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L'axamplaira fiimA fut raproduit grflca A la g^n^roaitA da: Univereiti Laurentienne Sudbury Laa Imagaa aulvantaa ont 4tA raprodultaa avac la plua grand aoin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da l'axamplaira film*, at ^n conformity avac laa conditiona du contrat da filmaga. 1/ uAas Original copiaa In printad papar eovara ara fllmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or llluatratad impraa- •ion. or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara fllmad baginning on tha firat paga with a printad or llluatratad Impraa- aion, and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or llluatratad impraaaion. Laa axamplairaa orlglnaux dont la couvartura an papiar aat imprimto aont filmte an commandant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant aoit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'Impraaaion ou d'llluatratlon, soit par la sacond plat, aalon la caa. 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Loraqua la documant aat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un aaul ciichA, II aat film* A partir da I'angla aupArlaur gaucha, da gaucha A droita, at da haut an baa an pranant la nombra d'Imagaa nteaaaairo Laa diagrammaa auivanta llluatrant la methods. by errata led to snt ine peiura. apon A 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 o A.BOU THE ORTHOEPIST: A PRONOUNCING MANUAL, CONTAINING A.BOUT THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED WORDS, BY ALFRED AY RES. ir£H^ EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED^ \ I ADAPTED FOR USE IN CANADIAN SCHOOLS By T. C. L. ILRMSTRONG, M. A., LL.B. TORONTO: CANADA PUBLISHING CO. (limited). \ . Enierea weording to Aet of th« Parliament of Oanaaa in ihg year 1884, by the Minister of Edvc"tion for Ontario^ •*« the office ^t' the Minister qfJgricitlturo. PREFATORY NOTE TO THE CANADIAN EDITION. In the pronunciation of many words this edition of " The Orthoepist " will be found to differ materially from the American edition. The latest English authorities have been care- fully consulted in making the revision, and it is believed that the present edition is now in harmony with the best English usage. The chapter on the Essentials of Elocution was originally prepared for the Eoyal Canadian 5th Reader by J. Douglas Christie, B.A , and contains all that the student will need on the " Principles of Reading " required for teachers' examinations, and will thus save him the cost of a separate woik on the subject. '/^e¥y 1 Ti teran< ten ]fl Tl 8ymb( the 01 listen resen Sc and g that < whicl Agaii matec states N vocal and a study must (1 know read. ESSENTIALS OF ELOCUTION. The Art of Reading consists in the appropriate ut- terance of the thoughts and feelings presented in writ- ten language. The written or printed words are only the signs or symbols of thought and feeling ; and the best reader is the one who best uses these symbols to convey to the listener the thoughts and feelings which the words rep- resent. Some thoughts are bold, vigorous, and energetic, and show that the mind is roused. Others indicate that cool, calm, and collected state of the mind in which it is ready to deal with every-day matters. Again, the mind may be weighed down by sorrow, ani- mated by joy, or softened by pity. Each of these states may be expressed by tones of the voice. Now, it is impossible for a reader to give correct vocal expression to what he does not clearly understand and appreciate. TIence, he must first make a thorough study of the ideas and feelings to be expressed. He must determine — (1) The general spirit of the selection ; that he may know the force of voice, etc., with which it should be read. vl (2) The important individual ideas; that he may know wfiioh words need special force or emphasis. (3) The relative importance of the different ideas; that he may be able to express clearly the exact and full meaning of the author. The primary requisites of a good reader are: I. Clear Articulation. II. Correct Pronunciation. III. Correct Vocal Expression, I. CLEAR AKTICULATION. Many persons acquire, through carelessness, habits of slow and indistinct articulation, such as mumbling, joining words together, and making unaccented sylla- bles almost inaudible. For effective reading, distinct utterance is, therefore, the first and most important requisite. Articulation is effected by the action of the lips, tongue, palate, and jaws. If these organs do not act promptly and easily, the articulation will be indistinct and imperfect. The following exercises will sid in disciplining the muscles used in articulation, and in accustoming them to energetic action : 1. Pronounce the sound ee^ extending the lips as much as possible sidewise, and showing the tips of the teeth. 2. Pronounce ah^ opening the mouth wide. 3. Pronounce oo (as in cooJ)^ contracting the lips. Vll Having uttered the sountls in this v rder, Ee — ah — oo, three or four times, rearrange them thus, Ee — oo—ah, Ah — ee — oo^ Ah — oo — ee^ Oo — ah — cd, Oo — ee — «A, and utter them as described above. 4. Pronounce the words stand, strike^ halty holdy forcibly expelling with eacli utterance all the air from the lungs. After having continued this exercise for a short time, take a sentence and pronounce each word separate- ly, with the utmost precision, exaggerating, at first, the movement of the lips and jaws. Next, pronounce phrases in the same way, and finally ichole sentences^ taking care in every case to open the mouth and move the lips. EXAMPLES. (1) Articulation of single words : The — hours — pass — slowly — by, — nine — ten — elev- en — how — solemnly — the — last — strike — of — the — clock — floats — out — upon — the — still — air. That — lasts — till — night. Neither — sect — nor — schism — shall — di- vide- -us. Ignorance — is — not — bliss. The — torrent — rushed — down — the — rocks — pouring — and — roaring — grumbling — and — rumbling. (2) Articulation of phrases : Self-denial and discipline — are the foundation — of all good character, — the source — of all true enjoyment, — the means — of all just distinction. A correct articu- lation — is attained chiefly — through the fiOe — and elas- tic movement — of the jaw, — tongue, and lips. To gain his ends — he lends — his utmost strength; This act — Vlll more—than all other acts — laid the axe — at the root — of the evil. II. CORRECT PRONUNCIATION. By Pronunciation in its restricted sense is meant the exact employment ^n utterance, of the voyvjdl and consonant sounds, and accents, which custom has es- tablished. Authorities differ as to the mode of ex- pressing these sounds. Care should, therefore, be taken to follow those models which the best usage has sanctioned. III. VOCAL EXPRESSION. The chief elements of Vocal Expression are : Quali- ty, Force, Pitch, Time, Stress, Inflection, Emphasis, and Pause. 1. Quality. By Quality is meant the tone of voice used in ex- pressing thought and feeling. Certain tones are always associated with certain emotioD^. There are five qualities of voice used in reading: Whisper, Pure Tone, Semi-Tone, Orotund, Basilar. (a) The Whisper is used to express caution, fear, and secrecy. Horror, awe, and intense reverence arc also expressed by a whisper, but one more strongly as- pirated. Example : *' Whispering with white lips — * The foe ! They come I The^ come ! ' " lA (h) Pure Tone is that used in common conversa- tion, simple narrative, description or argument, and in the expression of agreeable ideas, and traiKjuil or cheer- ful feelings. It is the natural tone of tenderness and compassion. Example : ** llail to thee, blithe spirit, Bird thou never wert, That from heaven, or near it, Poorest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art." In such a cry as "Boat I ahoy! " wo use what ift sometimes called Mechanical Pure Tone, which consists of purest tone, loudest force, highest pitch, and sus- tained movement, to carry the voice the greatest dis- tance with the greatest ease. (c) The Semi-Tone expresses physical or mental weakness. Example : " I fear it is too late, and I shall die." {d) The Orotund is the pure tone deepened and in- tensified, sonorous, round, and full, rich and thrilling. It is thus the natural tone for awe, grandeur, vastness, reverence, deep pathos, and powerful appeals. Example : "Suddenly the notes of the deep-laboring orgaa burst upon the ear, falling with doubled and redoubled intensity, and rolling, as it were, great billows of sound. How well do their volume and grandeur accord with this mighty build- ing I With what pomp do they swell through its vast vaults,** and breathe their awful harmony through these caves of death, and'make the silent scpulchve vocal ! '' (e) The Basilar or Guttural Tone indicates the meannesses of human nature — malice, rage, intense ha- tred, revenge, and loathing. Example: " On what compulsion must I ? Tell me that ! " " My deeds upon my head ! I crave the law ; The penalty and forfeit of my bond." " Is that the law ? " Few selections can be read throughout with the same quality of voice. Hence the necessity for the reader to make an analysis of the thoughts and senti- ments, so that he may know when to change the quali- ty of his voice. He must notice, too, that every quality of voice has its peculiar possibilities of Force, Pitch, and Time. 2. Force. Force is the volume or degree of loudness used in reading. Although the volume of sound may vary from a soft whisper to a shout, it will be sufficient to make only three degrees of Force — Soft, Moderate, and Loud. Soft or Gentle Force is generally used in the ex- pression of pathetic and subdued feelings — caution, secrecy, awe, pity, and tenderness. Example : " My mother ! when I learned that thou wast dead, Say, wast tUou conscious of the tears I shed ? XI Hover'd thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son, Wretch even then, life's journey just begun ? " When the mind is unexcit j, it expresses itself with Moderate Force. This, then, will be the prevailing force in unimpassioned disconrso, and in reading nar- rative, descriptive, or didactic selections. Example : *' A man he was to all the country dear. And passing rich with forty pounds a year ; Remote from towns he ran hia godly race, Nor e'er had changed or v/jshed to change his place." Loud Force is used in powerful appeals, and in the expression of all violent passions and vehement emotions, such as anger, command, exultation, scorn, and defiance. Example: " Fiercely he shouted : * Pear away, East-by-north, for Seven Isles Bay.' " 3. PiTon. Pitch of voice has reference to the degree of ele- vation in tone. There are three varieties of pitch — High, Middle, and Low. High Pitch is that which rises above the ordinary speaking tone. It is the proper key for stirring de- scription and animated narration, and for representing elevated feelings and impetuous, impulsive passion, such as joy, exultation, rage, invective, and eagerness. Selections expressing these admit of the greatest range or compass of voice, and variety in change of tone. Xll Example : " On," Hampden cried, " for the day is ours." Middle Pitch is the key-note in common conversa- tion and in unimpassioned thought. Languagt/ of little or no emotion admits of but a moderate range of voice. Example : " Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark, unf athomed caves of ocean bear ; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen. And waste its sweetness on the desert air." Low Pitch is that which falls below the ordinary speaking tone, and is the key-note for the expression of sublimity, awe, and reverence. Such language ad- mits of less range of voice than the preceding, ap- proaching in some cases almost to monotone, or entire sameness of tone. Example : " So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death. Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night. Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." Appropriate variety of pitch on successive words and syllables is one of the essentials of good reading. We have 'iUconsciously a tendency to imitate the pitch of sounds that we describe. In nature, high sounds Xlll are usually produced by small objects or by rapid mo- tions; low, by large objects or by slow motions. 4. Time, or Movement. The Time that should be given to Pause, to the pronunciation of syllables, and consequently to the en- tire reading of a piece, must depend upon the character of the selection. If the selection be animated or joyous, witty or humorous, it will require Fast time. Excitement of all kinds, as in joy, impatience, rage, terror, surprise, quickens the pulse and the utterano'^ Example : " And there was mounting in hot haste ; The steed, tie mustering squadron, and the clattering ear Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, And swiftly forming in the ranks of war." An equable condition of the mind naturally re- quires a moderate quickness of utterance. Hence, nar- rative or descriptive selections should be read with Moderate time. Example: " Let not ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile. The short and simple annals of the poor." Gentle emotions naturally require slow utterance. Hence, grave or pathetic selections will require Slow time. XIV Example : " The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, Homeward the plowman plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me." • 5. Stress. If we examine a vowel sound when it is prolonged, we find the force or degree of loudness varying on dif- ferent parts. Sometimes, the first part of the sound iiaay be loudest, as in the following : " It is ! It is the cannon's opening roar ! The foe/ they come! they come/" Almost unconsciously, in uttering the words can- non's, foe, come, we give greater stress ,to the initial part of the vowel sound. This Is called Initial Stress. Some sounds begin gently, increase, and then di- minish. " The curfew tolh the Jcnell of parting day. The lowing herd wmcfe slowly o'er the lea." Here, on the words tolls, Jcnell^ lowing, winds, slow- ly, the voice swells on the middle of the long sound. This is styled Median Stress. Some sounds are loudest at the last part of th rowel sound. " I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak: I'll have my bond ; and therefore speak no more." " And nearer fast and nearer doth the red whirlwind come." Here, on the words bond, speak, more, nearer, come, XV the final part of the vowel sound is loudest. This is called Final or Vanishing Stress. Abrupt, sudden sounds, represent abrupt, sudden emotions. Anger, for example, is quick, passionate, and explosive. In such cases Initial Stress is correct. Gentle, swelling emotions, such as delight, tranquil- lity, tenderness, and sorrow, require Median Stress. Obstinacy, impatience, scorn, and remorse require Vanishing Stress. 6. Inflection. Inflection is the rise or fall of the voice, that occurs on the accented syllable of an emphatic word. There are three inflections : The Rising Inflection, marked thus (' ) ; the Falling Inflection ( ^ ) ; the Circumflex (^^), The Rising Inflection carries the voice upward from the general pitch, and suspends it on the highest tone required. Tliis is the inflection heard in a direct question : " Are you stire? " The Falling Inflection marks a continuous down- ward sUde of the voice. It ends on a lower pitch than that on which it begins. " N6, I am not stire." The Circumflex \s a union of the Rising with the Falling Inflection. It is always heard when a meaning is intended which the words, taken literally, do not con- vey. Sometimes the voice has a continuous, level movov ment from tone to tone, sliding neither up nor down. This is called Monotone, a«d ia employea in rea:^iii^ XVI passages that aro solemn or sublime, or that expresa awe and reverence. • The tones of animated conversation furnish the best examples of Inflection. It is a useful exercise for the reader to change each seutenco into colloquial form, to note carefully the various inflections, and to reproduce them afterwards in his rendering of the selection. EULES FOE INFLECTION. (a) The Falling Inflection is employed for positive commands and for all ideas that are leading, complete, or known. (5) The Rising Inflection is employed for all ideas that are conditional, incidental, or incomplete, or for those that are doubtful, uncertain, or negative. (c) Questions for information, or those that can be answered by yes or wo, require the Rising Inflection : their answers, when positive, the Falling Inflection. {d) Questions that can not be answered by yes or no^ or that are equivalent to a positive statement, ra- quire the Falling Inflection. {e) When words or clauses are contrasted or com- pared, the first part usually has the Rising, and the last, the Falling Inflection ; but when one pnrt of the contrast is affirmed, and the other denied, the latter has the Rising Inflection. (/) The Circumflex is used when the thoughts are not sincere, but are employed in jest, irony, double meaning;, ridioulo, sarcasm, or mockery. xvu EXAMPLES OF INFLECTION. " The curfew tolb the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea." " Near yonder copse, waere once the garden smiled, And still where many a garden flower grows wild, There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, The village preacher's modest mansion rose." " Will you ride in the carriage, or on horseback ? '* " I prefer to walk." ^ .» " Do you study German or French ? " -• »«. " Do you study German or French ? '* " When are you going to the country ? " " The quality of mercy is not strained ; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed : It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." " What should I say to you ? Should I not say. Hath a dog money ? Is it possible V ' V A cur can lend three thousand ducats ? '* A 7. Emphasis. Emphasis is that force of voice by which certain words iu a sentence are distinguished above the rest. Just as we accent certain syllables of a ^vord, so we emphasize the important words of a sentence. If equal 2 XVIU emphasis is placed on every word, the reading becomca monotonoi^s. KULE8 FOR EMPHASIS. {a) Pecnlit rly significant or important words and phrases are emphatic. (&) Antithetical words and pli rases are emphatic. (c) Words and phrases expressing new ideas take the highest degree of emphasis, but those referring to ideas already suggested or expressed are relat'vely un- emphatic. EXAMPLES. *' At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorned the venerable place ; Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And /oo/s who came to scq^ remained io pray. ^"^ *' The quality of mercy is not strained ; It dropjieth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It i^ twice blessed : It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. *Ti8 fiAgJUiest in the mightiest.''^ 8. Pause. " A pause is often more eloquent than wo/*ds.'