350. But it may be demanded, what reason is there in the nature of the thing for dividing the word in this manner, rather than into op-in-ion, where a consonant ends every syllable? In this, as in many other cases of delicacy, we may be allowed to prove what is right, by first proving what is wrong. Every ear would be hurt, if the first syllable of opinion and orence were pronounced exactly alike; op-in-ion would be as different from o-pin-ion,as o-pulence from op-x-lence, and consequently a different syllabication ought to be adopted; but as opulence is rightly divided into op-u-lence, opinion must be divided into o-pin-10n; that is, the o must be necessarily separated from the p, a in o-pen; for, as was before observed, every vowel pronounced alone has its open sound, as nothing but its junction with a consonant can shut it, and consequently unaccented vowels not necessarily joined to a consonant are always open: therefore, without violating the fundamental laws of pronunciation, opinion must necessarily be divided into o-pin-ion and not op-in-ion, and the o pronounced as in the word open, and not as in opulence; which was the thing to be proved. 551. If these reasons are valid with respect to the vowel in question, they have the same force with respect to every other vowel not shut by a consonant throughout the language. That the vowels in this situation are actually open, we may easily perceive by observing bat vowel, which, from its diphthongal and semi-consonant sound, is less liable to suffer by obscure pronunciation than any other. The letter ", in this situation, always preserves itself full and open, as we may observe in utility, lucubration, &c. The o, the most open of all the simple vowels, has the same tendency in obedience, opake, position, &c. the e in the first syllable of event, in the second of delegate, the first and third of evangelis, in the second of gayety, nicely, &c. the a in the first of abate, and the second of probable, &c. and the i in nullity. This unaccented letter being no more than e, and this sound when long, corresponding exactly with its short sound, (which is not the case with any of the other vowels, (65) (66), the difference between the long and short, or open and shut sound of this letter, is less percepti ble than in any other: yet we may easily perceive that a delicate pronunciation evidently leaves it open when unaccented in indivisibility, as this word would not be justly pronounced if the i in every syllable were closed by a consonant, as if divided into in-div-is-ib-il-it-y; the first, third, and fifth syllables, would, indeed, be justly pronounced according to this division, as these have all accentuai force, which shuts this vowel, and joins it to the succeeding consonant; but in the second, fourth, and sixth syllables, there is no such force, and consequently it must remain open and unconnected with the consonant; though, as was before observed, the long and short sound of this vowel are so near each other, that the difference is less perceived than in the rest. Every ear would be displeased at such a pronunciation as is indicated by ut-til-lit-y, luc-cub-bra-tion, op-pin-ion,pos-ition, ev-vent, ev-van-gel-ist, ab-bute, prob-bab-ble, &c.; but for exactly the same reasons that the vowels out of the stress ought to be kept open in these words, the slender i must be kept open in the same situation in the word in-di-vsi-bil-i-ty, and every similar word in the language*. 552. From all this it will necessarily follow, that the custom adopted by the ancients and moderns of joining the single consonant to the atter vowel in syllabication, when investigating the unknown sound of a word, has its foundation in reason and good sense; that the only reason why vowels are short and shut, is their junction with a consonant; so those that are not joined to consonants, when we are not speaking metrically, cannot be said to be either short or shut: and that as al accented vowels, when final or pronounced alone, have their open sound, so those vowels that are alone or final in a syllabie must necessarily retain their open sound likewise, as nothing but uniting instantaneously with the succeeding consonant can shut them: and though nothing but a delicate ear will direct us to the degree of openness with which we must pronounce the first unaccented o in docility, domestic, potential, proceed, monastic, monotony, &c. we may be assured that it is exactly under the same predicament, with respect to sound, in all these words: and as they can never be pronounced short and shut, as if written dossility, dommestic, &c. without hurting the dullest ear; so the e in event, evangelist, &c, and the i in the third syllable of utility, and in the second, fourth, and sixth, of indivisibility, can never be sounded as if joined to the consonant without offending every delicate ear, and overturning the first principles of pronunciation. * It is plain that Mr. Sheridan considered the unaccented vowel i, whether ending a syllable, or joined to the succeeding consonant, as standing for the same sound; for we see him sometimes making use of one division, and sometimes of another: thus he divides the word di-ver-si-ty with the i terminating the penultimate syilable, and n-ni-ver-sit-y with the same united to the consonant. The same variety takes place in the words di-vis-i-bil-i-ty and in-di-cis-i-bil-it-y, while Dr. Kenrick divides all words of this termination regularly in the former manner. 