sentence, the accent is removed from its customary seat, and placed on that syllable in which the words differ, as in the sentence, "Their thoughts accusing or else ex'cusing one another." A similar change takes place in such words as the following, when in opposition: EXERCISES. Giving-forgiving; plausibility-probability; confuse— refuse (v.); done-undone ; justice-injustice; mortal-immortal; simulation-dissimulation; visible-invisible; increasedecrease; proportion-disproportion; religion-irreligion; untaught ill-taught. FALSE ACCENTS IN POETRY. 111. Poetry very frequently allows a transposition of accent: the change is generally made from the first to the second syllable, and is then considered allowable; but no change is permitted from the second to the first. In the pronunciation of false accents, it may be stated as a general rule, that the metrical accent is never to supersede the ordinary accent which custom assigns to the word in prose, as in the following lines: "False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, 112. The very important principle which regulates the accentuation of poetry is explained under the head of Time of Poetry; but it may be necessary to state here, that where the ear is not satisfied with the proper accent, the metrical and customary accents may be both marked; as, 66 Only to shine, but not to con'tribute'." "Our su'preme' foe, in time, may much remit," &c. PRONUNCIATION. 113. Pronunciation is the correct appropriation of the particular sounds, articulations, and accents which polite usage and analogy have assigned to words. The exercises under the various vowels and articulations contain many words liable to be mispronounced with regard to the peculiar sounds under which they are placed; but, in a department so extensive, it is impossible to give any general summary. The mode of utterance so varies in particular localities and in different ranks, that custom or fashion can be rarely depended on. The study of the ubject under a competent instructor, aided by reference to the standard orthoepical dictionaries of the language, can alone supply the deficiency. REPETITION OF SOUNDS AND JUNCTION OF WORDS. 114. Sounds and articulations of a similar formation should not be allowed to coalesce. Distinctness requires that each sound shall be completed before another is begun; and, at the same time, that the end of the one and the commencement of the other shall be made so quickly, that, while their separation is distinctly effected, continuity may not be broken by any pause. How is a pause to be avoided? Simply by a very slight downward action of the lower jaw, which, separating the parts that produced the articulation, will leave them at perfect liberty for the utterance of the same or a similar sound.— Sections 57, 58. skin kin Wild delight-call lustily-and drink cream—this summer -his shout-begin nobly-less zeal-weep bitterly-speedy yachts-mercy's sake-the Ethiopian changing his {i} and the leopard his {p-zealous citizens searching. All night it hung a nice drop an ice drop there. The torments of {anever} meddling memory. I intend to {sot} myself soon. The {Jew} fall every night. Whose {beard} descending. Sad {an His (angler. dangler. {m} moved me. He will {a} to anybody. He could Spay า nobody. Look on this {pot. The dispute was about a cry pain S duel. jewel. valour? suit pray Art thou afeard to be the same in the own} act and The preceding remarks and exercises refer to the utterance of single words. The following subdivisions of the subject belong to the utterance of words when combined into phrases, clauses, or sentences. RHETORICAL PUNCTUATION-ORATORICAL WORDS. 115. Punctuation is the art of dividing a written composition into sentences or parts of sentences, by points or stops, for the purpose of marking, to the eye, the different pauses which sense and grammatical construction require.* RHETORICAL PUNCTUATION subdivides for the judgment and for the ear; considering pauses only as adjuncts to distinct and expressive delivery, and as means by which an auditor may understand without confusion and without fatigue. 116. This system lays down a series of rules which do not affect the duration of pauses, but which point out those places in a composition where audibility and intelligence require them. The duration of pauses cannot be fixed by any rule; because the style of an author, • The necessity of sensible punctuation may be illustrated by the following lines: I saw a peacock with a fiery tail I saw a cloud begirt with ivy round I saw the brackish sea brimful of ale I saw a phial-glass sixteen yards deep his subject, and the particular expression which it requires; as well as the purport of the speaker, his acquired habits of utterance, the varying shades of passion or of emotion that he would portray—all materially contribute to vary the frequency and time of rhetorical punctuation: but, though the absolute quantity of every group is at the will of the speaker, there must at all times be a relative duration, partly dependent on the nature of the composition, and partly on the speaker's powers of conception and expression. 117. The following musical pauses may be introduced as guides to the student during his initiatory exercises. The ordinary grammatical pauses will be omitted, although, in ordinary composition, they form an indeterminate portion of oratorical pauses: The Semibreve, or longest pause, marked thus: The Minim, or long pause, The Crotchet, or middle pause, The Quaver, or shortest pause, A semibreve pause is in time equal to two minims, four crotchets, or eight quavers. A minim pause is in time equal to half a semibreve, or to two crotchets, or four quavers. A crotchet pause is in time equal to the fourth of a semibreve, to the half of a minim, or to two quavers. A quaver pause is in time equal to the eighth of a semibreve, the fourth of a minim, or the half of a crotchet.* 118. The shortest pause (7) is necessarily introduced at the end of every oratorical word; the middle pause () at the end of any distinct part of a proposition; the long pause (-) at the termination of a proposition; and the longest pause (1) at the termination of an important division of a discourse. The rhetorical sense, not the grammatical expression, determines the relative situation and length of each pause.-Sections 124, 125. RULES FOR RHETORICAL PAUSES. 119. Pause and replenish the lungs with breath— After the nominative, when it consists of several words, or of one important word. A pause after a pronoun in the nominative case is only admissible when it is emphatic. Before and after all parenthetic, explanatory, and intermediate clauses. After words in apposition or in opposition. Before relative pronouns. Before and after clauses introduced by prepositions. Between the several members of a series. Before all conjunctions; and after all conjunctions which intro- Between all nouns and pronouns that are nominatives to a verb, Wherever an ellipsis takes place. Between the object and the modifying word in their inverted order. * In verse or in rhythmical prose all pauses are as significant as sound in forming harmony (see Time of Poetry). |