* Pauses are of two kinds : Grammatical and Rheto- rical. Grammatical. —This pause is founded upon the grammatical structure of the sentence, and is indicated by the punctuation marks. It is addressed to the eye, and may or may not require to be used as a rest for the voice. immmm XIX eye, the Rhetorical. — This is wholly dependent upon the sense, and, .vhWe resting the voice of the reader, is ad- dressed to the ear of the listener. The frequency, as well as the duration, of rhetorical pauses, va'ies with the character of the subject, and must he determined by the taste and feeling of the reader. A few rules, however, are subjoined : A Pause is required — (a) Between the subject and the predicate : '•' The quality of mercy — is not strained." {!)) After an inverted part of a sentence : " Wherein doth sit — the dread and fear of kings." (c) Before and after every parenthetic and every qualifying clause : " Even at the base of Pompey's statue — (Which all the while ran blood) — Great Csesar fell." (d) Before and after every strongly emphasized word or clause : " But mercy — is above — this sceptred sway ;— It is enthroned — in the hearts— of kings — It is an attribute— of God— Himself ! " (e) When an ellipsis occurs : " One — ^to her cottage hearth, And one — to his sailor's berth." (/) To arrest attention : " Cuthbert, open ; let me in ! " (g) Between noi^ns in apposition: " John Robison — a young midshipn)an — was in the samet)0i^t with the General." 1 XX t- 1^ d. DiFFEBENT GLASSES OF IdEAS AND THBIB YoOAK Bbquibements. (a) Unemotional or m& , uf fact, whether didac- tic, narrative, or descriptive ; — Pure quality, moderate force, middle pitch, moder- ate time, initial but not strongly marked stress, short slides. (b) Bold, including declamatory pieces and very emphatic passages in class (a) ; — Pure or orotund quality, high pitch, moderate or fast time, loud force, initial or median stress, falling slides. (c) Animated or joyous, including all lively, happy, or beautiful ideas ; — Pure quality, fast time, high or middle pitch, mod- erate or loud force, often median stress, long slides. (d) Subdued or Pathetic, including all gentle, ten- der, or sad ideas ; — Pure quality, sometimes whisper or semi-tone, gen- tle force, moderate or slow time, low pitch, median stress, short slides. (e) Noble, including all ideas that are grand, heroic, or sublime ; — Orotund or pure quality, varied force, pitch, and time, median stress, moderate slides. (/) Grave, including the deep feelings of solemnity and reverence ; — Pure or orotund quality, slight or moderate force, low pitch, slow time, median stress. xxi VOOAI ir dldao- , moder- 188, short md very lerate or IB, falling ly, happy, tch, mod- slides. Bntle, ten- tone, gen- ii, median id, heroic, )itch, and solemnity rate force, (ff) Ludicrous or sarcastic, inclading jest, raillery, ridicule, mockery, irony, scorn, and contempt ; — Varied quality, force, pitch, and time, initial stress, lon^ slides. (h) Impassioned, including all very lend pieces, and the violent passions of anger, defiance, and revenge ; — Pure, guttural, or aspirated quality, loud force, high pitch, varied, generally quick time, varied stress. SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER. The following exercises are recommended as helps for developing and improving the voice : — 1. Breathing deeply and slowly, rapidly, and explo- sively. 2. Reading in a loud, distinct whisper. 8. Reading alternately slowly and rapidly, in a high and in a low tone, with a gentle and with a heavy voice. 4. Increasing and diminishing in force alternately. SPECIFICS. 1. To strengthen the voice, use loud, explosive ex- ircises. 2. To make enunciation distinct, use the whisper. 8. To make the voice smooth, practice exercises with median stress and slow time. 4. To make the voice flexible, read rapidly. XXIII. KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION. g, long as in il, short " A, long he/oi'e r " ti, Italian " H, intermediate " ft, broad " a, obscure " e, long " 5, short '* 6, like d " e, like^ " e " e, obscure ** i, long . . '. " i, short " 1, like long e *' I, short and obtuse " i, obscure " 6, long " 6, short *' 6, like short u " Q, like long oo *^ hiilo, griiy, fate. pMy ftlt, hiive, riln. fare, pAir, bear, far, father, ciilm. fast, grasp, branch, fftU, wftlk, hftul. liar, hesitancy. mete, seal, eve. m6n, mfifc, s611, fSrry. h^ir, th^re, wh6re. obey, prey, eight, her, herd, fern, verge, brier, fuel, celery, pine, ice, fire, file, miss, pin, fill, mirror, mien, machine, police, sir, fir, thirsty, bird, ruin, elixir, ability. note, fodl, old. n6t, 5dd, res61ve. son, done, other, won. DflQve, prQve, dQ. XXIV 6, like short oo as in bosom, wolf, ^oraan. 6, broody like a ^* n6r, f6rm, sort, stovk, o, obscure " major, confess, felony* 00, long " moon, food, booty. do, short *' wool, foot, good. u, long " tube, tune, use, lute. ii, 8ho7't *' ttb, htit, tis, hiirry. u, like long oo " rule, true, rumor. ii, like short oo " biill, piish, ptit. A, short and obtuse " ftlr, ilrge, conc ... I II ~ ' See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 30 Brougham — ^broo'am. bruit — brut. • •• bruige. Buddha — ^bud'a, or biid'a. buoy — bwoy, or boi. bureau — ^bu'ro. Bur'gun-dy. bur-lSsque'. blish'el, not blish'l. business — ^biz'nes, not -ntis. See ailment. C. This letter is hard, and sounds like h^ before or, o, and u ; soft, and sounds like s, before 6, % and y, except in sceptic and scirrhus, and their derivatives, in which it is hard, like h When ce or ci are preceded by the accent, and are followed by a vowel in the next syllable, the c combines with the e or i to form the sound sh, as in ocean, social, tenacious, etc. Sometimes the c alone has this sound, or rather the e or i is used twice. First it combines with the c to make the sound sh, then it takes on its usual sound, as in sociology — so-she-oVo-gy, See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 31 In discern, suffice, sice, and sacrifice, and their derivatives, c has the sound of z. It is silent in czar, victuals, indict, and their derivatives, and also in terminal scle, as in ynuscle, etc. cabaret — ka'M'r^'. See amateur. cabriolet — ^ka'bre^o 'la'. cachet — ka'sha'. Cadi — ^ka'di. cafe (Fr.)— ka'fa'. Cairo — ^in Egypt, ki'ro ; in the United States, ka'ro. caisson — ^ka'son. This word is generally marked by orthoepists lca-sob7i' or ha! soon; but it has become thoroughly Anglicized, and should be pronounced according to English analogy. The above marking is be- lieved to conform to good usage. ca-Msh', not -lash', cal-cin'a-ble. cal-cine', or c^l'cme. The dictionary authority for the second mark- ing is very slight. The preference shown for it in this country is due to its having been so marked in the earlier editions of Webster. The last edition only permits it. 8 See Key to ProQUQclation, p, XXItl, 33 cal'dron, not cAl'-. calf — caf,, not c^f. ca'liph, not ca'-. c^l-is-then'ics. calk — kawk, not kawlk. cal-lig'ra-phy. Cal-lro-pe. calm, palm, psiilni, alm§. ca'lyx, or c^l'yx. ca-mel'o-pard. ctoi'phor, not -fir. Canaanite — ca'nan-ite. canaille — c^'nie'. The last syllable is very like a running>- together of long i and long e. cto'cel, not cto'sl. ca-nine', not ca'nine. caoutchouc — koo'chdok. C^p-u-ghin'. car'bine. carbonaceous — ^kar-bo-na'shus, caret, 7iot c^r'-. careme (Fr.) — ^ka'ram'. Se« Key to Pronuneiatiun, p. XXIII. 83 c^r'i-ca-ture, -ca-ture, not -ca-chur. • • 7 • 7 • •• cd,r'i-ca-tu-rist. Worcester's and Webster's marking of these words is -ca-tur-, car'mine. carte de visite (Fr.) — kart de ve'zet'. carter (Fr.), not car'tel, nor car-t6r. carte blanche (Fr,) — kart bl5ngsh. car'tridge, not k^t-c Car-tha-gin'i-an. ca§e'meiit, not -mtlnt. caseous — ^ka'se-tis. c^s'si-mere, 7iot k^z'-. cassino (game) — kas-se'no. castle — ^kas'l, not kas'tl. casual — k^zh'u-al. casuistry — ^k^zli'u-is-try. , catalogue — k^t'a-l6g, not -log. c^tch, not kStch. catechumen — ^k^t-e-kti'men. caviar (Fr.) — kaVe'ar,' Cay-Snne', not ki-Sn'., Cecil — ses'il, or se-sil. — —.- w^'^i^mmnK^ Bee Key U ProouQciatlon, p. XXIIZ. 34 c^ri-ba-cy. This 48 the marking of all the orthoepists except Webster, who gives the preference to iie-l\b' a-se, c^riar, not sttl'ler. cellular — c(^ryu-lar. ce-m6nt' (noun). Smart says ce-m^nt', and thinks this accentu- ation will finally prevail. cSm'e-ter-y, 7iot c6m'e-try. cSn-trif'u-gal, not cSn-tri-fii'gal. cSn-trip'e-tal, 7iot cSn-tri-pe'tal. ce-ph^ric, not ceph'al-ic. ce'rate, not cSr'-. cere'ment, not ce're-. " But tell Why thy canonized bones, hears'd in death, Have burst their cerements ! " — HamleU Not "canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death," as it is generally read. cer'tain, n/)t cert'n. ce-ru'le-an, not ce-ru'-. §lia-grin'. See ambergris, chal'dron, or chal'dron. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 85 Chaui — kdin. chain' })er, 7iot cli^m\ cliainois — sliAm'wa'. chiiu'cer-y, not clmn'-, nm' cliftn'-. See advance. ^lia'tts, 7iot -tis. cliapeau — sha'po'. glia-rade'. charge d'affaires — shar'zha' daf far'. chasten — chas'sn, not ch^s'n. ch^s'tise-mSnt, not ch^s-tiz'-. chateau en Espagne — sha'to' ftn'as'pM'. Cherubini — ka-ru-be'ne. chestnut — chSs'nut. chew — chu, not chu. ghi-ca'ner-y, 7iot chi-. chick'en, not chick'n. chil'dren, not chirdurn. chimpanzee — chim-pto'ze, or -pto-ze'. Smart accents the last syllable. Chi-ne§e', not -nese'. €hi-r6p'o-dist. G 8ee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 36 chig'el, not cliiz'l. gMv'al-ric. ghiv'al-r6tls, not chi-v^rrotis. ^hiv'al-ry, not chiv'- (antiquated). elilo'ride, or ride. According co Smart and Cull, chemical tei^s ending in ide should have the i long ; all other authorities, however, mark it short. Chopin — sho'ptog', not cho'pin. €h6rer-ic. ^ho'rist, 7^ot €li5r'- (anLlquated). €li5r'is-ter. christen — ^kris'sn. christening — ^kiis'sn-ing. Christianity — ^krist-yto'e-ty, or krfs-te- to'e-lv, Christmas — ^:ris'mas, not krist'-. €hr6n'o-l6g-ic. cic'a-trice, not -trice, cicerone — sis-e-ro'ne (Anglicized). The maker of this little book would take occasion to say here that, in his judgment, it is always well to make one's pronunciation, when speaking English, as English as permissible. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIl. 37 choose — chuz, not chuz. ciliary — sirya-ry. Cir'ce. Cincinnati — sin-sin-na'ti, not -n^t'ta. cir'cam-stance — ance as in instance. cis-^rpine, or (better ?) -pin. cit'a-del, not -dtil. • 7 cit'rate, not ci'trate. • 7 • civ'il, not civ'l, nor civ'iil. cMn-des'tine. clapboard — kMb'bord. cMr'i-on. cl^m'en-cy, not -tin-, clew — ^klu, not klu. 7 •• clerk. In England pronounced Mark ^ in America, except on the stage, klerk. cl6tli. Before th, st, and ss, the letter o is frequently sounded aw in this country, as in cloth, broth, lost, cost, moss, dross, etc., which is accounted inelegant ; it is not more objectionable, however, than a palpable effort to make the vowel short. See accost. Bee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 38 co-ad-ju'tor. co-M'ju-tg^iit, or jti-. c5cli'i-iieal, or (according to Smart) c6cli-i-near, not koch'-. c5ck'a-trice, not -tris. coffee — k6f' f e, not kauf 'f e. See accost, cocoa — ^ko'ko. c6f 'fin, not kauf n. See accost, coexist — ^ko-egz-ist'. c5g'ni-ztoce. There is good authority for pronouncing this word cdnfi-zdnce ; but this pronunciation findb little favor in America. cognac — ^kon'y^k', not ko'ni-^k. . c5g-n6'men. Colbert (Fr.)— ktirbar'. Coleridge — koPrij. c5l-os-se'um. c6rum-ba-ry. column — ^kbl'um, not -yum, nor -ytim, col-la'tion, not ko-la'tion. com'bat, or c5m'bat. The question here is whether the o shall have the sound of o in come or of o in from. Walker, See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 39 Worcester, Smart, and others prefer the o in come ; Webster and others, and popular usage, the o in from. The stage has always followed Walker, making the 6 very short ; but, though this may perhaps be considered the more elegant mode of pronouncing the word at present, the longer o will doubtless eventually prevail. c6m'bat-ant, or c5m'-. com'bat-ive-ness, or com-Mt'-. Ease of utterance has put the accent on the second syllable of this word, where, despite the dictionaries, it is pretty |jure to remain. Comedie Frangaise — kom'a'de' fr5ng'' saz'. comely — ktimly, not kom'-. comme il faut (Fr.) — \sXnn. el fo. eom-mend'a-ble ; in verse, often c5m'-. "'Tis sweet and commendable in thy nature, Hamlet." " Silence is only commewc^able In a neat's foot dried and a maid not vendable.*' commensurable — kom-men'shu-ra-ble. c5m'ment, verb and noun. com-mis^er-ate. c5m'mon-wSaltli, or c5m-mon-wSaltli'. c5m'mu-nigm ; c6m mu-nist. M«« Key to PronunniatioQ, p. XXIXI. 40 s c5m'pa-ra-ble. com-p^r'a-tive. * com-pa'tri-ot, not -p^t'> corn-peer'. com-peU'ed, participial adjective, " Poinding ourselves too slow of sail, v"^ put on a compelled valor." — Hamlet. com-pen'sate, or c6m'pen-sate. See con- summate. complaisance — k5i3i'pla-z^nce^ Worcester accents the last syllable of this semi- Anglicized French word ; Webster the first, placing a secondary accent on the last. In French, whatever .difference there is in the quantity of the three syllables is due to the vowel-sound of the last syllable being somewhat drawn out. c6m'plai-§ant^ c6m'plex, not com-pl^x'. c5m'pro-mi§e. comptroller — kon-trol'er. c5m'racle, or com'rade, or -rM. The authorities are divided on this word somewhat as they are on combat^ which see. The last marking of the second syllable, though not sanctioned by the dictionaries, certainly is by etymology and good use. S«« Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 41 con ^more (It.) — \6n a-mo'ra. concave— ^k5ng'kav, 7iot -kav. con-cen'trate, or c5n'cen-trate. See con- summate. conch — kftngk. con-cise\ not -cize'. con-ciude', not -clucV. See aptitude. con-clu'sive, not -ziv. concord — k5ng'k6rd. Concord (town) — ^1^5ng'kurd. concourse — kttng'kors. con-cii'bi-iiage. con-do'lence, not c5n'do-. conduit — k5n'dit, or kun'dit. con-fess'or, o?' c5n'fess-or. The latter accentuation is becoming anti- quated. c5n'fi-d^nt'. con-fis'cate. See consummate. c5n'flu-ent, not con -flu'-, congenial — kon-jen'yal. There is abundant authority for making this a word of four syllables ; but, fortunately, few people follow it. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 42 congeniality — kon-jen-y^ri-ty, or -ni-^l'-. Congo — ^k^ng'go. congregate — kttn'gre-gate, or k5ng'-. congress — ^l?:5ng'gres. ^ congressional — kon-gresli' u n-al. con-jure', to solemnly enjoin^ to adjure. con'jure, to influence hy magic, '' What is he whose grief Bears such an emphasis ? whose phrase of sorrow Conjures the wand'ring stars, and makes them stand Like wonder-w^ounded hearers ? " Which word does Hamlet use here ? From time immemorial the stage has said that he uses the second. In other words, according to the stage, Hamlet accuses Laertes of playing hocus- pocus with the stars. connaisseur (Fr.) — con'a'sur'. The orthography of this word is made to conform to that of the modern French, because ai represents the sound of the syllable, and oi does not. The sound of the last syllable can only be approximated with English characters. The ur of fur, however, somewhat prolonged, is very near it. conquer — k5ng'ker. conquest — ^lv5ng'kwest. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 43 conscientious — k5n-she-en'shtis. c5n-ser-va'tor, or c6n'ser-va-tor. con-sid'er-a-ble, not -sid'ra-ble. • . • 7 • con-sign'or. con-sis'to-ry, 07* c5n'sis-to-ry. c6n-s6ls. The important point in pronouncing this word is to make the o of both syllables short. As for the accent, it seems to be quite immaterial where it is placed. con-spir'a-cy, not -spi'-. c5n'strue. con-sume'. c5n'sum-mate, or con-stim'mate, ver'b. Those who prefer, in common with nearly- all the orthoepists, to accent the second syllable of such three-syllabled verbs as contemplate, compensate, confiscate, constellate, demonstrate, despumaie, expurgate, and extirpate, will perhaps think it well to except consummate in order to distinguish it from the adjective. con-tem'plate, or c5n'tem-plate. c5n'tSnt8, or con-tents'. The penultimate accent of this word is not only well-nigh universal in this country, but is sanc- tioned by Webster, Worcester, Clarke, and others. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 44 contour — k5n'tobr'. c5n'trast, nowi, con-trast' vej'h, con-tribute, not c5n'tri-bute. c5n'tro-vert, not c6n-tro-vert'. c6n'tu-me-ly, not con-tu'me-ly. conversant. See Supplement. c5n-ver-sa'tion, not -za'-, eon-verse', ve7'h ; c6n Verse, nowrto c5n'vex, not con-vSx'. con-voy', ver^h ; c5n'voy, noun, cobp'er, or cobp'er. « Smart says : " Cooper and its compounds are doubtful (with respect to the sound of oo) except in common speech, which, in London at least, invariably shortens them." Common speech means uncultured, non-pains- taking speech, which certainly is not a desirable model to copy after. The lower orders, the world over, are slipshod in their articulation. The most sonorous vowel-sounds in the German language are never, by any chance, made by the common people, simply because they require a little greater effort than approximate sounds that suffice. Cooper for ccJoper — like hobjJ for hoop, root for root, soon for soon, soot for soot, roof for roof, hoof for hoof, wiXnt for won't, hiXm for See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. tl 45 borne, hM for whole, etc. — is probably one of those corruptions which it is wisdom to avoid, c5r'aL not co'ral. cordial — k6rd'yal, or kor'de-al. cord-i^l'i-ty, or c6r-di-^ri-ty. corkscrew — kork'skru. Corot — ko'ro'. co-ro'nal, or c5r'o-nal. • • 7 • • Preference is given here to the first marking, because it more fully brings out the vowel-sounds and conforms to the primitive coro'na, corps d'armee (Fr.) — kor dar'ma'. corps diplomatique (Fr.) — ^kor de'plo'- ma'teek'. cbr'ri-dor. cv?r-ro'sive, not -ziv. cortege (Fr.) — kor'tazh'. corvette (Fr.)— k6rVet'. co§-m5g'ra-pliy. cfts'tume, or cos-tuma'. cocerie (Fr.) — ^ko'te-re'. coun'eel, not coun'sl. coup d'etat (Fr.) — ko da't^' coupe (Fr.) — ^ko'pa'. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 46 courier — ^ko'ie-er. • • • courrier (Fr.) — l^o're'a'. Courbet — kor'ba'. courteous — kiir'te-liS; or kor'-. courtier — kort'yer. cov'er-let, not -lid. cov'et-oiis, not -e-chtis (antiquated). cow'ard-ioe, not -ice. crto'ber-ry, not cr^m'-, creature — kret'yur, creek, not krik. cre'ole. cre'o-sote. crfem'a-to-ry. crew — kru. Cromwell — krtim'well, or kr5m'% cru'ci-fix. • • • crude. The vowel u preceded by r in the same sylla- ble has the sound of oo, cru'el, not -il, nor -W. cu'ctim-ber, not .<:ow'- (antiquated), cuirass — kwe'rils^ See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 47 cuirassier — ^kwe'ras-ser'. cuisine (Fr.) — kwe'zen'v cu'li-na-ry, not kWi-. cu'po-la, not cu'pa-lOc Curagoa — ^ku-ra-so'. cu-ra'tor. cur'so-ry, not -zo-. cur-tail'. curtain — ^kAr'tin, not kur'tn. cy-clo-pe'an. cy-lin'dric. cynosure — si'no-ghur. czarowitz — z^r'o-vi z, Tiot -witz. Czerny — char'ne. D. This consonant is silerst only in the words Wednesday, handkerchief , and handsome, daguerreotype — da-gSr'o-tip. dahlia — dal'ya, or dal'ya. dto'de-li-on, 'not dto'de-lin. Worcester accents the penult of this word. