wowels we find a squeezed sound like the commencing or consonant y interpose, as it were, to articulate the latter vowel, and that the words where these diphthongs are found, might agreeably to the sound, be spelt oshe-yun, f-yude, j-yewel, pon-yard, span-yel, pash-yon, &c.; and as these diphthongs (which, from their commencing with the sound of y consonant, may not improperly be called semi-consonant diphthongs,) begin in that part of the mouth where s, c soft, and t are formed, we find that coalescence ensue which forms the aspirated hiss in the numerous terminations sion, tion, tial, &c. and by direct consequence in those ending in ure, une, as future, fortune, &c. for the letter u, when long, is exactly one of these semi-consonant diphthongs (8); and when immediately after the accent it coalesces with the preceding s, c, or t, and draws them into the aspirated hiss of sh or tsh. (459). Those found in the termination ious may be called semi-consonant diphthongs also, as the o and u have but the sound of one vowel. It may be observed too, in passing, that the reason why in mansuetude thes does not go into sh, is, because when u is followed by another vowel in the same syllable, it drops its consonant sound at the beginning, and becomes merely double o. 197. The improper diphthongs are, ae Cæsar ai aim ao gaol au taught aw law ea clean ee reed ei ceiling eo people ey they ie friend oa coat oe œconomy ow crow. 198. The triphthongs having but two sounds are merely ocular, and must therefore be classed with the proper diphthongs: aye (for ever) eau beauty eou plenteous iew view oeu manœuvre. Of all these combinations of vowels we shall treat in their alphabetical or der. AE. 199. Ae or a is a diphthong, says Dr. Johnson, of very frequent use in the Latin language, which seems not properly to have any place in the English; since the & of the Saxons has been long out of use, being changed to e simple; to which, in words frequently occurring, the a of the Romans is, in the same manner, altered, as in equator, equinoctial, and even in Encas. 200. But though the diphthong a is perfectly useless in our language, and the substitution of e in its stead, in Cesar and Eneas, is recommended by Dr. Johnson, we do not find his authority has totally annihilated it, especially in proper names and technical terms derived from the learned languages. Casar, Eneas, Æsop, pean, æther, æthiops mineral, amphisbæna, anacephalaosis, apheresis, agilops, ozana, &c. seem to preserve the diphthong, as well as certain words which are either plurals or genitives, in Latin words not naturalized, as cornuco. pie, exuvia, aqua vita, minutia, stria, &c. 201. This diphthong, when not under the accent in Michaelmas, and when accented in Dadalus, is pronounce like short e; it is like e, subject to the short sound when under the secondary accent, as in noba bus, where an in the first syllable, is pronounced exactly like the letter n. (530). AI. 202. The sound of this diphthong is exactly like the long slender sound of a ; thus hail, a vessel, and pale, a colour, are perfectly the same sound. The exceptions are but few. 203. When said is the third person preterimperfect tense of the verb to say, ai has the sound of short e, and said rhymes with bed; the same sound of ai may be observed in the third person of the present tense saith and the participle said; but when this word is an adjective, as the said man, it is regular, and rhymes with trade. 204. Plaid, a striped garment, rhymes with mad. 205. Raillery is a perfect rhyme to saiary; and raison, a fruit, is pronounced exactly like reason, the distinctive faculty of man. See both these words in the Dictionary. 206. Again and Against, sound as if written agen and agenst. 207. The aisle of a church is pronounced exactly like isle, an island; and is sometimes written ile. 208. When this diphthong is in a final unaccented syllable, the a is sunk and the pronounced short: thus mountain, fountain, captain, curtain, villain, are all pronounced as if written mountin, fountin, captin, curtin, villin: but when the last word takes an additional syllable, the i is dropped, and the a has its short sound, as vilianous, villany. See the words in the Dictionary. 209. The a in Britain has the short sound approaching to u, so common with all the vowels in final unaccented syllables, and is pronounced exactly like Briton. 210. Plait, a fold of cloth, is regular, and ought to be pronounced like plate, a dish: pronouncing it so as to rhyme with meat is a vulgarism, and ought to be avoided. 211. Plaister belongs no longer to this class of words, being now more properly written plaster, rhyming with caster. AO. 212. This combination of vowels in a diphthong is only to be met with in the word gaol, now more properly written, as it is pronounced, jail. AU. 213. The general sound of this diphthong is that of the noun awe, as taught, caught, &c. or of the a in hall, ball, &c. 214. When these letters are followed by n, and another consonant, they change to the second sound of a heard in fur, farther, &c.: thus aunt, haunt, duunt, askaunce, askaunt, flaunt, haunt, gauntlet, jaunt, haunch, launch, craunch, jaundice, laundry, have the Italian sound of the a in the last syllable of papa and mamma. To these I think ought to be added, daunt, faunch, gaunt, and saunte, as Dr. Kenrick has marked them with the Italian a, and not as if writ ten dawnt, hawnch. &c. as Mr. Sheridan sounds them. Maund, a basket, is always pronounced with the Italian a, and nearly