553. The only considerable exception to this general rule of syllabication which determines the sound of the unaccented vowels, is when e succeeds the accent, and is followed by r, as in literal, general, misery, &c. which can never be pronounced lat-e-rai, gen-e-ral, mis-e-ry, &c. without the appearance of affectation. In this situation we find the r corrupts the sound of the e, as it does that of every other vowel when in a final unaccented syllable. For this consonant being nothing more than a jar, it unavoidably mixes with the e in this situation, and reduces it to the obscure sound of short u, (418), a sound to which the other unaccented vow. els before r have sometimes so evident a tendency. 554. An obscure idea of the principles of syllabication just laid down, and the contradiction to them perceived in this exception, has made most of our orthöepists extremely wavering aud uncertain in their division of words into syllables, when the unaccented e has preceded r, where we not only find them differingfrom each other, but sometimes even from themselves: 555. I have been the more copious in my collection of these varieties, that I might not appear to have taken the advantage of any oversight or mistake of the press: nor is it any wonder when the principles of syllabication so strongly incline us to leave the vowel e, like the other vowels, open before a single consonant; and the ear so decidedly tells us, that this letter is not always open when preceded by the accent, and followed by r, it is no wonder, I say, that a writer should be perplexed, and that he should sometimes incline to one side, and sometimes to the other. I am conscious I have not always been free from this inconsistency myself. The examples therefore which I have selected, will, I hope, fully justify me in the syllabication I have adopted; which is, that of sometimes separating the e from the r in this situation, and sometimes not. When solemn and deliberate speaking has seemed to admit of lengthening the e, I have sometimes made it end the syliable; when this was not the case I have sometimes joined it to the r: thus, as e in the penultimate syllable of incarcerate, reverberate, &c. seems, in solemn speaking, to admit of a small degree of length and distinctness, it ends a syllable; but as no solemnity of pronunciation seems to admit of the same length and openness of the e in tolerate, deliberate, &c. it is united with r, and sounded in the notation by short u. It ought, however, to be carefully observed, that though the e in this situation is sometimes separated from the r, there is no speaking, however deliberate and solemn, that will not admit of uniting it to r, and pronouncing it like short u, without offending the nicest and most critical ear. 556. It must also be noted, that this alteration of the sound of e before r, is only when it follows the accent, either primary or secondary, (522) (530); for when it is in the first sylla ble of a word, though unaccented, it keeps its true sound: thus, though the e is pronounced like u in alter, alteration, &c. yet in perfection, terrific, &c. this letter is as pure as when the accent is on it in perfect, terrible, &c. 557. Something like the corruption of the sound of unaccented e before, we may perceive in the colloquial pronunciation of the vowel o in the same situation; and accordingly we find our best orthöepists differ in their notation of this letter: thus memory, nemorable, immemorable, memorably, memorize, have the o pronounced like short by Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Scott; and memorandum, with the o, as in open; while Dr. Kendrick gives the o in all these words the sound it has in the conjunction or. Mr. Sheridan marks the unaccented o in corporal, corporate, and corporation, like the o in open; but Mr. Scott pronounces this o in corporal, corporate, and corporation, like short u, and the same letter in incorporate, and incorporation, like Mr. Sheridan; and Dr. Kenrick, like the o in the former instances. Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Scott are uniform in their pronunciation of the same vowel like short u in armour, armorer, armory, pillory, suasory, persuasory, allegory, compulsory, cursory, and predatory; while Dr. Kenrick pronounces the o in armour and armory, like the o in open, and the same letter in pillory, allegory, and cursory, like the in or, nor, &c. This diversity, among good judges, can arise from nothing but the same uncertainty of the sound of this letter that we have just observed of the e; but if we narrowly watch our pronunciation, we shall find that the unaccented o may be opened and lengthened, in deliberate speaking, without hurting the ear, which is not always the case with e; and this has induced me generally to separate the ⚫ from the succeeding r when immediately following the accent; though I am sensible that the rapidity of colloquial speaking often reduces it to short without offending the ear: but when the o is removed more than one syllable from the accent, the most deliberate speaking generally lets it slide into the other vowel: for which reason I have commonly marked it in this manner. See COMMAND. 558. It may, perhaps, appear to some of my readers, that too much time has been spent upon these nice distinctions of sound, in which judges themselves are found to disagree, but when we consider how many syllables in the language are unaccented, and that these syllables are those in which the peculiar delicacy of the pronunciation of natives consists: when we reflect on the necessity of having as distinct and permanent sounds as possible, to which we may refer these fleeting and evanescent ones, we shall not look upon an attempt to arrest and investigate them as a useless part of philology. 559. A TABLE of the SIMPLE and DIPHTHONGAL VOWELS referred to by the Figures over the Letters in this Dictionary ENGLISH SOUNDS. FRENCH SOUNDS I. à. The long slender English a, as in fåte, på-per,} é in ƒée, épée. &c. (73). 2. å. The long Italian a, as in får, få-ther, pa-på,? mam-må. (77.) 3. à. The broad German a, as in fåll, wåll, wå-ter. (83). 