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXUI. 48 Da'nish, not Dto'isli. da'ta, or da'-, da'tum, 6>/' da'-, daub, not d5b. daunt, not dawnt. deaf — def. Webster alone of all the orthoepists pro- nounced this word def—n pronunciation which now is considered very inelegant. debenture — de-bSnt'yur. de bonne grkce (Fr.) — de bun graa. debris (Fr.) — da'bre'. debut (Fr.)— da'bu^ As the sound of the French u can not be represented in English, even approximately, or made by English organs of speech without much practice, the safer plan is to Anglicize both syl- lables of this word, and call it simply de-bu', or to avoid using it at all. debutant, debutante (Fr.)— da'bu't5ng', da'bu't5ngt'. As in the case of debut, we would recommend that these words be Anglicized in sound, and both pronounced deb-u-tdnt' , Bee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 49 dSc'ade, not de-kad'. de-ca'dence. decalogue — d6k'a-l6g, not -log, de'cent, not de'stiiit. de-ci'slve, not -ziv. d6c-li-na'tion. de-cliVotis. de-c6'rotis. The authority is small, and is becoming less, for saying dec'o-rotis, which is really as incorrect as it would be to say sdn'o-roUs» de-crSp'it, not -id. de-dSc'o-rotis. de-duce', not -dus'. de-M'cate. d6f-al-ea'tioii, or de-M-ca'tion, d6f'i-eit, 7iot de-fig'it. de-file'. Sheridan said d^f'i-le. de-fin'i-tive. degage (Fr.) — da'ga'zha'. deo-liitition — dS2:-lu-tisli'uii. degout (Fr.)— da'go'. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 50 Delaroche— iela'rtish', de-lude', not -lud'. de-lu'sion, not -lu'-. dSm-o-ni'a-cal. • • • ' de-m5ii'stra-ble. • • de-m5n'8trate, op dSm'Qn-strate. See consummate. de-mftn'stra-tive. denouement (Fr.) — da'no'm5ng\ denunciate — de-ntin'she-at. depot — de'po. This word is so thoroughly Anglicized that it is in doubtful taste to pronounce it a la fran- gaise ; but, Anglicized, if we give the vowels their long sound, the syllables still have nearly the same quantity. dep-ri-v^'tion. dSr'e-lict. dernier (Fr.) — darn'yil'. de-ri'sive, not -ziv. Descartes — da'kart'. deshabille (Fr.)— da'za'be'ya. de-sic'cate, or des'ic-cate. Desgoffe — da'gtif. t t See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 51 de-§ign', or de-sign'. The second pronunciation is seldom heard, tind is certainly not euphonious, though the weight of authority is in its favor. des'ig-nate, not dSz'-. de-sist', not -zist'. dSs'o-late, not dSz'-. des-pe-ra'do, or -ra'-. dSs'pi-ca-ble, not des-pic'a-ble, de§-§ert'. des'tlne, not -tin. desuetude — des'we-tiid. dSs'ul-to-ry. de-tair, verh. de'tail, or de-taiV, nmin. Preference is given to the first marking by the later English authorities, and in the last edi- tion of Webster. dSt-es-ta'tion, or better, de-tes-. detour (Fr.) — dator'. de trop (Fr.) — de tro. dSv'as-tate. dSv-as-ta'tion. See Key to FroDusciation, p. XXIII. 52 devoir (Fr.) — dtiv-war'. dew — du,' not dn. diaeresis — di-Sr'e-sis, or -e-re-. dialogue — di'a-l6g, not -lawg. di'a-mond. dMs'to-le. di'a-tribe. This word is pronounced dVa-tri-he by Smart, and dl-iit' re-he by several orthoepists. di'et-a-ry. dif-f u'sive, not -zlv. dig-i-ta'lis. digression — de-gresli'un. di-late', not di-late'. di-l^m'ma, not di-. di-lu'tion, not -lu'-. din'ar-^hy. di-5g'e-§to, di-o-ra'ma, or -ra'-. diph-the'ri-a — dip- or dif% diph'tli5ng — dip'- or dif -. Worcester and Smart prefer the former, Web- ster the latter. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 68 dip'lo-mate. dip-lo-m^t'ic, not di-plo-. di-plo'ma-tist, not di-plo'-, nor dip'lo-. di-rect'ly, not di-. dis — dis, or diz. " When the accent, either primary or secon- dary, is on this inseparable preposition, the 5 is always sharp and hissing ; but when the accent is on the second syllable, the 8 will be either hissing or buzzing, according to the nature of the consecutive letter. That is, if a sharp mute, as />, if, A;, or c hard, succeed, the preceding s must be pronounced sharp and hissing, as dispose^ distaste, etc. ; but if a flat mute, as b, d, or g hard., or a vowel or a liquid, begin the next syllable, the foregoing s must be sounded like s, as dis- hurse, disdain, etc. ; but if the secondary accent be on this inseparable preposition, as in dis- belief, etc., the s retains its pure hissing sound." — Walker. In accordance with Walker, Smart says : " As to the pronunciation of this prefix, the s is un- vocal [i. e., sharp or hissing] if the accent, primary or secondary, is on the syllable ; but if the next syllable be accented and begin with a real vowel (not ii) or a vocal consonant [i. e., flat mute], the s is sounded z, unless the word is connected with a principal word in which the s is unvocal ; for in such case the derivative fol- lows the primitive " See Key to FronunciatioD, p. XXm. 54 I dis-a'ble. dis-arm'. • . dig-as-ter, not dis-. di§-btod', or dis-. dis-burse', or dis-. dis-card', not dis card. discern — diz-zem'. discernment — diz-zern'ment, dis'ci-pline, ""tot di-cip'lin. disclosure — dis-klo'zhur. dis-count', or dis'count, verh. , Webster stands almost alone in accenting the first syllable of this word. discourteous — dis-kur'te-tis. dis-crSp'an-cy, or dis'cre-p^n-cy. dis-dain, d]*§-ea§e', not dis-. dis-Mn'chi§e, not -chiz. dis-gorge'. dis-orrace'. • dis-gui§e'. dis-gtist\ dishabille- -dis-a-bil'. gee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 55 dishevelled— di-shSv'ld. dis-li5n'est. dis-li6ii'or. dis-in'ter-est-ed. • • • « dis-join. dis-jtinc'tive. dis-like'. dis-l5dge. dis-loy'al. dig-may'. dis-miss'. dis-mount'. dis-or'der. • • dis-own'. dis-po§-§ess'. dispossession— dis-poz-zSsh'uu. dis'pu-ta-ble, not dis-pu'ta-ble. dis'pu-t^nt, not dis-pu'tant. Disraeli — diz-ra'el-e. dis-robe', or dis-. dis-sem'ble, 7iot diz-zSm'ble, dissociate — dis-so'she-at. dis'so-lute, not -lut. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 56 di§-§5lve', not dis-sblve'. dis-syl-Mb'ic. dis-sylla-ble, or dis'syl la-ble. distich — dis'tik. distingue — des't^ng'ga'„ distinguish — dis-ting'gwish. dls'trict, not des'-. di-v^n'. di'verse-ly. di-vert', not dk di-vest', not di-. docile — d5s'il, or do-sil. dttc'u-mSnt. does — dtiz. d5g, not daug, nor the other extreme, dtig. See accost, dolce — doPcha. d5ro-rotis. d5m'i-ne, not do'mi-ne. d5n'a-tive. donk( y — d5ng'ke, not dtmg'ke, D5r'ic, not Do'ric. flee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIi. 57 dost — dtist, not dost, doth — dtith, not doth, double-entendre — d6o'bl-6ng't6ng'dr. dra'ma, or dr^m'a. And then there is an abundance of unheeded authority for saying drafmd, draught — draft. dromedary — drtim'e-da-ry, not dr5m'-. dr5ss. See accost. drought — drowt. Dru'id, not Dru'id. du'bi-otis, not du'-. dtic'tile, not -til, du'el, not du'l. duke, not duk. duly. See adduce, dy'nas-ty. Smart and some others say dln'as-te; and this pronunciation is very common. dys'en-tSr-y, not diz -« dys-p^p'sy. Worcester and half a dozen other orthoepists accent the first syllable. See Key to PronundiatlAn, -p. XXIII. 68 E. This vowet, the most frequent in the lan- guage, has two principal sounds : long as in eve, short as in end. In the languages of continental Europe it generally has the sound of ct m Jute or e in met, according to position. In French, when un- marked, it is silent in many positions, and in many others i ?s r, peculiar and unrepresentable sound, which v i ?j 'distinct approaches that of short u in sum, id wWn slurred that of obscure e in over. east'ward, not east'ard. eau de vie (Fr.) — o de ve. 6clat (Fr.)— a'kla'. Sc-o-n5ni'ic, ot* e-co-n6m'ic. Sc-o-n5m'i-cal, o?* e-co-n6m'i-cal. The first is the marking of a large majority of the orthoepists. Sc-u-m^n'i-cal. Eden. Most words ending in en drop the e in pro- nunciation, as dozen (doz'n), softe7i (Boi'n), often (of'n), etc. The e in such words is sounded more frequently by unschooled pedants than by the careless. Some of the words in which the e should be sounded are aspen, chicken, hypheny kitchen, lichen, and marten. The e is also sound- I — - ~ • — ■'■'• " S«« Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 59 ed when preceded by I, m, n, or r, as in woolen^ omen, linen, siren, barren / but fallen, stolen, and swollen drop the e. As for Eden, sloven, sudden, heathen, bounden, and mitten^ some speakers suppress and some sound the e, e'dile. e'en — eu. ^f 'f ort, or effort. Sf-front'er-y, not -f r5nt'-. ef -f u'sive, not -ziv. e'go-tigm, or Sg'o-tigm. egregious — e-gre'j&s, -ji-us. either — e'ther, or i'ther. Smart says that between e'ther and tthen' there is little in point of good usage to choose. The last edition of Webster's dictionary says that analogy, as well as the best and most gen- eral usage, is decidedly in favor of e'ther. See neither. eleemosynary — Sl-e-m5z'e-ua-re, or m6s- e-le'gi-^c, or Sl-e-gi'ae. There is abundant authority for the second marking, but for the most part, in this country, the word is made to conform to the rule that words ending in ia, iac, ial, tan, eous, and ious have the accent on the preceding syllable ; as detnoniac, regalia, melodious, etc. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 60 Sl-e-phdn'tine, not -tin. 61eve (Fr.)— a'lav'. eleven — e-lev'n. • sri-gi-ble, not e-lig'i-ble. elite (Fr.)— adet'. ' E-liz'§>-b^tli-§bn. This is the dictionm'v pronunciation of this word ; ease of utterance, however, generally puts the accent on the penult. Ellen — SirSn, not ell'n, nor SU'tin. Sim, not Sl'tim. Sl-o-cii'tion, not Sl-e-. sro-quSnce, not -kwtince. e-lu'ci-date, not -la'-. See aptitude. e-lu'sive, not -ziv. elysian — e-lizh'e-an. elysium — e-lizh'e-tim. emaciate — e-ma'she-at. em-balm', not -btoi'. embrasure — em-bra'zhur. Sm-en-da'tion. e'mir. emollient — e-m6l'yent. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 61 empir'ic. Tbe time was when the weight of authority was in favor of the second marking ; not so now. fim'prSss, not -pris. See ailment. Sm-py-e'ma. fen-ce-ph^Fic. en-ey-'clQ-pSd'ic. en-cy-clo-pe'dist. e-nerVate. The only authority for saying hi'er-vate is popular usage ; all the orthoepists say e-ner'vdte, enfranchise — en-frto'chiz. Sn'gine, not -jin. English — ing'glisl?, e-nig'ma. 6n-ig-mat'ic 07' e-nig-m^t'ic. Though the weight of authority is against us, we nevertheless give the first place to Walker's marking of this word. ennui (Fr.) — 6n'we'. ensemble (Fr.) — 6ng's6ng'bl. ensure — en-shur', not -shur'. en-thu'§i4§m, not -thu' -. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 62 entree (Fr.)— 6ng'tra\ enunciate — e-ntin'she-at. en-vfel'op, verb, envelope, noun — 6ng\e lop, w (better) SnVe-lop. enveloppe (Fr.) — 5ngVe-ltip'. en-vi'ron§, or Sn'vi-r6n§. The first accentuation is certainly much to be preferred. Sp'aii-lSt. Ep-i-cu-re'aa Webster alone of all the orthoepists gave this word the antepenultimate accent ; and though in the last edition of his dictionary the preference ia given to this accentuation, we are distinctly told in the " Principles of Pronunciation," in the first part of the volume, that Epicurean is one of a list cf words ending in an which accent the penult. epilogue — Sp'i-l5g, not -log, epistle — e-pisl. ^pl-t^ph, not -taf. ep'oeh, not e'pfteh. The latter is a Websterian pronunciation, which is not even permitted in the late editions. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 68 equable — 6k'wa-bl, or e'kwa-bl. Preference is given here to Smart's marking, though he stands quite alone. equation — e-qua'shun, not -zliun. e-quai-to'ri-al. equerry — ek'we-re. e'qui-n6x, not 6k'-. equipage — 6k'we-paj. equitable — Sk'we-ta-bl. equivoke — 6k'we-vok. ere — kv ; ere long — kr l6ng. err — er. Sr'rand, not ^r'tind, noi' ^r'ant. erudite — Sr'yu-dite, not Sr'\i-. The latter pronunciation is neither euphonioun nor easy of utterance. See pp. 202, 207. erudition — Sr-yu-dish'un, not Sr-u-. erysipelas — Sr-e-sip'e-lais, Tiot ir-. Ss-ca-pade'. espionage — Ss'pe-Q-n^zh'. Sth-nftg'ra-phy. etui (Fr.) — ^a'twe'. Eu-ro-pe'an, not Eu-ro'pe-an. See Key to Pronunciation, p, XXIII. 64 Eu-ter'pe. etagere (Fx.) — ^a'ta'zhar^ 6v-g.n-ge]'i-cal, or e-van-. The first marVing is that of Walker and Smart ; the second, that of Webster and Worces- ter. Preference is given here to the first, because it is thought to be more euphonious and more in accordance with good usage. evasive, not -ziv. evening — eVn-ing, not ev'ning. ^v'er-y, not Sv're. ^3v'i-dSnt, not -diint. evil — eVl. ewe — yn, or yu. The first is the pronunciation set down by nearly all the orthoepists ; the second is that of the iast edition of Webster. ex. The letter x in this prefix, when follov^ed by a7i accented vowel, usually has the sound gz (x) ; sometimes, also, in the derivatives of such words, even though x stands under the accent, as exalta'- Hon, ex'emplary. When the accented vowel is preceded by /', universal custom drops the h if the sound of gz is given to the x. The h can be more easily aspirated when the x is pronounced as A's/ biU ■ -»^— ■*■■■" •' r"?^i-~— r:?-!! B«« Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII, 66 the writer inclines to the opinion that the h is nearly always (from necessity) dropped in both cases — a point which the orthoepists seem to have overlooked. ei^-^ct', e^-^ct'ly, e^-^ct'or, exaggerate — egz-^j 'er-at. e:5-^g-ger-a'tion. e^-alt', S:j^-al-ta'tion. e54m'ine, e^-to-i-na'tion. e:^-am'ple. e^-^s'per-ate, e^-^s-per-a'tlon. ex-ci§e', noun and verb / ex-ci§e'man. ex-clu'sive, not -klu'ziv. excruciate — eks-krii'she-at. See accrue. • ,. • ^x'cre-tive, or ex-cre'tive, The first marking is Webster's and Worces- ;er's ; the second, Smart's. ex-cur'sion, not -zMn, e^-Sc'ii-tive. e:S-^.c'u-tor, e:^-Sc'u-trix. exemplary. See Supplement, exempt — egz-^mt'. The letter p is silent or very indistinct when it occurs between m and t in the same syllable, as in temptj exempt^ etc. 6 Aee Kejr t^ f )rd!}tiJidatlo>J, p. XXtli. 66 e$-ert', e^-er'tion. exhale — eks-hale'. exhaust — egz-aust', or eks-hausf. exhaustible— e2jz-aust'i-bl, or eks-haust'-, exhaustion— egz-aust'yun, or eks-haust -, exhibit — egz4b'it, or eks-hib'it. exhibition — Sks-he-bish'un. exhilarate — egz-il'a-rat, or eks-hira-rat. exhort — egz-ort', (yr eks-hort'. ^x-hor-ta'tion, not Sgz-or-. exhorter — egz-or'ter, or eks-hor'ter. ex-hume', Webster. e:$-hume', Worcester. . Sx'i-gen-ey, not ex-ig'en-cy. exile, noun — Sks'il, or egz-il'. exile, verb — ^ks'il, or egz-il'. The first marking is Webster's and Smart's , the second, Walker's and Worcester's. e:$-ist', ei^-ist'ence. ^x'it, Twt Sgz'it. e^-ttn'er-ate, e$-6n-er-a'tiono 6x'9-r§,-ble. ei^-or'bi-tant. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIL 67 e^-6r'di-tim. e:5^-6t'ic. ex-pa'tri-ate, ex-pa-tri-a'tion. Webster said eks-pdt'-, ex'pert, or ex-pert', noun or Sx'ple-tive. ex'pli-ca-ble, not ex-plic'-. ex'pli-ca-tive: ex-ploit'. ex-pl6'sive, not -ziv. ex-po'nent, not -ntint. expose (Fr.) — Sks'po'za'. ex-pur'gate. ex'qui-§ite, adj. andnoun^ not eks-qiiiz'it. ex'ttot', not gx'tant. As the syllables of this word are properly about equal in quantity, it is thought to be mis- leading to put a mark of accentuation over the first one only. ex-tem'po-re, not -tem'por. extinguish — eks-ting'gwish. ex-tir'pate. fex'tra, not feks'tre. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 68 extiaordinaiy — ex-tror'di-na-iy, or ex- tra-or. exuberant — egz-yu'ber-ant. e:3^-ude'. Sx-u-da'tion. e^-tilt', e:^-tilt'ant. Sx-ul-ta'tion. d- eyre — ar. eyry — ere, or I're, T/-1 F. This letter has always the same sound exoej)t in the preposition of and its compounds, where it has the sound of v. It is never silent. In German, v has the sound of f, fagade (Fr.)— fa'sM'. facial — fa'shal, or fa-sni-al. facile — f^s'il. f^c-sim'i-le. failure — ^faPyur. fait accompli (Fr.) — fa'ta'c5ng'ple'. falchion — -sliun, falci n — faw^kn, 7iot f^l'kn. See K<'y to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 69 ex- Bxcej)t ere it fa-mil-i-^r'i-ty. f^r'o, not fa'ro. fascia — ^f^sh'e-a. faubourg (Fr.) — ^fo'bor'; Anglicized, fo'borg. f au'cet, not f^s'-. fault, not f 5lt, Faure — for. faVor-ite, not -it, feb'ri-fuge. fe'brile, or fSb'rile. Feb'ru-a-ry, not -ru-. fecund, not fe'cund. fSc'un-date, or fe-cttn'date. fecun-da'tion. fem'i-nine, not -nin. fSm'o-ral. f eoff— f ef . ferrule, a metal ring — fSr'ril, oi* iSr'ruL fer'tile, not -til. ferule — ffer'rul. fi-dSl'i-ty, not fi-. filet de boeuf (Fr.)— fela' de \M!. 'i 1 1, See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 70 figure — fig' jar, not fig'er. filial— firyal,' or firi-al/ film, not flrtim. fi-iia'le, not fe-Ml', no?^ fi-naV. • • 7 • 7 fi-ntoce', not fi'nance ; pi, fi-nto'ceg. fin-an-cier' o?' fi-nan'ser. • 7 This iiuch-used word is rarely pronounced correctly. finesse (Fr.) — fi-nes'. fiord (Swedish) — fe-6rd'. first, not furst. fissure — ^fish^yur. flaccid — ^fl^k'sid, not fl^<=i'id. flageolet — fl^j'o-let. flambeau — ^fltim'bo'. flatiron — fl^t'i-urn. flaunt — ^flant, or flawnt. fleur de lis (Fr.). — flaur de le. The sound of the diphthong eu in French is very Vke tht sound of u in nr(/e initiated with the long ro^ini) ef a — i. e., with long a barely touched ])etor*3 sounding the it. flew — ^lii, hU flu. flexion — -flek'sliun. Bee Key to Pronunciation, i). XXIII. 71 need nch is I with arely flftr'id, flo-rid'i-ty. fl5r'in, not flo'rin. flo' rist, not fl5r'ist. flue, 7iot flu. See adduce. flii'id, not fluid. fliite, not flut. 7 •• fo'li-0, or ioVio. forbade — ^for-bM'. forecastle — ^for'kas-sl. fore'fa-tiier, not for-fa'ther (antiquated), forehead — ^f6r'ed. For'hM nowadays is hardly permissible. foresaid — ^fore'sed, not -sad. f6r'est, not -ist. forge, not forj. for'ger, for^ger-y. for-gSt', not -git', for'mi-da-ble, not for-mid'a-ble. • 7 . » fortnight. In the early editions of Webster's dictionary this word was marked fort'mt^ which possibly accounts for this pronunciation being so common with us. In England it is the universal custom to sound the i long. S«« £ey to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. ma 72 f6r'tress, not fort'r^s. fortune — fort'yun. fr^g'men-ta-ry, not frag-mSnt'a-iy. " franchise — frto'chiz, o?' -chiz. fr^nk-in'cSnse, or frtok'in-cense. The first marking is Webster's ; the second, that of nearly all the other orthoepists. Ease of utterance, as well as the etymology of the word, will probably make Webster's marking generally preferred. fra-ter'nize, or fra'ter-nize. fr^t'ri-cide, not fra'-. fre-quent', verb; not fre'quent. The latter was the marking in the early edi- tions of Webster. Frere — frar. Frey cine t — f ra'se 'na'. fricandeau (Fr.) — fre'kftng'do', fricassee (Fr.) — fre'ka'sa'. This word may properly be treated as Angli- cized — fric-as-see'. frontier — fr5n'ter. Webster marked this word fron-ter' , but this accentuation has been abandoned in the new editions. S«« Elay to i^ronuuciAtioD, p. ;;aL^Ui. 73 jcond, ase of word, erally frftnt'js-piece, not frtinf% frttst. See accost. Froude — ^frdbd. frugal. See accrue, fu'el, not fu'l, nor fii'liL frircruin. f ttl'some, not fooF-. furniture — fur'nit-yur. fu'tile, or -til. future — fiit'yur. ly edi- , Angli- 3ut this be new G. This consonant has two sounds, one hard and one soft. It is hard before a, o, and w, except in gaol, which is usually written as well as pro- nounced Ja^7. Before e, ^, and y it is sometimes hard and sometimes soft. It is generally soft in words from the Latin, Greek, and French, as in gentle, geology, giant, gymnast, etc., and hard in words from the Saxon. These last are much in the minority. Some of them are gear, get, gewgaw, eager, gift, gig, gild, gird, girl, rugged, foggy, muggy, scraggy, etc. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 74 The g of ng !« often pronounced as though doubled ; as in England, younger (ing'gland, young'ger). Before the verbal suffixes ed, est, ing, er, it loses this double effect ; as in wing'ed, hring'est, singling, hang'er. See JV. g^b-ar-dme', or g^b'-. Gade, K W.— ga'de, Gaelic — 2:a'lik. gain'say'. 'gainst — ^gSnst, g^ri-ot. g^riant, brave, daring^ Jme, gal-Mnt', polite and attentive to ladies, gallows — See bellows. galsome — ^gawrsum. ganglion — g^ng'gli-on. gangrene — ^g^iig'gren. Ganz — ^gants. gaol— Jail. gape — gap, or gap. The latter is the marking of Smart and sev- eral others, and is frequently followed in Eng- land. garden — gar'dn, or gar'den. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 75 Garibaldi — ga-re-biU'rli. gAr'ish, uimally written gAir'ish. g^r'ru-lotis, not gdr'yu-, nx)r -yu-. gils, not g^z. g^S'e-otis, or ga-ze-. . gag-ftm'e-ter, or g^s-. gasp, not gAsp. g^th'er, not geth'-. gaunt — gant, not gawnt. gauntlet — gant'let, or gawnt'-. Gautier, Theophile — ta'c-fel' got'yfi' gSn-e-al'o-gy, or ge-ne^ro-gy. g6n'er-al-ly, not gSn'rtil-ly. genial — ^jen'yal, or je'ni-al. genius — ^jen'yus, or je'ne-lis. Genoa — Jen'o-a, not je-no'a. gen'tle-mSn, not -mtin, gents. Supposed to be an abbreviation of gentlempu. Pronounced — except by the very lowest orders— the most nauseating of vulgarisms. genuine — ^jSn'yu-in, not -in. ge-5g'ra-pliy, 7iot j6g'ra-fe. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) Va 1.0 I.I 1.25 ua |2.5 II la 1^ 12.2 !ir 1^ lllllio im U ill 1.6 III V <^ /a % > Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WiST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716)872-4503 76 ge"6m'e-try. Ger6me — zha'rom'. Gertrude — ^ger'trud, Tiot -trud, gSr'und, not je'rund. gestm-e — ^jSst'yur. gSt, not git. ghoul (Turk.) — gobl. In the digraph gh at the beginning of a word, the h is silent, as in ghost, ghastly, etc. ; at the end of a word both letters are usually silent, as in high, sigh, neigh, hough, through, borough, etc. In some words this digraph has the sound of f, as in enough, tough, cough, laugh y in some the sound of k, as in hough and lough, giaour (Turk.) — ^jowr. gib'bous, not jib'-. gi-gan-te'an. Gil Bias (Sp.) — ^hel bias, not zliel bla. gi-rMe', not gi-. gird, girl, girth. The sound of / before r, resembling u in surge, is precisely like the sound of e in ermine. See advertisement, glacial — ^gla'she-al. glacier — gl^s'eer. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. rr glance, gMnd, glass, glM. Glau'ber, not gl5b'er. glisten — ^gUs'n. glue, not glu. G6d, not gaud ; g5dlike, n^t gaudlika golden — gold'n, not gordfin. g5n'do-la, not gon-dola. gone — g5n, nx)t gaun. gob§e'ber-ry, or gobs'-. gorgeous — gor'jtis, or g6r'je-1is. gtts'pel, Twt gaus'-. Gounod — ^go'no'. gourd — ^gord. gouvernante (Fr.) — goVar'naunt'. gov-er-n^nte'. gov'ern-m^nt, not gtiv'er-mtlnt. gov'ern-or. Graefe — gra'f e, not graf. gramme (Fr.) — gram. grto'a-ry, not gra'na-re (antiquated). gra'tis. grease, nxmn — gres. grease, verb — grez, not gres. See Key to Pronunciation, p. ^KIII. 78 greag'y. . grew — ^gru, not grii. gridiron — grid'i-um. griev'otis, not grev'i-tls. gri-mace', not grim'ace. gri-m^rkin, not -maul'-, gri'my, not grim'y. grisette (Fr.) — gre'zSt'. . groat — ^graut. grovel — ^gr5vl. gru'el, not gru'-. See accrue, guano (Sp.) — gwa'no. guardian — gard'e-an, ^r gard'yan. The second marking is Smart's ; the hrst, Worcester's and Wehster's. gu-ber-na-to'ri-al, nxtt gttb-. - guillotine— gil-lo-ten'. guipure (Fr.) — ^ge'pur'. Guizot (Fr.) — ^ge'zo'. The office of the u here is simply to make the g hard. gum-arabic — gtim-^r'a-bik, not -a-ra'bik. Gumbert — gdbm'bert. See Key to ProQuoqiation, p. XXIIL 79 gtirog, not goomz. gtin'stftck, not -stauk. gtit'ta-per'cha, not -ka. gym-na'sj-lim. gypsum — ^jip'sum.. gyve — ^jiv, not giv. H. This letter is merely an aspiration. It is silent in heir, heiress, herb, herbage, honest, honor, hour, hostler, and their derivatives. It is also marked as silent by most orthoepists in hospital, humor, and humble, and their derivatives. By some it is thought that there is an increasing tendency to sound the h in these words ; this is undoubtedly true with regard to hospital. II is silent after initial g, as in ghost, ghastly, etc. ; after r, as in rhetoric, rhyme, etc. ; and also when preceded by a vowel in the same syllable, as in oh, Jehovah, etc. The French talk about their aspirated A's, but they never aspirate any. In German the effect of h in many cases is simply to prolong the sound of the preceding vowel ; and in all the continental languages it has no effect after t. 6 See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII, 80 Haeckel — hfeck'el. halcyon — ^h^rse-tiii, or h^'she-tin. haK, not h^lf . halibut — h^re-btit. halve, not h^lve. . handkerchief— htog'ker-chif; pl.^ -chifa handsome — htod'sum. h^r'ass, not ha-r^', harem. haricot (Fr.) — a're'ko'. harlequin — ^harle-kwin, or -kin. Nearly all the orthoepists pronounce the last syllable of this word hm. Why ? Because the word comes to us through the French, in which the u is silent? Inasmuch as in every other re- spect the word has been thoroughly Anglicized, it would seem t>iat the pronunciation of this syllable should be Anglicized also. Iiar-m5n'i-cd. H^r'ri-et, not har'-. hasten — has'n, not has'ten. haunch — ^hanch, w haunch. Hause — how'ze. haunt — ^hant, or hawnt. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 81 c Mfs. he last se the which her re- icized, f this he, pronoun — ^he. When emphatic, this is pronounced as marked; otherwise the h is but slightly aspirated, and the vowel becomes obscure. See him,. " A man he was to all the country dear." — Goldsmith, " He who goes to bed, and goes to bed sober, Falls as the leaves do, and dies in October ; But he who goes to bed, and goes to bed mellow, Lives as he ought to do, and dies an honest fel- low."* heard — ^herd, not herd (antiquated). hearth — ^harth, not herth, except in verse. heaven — hSv'n. Hebrew — ^he'bru, 7iot -hvxL He'be. • he-gFra, or h§g'i-ra. height — hit. Hei'ne, nx)t hine. Final e in German is never sileAt. heinous — ha'nus. Helen, not Hel'tin. Hellenic — hel-le'nik. Smart ; hel-lSnik, Webster; hel'le-nik, Worcester, helm, not her&m. See Key to Prouunciation, p. XXIII. 82 Heman8--li6m'aiiz, not he'mg-nz. lier — her. So pronounced when emphatic ; otherwise the h is but slightly aspirated and the vowel becomes obscure. See him. he-r^rdic. • • herb — erb. Smart says herb, herbaceous — her-ba'shus. herbage— er'baj, or her'b^bj, her-biv'or-votia. hereof —her-5v', w' -bff'. herewith — her-with', or -with'. hSr'o-ine, not he'ro-in, nor he'ro-Ju. hSr'o-igra. h&t'er-o-d5x. • hSt-er-6p'a-thy. Heyse — hi'ze. hi-a'tus. • hi'ber-nate. hiccough— hlk'kup. hi-er-o-gly^ph'ic,. not hi-ro-. See Key to Frouuuciatiou, p. XXIII. 83 ise the ecomes in. hin), pronoun — ^Llm. When not emphatic, the h is but slightly aspirated, and the vowel becomes very obscure. In ordinary conversation initial h is frequently dropped entirely, in the pronouns, by those whose articulation is least faulty. There are not a few, however, who, when they appear in public and are "on their mettle," studious! 7 avoid sluring the pronouns, and consequently are careful to aspirate the h distinctly in his, her, he, and him, no matter whether the thought demands that the pronoun should be emphasized or not ; but in their endeavor to be nicely correct, they simply succeed in being pedantically wrong. This error seriously mars the delivery of many actors and public readers, making their elocution stilted and unnatural. Many of them slur my, not unfre- quently making it me, in fact, when the y should retain its long sound ; but they seem to think it would be a heinous offence to treat the other pronouns in a like manner. Pronouns in which the letters should have their full value are met with only at considerable intervals. Hin-doc)', or Hin'dcb. hip-po-p6t-a-mtis. hir-sute'. \n.^^ pronouTv — ^hiz. See him. • The bosom of his Father and his God."^ — Gray, ^^His was a life of toil and penury, while mine is a life of ease and plenty." F See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 84 his'tQ-ry; not his'try. hith'er-most. The o in most is always long. , L6riy-h5ck, not -h^uk. h6ro-cau8t, not ho'lp-. h5m'age, 7iot 6m'-. homely, not htim'ly. homestead — home'stSd, not -stid. h6-moe-5p'a-thy, not ho'moe-o-p^th-y. ho-mo-ge'ne-otis. Smart says h6m-o-, • ^ honest — ttn'est, not -ist, nor -tist. " Honest, honest lago," is preferable to " hon ust, honws^ lago," some of our accidental Othellos (0 the contrary notwithstanding. honi soit qui mal y pense (Fr.) — o-ne swa ke m^l e p5nggs. h(5bf. See cooper, ho-ri'zon, not h5r'i-zon. h5r'o-scope, not ho'ro-seope. hors de combat (Fr.) — or de kawng'ba'. horse-rM'ish, not "red'ish. h5s'pi-ta-ble, not hos-pit'a-ble. Seo Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 86 htts'pi-tg/l, not 58'pi-tal (antiquated), hostler — bs'ler. hound — ^hownd, not hown. housewife — hous'wif, or htiz'zif. As applied to a little workbag used by women, the word has the latter pronunciation ; but it seems to be now seldom used in this sense. h6v'el, not h6vl. hover, or h6v'-. humble — lim'bl, or htim'bL humor — ^yu'mur, or hu'mur. Smart pronounces this word hu'mur when it means moisture, as in a man's body, and yu'mur in the other senses. humorist — yu'mor-ist. htin'dred, not htin'durd (antiquated). hungry — ^hting'gre, not hting'ger-e. hy-dr5m'e-ter. hy-dr6p'g.-thy, not hi'dro-p^th-e. hy'gi-ene. hy-me-ne'al. hy-per'bo-le, not hi'per-bol. hyp-o-€h5n'dri-^c, or hi'po-. hypocrisy — he-p5k're-se, not hi-p5k'-. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 86 hyp-Q-crit'i-cal, not hi-p9% liyp-9-gas'tric. hypothenuse — ^hi-p5th'e-iiu8, not -nuz. This word is very frequently — perhaps most commonly among mathematicians — pronounced hlp-dt'e-nuse ; but Smart is the only ortho^pist who sanctions that pronunciation. Iiy-p9-th6t'ic, not lrip-9-. L This vowel has two principal sounds, a long and a short, as in dine and din. It also has three secondary sounds, heard in marineyjir, and ruhi respectively. L This pronoun, in common with all the other pronouns of the language, and a long list of the particles, is touched more or less lightly when it IS not emphatic. Unemphatic, it becomes i in- stead of I, i-de'a, not Tde-a. id-i-9-s;^n^cra-sy, not id-i-98-in'cra-sy. i'd9l, not i'dl. ig-n9-ra'mus, or -ra'miis. bee Key to Pron iciation, p. XXIH. 87 il-lu'slve, not -ziv. il-ltis'trate, not irius-trftte. il-ltis'trat-ed, not il'lus-trat-ed. im'age-iy, at' im'^-ger-y. The latter is preferred by Walker, Smart, Worcester, and others ; but usage is decidedlji in favor of the former. imbecile — ^im'be-cil, im-bSs'il, or im-be- • 7 • • 7 • ser. The first mode given here of pronouncing this word is the most correct, the second the most unusual, and the third the most fashionable. im-brue'. See accrue. im-me'di-ate, not im-me'jet. im'mi-nSnt. See ailment. impartiality — im-par-slie-ari-te. im-pSc'cai-ble. im-per'fect. See advertisement. im'pi-otis-ly, not im-pi'-. im-pla'ca-ble, not im-plAk'-. im-ppr-tune', not im-p6r'-. im-pro-vi§e', not im'pro-vi§e. Worcester says ^m-pro-vez' , but this pronun oiation is rarely heard. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 88 .,' J' in-au'gu-rate, not in-au'ger-ate. in-ci'sive, not -ziv. in-ci'§or. incisure — ^in-sizh'ur. in-clSm'en-ey, not -tin-, in-clude', nx)t -Mud', in-clu'sive, not -ziv. in-c5g'ni-to, not in-c5n'-. in-com-mSn'su-ra-ble (-shu-). in-c5m'pa-ra-ble, not -kpm-p^r'-. incongruent — in-k6ng'gru-ent. incongruity — ^In-kon-gru'i-ty. incongruous — ^in-k5ng'gru-otis. in-con-ven'ient. Walker and Smart say ^n-Icon-ve'ne-^nt. in-crease', verb ; in'crease, noun. For the noun the ultimate accent is becoming antiquated. incursion — in-kAr'sliun, not -zhun. in-de'cent. See ailment, in-de-co'rotis. This pronunciation is not only more so^iorous than in-dec' o-roHs, but it now has the balanco of authority in its favor. See decorous. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 89 indenture — ^in-dSnt'yur. Indian. This word is generally pronounced m^di-an, though the orthoepists, for the most part, would have us say ind'yan, in'di-ca-to-ry, not in-dic'-. indiscernible — ^in-diz-zem'i-ble. in-dis'pu-ta-ble, not in-dis-pu'table, indocile — in-d5s'il. in'dus-try, not in-dtis'-. inequitable — in-Sk'we-ta-ble. inertia — in-er'she-a. inexhaustible — ^in-egz-aust'i-ble. in-6x'o-ra-ble, not in-ex-o'-. in-Sx'pi-a-ble. in-Sx'pli-ca-ble, 7iot -ex-plik'-. |n-Sx'tri-ca-ble. in'fan-tile, or in'fan-tile. • 7 • in'fan-tine, or in'f an-tineo in-fec'und. in'fi-d^l, ^^nn'fi-dl. Ingelow — ^in'je-l6. in-gen'iotis, or jn-ge'ni-otis. 8e«t 1^*" ♦'^ '»"»»»unciatIon,p. XXIIX. 90 in-ge-nu'i-ty, not -nob'-. in-gen'u-olis. ingratiate — in-gra'she-at, not in-gra'shat. in-li5s'pi-ta-ble, not in-hos-pit'g^-ble. in-im'i-cal. • • • Smart says m-e-mVcal, initiate — in-isli'e-at. in'most, not in'mtist. in-nate'. This is the marking of nearly all the orthoS- pists except Webster, who says Wnate. in'no-eent, not -stint. See ailment. innoxious — in-n6k^slms. inofficial — in-of-fisli'al, not -o-fisli'-. in-5p-por-tune', or in-5p'por-tune. in-qui'ry, not in'qui-ry. insatiable — ^in-sa'she-a-bl, not -shabL in-sg;-ti'e-ty. in-scru'ta-ble. • •• • in'sScts, not -sets, in-sidl-olis, not -yu-tis. , insition — m-sisli'un, or -sizh'-. in-stSad', not -stid'. - ■ — ' ■ 1 il «M— MXte Se« Key to Pronunciation, p. XXII!* 91 in'stfep, not -stlp. in'stinct, iioun; in-stinct', In-sti-tu'tion, not -tu'-. in'stru-mSnt, not -mlint. • • 7 insurance — in-shur'ans. • •• • insure — ^in-shur'. in'te-gral. in'ter-est, verh^ not in-ter-Sst'. in'ter-est, iiionn^ not in'tr^ot. in'ter-est-ed, not in-ter-6st'ed. • • • / • • in'ter-est-ing, not in-ter-Sst'ing. In the dictionaries some stress on the third syllable, in the verb and its derivatives, is indi- cated by marking the e as distinct — 1st ; and that was formerly the prevalent pronunciation. But the most careful speakers now generally make the third syllable as obscure in the verb and partici- ples as they do in the noun. in'ter-im. in-ter-l5c'u-tor, not in-ter-lo-eu'tor. • '7 ... international — ^in-ter-n^sh'un-al. • * • in-ter'po-late. in-ter'stice. The authorities here are about equally divided, Smart accents the second syllable. gee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. ■■«■ 92 in-t6s'tine, not -tine. in-tiigue', Tioun and verb, not in'trigiie. in-tro-duce', not -dus'. See aptitude. in-trude'. See accrue. in-tru'sion. in-tru'sive, not -ziv. in-tul-tive. See adduce. inure — ^in-yur'. in'va-lid. See ambergris. inveigle — in-ve'gl, not -va'gl. inVen-to-ry, not in-v^n'to-ry. Iphigenia — ^if-i-je-ni'a. i-r^'ci-ble. i'o-dlde, or -dide. See chloride. i'o-dlne, or -dine. Iowa — i'o-wa. iron — i'um. irony, adj. — i'urn-e. irony, noun — i'run-e. irrational — ir-r^li'un-al. • • • ir-rSf'ra-ga-ble. There is authority for saying ir-re-frdg'a-hly which certainly is much easier of utterance. See Key to Pronunciatioii, p. XXIII. 98 fr-re-fut'a-ble, or ir-rfif u-ta-ble. • • 7 • Here, though the first marking is that of the majority of the orthoepists, and though it has the advantage of being the easier of utterance, the second marking may possibly be considered the more elegant. ir-re-me'di-a-ble. ir-rSp'a-ra-ble, not ir-re-p4r'a-bl. ir-rSs'pi-ra-ble. ir-rfev'o-ca-ble, not ir-re-v6'ka-bl. isinglass — ^i'zing-glas. isochronous— i.s5kYo.nti8. is'o-late, or Tso-lat. The first marking is Walker's, Worcester's, and Smart's. i-s6m'er-ism. issue — ^ish'shu. isthmus — ^ist'mus. Italian — ^i-t^ry^n? 'nx)t i% i-t^ric, nx)t i-. • • 7 i-tin'er-ant. • • • iVo-ry, n^t ly'ry. Ixion — iks-i'on. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 94 J. This consonant has always the same sound, and is never silent. In words in which d precedes a letter having or embodying the sound of y in an unaccented syllable, the sound of j is often substituted for the combined sounds of d and y — as sol'jer instead of sold'yer, and mdj'u-lat instead of m6d'u-ldt — just as ch is substituted for the combined sounds of t and y in question, nature, etc. It is doubtless possible to preserve the pure sounds of d and y where they appear in these connections, but it is well-nigh certain that the most careful speakers generally fail to do it. Ja'cob, not ja'cop. j^g-u-ar', not j^g'war, nx>r jagar. j^'ap, not j6rup (antiquated)c jan'ty, not jaun'ty. Jto'u-a-iy, not jSn'-. J^p-aii-e§e ;. n^t -ese'. jdg'mine, or j^s'mine. jaundice — ^jan'dis. jaunt — ^jant. javelin — :j^v'lin. ier-e-mi'ade. Je-ru'sa-lSm, not -za-. . I. • 7 « See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 95 Jew — ]% or ju. jewel — ^ju'el, not Jul. jew'el-ler. jo-cose'. j5c'und. join. Until toward the close of the last century the diphthong oi was very generally pronounced like long ^, SLSJme instead oijoin, rile instead of roil, etc.; but now this pronunciation is confined to persons of the most limited culture. joist, not jist. jostle — ^jbs'sl. joust — ^jost. jo'vi-al, not jov'yal. jowl-— jol, not jowl. Ju-da'ic. jlidg'ment, not -mlint. ju'gu-lar, not jlig'-. ^ Juria, not juF-. Ju'pi-ter, not ju'bi-. ju-ris-c5n'sult. ju'rist, not ju'-. ju've-nile, or -nil. Bm Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIX. 96 K. This letter befor'^ all the vowels has one uni^ form sound. Before n in the same syllable it is silent, as in kneel, knit, know, etc.; it is likewise silent after c, as in hack, crack, haddock^ etc. kangaroo — Mng-ga-rdb'. keelson — k^Fson, or kel'-. kSt'tle, not kit'tl. khan (Turk.) — kawn, or kSn. kiln — Ml, not kiln. kind. When a, l, or i is preceded in the same sylla- ble by the sound of g or k, many speakers, espe- cially in England and our Southern States, intro- duce a slight sound of e, as in car, card, kind, garden, guard, guide, girl, sky, etc. If not car- ried too far, this can hardly be considered objec- tionable, as it effectually corrects a certain gut- tural utterance of these words that the best usage is careful to avoid. kirscliwasser (Ger.) — ^kersli\as-ser. kltch'en, nx)t kitch'n. knout — nowt. knowledge — n6l'ej ; nolej is very anti quated. ^it^mmm * ■ ny. i^ fetiA 'S.Qjf to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 97 L. This liquid consonant always has the same sound. In many words it is silent, as in hahn^ ^alm, half, calf, almond, palmeVy walk, could, should, etc. la'bel, not ia'bl. la'bor-er, not la'brur. labyrinth — ^l^b'e-iinth. Meh'iy-mose, n^t -moz. Mc'o-nigm, not la'co-. Mm'ent-a-ble, not la-mSnt'a-bL Ito'dau (au as in haul). Lange, G. — lang'e. lang syne — ^lang sin^ not -zin. language — Mng'gwaj. languid — Mng'gwid. languor — ^l^ng'gwQr. Lg--5c'o-6n. la-pSr, not Mp'eL l^r'um. la-ryn'ge-al. la'tent, not l^t'-. lath, 07' lath, not Uth„ 8 See Key to Pronuociatioo, p. XXIII. 