as if written marnd; for which reason Maundy Thursday, which is derived from it, ought, with Mr. Nares, to be pronounced in the same manner, though generally heard with the sound of aw. To maunder, to grumble, though generally heard as if written mawnder, ought certainly to be pronounced as Mr. Nares has classed it with the Italiana. The same may be observed of taunt, which ought to rhyme with aunt, though sounded tawnt by Mr. Sheridan; and being left out of the above list, supposed to be so pronounced by Mr. Nares. But Mr. Elphinston has placed the analogy of these words in so strong and curious a light, that I cannot help presenting them to the reader in his own words, though a different orthography: U meritoriously distinguishes aunt, the parent's sister, from ant, the emmet, * and gives a slender shut, the servile of a broad open, yet without pretence ❝ of so dangerous or any coincidence; in defiance of both sisters, his aunt had "power to retain the company of jaunt, haunt, vaunt, taunt, daunt, gaunt, gaunt"let; in all of which the u does precisely the same duty it formerly did in "chaunt, graunt, maund, and commaund; in saunter and saunder; as well as in “braunch, haunch, paunch, launch, staunch; all now justly as genealogically, “ chant, grant, mand (the old basket), command, santer, sander; branch, hanch, “panch, lanch, stanch. Jaundice alone pleaded u radical; and yet was found mere jandice. So with aunt, must return to truth and etymology (who do not always join issue), jant, hant, vant, tant, dant, gant, gantlet; and even the venerable Mandy Thursday, with her mand or basket in her hand. She had, "indeed, almost left the language, though Astrea had not left the land, when "analogy (or harmony) enacted; a broad (au) shall not in English precede n; " followed either by a dry dental, or by a sibilation; that is, au shall not be fol"lowed by nt, nd, nce, nch, or nge. No such sounds being sufferable in the "English system, as aunt, aund, aunch, aunce, or aunge; there shall be no such "semblances. Alike are therefore indispensable, chant and jant; hand and "mand, chance and lance, branch and lanch, banter and santer; Sande and his full "self Alexander. In all such, a far from broad or open, is slender and shut; yet hardly shorter than if the silent aspiration interposed in ahnt, sahnter, "lahnce, lahnch, and the rest. Before nge, indeed, a is also slender, but open; not ah, but a; guarded therefore by its own (i) servile (as we saw in its place) against every danger of change. Faun and fawn remain doubtless "in fauns and fawns, unaltered by the adscititious depressive sibilant.” priety Ascertained in her Picture, vol. i. page 171. Pro 215. Laugh and draught, which are very properly classed by Mr. Nares among these words which have the long Italian a in father, are marked by Mr. Sheridan with his first sound of a in hat, lengthened into the sound of a in father, by placing the accent on it. Staunch is spelled without the u by Johnson, and therefore improperly classed by Mr. Nares in the above list. 216. Vaunt and avaunt seem to be the only real exceptions to this sound of a in the whole list; and as these words are chiefly confined to tragedy, they may be allowed to "fret and strut their hour upon the stage" in the old traditionary sound of awe. 217. This diphthong is pronounced like long o in hautboy, as if written ho-boy; and like o short in cauliflower, laurel, and laudanum; as if written colliflower, lorrel, and loddanum. In gauge, au has the sound of slender a, and rhymes with Lage. 218. There is a corrupt pronunciation of this diphthong among the vulgar, which is, giving the au in daughter, sauce, saucer, and saucy, the sound of the Italian a, and nearly as if written darter, sarce, sarcer, and sarcy; but this pronunciation cannot be too carefully avoided. Au in sausage also, is sounded by the vulgar with short a, as if written sassage; but in this, as in the other words, eu ought to sound awe. See the words in the Dictionary. AW. 219. Has the long broad sound of a in ball, with which the word bawl is perfectly identical. It is always regular. AY. 220. This diphthong, like its near relation ai, has the sound of slender a in pay, day, &c. and is pronounced like long e in the word quay, which is now sometimes seen written key; for if we cannot bring the pronunciation to the spelling, it is looked upon as some improvement to bring the spelling to the pronunciation: a most pernicious practice in language. See BowL. 221. To flay, to strip off the skin, also, is corruptly pronounced flea; but the diphthong in this word seems to be recovering its rights. 222 There is a wanton departure from analogy in orthography, by changing the y in this diphthong to i in the words pad, said, laid, for payed, sayed, and layed. Why these words should be written with i and thus contracted, and played, prayed, and delayed, remain at large, let our wise correctors of orthography determine. Stayed also, a participial adjective singnifying steady, is almost always written staid. 223. When ay comes immediately after the accent in a final syllable, like ai, it drops the former vowel in the colloquial pronunciation of the days of the week. Thus as we pronounce captain, curtain, &c. as if written captin, curtin, &c. so we hear Sunday, Monday, &c. as if written Sundy, Mundy, &c. A more distinct pronunciation of day, in these words, is a mark of the northern dialect. (208). 