4. â. The short sound of the Italian a, as in fât,mât,} mâr-ry. (81). a in fable, rable. 'â in âge, Châlons. a in fat, matin. 1. è. The long e, as in me, hère, mè-tre, mè-dium. (93). i in mitre, epitre. 2. è. The short e, as in mêt, lêt, gêt. (95). 1. i. The long diphthongal i, as in pine, ti-tle. (105). 2. 1. The short simple i, as in pin, tit-tle. (107). 1. 8. The long open o, as in no, note, no-tice. (162). 2. 8. The long close o, as in move, prove. (164). e in mette, nette. aï in laïque, naif. o in globe, lobe. 3. 8. The long broad o, as in nor, for, òr; like the } o in or, for, encor. broad à. (167). 4. ô. The short broad o, as in nốt, hốt, gốt. (163). 1. ů. The long diphthongal u, as in tube, cù-pid. (171). o in hotte, cotte. iou in Cioutat, chiourme. 2. ů. The short simple u, as in tůb, cúp, súp. (172). eu in neuf, veuf. 3. ů. The middle or obtuse u, as in bull, full, pull. (173). ou in boule, foule, poule. ỏi. The long broad ỏ, and the short i, as in oil. (299). oï in cycloïde, heroïque. où. The long broad o, and the middle obtuse ů, as? in thỏů, pound. (313). Th. The acute or sharp th, as in think, thin. (466). aoû in Aoûte. TH. The grave or flat TH, as in THIS, THаt. (41) (50) (469). 560. When G is printed in the Roman character, it has its hard sound in get, gone, &c. as go, give, geese, &c.; when it has its soft sound, it is spelled in the notation by the consonant J, as giant, ginger, ji-ant, jin-jer. The same may be observed of S: the Roman character denotes its hard sound in sin, sun, &c. as so, sit, sense, &c.; its soft sound is spelled by z as rose, raise, &c. roze, raze, &c. ADVERTISEMENT. In the course of a eritical investigation of the powers of the letters in the foregoing Princi ples, there is scarcely a word of any difficulty or diversity of sound which has not been noticed, and the true pronunciation, with the reasons and authorities for it, pointed out; so that if the inspector should not meet with sufficient information in the Dictionary under the word, let him consult the Principles under the vowel, diphthong, or consonant, he wishes to be explained, and it is highly probable he will meet with the satisfaction he requires. Thus to know something more concerning the g in the word impugn, which some speakers pronounce and others suppress, let him look into the Principles under the letter G, No. 386, and he will find additional observations to those in the Dictionary under the word. It is true that most of these doubtful, as well as other words, are referred to the Principles; but if this reference should by chance be omitted, it is hoped that this Advertisement will supply the deficiency. CRITICAL PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY AND EXPOSITOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The figures between the parentheses refer to the numbers in the Principles of Pronunciation prefixed to this Dictionary, where the different sounds of the letters are explained at large. Thus (73) refers to the first sound of the letter A; (93) to the first sound of the letter E; and so of the rest. The figures over the letters refer to the vowels in the words at the top of the page; and the index before these words, refers to the table of simple and dipthongal sounds, where the different sounds of the vowels are exhibited at one view. Thus (559) refers to the table in the opposite page. A (559). Fåte (73), får (77), fåll (83), fåt (81); mẻ (93), mêt (95); pine (105), pin (107); no (162), move (164), nor (167), nôt (163); tube (171), tůb (172), büll (173); ỏil (299); póùnd (313); thin (466), THIS (469). A, The first letter of the alphabet (73). A, an article set before nouns of the singular number; a man, a tree. Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is written an, as an ox. A is sometimes a Boun, as great A. A is placed before a participle, or participial noun: gone a bunting, come a begging. A has a signification denoting proportion: the landlord hath a hundred a year. The change of the letter a into an before a vowel or mute h for the sake of sound, seems to deserve more attention than has generally been given to it by any of our grammarians, and will therefore be considered under the article An; which see. Of the Alphabetical Pronunciation of the Letter A. So many profound and ingenious observations tween the natives of England, Ireland, and Scotland, about the true sound of it, when called by its name. Instead, therefore, of tracing this character through the circles of Gomer, the Egyptian Hieroglyphics, the mysterious Abraxas, or the Irish Ogum, I shall endeavour to obviate a difficulty that frequently arises when it is pronounced in the Hornbook: or, in other words, to enquire what is the true name of the first letter of the English alphabet-whether we are to say Aye, B, C ; Ah, B, C ; or Aw, B, C. And first, it will be necessary to consider the nature of a vowel; which grammarians are generally agreed in defining to be "a sim"ple articulate sound, formed by the im"pulse of the voice by the opening only of "the mouth in a particular manner." Now, as every vowel by itself is sounded long, ag nothing but its junction with a consonant can make it otherwise, it is natural, when pronouncing this vowel alone, to give it the long open sound; but as this long open sound is threefold,as heard inface, father,andwater, a question arises, which of these long sounds shall we adopt as a common name to the whole species of this letter? The English make choice of the a in face, the Irish of that in father, and the Scotch of that in water. Each party produces words where the letter a is sounded in the manner they contend for; but when we demand why one should have the preference, the controversy is commonly at an end; any farther reasons are either A |