98 LAt'in, not llt'n. lAt'tice, not iM'tus. l^.ud'§;-ntim, not I5d'-. laugh — ^laf, not Mf. '^ launch — lanch, or launch. laundress — lan'dres, 07* laun'-. laundry — lan'dre, or laun'-. laurel — ^lau'rel, or l6r'-. laVa, or laVa. leaped — lept, or ISpt. learn'Sd, ac^. See blessed. leeward — ^le'ward, or Iti'ard. le'gend, or legend. l^g'en-da-ry. legislative — ^l6j'is-la-tiv. legislator — ^iSj'is-la-tur, nx>t -la't6r. legislature — \^ 'is-lat-yur. For an obvious reason these three words are much mispronounced. There is small authority for the penultimate accent which ease of utter- ance generally gives them, and none for the ante- penultimate {le-gis'la-tive, etc.) which some affect. Leipsic, m Saxony — lip'sik. Leipsic, in the United xSi^^s— lep'sik. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 99 leisure — le'zhur. This is the only wajr of pronouncing this word that nowadays is admissible in this country. In England, however, Uzh'iir is common, although not sanctioned by any modern orthoepist. length, not ISnth. le'ni-ent, 7iot l^ii'-. l6n'i-tive, not le'ni-, ISp'er, not le'per. Leroux — le-rdb'. lSs's6r, or les-s6r'. le-thar'gic, n^t iSth'ar-* Le'the, Le-the'an. lettuce — ^iSt'tis. l6v-ee', a gathering of guests, levee — ^iSv'e, a hmik along a river, iSv'el, not iSvl. lever, not l^v'er. Lever, Charles — leVer, 7iot Ifev'er. l^v'er-age, not leaver-. liaison (Fr.) — le-a'zawng'. li'bel, not li'bl. llb'er-tine, or -tin. G See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 100 licentiate — li-sfin'she-at. • It will be observed that in this word the last vowel, which is two removes from the accented syllable, is left to take care of itself. This,- it may be seen, has been the usual practice in the cases of all vowels similarly situated, especially when they were in the penult. This vowel is marked long (a) by Smart, and obscure (a) by Worcester. Smart says, then, that this a is like a in fate / Worcester, that it is like a in sedative. Now, it is neither the one nor the other, but something between the two, which something it is safe to leave every one to find out for himself; and whether the speaker brings out the quality of the vowel a little more or a little less than he perhaps should, may be set down as one of the least of siiis ag dnst good usage. lichen — ^li'ken, or lich'en. The few English orthoepists who have given the pronunciation of this word are divided in relation to it ; but as a Greek and Latin word, it is pronounced ll'ken ; the French keep the ch hard, pronouncing it When ; and the pronuncia- tion of lHhen appears to be supported by the best usage among American botanists. — Worcester, lic'or-ice, not -er-ish. lien — ^le'en, (yr li'en. In the early editions of Webster's dictionary this word was marked len. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 101 3 last Bnted lis, it n the icially wel is is like doMve. sr, but hing it limself; quality than he of the sre given vided in , word, it the ch onuncia- the best rcester. lictionary lieutenant — ^lu-t6n'^nt, I6f-, or I6v-. It is not easy to see why our ortho^pists should differ so widely in their modes of pro- nouncing the first syllable of this word, since none of them appear to have made any effort to imitate its pronunciation in French. Preference is given here to the first marking — which is Webster's — because it comes nearest to what the orthography demands. lilac, not li'l6k, nor \a'l6k, lin'sey-woorsey, not -ze. listen — ^lis'n. Ii-tli6g'ra-pher, li-thftg'ra-phy. litigious — li-ti j 'tis. livelong — livl6ng, not liv'l6ng. liv'er-y, not liv'-. loath, adj. — ^loth, not loth, nor l5th. loathe, verb — ^loth. loathsome — loth'sum. lo-ca'tion, not lo-. logomachy — 1 o-g5m'a-ke. I6ng'-lived, n/)t -llvd. loth, not l6th. louis d'or (Fr.) — ^lo'e d6r, not d6r. low, verb — \6. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXm. F 102 lu'cid, not lu'-. lii'ci-f er, ifwt lu % lu'cre, not lu'-. Lii'cy, not lu'-. Iti'di-crotis, not lu'-. luke'warm, not luk' lute, not lut. 7 •• Lu'ther-an, not lu'-. -lli gz-yu ri-ans. luxuriance- luxuriant — ^Itigz-yu'ri-ant. luxurious — ^11igz-yu'ri-1is. luxury — ^lUk'shu-re. ly-ce'tim, not li'ce-lim. Lyonnaise (Fr.) — ^le'tin'naz' See ex. M. This letter has always one sound, except in ac- compt, accomptant, and comptroller, pronounced and usually written account, accountant, and con- troller. It is silent when it precedes n in the same syllable, as in mnemonics, Machiavelian — m^k-e-a-vSryan, m^c'ro-c5§ni, or ma'cro-c5§m. See Key to Pronunciation^ p. XXIII. 103 ex. ept in aC' )nounced and con- the same mM'am. Not unfrequently good taste is offended by the retention of the French word madanie in translations. This is especially true of transla- tions for the stage. Few things are more un- pleasant to a cultured ear than the unnecessary mixing of languages. madame (Fr.)^ — ^ma'd^m'. Madeira — ma-de'ra, or -da'-. mademoiselle (Fr.) — mMm'wa'zSV, not mdd-tim-wa-zSl, nor m^m-zSl', which is exceedingly vulgar. In this word an Englishman encounters his greatest difficulty in the proper utterance of the last syllable, to which the Frenchman gives a very clear dental utterance, while the Englishman is wont to let the sound come from his throat. ma foi (Fr.) — ma f wa. ma'gi, not m^g'i. magnesia — mag-ne zhe-a. mg,g-nif i-cent, not -stint. See ailment, mag-no'li-a, not -nol'ya. main'ten-ance, not man-tan'ans. mal k propos (Fr.) — mal a pro'po'. ma-la'ri-a, not ma-la'-. . • 7 • 8«« Key to Pronunciation, p. XXXII. 104 m^l-e-f^c'tor, w m^l'-. mall, a public walk — ^m^l. m^m'mil-la-ry, not mam-mira-re. mto-da-rm', not mto'da-rin, ma'neg, not manz. mango— mtog'go. ma-ni'a-cal. • • • manoeuvre — ma-nuVer, not ma-nu'% • •• . 7 • m^n'or, not ma'nor. mto'or-liouse, not manor-, ra^n's^rd' roof, mansuetude — miin'swe-tud. mantua-maker — mto'tu-mak'er. ma-r^§'mus, not -r^s'-. marchande de modes (Fr.) — mar'- shangd' de mod'. The letter o in French generally has the sound of o in son, won, done, or of o in or, nor, for^ ex- cept when under the circumflex accent (6), Hence we should say, for example, bef a Id mud, ret mod, marchioness — ^mar'shun-es. m^r'i-gold, not ma're-. m^r'i-tal, not mar'-. Sm Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 105 mdr'i-time. mar'ket, not -kit. mar'vel, not mar'vl. m^s'cu-line, not -lin. mask, not m^sk. massacre — m^s'sa-ker. mas'ter, not m^s'-. m^t'in, not ma'tin. ma'trix, not in^t'-. ma'tron, not m^t'-. ma'tron-al. ma'tron-ly, not m^t'-. m^t'tress, not m^t-tr^ss'. mau-so-le'um. mauvais gout (Fr.) — moVa' gob. mauvaise honte (Fr.) — ^mo'va' zaung-t, may'or-al-ty. mayonnaise (Fr.) — m^'yon'az'. measure — mezh'ur, not mazh'-. mechanist — mek'an-ist. me-dig'i-nal. medicine — mSd'e-sin, not med'sn. mediocre — ^me'de-o-ker. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 106 meerschaum (Ger.) — ^mar'showm. The uu has the sound of ow in owl^ and there is little if any difference in the quantity of the syllables, as is generally the case with compound words. Meissonier — ma'son'ya'. meliorate — mel'yor-at. mSro-dr^m-a. The second marking is supported by abundant authority, but few, if any, seem to heed it. Mel-p5m'e-ne. memoir — mSm'wor. mem'o-ry, not mSm'ry. [naj-. menagerie (Fr.) — ma'nazh'e-re', or me- menagery — ^me-n^zh'e-re. mSn-in-gi'tis, not me-nin'gi-tis. mer'can-tile, or -til. The second, however, is sanctioned by Smart, See advertisement. mesmerism — mSs'mer-izm, or mSz'-. The dictionaries tell us to sound the first s of this word and of its derivatives like z, which is contrary to the prevailing custom, etymologically incorrect, and not euphonious. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIU. 107 ihere I the ound ndant messieurs — ^mas'yur'. The English orthoepists have marked this word in no less than ten different ways, agreeing in only one thing — that the final s should be sounded. . Now, this s is absolutely silent ; so is one of the other eses. The first syllable is per- fectly represented by mas, and the second syl- lable is very nearly represented by ydr. If, in pronouncing this syllable, the speaker imagines a long € between the y and the ^, and then, hav- ing prepared the organs of speech to sound it, goes directly to the 4, he will perhaps get the sound of the syllable somewhat more perfectly. Tbe sound of the r is very short and obscure. See monsieur. [naj-. r me- Smart. •st s of hich is gically mSt-a-mor'phose, 7ioi -plioze. ine-te-5r'o-lite. mfit-ro-pftri-tan. mi-^'ma. mi'cro-scope, not mic'ro-. ini-cro-sc5p'ic, not -scop'ic. mid'wife-ry, or mid'wife-ry. Milan. We Anglicize the orthography of this proper name : why should we not do likewise with the orthoepy? Bryce, Earnshaw, and Thomas say MU'an, while Wright says Mi-ldn', See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. MK 108 I milch, adj.^ not milks. millionaire — ^mil-yuii4r', or miF-. min-er-^ro-gy, not -5ro-gy. Millet, E.—mella'. miniature — min'i-abt-yur, or min'i-tur. Mln'o-taur. mi'niis, not mln'us. mi-nute', or mi-nute', adj. minute, noun — ^min'it. mir'a-cle, 7iot mSr'-. mi-r^c'u-lotis, not mi-. mirage (Fr.) — ^me'r^zh'. mis'an-thrope, not miz'-. mischievous — mis'che-vtis, not mis-clie'% mis'cliiev-ous-nSss, mis-c5n'strue, not mis-con-strue'. " Do not, great sir, misconstrue his intent." — Dryden. misfortune — ^mis-fort'yun. misogyny — me-s5g'e-ne. mistletoe — miz'zl-to. mit'ten, not mit'n. mnemonics — ne-m6n'ikSo See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIT. 109 IT. che'-. « int.' ryden. mobile — mo-ber, w mo'bil. The first is the pronunciation of Walker and Worcester, and is always heard in the name Mobile ; the second, that of Webster. Smart says mbh'il. m6ck, not mauk. See accost, mftd'el, not m5d'l. m5d'est, not -ist, nor -tist. moisten — ^mois'n, not -ten. mo-lSc'u-lar. m5re-cule. Moliere — ^morydr'. M5n'a-c6, not Mo-na'co. m5n'ad, ^/' mo'nad ; mo-iiM'iCe m6n'as-tSr-y, not -te-ry. mongrel — mtog'grel. m5n-o-c6t-j -le'don. mo-n5g'a-my. m5n'o-gr^m, not mo'no-. mftn'o-gr^ph, not mo'no-. m6n'o-l5gue, not mo'no-log. m5n-o-ma'ni-a. m5n-o-ma'ni-^c. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 110 9 ( i 1 1 m5n-o-syl-l4b'ic. monsieur (Fr.) — mtls'yur'. This marking perfectly represents the pro- nunciation of the first syllable of this word, the o being like the o in son. The second syllable is like the second syllable of the plural. The r in both cases is really a silent letter, but with its aid the pronunciation of the syllable is better represented to the English eye than it could be without it. It is marked obscure in order that it may be merely hit and not dwelt upon. Care should be taken to give the syllablet^^ the same quantity. See messieurs, morale (Fr.) — mo'ral'. morceau ; pL, morceaux (Fr.)— :ri6r'so'. m5r'i-btind, not mo'rk Morpheus — mor'fus, or mor'fe-i \ morphine — mor'fin, 7iot mor-fen mor'sel, not mor'sl. mor'tal, not mor'tl. Mosenthal, J. — mo'zen-tal. M5§'lem, not M6s'-. motion-less, not -Itis. See ailment. mountain — ^moun'tin, not -ting, nor -tn mountainous — moun'tin-ils. mtll"ti-pli-ea'tion, not -pi-. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIX, Ill mftl'ti-tttde, not -tud. See adduce, mu-nig'i-pal, 7iot mu-ni-cip'ail. mur'der-er, 7iot mur'drer. mtis-co-va'do. mu-§e'um, not mu'§e-um. mush'robm, not -robn. mtis-t^glie', or -tash'. my — mi, 07' mi, never me. When, from being used in contradistinction to another personal pronoun, my is emphatic, the y has its full, open, long-^ sound. Thus we would say, " Is this my ink or yours f " But when there is no such emphasis — and there is but rarely — the y has the sound of obscure i, as in mi-nute' and miraculous^ which is very nearly the sound of y in many, only, etc. " My [mi\ ink is as bad as my [mi] pen,^^ These rules, however, are and should be departed from in certain cases where we would express respect or emotion. " My [ml] brother shall know of this." " Sir, this lady is my [mi] wife." " Ay, madam, she was my [ml] mother 1 " Say m^ m these sentences, and they become commonplace ; you take all the soul out^ of them. myself — ^mi-sSlf\ myrmidon — mAr^me-d5n, not mir'-. mythology — ^me-tli5ro-Je, not mi-tli6r-. 8 See Key to Pronunciation, p. XX'III. 112 i N. This letter has two sounds : one simple, as in man, ten, not ; the other compound, as in thank, banquet, anxious, pronounced thangh, hang'quet, angk'shus. The sound of ng is really a distinct and simple alphabetical element, unlike that of either constituent of the digraph. When final after I or ni, n is silent, as in Jciln, condemn^ solemn, hymn, lim^n, autumn, etc. naiad — ^na'yad. naive (Fr.) — na'ev'. naivete (Fr.) — na'ev'ta'. naively — na-evle. nape, not n^p. n^'cent, not na'sent. nat'onal — n^sh'un-al, not na'shun-al. The first marking is that of all the orthoepists except Webster, and his mode of pronouncing the word is not even permitted in the new edi- tions of his dictionary. nationality — n^sh-un-^re-te. V • • • nature — ^nat'yur. nausea — naw'she-a, not nav^^'se-a. nauseous — naw'slius, n^t naw'se-tis. na-vic'u-lar. See Key to ProiiuiiciatioD,p. XXUI. 118 as m hank, 'quety stinct lat of [ final iemriy )epists incing w edi- S. near'est, not -ist. nSc-ro-l6g'ic. ne-crftrp-gy. iifec'tar-ine, not -ine, nor -en. ne'er — ndr, not ner. neglig6 (Fr.) — na'gle'zha'. neither — ne'ther, or ni'ther. There is very little dictionary authority for saying m'ther, hut of late years this mode of pro- nouncing the word seems to be preferred by ^^ome of our most careful speakers. See either, N6m'e-sis. nephew — nSv'yu, or nSf yu. " This word is uniformly pronounced n^v'vu by the English orthoepists ; but in the United States it is often pronounced nef'fu. Smart re- marks that ^p with A, in almost all cases, is pro- nounced ,/i In Stephen, this sound is vocalized, that is, converted into v ; and likewise in nephew, almost the only word in which the combination occurs that is not immediately referable to a Greek origin.' " — Worcester. The latest editions of Webster give nef'yu, remarking that the English dictionaries uniformly mark it nev'yu. The latter, in our estimation, is the most euphonious pronunciation of the word. nSp'0"ti§m. 9 See Key to Pronunciation, p XXIII. /I 114 nestle — ^nfisl. nftth'er-most. neu-r^rgi-d. neu'ter, neu'tral, not nti % new — nil, not na. New Orleans — nu or-lenz'. This, in the opinion of the writer, is the better mode of pronouncing the name of the American city. Besides harmonizing with the spirit of the English language, it is easier of utterance and more euphonious than dr'le-a^iz, which is a mon- grel pronunciation at the best. news — nuz, 7iot nuz. newspaper — nuz'pa-per, not nuz'-. niaiserie (Fr.) — ne-a'ze-re'. ni'ce-ty, not nis'te. niche, not nish. nick'el, not nickl. nic'o-tine, not -ten. noblesse oblige (Fr.) — ^no'blSs' o'blezh'. n5m'ad, not no'm^d. no-mM'ic. no'men-clat-ure, 6>r no-men-elat'ure. n6m'i-na-tive, not n6m'na-tive. See Key to Pi-onuDciation,p. XXIII. ) better nerican b of the ice and a mon" 116 none — nUn, not non. nook, or nook. not'a-ble, mdustriouSj careful^ htistling. not'g,-ble, remarhible, memorahle, nothing — nothing, not n6th'-. Notre Dame (Fr.) — no'tre ddm. n5v'el, not n5vl. nbv'el-ty, not n5vl-ty. novitiate — np-vish'e-fit. , noxious — ^n6k'8hus. nu'di-ty, not nu'-. nuisance — nu'sans. See adduce, nuncio — ^ntln'she-6. nuptial — ^ntip'shal, not -chg,l. nu'tri-mSnt, not nu'tri-mtint. blezli'. re. O. This vowel has seven sounds, as in note^ noty 9on, move, wolf, nor, and major, 6'a-sis ; pLj o'a-se§. Webster permits o-d'sis. oath — oth ; pi., oathg. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII, MHH eM 116 5b'du-rate. obeisance — o-ba'sance. The weight of authority is in favor of the first marking ; usage — in this country ac least — would seem to favor the second. Walker em- phatically preferred the first, for the reason that €1 when under the accent is most frequently pro- nounced like long a, and the corresponding ey always, except in key, 5b'e-lisk, not 6'be-. o-bese', not -bez'. 6'bit, Oi' 5blt. obligatory. See Supplement. oblige — o-blij'. " When Lord Chesterfield wrote his Letters to his son, the word oblige was, by many polite speakers, pronounced as if written ohleege — as if to give a hint of their knowledge of the French language; nay, Pope has rhymed it to this sound: * Dreading even fools, by flatterers besieged, And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.'' But it was so far from having generally obtained, that Lord Chesterfield strictly enjoins his son to avoid this pronunciation as affected. In a few years, however, it became so general that none but the lowest vulgar ever pronounced it in the English manner ; but upon the publication of this nobleman's Letters, which was about twenty years after he wrote them, his authority had so See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 117 much influence with the polite world as to bid fair for restoring the i in this word to its original rights ; and we not unfrequently hear it now pronounced with the broad English i in those circles where, a few years ago, it would have been an infallible mark of vulgarity." — Walker, " Smart says : * The word oblige, which was formerly classed with marine, etc., is now pro- nounced regularly.' John Kemble is said to have corrected the Prince of Wales (George IV) for adhering to the former pronunciation, by saying, * It will become your royal mouth better to say oblige.'^ " — Worcester, ob-lique', or ob-lique'. ^ obnoxious — ob-n5k'sLus. ob-scSn'i-ty, not ob-sce'ni-ty, 5b'se-quie§, not ob-se'quie§. 5b'so-lete, not 5b-so-lete'. ob-trude' not -trude'. See accrue. • .. 7 ob-tuse', not -tuse'. * 7 .. ob-tru'sive, not -ziv. 5bVerse, noun. ob-verse', adj, or ob'-. oc-ca §ion, not o-ca'§ion, oc-ctllt', not 5c'cult. oceanic — 6-she-to'ic. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 118 oc-ta'v6, or oc-ta v6. There is no dictionary authority for the sec- ond marking, and yet that is the pronunciation that seems to be preferred by our most careful speakers — for the reason, doubtless, that they think it the more euphonious. 9C-t6g'e-na-ry. 5c'tu-ple, not gc-tu'ple. o-de'911. o'di-otis. The best usage now makes this a word of three syllables. 5f' fice, not au'ftis. official — of-fish'al, not o-fish'al. . . 7 • officious— of-fish'us, not 6-fish'us. 5ften — 6f' n, not 5f' ten. o'gle, not ftg'le. olden — old'n, not old'en. o-le-o-mar'ga-iine, not -ja-. The letter g is always hard before or, except in gaol^ now disused in this country. oJib'a-ntim. ombre (Fr.) — awng'br, not om'br. 5m'i-notis, not o'mi-notis. « 7 • See Key to Fro&uuciatioD, p. XXIII, 119 omniscience — om-nish'ens. 5n'er-otis, not o'ner-otis. only, not tinly. 