tions, having no more immediate reference to the particular reading-lesson which they introduce than to any other in the book. One sufficient objection to this practice is, that it gives a confused, difficult, and unattractive appearance to the page; and does not regard the importance of making the externals of a reading-book simple and pleasing to the eye. The exercises in this volume on the elementary sounds and the consonant combinations will be found to cover the whole ground of English articulation; and they cannot be practised too soon after the child has begun to read. The system of references, which has been an approved feature in the higher Readers of this series, has been applied, though more sparingly, to the present work, in which the marks are intended rather as hints to the teacher than the pupil. Until the eye has been made thoroughly familiar with the printed forms of words, it may not be well to append many referential marks; but the child must be dull, indeed, who cannot be made readily to comprehend the meaning of such as we have ventured to give. It is recommended that, before entering upon the reading-lesson of the day, the class be drilled in the examples under the particular elementary sounds or consonant combinations to which reference may be made in the line of figures immediately under the title of the lesson. This will prepare pupils for the more difficult or doubtful sounds which they will have to encounter, and will make the drilling in articulation separate, as it ought to be, from the reading. The practice of illustration by pictures can only be objected to in cases where the attempt is made to assist the child in spelling or reading by placing over the word a picture of the object named; so that dog may, in the child's apprehension, stand for puppy. But to deny that the pictorial art may be made available in adding largely to the interest of a reading-lesson, aiding the child's comprehension, and deepening the impression of a moral or physical truth, is to deny what the most successful experience regards as a truism. Particular regard has been given in this, as in the higher volumes of the series, to the moral and literary character of every reading-lesson. Opinions will naturally differ as to the style best suited to engage the attention of the young; but the verdict of our most intelligent teachers seems to be, that the tendency in our elementary books is to underrate the intelligence of the child. It has been my aim to unite a proper and unaffected simplicity with a pure but familiar style. I have availed myself freely of the labors of the most celebrated writers for the young, French, German, and Italian, as well as English. THE The unnumbered paragraphs in small type are addressed to THE learner should be made to understand that the sound given to the name of a letter in the alphabet may be no certain guide to the sound of that letter in a large number of words; thus, the sound of a in fat is quite different from that of a in fate; the o in In explaining this to a class, it may be well to exercise them in the spelling of some entire words by sound, or phonetically.EI By this process, we give merely the elementary sounds which letters represent, without regard to their names in the alphabet; and we separate the consonant sounds (as far as possible) from any vowel Thus, in the word fan, we first give the 23d elementary sound (ac- cording to the classification in the table on the 11th page), pronouncing by sound Isle, mile, sigh, rye, tea, may, eat, ape, deign, stay, give, knell, gnaw, mean, deep, &c. In the Exercises (page 13) let the teacher first, and the learner, or class of learners, afterwards, pronounce some leading word containing the elementary sound under consideration, and then pronounce the elementary sound separated from the other parts of the word. The learner may then proceed with the other examples under the sound, applying it to the letter or letters in Italic in every word. He should be made to attend particularly to these italicized letters, as the immediate object is to bring out the elementary sound fully and roundly upon them. Where silent letters occur in connection with those representing the elementary sound, they are also italicized to show that their sound is merged in the other. Thus, in the words half, talk, solemn, charmed, not only the 1st, 4th, 17th, and 28th, but the 19th, 18th, and 6th elementary sounds are represented by italicized letters. We give (page 11), for the convenience of the teacher, a Table of the Elementary Sounds of the English Language, together with the six compound sounds usually classed as elementary. The letters c, q, and x do not appear in the Table, because as representatives of sound they are not wanted. C is equivalent to s or k; q, to kw; x, to ěks. Of the compound sounds in the following Table, i long is composed of the 1st and 5th elementary sounds (the a in father and the e in mete), rapidly pronounced; u long, of the 7th and 11th (the i in fit and the oo in fool); ou, of the 1st and 11th (the a in father and the oo in fool); oi of the 4th and 5th (the a in fall and the e in mete). Ch is the sound of tsh, rapidly pronounced; j, of dzh (the 28th and 34th elementary sounds). EI Ortho-e-pists differ in regard to the a sound proper to a class of words like dance, glass, waft, &c. Walker makes the a short, as in făt; Webster gives it the sound of a in father. Later orthoëpists (inIcluding Smart and Worcester) give it an intermediate sound, not so close as short a nor so open as the a in father. EI By Cognate sounds we mean a class of sounds related to each other, or resembling each other in sound. An Aspirate consonant sound is one which, separated as far as possible in the utterance from the attending vowel sound which its name sound may have had, requires but a whisper for its distinct utterance. A Vocal consonant sound is one which, under similiar conditions, requires the natural tone of the voice. |