224. The familiar assent ay for yes, is a combination of the long Italian a in the last syllable of papa, and the first sound of e. If we give the a the sound of that letter in ball, the word degenerates into a coarse rustic pronunciation. Though in the House of Commons, where this word is made a noun, we frequently, but not correctly, hear it so pronounced, in the phrase the Ayes have it. AYE. 225. This triphthong is a combination of the slender sound of a, heard in pa-per, and the è in me-tre. The word which it composes, signifying ever, is almost obsolete. EA. 226. The regular sound of this diphthong is that of the first sound of e in here; but its irregular sound of short e is so frequent, as to make a catalogue of both necessary; especially for those who are unsettled in the pronunciation of the capital, and wish to practise in order to form a habit. 227. The first sound of ea is like open e, and is heard in the following words: Afeard, affear, anneal, appeal, appear, appease, aread, arrear, beacon, beadle, beadroll, beads, beadsman, beagle, beak, beaker, beam, bean, beard, bearded, beast, beat, beaten, beaver, beleaguer, bencath, bequeath, bercave, besmear, bespeak bleach, bleak, blear, bleat, bohca, breach, bream, to breathe, cease, cheap, ch ́at, clean, cleanły (adverb), clear, clearance, cleave, cochineal, colleague, conceal, congeal, cream, creak, crease, creature, deacon, deal, dean, deanery, dear, decease, defeasance, defeasible, defeat, demean, demeanor, decrease, dream, drear, dreary, each, eager, eagle, eagre, car, east, caster, easy, to eat, eaten, eaves, entreat, endear, escheat, fear, fearful, feasible, feasibility, feast, feat, feature, flea, fleam, freak, gear, gleam, glean, to grease, grease, greaves, heal, heap, hear, heat, heath, heathen, heave, impeach, increase, inseam, interleave, knead, lea, to lead, leaf, league, leak, lean, lease, leash, leasing, least, leave, leaves, mead, meagre, meal, mean, meat, measles, meathe, neat, neap, near, neat, pea, peace, peak, peal, pease, peat, plea, plead, please, reach, to read, ream, reap, rear, rearward, reason, recheat, redstreak, re kase, repeal, repeat, retreat, reveal, screak, scream, seal, sea, seam,seamy, sear,searcloth, season, seat, shear shears, sheath sheathe, sheaf, sleasy, sneak, sneaker,sneakup, speak, spear, steal, steam, streak, stream, streamer, streamy, surcease, tea, teach, tead, teague, teal, team, tear, tease, teat, treacle, treason, treat, treatise, treatment, treaty, tweag, tweak, tweague, veal, underneath uneasy, unreave, uprear, weak, weaken, weal, weald, wean weanling, weariness, wearisome, weary, weasand, weasel, wrave, wheal, wheat, wheaten, wreak, wreath, wreathe, wreathy, yea, year, yeanling, yearling, yearly, zeal. 228. In this catalogue we find beard and bearded sometimes pronounced as if written berd and berded: but this corruption of the diphthong, which Mr. Sheridan has adopted. seems confined to the Stage. See the word. 229. The preterimperfect tense of eat is sometimes written ate, particularly by Lord Bolingbroke, and frequently. and. perhaps, more correctly, pronounced t, especially in Ireland; but eaten always preserves the ea long. 230. Ea in fearful is long when it signifies timorous, and short when it signiLes terrible, as if written fe ful. See the word. 231. To read is long in the present tense, and short in the past and participle, which are sometimes written red. 232. Teat a dug, is marked by Dr. Kenrick, Mr Elphinston, and Mr. Nares, with short e like tit; but more properly by Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Scott, W. Johnston, Mr. Perry, and Mr. Smith. with the long e, rhyming with meat. 233. Beat, the preterimperfect tense, and participle of to beat, is frequently pronounced in Ireland like bet (a wager): and if utility were the only object of language, this would certainly be the preferable pronunciation, as nothing tends more to obscurity than verbs which have no different form for their present and past times; but fashion in this, as in many other cases, triumphs over use and propriety; and bet, for the past time and participle of beat must be religiously avoided. 234. Ea is pronounced like the short e in the following words; Abreast, ahead, already, bedstead, behead, bespread, bestead, bread, breadth, breakfast, breast, breath, cleanse, cleanly, (adjective), cleanlily, dead, deadly, deaf, deafen, dearth, death, earl, earldom, early, earn, earnest, earth, earthen, earthly, endeavouTM, feather,head, heady, health, heard, hearse, heaven, heavy, jealous, impearl, instead, lead, leaden, lean, (the past time and participle of to lean), learn, learning, leather, leaven, meadow, meant, measure, pearl, peasant, pheasant, pleasant, pleasantry, pleasure, read (past time and participle), readily, readiness, ready, realm, rehearsal, rehearse, research, seamstress, searce, search, spread, stead, steadfast, steady, stealth, stealthy, sweat, sweaty, thread, threaden, threat, threaten, treachery, tread, treadle, treasure, uncleanly, wealth, wealthy, weapon, weather, yearn, zealot, zealous, zealously. 235. I have given the last three words, compounded of zeal, as instances of the short sound of the diphthong, because it is certainly the more usual sound; but some attempts have lately been made in the House of Commons to pronounce them long, as in the noun. It is a commendable zeal to endeavour to reform the language as well as the constitution; but whether, if these words were altered, it would be a real reformation, may admit of some dispute. See Enclitical Termination, No 515, and the word ZEALOT. |