5n'yx. 6'pal, not o'p^l. ophthalmy — oph-th^Vmy. opinion — o-pin'yun. Some of the orthoepists caution us not to let unaccented o in such words as opinion, observe^ oppose, command, conceal, condition, contain, content, possess, police, etc., degenerate into short or obscure u. While it is well to heed their ad- vice, it is also well to remember that to make these o's too long is, perhaps, more objectionable than to make them too short. How unpleasant, for example, to hear pedantic ignorance say po- lice 2indpt'-sess / An endeavor to avoid sound- ing the o like short or obscure u should be made with nice discrimination, as by making it too long one's utterance becomes pedantic, which of all elocutionary faults is the worst. 5p-o-dsrdoc, not -dir-. op-po'nent, not 5p'po-nent. The latter, though often heard from tolerably correct speakers, is unauthorized. 5p-por-ttine', oj' 5p'por-tune. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 120 orange-— 5r'^nj, or -^nj. 6-rtog'-ou-ttog'. 6r'€hes-tra, Among the orthoepists who accent the secona syllable of this word are Walker and Smart ; but that pronunciation is rarely used by careful speakers. or'^hes-tral, or or-€hSs'tral. 6r'de-al, not or-de'al. The latter is not even permitted by any of the orthoepists. 6r'di-na-ry, not 6rd'na-ry. orgies — or'jiz, not -jez. or'i-fice, not o'ri-. oriflamme — or'i-fl^m, not o'ri-. o-rig'i-nal, not -o-nal. Oricn — o-rrun. orison — 5r'e-zun. 6r'nate, or or-nate'. o'ro-ttind, or 5r'o-. The ultimate accentuation, d-ro-ttind'^ is be- coming antiquated. Orph( -fe bi^f ean — or-ie an, or or • • 7 fe- an. See Key to PronuDciation, p. XXIII . 121 secona Smart ; careful r any of Orpheus — 6r'fus, o?' or'fe-tis. The first is the classic, the second the popular pronunciation. 6r'tho-e-pist, o?' or-tho'e-pist. 6r'tho-e-py, or or-tho'e-py. One may say or-tho'e-py on the authority of Wright, Clarke, and Knowles, and of Fulton and Knight ; and this is the pronunciation the writer would recommend, on account of its beiag so much the easier of utterance, if he had the cour- age to do so in the face of such weighty authori- ties as Walker, Worcester, Webster, and Smart. ostler — 5s'ler. otium — o'she-tlm. outre (Fr.) — o'tra'. 6-ver-se'er, oi' -seer'. oVert, not o-vert'. .7 • 5x'ide, or -ide. o'yer, not oi'er. ?', is be- P. This letter has but one sound. It is silent when initial before n, 5, or #, as in pneumatics^ psalm, ptarmigan. It is also silent or very in- distinct when between m and t in the same syl- 6m Kfi^r to PronuQciAtioQ, p, XXIII. EBtt 122 lable, as in tempt, exempt, etc.; but when pre- ceded by m in the same syllable and followed by ^ or Ar in the next syllable, it is more properly sounded, as in temptation, exemption, sumptuous, bumpkin, pumpkin, etc. In raspberry, receipt, semptress, and corps it is also mute. pa-cif-i-ca'tion, or p^g-i-fi-ca'tion. pa-cif i-ca-tor, or ip^q-i4i-csi>'tov. The first marking is Webster's and Smart's ; the second, Walker's and Worcester's. pageant — p^j'ent. Paljent is growing ob^'olete. pageantry — p^j'ent-re. p^l'aee, not p^l'as. The latter smacks of pedantry, pa-laVer, not pa-Mv'er. P^l'es-tine, not -ten. parfrey, or p^l'frey (Smart). palm — pam, not ptoi. panegyric — pto-e-Jir'ik. Smart, Walker, Sheridan, and others pro- nounce this word p^n-e-j^r'ik, Worcester re- marks : " Though Smart pronounces squirrel and panegyric, sqiHr'rel a,ndpdn-e-j^r'ik, yet he says, * The irregular sound of i and y in squirrel and jgee Key to Pronunciationf p XXIII. 123 panegyric we may hope in time to hear re- claimed ; a correspondent reformation having taken place in spirit and miracle, which were once pronounced sp^r'it and m^r'a-cle.^ " pto'el, not ptol. panorama— pan-o-ra'ma, or -ra'ma. Pto-the'on, or Pdn'the-on. " Hail, learning's Pantheon ! Hail, the sacred ark Where all the world of science does embark." — Cowley, " Mark how the dread Pantheon stands, Amid the toys of modern hands, How simply, how severely great ! " — Akenside, p^n'to-mime, not -mine, papier m&che (Fr.) — pap'ya' ma'sha'. pa-r^b'o-la, not p^r-a-bo'la. par'cel, not -stil. parenchyma — ^pa-r6n'ke-ma. p^r-e-g5rlc, not -gaur'ic. p&r'ent. pAr'ent-age. Smart says pa!, ent-age. par-he'li-on. Pa'ri-ah. See Key to FronunciatioTi, p. XXIII. 124 pa-ri'e-tal. Parisian — pa-rizh'yan, or pa-riz'e-an. Par-me-§to'. p^r'ol (legal word). pa-role' (military word). partiality — ^par-she-^l'e-ty, not par-shi^r-. par'ti-ci-ple, not part'si-pl. part'ner, not pard'-. par'tridge, not p^t'-. p^t'ent, or pa'-. p^t-en-tee', or pa-ten-. According to nearly all the authorities, the a of these two words should have its short sound. path, not p^th. pa'tli5s, not p^th'os. p^t'ri-mo-ny, not pa'tri-. pa'tri-ot, not p^t'ri-. pa'tri-ot i§m. pa'tron, not p^t'-. p^t'ron-age. p^t'ron-al. Smart says paftron-al, but the balance of authority is decidedly in favor of making the a short. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. y rei 125 an. sMl'-. s, the a sound. ance of g the a pa tron-Sss, not p^frpn-. p^t'ron-ize. peculiar — pe-kiiryar. Smart says pe-ku'le-ar, which is better. peculiarity — pe-kul-y^r'i-ty, or -S-^r-i-ty. There is abundant authority for saying joe-A;w^ ye-dr'e-ty, pecuniary — pe-kun'ya-re, pe-ku-ni-a-re. pedagogue — pSd'a-g5g, not -gog. pe'dal, adj. ; pSd'al, noun, pSd'es-tal, not pe-dSs'-. PSg'a-stis, not Pe-g^s'us. pel-lu'cid, not -lu'-. pe-na'te§ (I at.). pSn'cil, not pSn'sl. Pe-nSro-pe. penitentiary — ^pSn-i-t6n'sha-ry. pe'ntilt, or pe-ntilt\ pe-nu'ri-o1is, not -nu'-. See adduce. pe'o-ny, not pi'ny. peremptory. See Supplement. Walker, Perry, and Jameson permitted pe- Ttrn'to-ry. Sefy Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. mm 126 per'fect, adj. See advertisement, per'fect, or per-fSct', verb. The latter pronunciation is probably the more common, being in accordance with the general rule of change of accent in a word used both as a noun or adjective and a verb, as con' duct, con- duct'; but the weight of authority is in favor of the former. per'fume, or per-fume', noun. The ultimate accentuation of this noun, al^ though there is good authority for it, is little used in this country by careful speakers. per-fume', verb. pSr'il, not -til. pe-ri-5dle, not p6r-i-. per'mit, noim. Persia — ^per'she-a, not -zlie-. Perisiaii — ^per'shan, not -zliaii. per-sist', not -zist'. per-spi-ra'tion, not prSs-pi-. per-sua'sive, not -ziv. pe-ruge'e See accrue, pestle — ^p^sl, or pSs-tl. PetrucWo — ^pe-tru'ke-o. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 127 phaeton — fe'e-ton, not fe'tpn, nm' fe'tpn. ph^ranx, 07* pha'Mnx. "The pronunciation ph^Vanx is the more general ; but pha'lanx is the more analogical." — Walker. Is Walker correct in saying that it is more analogical to make the a long ? Pha, followed by a consonant, and under an accent — primary or secondary — is almost always, if not always, short. This marking is supported by Smart and by Wright, and by well-nigh universal usage. pharmaceutic — ^far-ma-su'tik, not -ku'-, pharmacopoeia — far-ma-ko-pe'ya. phil-aii-thr5p'ic, not phi-Ian-. phil-o-l5g'ic. phil-o-§6ph'ic, or -s5ph'-. phttn'ics, or pho'nics. ph5s'pho-rti8. phrSn-o-l5g'ic. phy§-i-5g'no-my, not -6n'o-my. "There is a prevailing mispronunciation of this word, by leaving out the g^ as if the word were French. If this arises from ignorance of the common rules of spelling, it may be observed that g is always pronounced before n when it is 9 See Key to Pronuoclation, p. XZI£S» 128 not in the same syllable ; as, sig-^iify^ indig-nity, etc. ; but if affectation be the cause of this error, Dr. Young's *Love of Fame' will be the best cure for it." — Walker, pianoforte (It.) — pe-a'np-for'ta. pi-a'nist. picture — pikt'yur. piebald — pi'bald. pied, adj, — pid. " Meadows trim with daisies pied, Shallow brooks, and rivers wide." — Milton, pi'et-ism. pigeon — pidj'on, not -in. pin'cers, not pin'cherz. pincli'bSck, not -b^ck. pi'o-ny, 07' pe'o-ny, not pi'ne. piquant — ^plk'ant. pig'mire, or pis'mire. pla'ca-ble, or pMk'ai-ble. pla'card. .The dictionaries tell us to pronounce this word, both the noun and the verb, pla-kard'. Why ? Because it comes to us from the French ? A very poor reason, since in French it is pro- nounced pla'har'y which is as unlike plq^hdrd' as ytmi^pi^-mi'v i ihr til f^ nrfT*"^ -*^~ 6«» Kfl^ to ProauQOidtiou, pi XXIZI. 129 -nity^ error, } best Iton. ;e this -hard', rench ? is pro- drd' as it is unlike the pronunciation that harmonizes with the language into which it is adopted, namely, pld'hdrd. In language, as in everything else, that which is neither '* fish, flash, nor fowl '* is distasteful. Mongrel pronunciations are as unpleasant to the ear as orthographical mon- strosities are to the eye. plagiary — pla'je-re, or pla'je-a-re. That pronunciation which makes the smaller number of syllables of such words as plagiary y genial, cordial, bestial, ameliorate, etc., is the easier of utterance, and for that reason is gen- erally — and the writer thinks justly — considered the more desirable. plait — plat, not plet. plateau (Fr.) — pla'to' plAt'i-na. plAt'i-ntim, plebeian — ple-be'yan, TWt ple'be-an. plebeianism — ^ple-be'yan-izip . Pleiades — ^ple y a-dez. Pleiads — ple'yadz. pl6n'a-ry, or ple'na-ry. "Some very respectable speakers make the vowel e in the first syllable of this word long ; but analogy and the best usage seem to shorten the e, as they do the a in granary. Nor do I see 30 fi(i« K«y td Prdfivia^iAii^e, p, tXllt, 130 any reason that the e should not be short in this word as well as in plenitude,''^ — WalJcer, "We have Walker, Worcester, and seven other orthoepists for the first marking ; Smart, Web- ster, and three others for the second. plenipotentiary — plSn-i-p9-t6n'8lii-a-re. pl6tli'o-ra. ple-tli5r'ic, or plSth'o-ric. The early editions of Webster's dictionary said plUNo-ric, and the later editions permit this pronunciation. All the English orthoepists, ex- cept Ash and Crabb, accent 'he second syllable. plume, not plum. See adduce, po'em, not po'm. poignant — ^poi'nant. po-lice', noi jjO-. See opinion. polonaise (Fr.) -p6ro-naz', not p6'-. polyglot — ^p5re-gl6t. p5l-y-syl-Mb'ic. P5l-y-hym'ni-a. It should be remembered that y, except when beginning a word, has the sound of ^, and that it never has its name-sound when forming a sylla- ble. Here the first y is unaccented and sounded like obscure i or obscure e, which are hardly distinguishable. See £ey to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 131 in this 5n other i, Web- i-a-re. tionary nit this ists, ex- y liable. P6'-. t when that it % sylla- >unded hardly po-made'. Pompeia (Lat.) — pom-pe'yd. Pompeii (Ital.) — ^p5m-pa'ye. peium Pom p6r'ce-lain. (Lat.) — pom-pe'yttni. This is the marking of Worcester, Webster, and Reid. rimart says pdrs'ldn ; Knowles, pora'" lin ^ Walker, por'se-ldn, porte-monnaie — ^port'-mon-na'. por-tent', or por'-. po-§ftion, po-. See opinion, pos-te'ri-or, not pos-. pttst'liu-molis. Perry and Craig say posfhu-moHs* p6'ta-ble. po'ten-tate, not p5t'-. prairie — ^pra're, not p6r-a're. prSb'end, o?' pre'-. pre-ce'dence, not prfes'e-. pre-ce'dent, adj. " A murderer and a villain : A slave, that's not the twentieth part the tythd Of your precedent lord ! " — Samlet. ■^ Ill I I. n .1 ■ . ■ - I - r -- ■ ■ ' ■ ^— ^*i» See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 132 prSg'e-dSnt, noun, pre-cise', not -cize'. pre-cise'ly, not pre-cise'-, nor -cize % pre-clude'. See adduce. prSd'a-to-ry. pr^d-e-cSs'sor, or pre'de-. pre-di-lSe'tion, not prSd-i-. preface, noun and verb, not pre'face. pre'feet. prefecture — ^prSf ek-tur, or pre'fek-. prSf'er-a-ble, not pre-fer'-. prefigure — pre-fig'yur. prorate, not prelate. prSrude, noun. Webster alone says pre'lude, and the later editions of his dictionary permit prU'ude, pre-lude', vei^h. Smart says prU'ude, but he is supported by Jameson only. " So Love, preluding, plays at first with hearts, And after wounds with deeper-piercing darts." — Congreve, pre-ma-ture', not prSm'at-yur. premier — pre-mi-er. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 133 pre-p5s'ter-otis, not -trtis. PrS§-by-te'ri-an, or pr^s-. prS§'by-ter-y, or pres-byt'e-iy. pr6§-en-ta'tion, not pre-. pre-sSn'ti-mSnt, not -zen'-. pre-s^nt'ment. prS§'i-d6nt, not -dtint. pr^s'tige. prestige (Fr.) — ^pras'tezh'. pre-§timpt'u-otis, not -ztimp'shus. pre-t^nce', not pre'tenee. prSt'er-ite. - pre-tSxt', or pre'-. This is the marking of nearly all the ortho6- pists. " My pretext to strike at him admits A good construction." — Shakespeare* pretty — ^prit'te, not prSt'-. pre-vSnt'ive, not -vSn'ta-tive. pri'ma-ry, not -mSr-e. princess, not prin-cSss'. pris'tine, or -tin. priVa-cy, or priv'-. See Key to PronunciatioQ, p. XXIII. 1B4 priv'i-ly. . pro'ba-to-ry. pr5b'i-ty, not pro'-. The erroneous pronunciation is often used, especially on the stage. pr5§'ess, not pro'-. proems verbal (Fr.) — ^pro'sa' ver'b^r. produce, not pro'-. pr6d'uct, not pro'-. profile — ^pro'fel, -ill, or -fil. The first pronunciation is Worcester's and Smart's ; the second, Walker's- and Webster's ; the third, Craig's. Pro-feV is also authorized, and by some speakers may be preferred. pro-fuse', not -fuz'. pr5g'ress, not pro'-. pr6j'ect, noun, not pro'-, pro-j6ct', verb. pro-j6c'tile, not -til. prp-lix, pro'-. In their earlier editions both Webster and Worcester pronounced this word pro'lix ; which accentuation a few good authorities also recog- nize. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. <( to 135 used, ^V. 's and ster's ; Drized, ;er and which recog- pr5r5gue, or pro'-. The first marking is that of Worcester, Smart, and Walker ; the second, that of Wehster and one or two others. prftm-e-nade', or -nade'. pro-mtll'gate. not pr5in'ul-gate. pr6m-ul-ga'tioii, o?' pro-mtil-. pronunciation — pro-ntm-she-a'shun, or -ce-a'shun. The majority of the authorities are in favor of the sound of sh ; Webster was not, but this sound has been adopted by the editors of the later editions of his dictionary. Wheaton in his " Travels in England " says : "I was not a little mortified at having my Yan- kee origin detected by my omitting to give the full sound of sh in the vfor^ pronunciation.'''* Walker says : " The very same reasons that oblige us to pronounce partiality, propitiation, speciality, etc.. as if written parsheality, propi- sheashun, spesheality, etc., oblige us to pronounce pronunciatio7i as if written pronunsheashun.^^ Smart marks this word pro-niXn-ce-a'shim, yet he says in his " Principles '': " It is regularly pro- nounced pro-nUn-she-d'shtm, and by all speakers would probably be so sounded if it were related to any such verb as to pronunciate, in the same way as association and enunciation are related to associate and enunciate. In the absence of jB99 Key to Pronunolatlon, p. XXIXI. 136 any such related verb, most speakers say prO' niZn-se-d'shun, and so avoid the double occur- rence of the sound of sh in the same word." "The time was when the stage was justly held the model of pronunciation ; but that golden age of dramatic literature and dramatic life has long since passed away." — William HusselL propitiate — prQ-pish'e-at. pro-§a'ic. pro-see ni-lim, not -scSn'-. pr5s'per-otis, not pr5s'pr&s. pr5t'a-si8. protege (Fr.) — ^pro'ta'zha'. pro tSm'po-re, not t^m'pore. pr5t'es-ta'tion, not pro'-. pro-tli5n'o-ta-ry, not pro-tho-no'tab-ry. pro-trude'. See accrue. pro-tru'sive, not -ziv. pro-tu'ber-ant. proven — ^probv'n. This word, incorrectly used for proved, is said to be a Scotticism, pro-v6'cg.-tive, or -v5c'a-tive. Smart is the only orthoSpist of note who gives the second marking. r r -^ r ■' ■"' Bm ^y to PronuttolAtion, p. XXZII. 137 Bcur- I ustly jlden 3 has I. 7- is said gives provost, the chief of any hody^ as a coir lege — pr6v'ust. provost, the executioner of an army— prttv'ust. Smart and some others pronounce the word in the latter signification prdv'ust also. prow — prou. prowess — prou'es. Pro'es was once permissible. prude, pru'dence, prune, pru'ri-ent. See accrue. Prussian — prtish'an. There is little choice here in point of good usage. . ' ^ prussic — prUs'ik, or prdb'sik. psalmiGt — sam'ist. There is good authority for saying both sdl'- mist and sal'mist psalmody — s^l'mo-de. Webster said sdm'o-de, psalms — samz, not s^mz. pseudo— ^su'do. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 138 Psyche — si^ke. In Greek and Latin words which begin with uncombinable consonants, the first letter is silent ; thus P in Psyche and Ptolemy is not sounded. Ptolemaic — ^t5l-e-ma'ik. pu'er-ile, or -il. puissance (from the French). All the orthoepists, with one exception, accent this word on the first syllable. Why this is done it is not.easy to see, since that accentuation makes the word most difiicult of utterance, and because the last syllable, in French, is made most promi- nent by neing drawn out in the pronunciation somewhat like au in haul followed by nasal n and the sound of s. It seems to the writer that the word, in English, should be pronounced jt>w-^'- aans instead oi pu'is-sdns, ptim'ice, or pu'-. " This word ought to be pronounced pewmis. In nothing is our language more regular than in preserving the u open when the accent is on it and followed by a single consonant." — Walker. We have at least three other words which break this regularity — cuin'in, duc'at, and pun'- ish, Pum'ice is as well established as pun'ish. We never hear a mechanic talk about hi^pewmis- stone, ptimp'kin. See P. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 139 L with ilent ; led. accent 8 done makes ►ecause promi- ciation lasal n 3r that \ewnfiis» than in Is on it \alker, which pun'- iun'ish, iewmis" pAr'port, noun and verhj not pur-port'. pur-siie', not -su\ pursuit — ^pur-sut', not -sut'. pustule — ^ptist'yul. put — ^pdbt, not ptit (very antiquated). pyg.me'an. There is very little authority for the second accentuation. pyramidal — pe-rd,m'i-dal. pyrites — pe-ri'tez. Pyth-a-go're-an. Pytli'o-n6ss. Q. This consonant is always followed by u. The digraph qu has usually the sound of kio, as in quail, quart, etc. ; but in many words from the French it has the sound of k, as in coquette, mas- querade, etc. The termination que is also pro- nouncer^ k, as in oblique, antique, etc. quadrille — ka-driV, not kw5d-ril'. quaff, not qu5ff. qu^g'gy, not qu5g'-. quAg'mire, not qu5g'-. @ee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII, 140 quan'da-ry, or -da'ry. Webster and one or two lesser lights are the only orthoSpists who accent this word on the first syllable ; but that is certainly the prevailing pronunciation in this country. quar'rel, not quar'l. quash — tw5sh, not kwfch. quassia — kw5sli'e-a. quay — ke. quelque chose (Fr.) — ^kSl'ke shoz, nx>l kfek shoz. quelle sottise (Fr.) — kSl sot'tez'. quinine — kwi-nin', or kwi'-, not ke-nen'. qui vive (Fr.) — ^ke vev. quoit — koit. quoth — kwoth, or kwtith. " Mr. Sheridan, Dr. Kenrick, Mr. Scott, W. Johnston, Mr. Nares, Mr. Perry, and Mr. Smith pronounce the o in this word long, as in both ; but Buchanan short, as in moth. This latter pro- nunciation is certainly more agreeable to the general sound of o before th, as in broth, froth, cloth, etc.; but mj ear fails me if I have not always heard it pronounced like the o in doth, as if written kwiXth, which is the pronunciation Mr. Elphinstone gives it, and, in my opinion, is the true one." — Walker. gee Koy to Pronunciation, p. XXIII, 141 ire the on the trailing )z, not e-nen'. ott, W. Smith both ; ter pro- to the ', froth, ave not doth, as ion Mr. is the R This letter is never silent. It has a peculiar influence on both the long and the ^hort sound of the vowels. Sometimes it changes the short sound of a as in man into its Italian sound, as in far, and the short sound of o as in not into its broad sound, as in nor. It has a corresponding effect on the short sound of the other vowels. When r is preceded by a short vowel, it some- times has the effect of blending the syllables. Thus the dissyllables higher, lower, mower, rower, sower, andjiower are pronounced precisely like the monosyllables hire, lore, more, roar, soar, axid Jlour, rMlsh, not rSd'-. raillery — ^raVer-e. Webster, in the earlv editions of his diction- ary, said raVler-e ; and m this most later orthoe- pists have concurred. raisonne (Fr.) — ra'zon'na'. ra'jah. rancor — ^rtog'kur. rd.p'ine, not ra-pen'. raspberry — r^z'ber-re, not rawz'% r^th'er, or rath'-, not rtlth'-. ratio — ^ra'she-o. ra'tion, not r^sh'un. Bee Key to Pronuuciation,p.XXIII. 