The one-syllable words in which either the whispered or vocal th occurs, are of Anglo-Saxon origin, but the words of several syllables are mostly derived from the Greek, and have the whispered th only. Those who lisp use these sounds instead of s or z, and are said to be short-tongued; this, however, is a misnomer, as the tongue has to be protruded further for th than for s, the tip being placed between the teeth, while in s it is behind them. THE REPRESENTATION OF THE VOCAL TH. This is the vocal power of the preceding whispered consonant. It is always represented by th, but sometimes a silent e is added to indicate vocality, as breathe. All the words containing this sound are of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is not nearly so frequent a souud as the whispered th. THE REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUND L. § 1. This beautiful sound, which is almost as clear, loud, and vocal as any of the vowels, is always represented by the letter 1. It is so vocal as to form a syllable without the aid of a vowel, if preceded by a consonant; though custom requires an e to be added, which, however, is both silent and useless, as able, fickle, supple, baffle, title, saddle. § 2. L is one of the three letters (f, s and 1) which is always doubled at the end of one-syllable words when immediately succeeding a short vowel, as doll, full, will; but if another consonant follow it is not doubled, as silk, smelt, build. language have both t, d; k, g; s, z; f, v, H, being the aspirate, § 3. All the consonants in our whispered and vocal powers, as p, b; &c.; except h, m, n, ng, 1, r, w and y. has no vocal power, and m, n, ng, 1, and r, have no whispered power; the reason of which is, that the apertures through which the breath issues are so large, that whisper would be almost inaudible, and consequently useless as an element of speech. § 4. The sound 1 is so vocal and unites so easily with other consonants, that it is called by grammarians a liquid. Our school grammars contain many technical terms which do not convey a very definite meaning to either master or pupil, and the author of this treatise confesses that many of them raise only indistinct ideas in his own mind. Here follows a list of such terms collected from various grammars. § 5. CONSONANTS are described as explosives or explodents; continuous or continuants ;-whispered, sharp, thin, surd, or light ;-voice, vocal, spoken, sonant, thick, or heavy; -tonic, sub-tonic, and atonic ;-aspirate, lenē, nasal, guttural, palatal, liquid, mute, and semi-mute;-hard or soft;-labiodental, labio-nasal, dento-palatal, dento-nasal; the maxillar, the palatal-hissing, the palatal-buzzing, the trilled-dental, the linguo-dental breath consonant, and others. VOWELS are described as being long, broad, open ;-short, brief, stopped;-narrow, slender, close or guttural ;-dependent and independent;-nasal, diphthongs and triphthongs; simple or pure, compound or impure, and others. A principal of one of the Training Colleges wittily remarked, "That many of these terms applied to sound, are as intelligible as the phrase As big as a piece of chalk, if applied to size." § 6. The letter 1 is silent in some words before f or m, in which it was probably sounded formerly, as the passage from Shakespeare, quoted in Rule 2, goes far to prove; but though the 1 is silent, it affects the quality of the preceding vowel by making it long, as bälm, calm, pälm, psälm, quälm, calf, hälf sälve. § 7. The sound au before 1 in some monosyllables is represented by the letter a followed by two ll's, as áll, bâll, câll, fâll, hâll, pâll, gâll, tâll, &c. The letter a is similarly affected after w, as wârm, water, wâlk, wârt, wârn, &c. § 8. The syllable -füll, when an affix, is unaccented and loses one 1, as spoonfül, artfül, usefül; it also loses one l as a prefix, as fülfil'; in compound words both ll's are retained, as full-faced, full-eared, füll-drive. The phonic principle is not a certain guide as to the doubling or otherwise of the letter 1, and the pupil should notice and endeavour to remember the many irregularities connected with writing it. Words ending in 1 at present double it in adding the syllables -ish, -ing, -y or -ly,- -er and or, even if the foregoing vowel be a short unaccented one, thus violating a principle that applies to every other consonant; as travelling, rev'eller, coun'sellor. The opinion that 1 ought to follow the same law that governs all the other consonants (except v), and not be doubled after unaccented vowels, as in trav'eler, per'iling, &c., seems to be gaining ground. RULE XIX. THE REPRESENTATION OF THE TWO SOUNDS OF R. § 1. There are two sounds of this letter; the first a trill, when it commences a syllable, as reed, ripe, root; when it follows an explosive consonant, as brim, prim, trust, draw, crude, growl; when it occurs between two vowels, as array, tarry, very, Mary, Sarah; and also after the consonant sounds f, sh and th, as frill, shriek, thrive. § 2. The second sound is much less distinct, and is or ought to be heard in such words as bard, farm, fern, learn, bird, birth, born, storm, burst. In these cases the Irish and the Scotch often give the sound too strongly, in fact give the first sound of the letter, while many of the English fall into the opposite fault and do not give any sound of r at all. § 3. From our having no recognised mode of representing the long sound of the u in but, we employ the letter r as a conventional sign united to almost any of the vowel letters to express it, as sir, earn, fern, birth, earth, work, burn, burst. Uh is also used conventionally to express this sound, as ah is express the long a in father. to § 4. The first or trilled sound of r presents little difficulty in spelling, as r or rr must always be written for it; but the second sound (in burn), is so slightly uttered as to be inappreciable to some ears; often indeed the speaker altogether omits the sound, and this is a source of difficulty to the pupil. Perhaps the best way for him to avoid mistakes, is to notice the words in which this power of r occurs, and endeavour to retain them in his memory. § 5. The second power of r seems to be the incompleted action of the first or trilled r. Carefully observe what is done in -ma (last syllable of mama'), mar and marry. In ma the tongue lies at the bottom of the mouth; in mar, having pronounced -ma as before, the tip of the tongue rises nearly to the roof of the palate and then descends, and the result is mar; in marry, having pronounced the word mar, as described, the point of the tongue, instead of descending, is pushed rapidly forward, and the trilled r is produced. § 6. The letter r is not so regularly doubled after short accented vowels as the other consonants are, there being many exceptions, as very, bury, verify, &c. |