142 rational — ^rftsh'un-al. Rd'shun-al is no longer permitted by any orthoepist. The like is true of nd'shim-al and other words of similar orthography. Indeed, the making of the a in the first syllable of these words long was never countenanced by any of the English orthoepists. It was one of the many Websterian innovations. re-al-i-za'tion, not -i-za'-. • • • 7 re'al-ly, not re'ly. rSb'el, not r^b'l. re-c6ss'. There is no dictionary authority for saying re'cess, though the word is very generally so pro- nounced, even by good speakers. rSg-ep-tiv'i-ty. , rSg-i-^a-tive'. rSc-la-ma'tion. re-cluse', noun and adj. " I all the livelong day Consume in meditation deep, recluse From human converse." Ph'7' Sooner or later the accent of this word, wh?3? a substantive, and also of recess, will probably, by general consent, be changed to the first syllable. See Key to FroDUiici{itioD.p. XXIXI. 143 r6c'og-niz-a-ble, or re-c5g'iii-za-ble. There is no lack of authority for the second marking. rSc'9g-nize, not re-k5g'niz, twv r6k'6ii-iz. rSc-ol-lSct', not re-cpl-. rSc'on-dite, or re-c6n'dlte. reconnaissance (Fr.) — re'k6n'a'sangs'. This is the modern orthography of this word. reconnoissance — ^re-k6n'ni-sance. rSc-on-noi'tre, not re'-. re-c6rd', verh, rSc'ord, noun, not r6c'6rd. Some of the older writers accented this sub- stantive on the second syllable, as we see in the lines of Watts : " Our nation reads the written word, That book of life, that sure record^^ re-c6urse'. rSc're-ant, not re'-. rSc're-ate, to take recreation, re-cre-ate', to create anew. re-cruit'. See accrue. • •• rSc'ti-tude. See adduce. 10 S«e Key to F^nimclation, p. XXIII. 144 rgfer-a-ble. re-fSr'ri-ble. "This word," says Worcester, "is given in many of the dictionaries in two forms, referrible and referable, and both are often met with ; but referrible is the form that seems to be the more countenanced by the dictionaries. Smart says, ' Meferabl^, which is to be met with, violates the practice of deduction from the verb.' *' re'fl^x, not re-fl6x'. rSf lu-Snt, not re-flu'ent. r^f 'use, or rSf 'fuz. re-fut'a-ble, or ref '-. regime (Fr.) — ^ra'zhem'. rSl-ax-a'tion, or re-. Euphony and authority are on the side of the first marking. relievo — ^re-le'v6. This word, thus given in the dictionaries, is a corruption of the Italian rilievo. Inasmuch as our own word relief has the same meaning in art, there is no occasion for a corrupt foreign form ; and when the Italian word is used, it should have its Italian spelling and pronuncia- tion— re-Z^/a'vo. re-me'di-a-ble. m See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIl, 145 ven in xrrible ti ; but ,e more :t says, ites the de of the aries, is a smucb as saning in \t foreign used, it ►ronuncia- re-m6d'i-16ss, or rSm'e-di-lSss. Ease of utterance makos the first marking preferable, though the second is that of a major- ity of the authorities, re-morse'less, not -lliss. See ailment, renaissance (Fr,) — ^re-na'sangs'. rendezvous (Fr.) — ^r6ng'da'v6b'. renew — re-nu', not -nu^ renunciation — re-n^n-she-a'sliun, o?* -se-. See pronunciation. rSp'a-ra-ble. rep-ar-tee'. " A man renowned for repartee Will seldom scruple to make free With friendship's finest feeling." — Cowper, repertoire (Fr^) — ra'par'twar'. rSp'er-to-ry. rSp'tile, not -tile (antiquated). r^p'u-ta-ble. re'qui-em, or rSk'we-em. Smart says rWwe-em^ and Worcester permits this marking. re-search', not re'-. 11 See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 146 r6§-jg-na'tion, not rSs-. rSg'in, 7iot rSz'n. r6§'o-lu-ble. Those who, like the writer, are glad to have an authority for pronouncing this word re-zdl'u- Me, find it in Sheridan. rS§-o-lu'tion, not -lu'-. See adduce. re§'o-Mnce, not rSs'-. re-source', not rS'-. " Pallas viewed His foes pursuing, and his friends pursued ; Used threatenings mixed with prayers, his last — Dryaen, re-spir'a-ble. Perry and Knowles say r^s'pi-ra-ble, re-spir'a-to-ry. rSs'pite, not -pit. re-splSn'dent, 7iot rSs-. restaurant — ^rSs'to-rant. In speaking English, to pronounce this word d la fran^aise is in questionable taste ; it smacks of pedantry. restaurateur (Fr.) — ras'to'ra'tur'. re-sto'ra-tive, 7iot rgs-to'-. r See Key to Prouuuoiatiou, p. XXIII. 147 have 36. 3d; his last yden. his word Lt smacks re-§ume\ resume (Fr.) — ^ra'zu'ma'. The vowel u has a sound in French which can not be represented with English characters. The sound is identical with il or ue in German. re-tail', verb ; re'tail, noun, re-tairer. r^tch, or retell . Though the former is more heard in this country, the latter has the weight of authority in its favor. re-trib'u-tive. re'tro-cede, or rSt'ro-. .7 • All the dictionaries put the accent on the first syllable of this word ; but in nearly all other words of similar formation it is on the last, as intercede', supersede', etc. If this were as com- monly used as the others, we apprehend it would have been treated in like manner. rSt'ro-grade, or re'tro-. A large majority of the orthoepists give the first marking. Indeed, Smart is the only one of note who prefers the sscond. ret'ro-spSct, or re'tro-. _ ^ — — — - ■ ■ i-^ S$« Key to Prpmjnciation, p. XXIII. 148 r6v'el»ry, not -lil-ry. revenue — y^y' e-nu, in prose ; re-v6n'yu, in verse. " Do not think I flatter ; For what advancement may I hope from thee, That no rei'enue hath but thy good spirits To feed and clothe thee ? " — Hamlet, rSv'o-ca-ble re-volt', or ■v5lt'. "This word has Mr. Sheridan, Dr. Kenrick, Mr. Perry, and Mr. Buchanan for that pronun- ciation which rhymes it with malt; but that which rhymes it with bolt, jolt, etc., has the authority of Mr, Elphinston, Mr. Smith, Mr. Scott, Mr. Nares, and W. Johnston, a clear anal- ogy, and, if I am not mistaken, the best usage, on its side." — Walker, rheum — ^rum. rheumatic — ru-m^t'ik. .* . rheumatism^ — ru'ma-tizm. • • • rhubarb — ru'barb, not ru'-. Eichelieu — rish'el-yu. It is doubtful taste to pronounce this historic name after the French mode when speaking English. It certainly smacks a bit of pedantry. ripe'ness, not -ntis. See ailment. See Key to Prouunciation, p. .XXIII. C] 149 ri§e, verb. lige, nowft, " This word properly takes the pure sound of 8 to distinguish it from the verb, but does not adhere to this distinction so inviolably as the nouns use, excuse, etc.; for we sometimes hear *the rise and fall of the Roman empire,' *the rise and fall of provisions,' etc., with the s like z. The pure s, however, is more cT^reeable to analogy, and ought to be scrupulously preserved in these phrases by all correct speakers." — Walker, Walker's recommendation is little heeded nowadays by even the most fastidious. risk, not resk. ro-b1ist', not ro'Mst. " Survey the warlike horse ; didst thou invest With thunder his robust, distended chest ? " — Young, robustious — ro-btist'yus. ro-mtoce\ Though rd'mance is often heard in cultured circles, it is not sanctioned by any of the orthoe- pists. " A staple of romance and lies, " False tears and real perjuries." — Prior, roof. See cooper, rook, or rook. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXI i I. «iff 150 root, not root. See coopex; roseate — ^ro'ze-at. ro-§e'o-la, not ro-ge-olat. roue (Fr.) — ro'a'. route — r(5bt. There is abundant authority for pronouncing this word rowt ; but this pronunciation is now very generally considered inelegant. "Most of the orthoepists more recent than Walker give the preference to the pronunciation TodV — Worcester, ^ routine (Fr.) — rotten', ru-be'o-la, not ru-be-oQa. . . 7 ... . Rubinstein, A. — ru'bin-stin. ru'by, not ru'-. rude, not rude. See accrue. .. 7 ruffian — rtif 'yan, or rtif 'f i-an. Ru'fiis. rule, not rule. »• 7 ru'mi-nate. ru'ral, not ru'-. .* • 7 ruse de guerre (Fr.) — ruz de g^r. Russian. See Prussian, Ruy Bias "(Sp.) — ru'e bias, not bla. See Key to rronunciation, p. XXIII. 151 S. The usual or genuine sound of this letter is its sharp, hissing, or sibilant sound, as in alas, sun, same, caps, stuffs, etc. It has also a soft sound like z, as in does, was, ribs, prices, dismal, etc. Combined with or from the effect of the suc- ceeding vowel, it has the sound of sh in words ending in sion preceded by a consonant, as in dimensioi, expulsion, etc.; also in censure, sen- sual, fissure, pressure, sure, insure, nauseate, nauseous, sugar, etc. It has the sound of zh in the termination sion preceded by a vowel, as in contusion, explosion, etc. ; also in many words in which it is preceded by an accented vowel and followed by the ter- mination ure, as in treasure, exposure, leisure, etc. ; also in a number of words ending in sier, as in hosier, etc.; and finally in elysium, elysian, and ambrosia. In the German language, s, beginning a syl- lable and followed by a vowel, has the sound of z; at the end of a syllable, it has invariably its sharp, hissing sound. s^g-er-do'tal, not sacer-. s^c'ra-ment, not sa'cra-. " This word, with sacrifice, sacrilege, and sac-^ risty, is sometimes pronounced with the « in the first syllable long, as in sacred ; but this is con- trary to one of the clearest analogies in the lan- guage."- — Walker. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 152 t sacrifice, verb — s^k're-fis. In the words sacrifice, suffice, discern, and sice^ c has the sound of z. " They talk of principles, but notions prize, And all to one loved folly sacrifice,'''' — Pope. sacrifice wn — s^k're-fiz, or -fis. The secoL 1 rn&^' ing is authorized by Smart and by Wright. s^c'ri-lSge, not sa'cri-. sAc-ri-le'giotts, not -lij'tis, s^c'ris-ty. sa-ga'cioti8, not -g^sh'lis, said — sed, not sad. Sainte-Beuve — stogt'-bev'. S^ric, not Salic. salmon — stoi'un. salve — sav, or salv, not s^v. " Dr. Johnson tells us that this word is origi- nally and properly salf; which having salves in the plural, the singular in time was borrowed from it ; sealf, Saxon, undoubtedly from salvus, Latin. There is some diversity among our ortho- epists about the / in this word and its verb. Mr, Sheridan marks it to be pronounced ; Mr. Smith, W. Johnston, and Barclay make it mute ; Mr. Bee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. I53r ,nd sice, ►rize, Pope, »y Smart is origi- \sctlves in )orrowed salvus, lur ortho- lerb. Mr. [r. Snvitli, ite ; Mr. Scott and Mr. Perry give it both ways ; and Mr. Nares says it is mute in the noun, but sounded in the verb. The mute I is certainly counte- nanced in this word by calve and halve / but, as they are very irregular, and are the only words where the I is silent in this situation (for valve, delve, solve, etc., have the I pronounced), and as this word is of Latin original, the I ought cer- tainly to be preserved in both words ; for, to have the same word sounded differently to sig- nify different things is a defect in languag that ought, as much as possible, to be avoided.' - Walker, Siirver, not sa'ver. Sa-m^r'i-tan. • • • sanguine — stog'gwin. sapphire — sM'fir, or s^f'fir. The second pronunciation has a great prepon- derance of authority in its favor ; but the first, which is Webster's, is both more analogical and more euphonious. sarce'nSt, not sar'se-. sar'do-nyx. sar-sa-pa-ril'la, not s^s-a-. satiate — sa'she-at. sa-ti'e-ty, not sa'she-ty. The pronunciation of this word seems anom- alous, from the fact that it is the only one in the See Key to Fronunciatiun, p. XXIII> 154 language having the syllable ti under an accent followed by a vowel ; but this syllable regularly takes the accent, in analogy with society, variety, and all other words of similar formation. s^t'in, not s^t'n. . s^t'ire. This is the marking of Webster and Craig. Smart says sdt'er ; Worcester, softer ; Walker, sa'tlr. ( sa'trap. Mt'rap is becoming obsolete. sftt'ur-nine, not sa'tur-nin, satyr — sa'tur. Smart alone prefers sdt'ur, sau'cy, not sfts'e. sauer kraut (Ger.) — zow'er krowt. saunter — san'ter, 07* saun'-. " The first mode of pronouncing this word i» the most agreeable to analogy, if not in the most general use ; but where use has formed so clear a rule as in words of this form, it is wrong not to follow it. Mr. Elphinston, Dr. Kenrick, Mr. Nares, and Mr. Scott are for the first pronuncia- tion ; and Mr. Sheridan and W. Johnston for the last." — Walker. ^9e Key to ProQunclatloiif p. XXIII. 155 s^u'sage. The pronunciation s^s'sif, now exceedingly- vulgar, was at one time courftenanced by good usage, and was preferred by several orthoepists of the last century. savoir faire (Fr.) — sftv'war' far. says — sSz, not saz. sca'bi-otis. Sc^ld, or scald, a Scandinavian poet scallop, ve7'b and noun — sk5riup. " This word is irregular ; for it ought to have the a in the first syllable like that in tallow ; but the deep sound of a is too firmly fixed by custom to afford any expectation of a change. Mr. Sheri- dan, Mr. Scott, Dr. Kenrick, Mr. Nares, and Mr. Smith pronounce the a in the manner I have given it."^ — Walker, scarce — skars, not sk^rs (obsolete). sc&th, or scathe. scfen'ic. Smart says scl'nic, schedule — skSd'yul, or schSd-. The orthoepists give us seven or eight dif- ferent ways to pronounce this word. This is the marking of both Worcester and Webster. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 156 i I schism — siztn, not slz'tim. t " The common pronunciation of this word is contrary to every rule for pronouncing words from the learned languages, and ought to be altered. CA, in English words, coming from Greek words with x^ ought always to be pro- nounced like k ; and I believe the word in ques- tion is almost the only exception throughout the language. However strange, therefore, skizm may sound, it is the only true and analogical pronunciation ; and we might as well pronounce scheme seme as schism sizm, there being exactly the same reason for both. But, when once a false pronunciation is fixed, as this is, it requires some daring spirit to begin the reformation ; but when once begun, as it has (what seldom hap- pens) truth, novelty, and the appearance of Greek erudition on its side, there is no doubt of its suc- cess. Whatever, therefore, may be the fate of its pronunciation, it ought still to retain its spelling. This must be held sacred, or the whole language will be metamorphosed ; for the very same reason that induced Dr. Johnson to spell sceptick skep- tick, ought to have made him spell schism, sizm and schedule sedule. All our orthoepists pro- nounce the word as I have marked it." — Walker, schismatic — siz-m^t'ik. schooner — skdbn'er, not skdon'-, Schubert — shdb'bert, not -bar. Schurz, Carl — shc)brts. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 167 scttff, not scauf. See accost . scpr-bu'tic. screw — skru, not skru. scrttf u-la, not skrauf '-. See accost. scru'ple. See accrue. scrup'u-lotis. scru'ti-ny. sculpture — sktilpt'yur. seamstress — sSm'stres, or sem'-. Webster is the only orthoepist of note who gives the second marking. Stance (Fr.) — sa'angss'. seckel, a small pear — sek'kl, not sik'l. se-clude' Twt -clud'. See adduce. • 7 •• sSc're-ta-ry, not sSc'li-ta-ry. . se-dto', a hind of chair. s6d'a-tive. se-duce'. See adduce, seigneurial — sen-yu'ri-al. seine, a net — sen, not san. Seine, river — san. sSm'i, 7iot sSm'i. sempstress — sSm'stres. »*■*■' -.■■■*■■ I . I ■■■-I I I . ■ - — -■ I. I — . la I I »» ■ ■ 1 ■! See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXUI. 158 se'nile, not se'nil. sSn'na, not se'na. sentient — sSn'she-ent. scn'ti-mSnt. See ailment, sepulchre, noun — sSp'ul-ker. *"• I consider this word as having altered its original accent on the second syllable, either by the necessity or caprice of the poets, or by its similitude to the generality of words of this form and number of syllables, which generally have the accent on the first syllable. Dr. Johnson 1 alls us it is accented by Shakespeare and Milton on the second syllable, but by Jonson and Prior, more properly, on the first ; and he might have added, as Shakespeare has sometimes done." — Walker. ?^epulclire, verh — se-ptilker. se'quel, not -kwil. se-quSs'trate. sequestration — s^k-wes-tra'shun. sequestrator — sSk'wes-tra-tur. Se-ra'pis. sergeant — sar'jent, or ser'-. There is but little authority for the second marking. " There is a remarkable exception to the com- mon sound of the letter e in the words cleric^ ser- See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 159 geant, and a few others, where we find the e pre nounced like the a in dark and margin. But thijs. exception, I imagine, was, till within these few years, the general rule of sounding this letter before r, followed by another consonant. Thirty years ago every one pronounced the first syllable of merchant like the monosyllable march, and as it was originally written, marchant Service and servant are still heard, among the lower orders of speakers, as if written sarvice and sarvant ; and even among the better sort we sometimes hear the salutation, * Sir, your sarvant,^ though this pronunciation of the word singly would be looked upon as a mark of the lowest vulgarity. The proper names Derby and Berkeley still retain the old sound ; but even these, in polite usage, are getting into the common sound, nearly as if written Durhy and Burkeley. As this modern pronunciation of the e has a tendency to simplify the language by lessening the number of ex^ ceptions, it ought certainly to be indulged."—^ Walker. " The letters er are irregularly sounded ar in clerk and sergeant, and formerly, but not now, in merchant, Derby, and several other words." — Smart. " In the United States, the letters er are, by good speakers, regularly sounded, as in her, in the words merchant, servant, Derby, Berkeley, etc. The regular pronunciation of clerk (clurk) is also a very common, if not the prevailing, mode. Many give the same sound to e in ser- geant.^^ — Worcester. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 11 160 1'..^. senes — se rez, or se'ri-ez. serVile, or -vil. ser'vi-tude, not -tud. s6s'a-me. sew — so, not su. sewer, one who sews — so'er. sewer, an under-groimd drain — su'er. Walker and half a dozen other orthoepists say shor ; Smart says soor, and maintains that shor is vulgar ; Worcester says soo'er or shor ; and finally, Webster and W^right say su'er^ which is the pronunciation always heard here. sh. This digraph represents the simple sound heard in sheVf\ flesh, usher, etc., and is never 'Client. " It is expressed : 1. By c, as in oceanic, emaciation ; 2. By s, as in nauseate, Asiatic 3. By t, as in negotiation ; 4. By cc, as in ocean 5. By c^, as in soc/al ; 6. By se, as in nauseous 7. By 6'^, as in tens^on ; 8. By ti, as in captious 9. By the si implied in xi (=ksi), as in noxioxis 10. By the sy implied in su (=syu), as in mensi^ ration ; 11. By the sy implied in xu {=:ksyu), as in IxjLXUYj ; 12. By ch, as in cAaise, cAarlatan, macAine ; 13. By chs, as in fucAsia ; 14. By sc, as in conscientious ; 15. By sch, as in scAorl ; 16. By sci, as in consc^ence." — W, A, Wheeler, 8«0 Key to PronuuclatioD, p. XXIII. 161 shall, auxilia/py — shd-l. The auxiliaries, like the pronouns and a long list of the particles, are touched but lightly when they are not emphatic and the utterance is natural. sha'n't {shall noP) — shant, not sh^nt. sheath, noun; pi,, sheathg. she, or she, according to the demands of the emphasis. " Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her ; And she \she\ kissing back, could not know That my \m%\ kiss was given to her sister,'- " Oh, she \she\ too died a short time since ; she \she\ broke a blood-vespel in a fit of pas- sion." sheik — shek. shekel — shek'l, not she'kL shew — sho. shewn — shon. shire, or shire, "The pronunciation of this word is very irregular, as it is the only pure Exiglish word in the language where the final e does not produce the long diphthongal sound of i when the accent is on it ; but this irregularity is so fixed as to give the regular sound a pedantic stiffness. Mr. 18 Se« Key t© Pronunciation, p. XXIII . 162 Bheridan, Mr. Scott, and Buchanan, hovevei, liave adopted this sound, in which they hav& been followed by Mr. Smith ; but Mr. Elphin- ston, Dr. Lowth, Dr. Kenrick, Mr. Perry, and Barclay are for the irregular sound ; W. John- ston gives both, but places the irregular first. It may likewise be observed that this word, when unaccented at the end of words, as Nottingham' shire, Wiltshire, etc., is always pronounced with the i like ee." — Walker. shoe — shoo, not shu. shone — sh6n. " This word is frequently pronounced so as to rhyme with tone ; but the short sound of it is by far the most usual among those who may be styled polite speakers." — Walker. Webster and others give the first pronuncia- tion ; Smart, Worcester, and others, the second, which violates an almost uniform analogy, arid iS rarely heard in this country. This and gone are the only words of similar fofmation in which the regular short sound of o I ver heard, the only other exceptions to the long sound being a few words in which the o has the sound of short u, as done, love, etc. short-lived, not -livd. shrew — shru, not shru. shrewd — shrud, not shrud. shriek — shrek, not srek. See Fey to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 163 shrill, not sril. shrine, not srin. shrink, not srink. shrtib, not srtib. shrtig, not srtig. sibyl — sib'il, not sfbil. sice — siz. See sacrifice, sigh — si. " A very extraordinary pronunciation of this word prevails in London, and, what is more extraordinary, on the stage — so different from every other word of the same form as to make it a perfect oddity in the language. This pronuncia- tion approaches to the word sithe [scythe] ; and the only difference is that sithe has the flat aspira- tion, as in this, and sigh the sharp one, as in thin. It is not easy to conjecture what could be the reason of this departure from analogy, unless it were to give the word a sound which seems an echo to the sense." — Walker. " Tliis * extraordinary pronunciation ' of sigh is more or less common in some parts of the United States. It is not countenanced by any of the orthoepists." — Worcester, silhouette (Fr.) — se'lo-^t'. sim'i-le, not sim'il. si-mul-t^l'ne-otis, or sim-ul-. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 164 since, not sfence. si'ne-cure, not sin'e-. si'ne di'e (Lat.). sin'is-ter. " This word, in the sense of left, is accented by the poets Milton, Dryden, etc., on the second syllable, though most lexicographers and orthoe- pists accent it on the first syllable, whether it is used in the sense of left or perverse. Walker says : ' This word, though uniformly accented on the second syllable in the poets quoted by John- son, is as uniformly accented on the first by all our lexicographers, and is uniformly so pro- nounced by the best speakers. Mr. Nares tells us that Dr. Johnson seems to think that, when this word is used in its literal sense — as, *'Iii his sinister band, inst :id of a ball, He placed a mighty mug of potent ale," {Dryden) — it has the accent on the second syllable ; but when in the figurative sense of corrupt, insidious, etc., on the fiit t. This distinction seems not to be founded on the best usage.' " — Worcester, si'ren, not sir'en. Siriis (Lat.). sirratv --sir'ra, s^r'ra, or sSr'ra. "Th's [sar^r^X] is a corruption of the first magnitude, but too general and inveterate to be See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 165 ccented second orthoe- her it is Walker jnted on y John- ,t by all so pro- res tells ,t, when ?» den) — e ; but sidious, not to ster. le first te to be remedied. Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Nares, Mr. Scott, Dr. Kenrick, and Mr. Perry pronounce it as I have done. W. Johnston alone pronounces it as if written serrah ; and Mr. Elphinston, because it is derived from sir and the interjection ah, says it ought to have the first syllable like sm" — Walker, ,^«' Sir up. Though sanctioned, sUr'i'up may be set down as being rather inelegant. sky — ski. See kind, slan'der, or sMn'der. sMb'ber. This word is pronounced colloquially sldb'ber, and sometimes so written. " The second sound of this word is by much the more usual one ; but, as it is in direct opposi- tion to the orthography, it ought to be discounte- nanced, and the a restored to its true sound."— Walker. sMng. slant. slate. slaugh'ter. sleek, not slick. slew — slii. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 166 slWer,' or sli'ver. The first marking, the prevailing pronuncia- tion in this country, is that of Webster and Craig ; the second, that of all the other ortho- epists. sloth. Webster alone marks the o of this word and its derivatives short. sloth'ftil. slough, the cast sJcin of a serpent — sltif. slough, a deep^ miry place — slou. sloven — sltiv^n, not slov'n. sobriquet (Fr.) — so'bre'ka'. sociability — so-she-a-biri-te. sociable — so'she-a-bl. •• • fe5ft. See accost, soften — s5f n, Tiot s5f 'ten. soiree (Fr.) — swa'ra'. so'joiirn, noun. so'journ, verb. " This noun and verb are variously accented by the poets ; but our modern orthoepists have, in general, given the accent to the first syllable of both words." — Walker, See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 167 so'joArner. All the authorities, so far as the writer knows, place the accent of this word on the first syllable, thus, 8d'journ-er, Ease of utterance, euphony, and analogy demand the penultimate accentua- tion, which is accordingly recommended here. solder — sftl'der, s6d'der, or saw'der. " Dr. Johnson seems to favor writing this word without the I, as it is sometimes j)ronounced ; but the many examples he has brouglit, where it is spelt with /, show sufficiently how much this or- thography is established. . . . Though our ortho- epists agree in leaving out the 7, they differ in pronouncing the o. Sheridan sounds the o as in sod ; W. Johnston as in sober ; and Mr. Nares as the dipththong aw. Mr. Smith says that Mr. Walker pronounces the i in this word, but every workman pronounces it as rhyming with fodder ; to which it may be answered that workmen ought to take their pronunciation from scholars, and not scholars from workmen." — Walker, s5re-ci§m, not so'k-. s5rstice, not sol'-. T so-lu'tion, not -lu'% s^m'bre. Some of the orthoepists mark the o of this word long. It is not easy to see why, especially as it comes to us through the French, in which ^e$ Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIXIi, 168 language the o is more like our short than our long o. True, the long o makes the word some- what more sonorous. s^m'brous. s6ii'net, not son'-. so-no'rous, not s6n'o-. S()bn, not soon. motj or sdbt, not s&t. " Notwithstanding I have Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Nares, Dr. Kenrick, W. Johnston, Mr. Perry, and the professors of the black art themselves against me in the pronunciation of this word, I have ventured to prefer the regular pronuncia- tion to the irregular. The adjective sooty has its regular sound among the correctest speakers, which has induced Mr. Sheridan to mark it so ; but nothing can be more absurd than to pronounce the substantive in one manner, and the adjective, derived from it by adding y, in another. The other orthoepists, therefore, who pronounce both these words with the oo like ik, are more consistent than Mr. Sheridan, though, upon the whole, not so right." — Walker, sob the. "TA, at the end of words, is sharp, as death, breath, etc., except in beneath, booth, with, and the verbs io seeth, to smooth, to sooth, to mouth, all which ought to be written with e final, no. only to distinguish some of them from the nouns, See Key to Proaundation, p. XXIXIt 169 Lan oui i some- Ian, Mr. Perry, mselvej word, I jnuncia- )oty has )eakers, V it so ; )nounce jective, The ce both sistent le, not deaths th, and \mouthy lal, no. I nouns, but to show that th is soft ; for thy when final, is sometimes pronounced soft, as in to mouth / yet the^ at the end of words, is never pronounced hard. There is as obvious an analogy for this sound of th in these verbs, as for the z sound of 8 in verbs ending in se ; and why we should write some verbs with e, and others without it, is inconceivable. The best way to show the ab- surdity of our orthography, in this particular, will be to draw out the nouns and verbs as they stand in Johnson's Dictionary : Nouns^ etc. Bath, Breath, Cloth, Louth, Mouth, Verbs. to bathe. to breathe. j to clothe, \ to uncloath. to loathe. to mouth. Nouns^ etc. Sheath, Smooth, Sooth, Swath, Wreath, Verbs. to sheath, sheathe, to smooth, to fcooth. to swathe. } to wreath,^ to inwreathe. "Surely nothing can be more evident than the analogy of the language in this case. Is it not absurd to hesitate a moment at writing all the verbs with e final? This is a departure from our great lexicographer which he himself would approve, as nothing but inadvertency could have led him into this unmeaning irregularity." — Walker, "Although Walker speaks so decidedly on this matter, yet he has not accommodated the orthography of all these words to the principle which he inculcates. It could be wished that all the words of this class were conformed in their orthography to this rule. The only ones which are not now actually, by respectable usage, con- formed to it, are the verbs to mouth and to See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. I ■|H IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 'V. IL %0 & 1.0 1.1 l^|28 |2.5 |5o ■^" M^B I 40 2.0 1.8 1.25 \U 1.6 11= — ^ 6" ^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)872-4503 ^^ V ^ %*,Shfei'-k^»:i-'= 79 low illy thereof — ^tti^r-ttv', (yr ther-ttff'. th^re-with', (yr -with'. Theuriet, Andr6 — ^tA'r^-A'. they — ^tbA, whefm emphatic; other wise, th?.. '* We'll see our husbands before they Itha] think of us." " Shall they [tha\ see us ? " "So she asked him what they [tha] were, whence they \tha\ came, and whither they \tha\ were bouna." Thiers — ^te-fir'. thousand — thou'z^nd, not -z^n. threw — thru. three-legged — ^three'-lSgd, or -lSg-g6d. thrgsh'old, or -hold. ^ thr5ng. See accost, thyme — tim. ti-a'rd, or ti-a'r^. •ticklish, not -el-ish. tid'bit. tiers 6tat (Fr.) — ^te-ar' za'td'. ti'ny, not tin'y, 'i^ior te'ny. ti-rade^ See Key to Fronnnoiation, p. XXIIX, 180 to — to, or tp, depending upon the 8h*e88 it deceives, " From morn To [to] noon he fell, from noon to [to] dewy eve.'* We say, " He is at home," not " to [tff] home." tp-ma'to, 0?* -ma'-, tdoth'ache, not teeth'ache. t9-p6g'ra-phy. t6p-9-grAplilc, not to-pp-. tortoise — ^tdr'tiz, or -tis, not -tois. Toulmouche — ^td5rmc5b8li'. tout4-fait (Fr.)— too'-ta'.fa'. tout court (Fr.) — ^tdb kobr. toward — toward, not to-w^rd'. towards — to'ardz, n^t to-wardz'. "Notwithstanding our poets almost univer- sally aqcent this word on the first syllable, and the poets are pretty generally followed by good speakers, there are some, and those not of the lowest order, who still place the accent on the second. These should be reminded that, as in- wards, outwards, backwards, forwards, and every other word of the same form, have the accent on the first syllable, there is not the least reason for pronouncing towards with the accent on the last." '=^ Walker, See Key to PrOQonciau.n, p. XXIIT tri tri tn tr^ tr^ tr^ trd Ti of to I sense trd trA tra, tre Th are di: Webst nierly. tre- • tre' tri- till tri'( trip 181 (7*688 eve. )me. » »> niver- , and good >f the m the as in- every mt on jn for last." tranquil — trto'kwil. trdns-dct', Tiot trAnz-. transition — trto-sizh'un, or -sisli'un. trtos-lu'cent, not -l^'-. trAns'mi-grate. trtos-pAr'ent. trtos-pire'. This word is frequently misused in the sense of to happen, to occur. It is properly used in the sense of to become known, trAv'el, not tr^vl. tr^v'el-ler, not tr^vler. trAv'erse, not tra-verse'. treble— trgb'l, not trib'l. This is one of the long list of words which are differently marked in the later editions of Webster's dictionary from what they were for- merly. tre-mSn'dous, n^t -mSnd'yu-u8. tre'mor, or trem'or. tri-bu'nal. trib'une, not tri'bun. tri'o, or tii'o. trip'ar-tite, or tri-par'-. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIH. 182 triphthong — ^trif th5ng, or trip'-. " Two aspirations in succession, says Mr. El- phinston, seem disagreeable to an English ear, and therefore one of them is generally sunk. Thus diphthong and triphthong are pronounced dipthong and tripthong. P is lost, as well as h, in apophthegm ; and therefore it is no wonder we hear the first h dropped in ophthalmy and ophthalmic, which is the pronunciation I have adopted, as agreeable to analogy.' Nay, such an aversion do we seem to have to a succession of aspirates, that the h is sunk in isthmus, Esther, and Demosthenes [?], because the s, which is akin to the aspiration, immediately precedes. Mr. Sheridan pronounces the first syllable of ophthal- m,ic like off, but the first of diphthong and triph- thong like dip and trip. Mr. Scott, W. Johnston, and Mr. Perry pronounce diphthong and triph- thong in the same manner as Mr. Sheridan. Dr. Kenrick gives no pronunciation to diphthong, but makes the h silent in triphthong ; while Barclay pronounces the h in ophthalmic, but makes it either way in diphthong, and silent in triphthong. It may be remarked that Dr. Jones, who wrote a spelling dictionary in Queen Anne's time, makes the h in those two words silent." — Walker, trisyllable — ^tris-silla-bl, or tris'-. triv'i-al. The older orthoepists say trWyal, troche — troch, or trosh. See Key to Frouuc elation, p. XXIXI, 183 I trochee — ^tro'ke. tro'pliy. tr6th, not troth. trou'gei^, Twt -zSz. trousseau (Fr.) — ^trdb'sd', tru'ant. See accrue. true, not tru. truffle. truncheon — ^trtin'shun. truth, not truth. truths, not trutii§. tube, Twt tub. 7 •• tu'ber-ose (the plant), tube'roge. The first of these markings has the fewest authorities in its favor, but they are among the latest — Smart, Cooley, and Cull ; and the Web- ster "Unabridged" gives it the second place — after tube' rose, which is a corruption resulting from the accidental resemblance of the word to a compound of tube and rose. The second mark- ing, in retaining the soft sound of the s, goes only half-way in rejecting the vulgarism. The word comes from the Latin adjective tuherosus, and should have the sharp sound of s, like all other words of similar derivation, as morose, verbose^ etc.; and this, we believe, is the actual pronun- ciation of the majority of educated speakers. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. ill 184 Tueg'day, not tuz'-. See adduce. Tuileries (Fr.) — ^twe'le-re'. tulip, not tu'-. tu'mtilt, Tiot tu'-. tune, not tun. ' tAr'gid. turkois, or turquoise — ^tur-koiz'. tu'tor, not tu'-. ty'phus, not ti'pus. typ-o-gr^ph'ic, or ty-po-. ty-rto'nic. tjrr'an-ny, imt ty'ran-. tzar (for czar) — ^zar. tzarina (for czarina) — za-re'na. This is a remarkable instance of defeat of good intentions. The proper sound of cz in these Slavic words is that of ts^ and some English writers have spelt them with a ^ in order to get them pronounced correctly ; but our lexicogra- phers, assuming that this was merely an unmean- mg variation of the orthography, have inserted them as above with the same lazy pronunciation given in English to the original forms. It should be remembered that, as a rule, there are few or no entirely ineffective letters in any of the Euro- pean languages, the English and the French ex- cepted. T the c< chan^ conso their only Tl equivj repres it is s< by e, < preois( tjl W with t] not be not sa] remarl armad noram nade, < even t" euphoE til-t See Key to Pronuuoiatioi), p. XXIII. 185 jat of these iglish o get ogra- ean- erted ation ould or no lEuro- 3I1 ex- u. This vowel was formerly the same letter as the consonant v, and the two forms were inter- changeable for both purposes ; and, though the consonant and vowel have very different uses, their representation came to be discriminated only at a comparatively recent period. The sound of this letter in French has no equivalent in English, and therefore can not be represented with English characters. In German it is sounded like double o in English ; foil ovved by e, or with two points over it (il), it is sounded precisely like u in French. trrti-ma Thu'le. lil-ti-ma'tum, or -ma'tum. We frequently hear this word pronounced with the a broadened, and this pronunciation can not be said to be really incorrect, although it is not sanctioned by any of the dictionaries. This remark applies with equal force to apparatus^ armada^ bravado^ datum, desperado, gratis, ig- noramus, lava, octave, octavo, panorama, prome- , nade, etc. All these words are of foreign origin, even to their form, and to many ears are more euphonious with a broadened «. Ill-tra-m5n'taiie. til-u-la'tion. tim-bi-li'cus. -^•^'^- - 1*1 - -■"-■-■^- See K%Y to Pronttaciation, p. XXIIZ( 186 umbrageous — ^tim-bra'jtis, or -Je-tts. lim-br^ria, not tlm-ber-^ra. iin-as-sum'ing, not -sum'-. Hn-bat'ed, not b^t'-. " With a little shuffling, you may choose A sword unhated^'* — Hamlet, tin-civ'il, n^t -civ'l, nor clv'til. uncourteous — ^tin-kur'te-tls, or -kort'ytls. tin-couth' not -couth'. unctuous — ^tingkt'yu-tis. undaunted — ^tm-dant'ed, or -daunt'-. lin-der-neath', or -neath', tin-der-signed', undiscerned — lin-diz-zernd'. See sacri- fice. tin-ex-p6ct'ed, not -M. See ailment. tin-fre-qu6nt'ed, nx>t un-fre'quent-6d. lin-fniit'ful, not -frut'-. • •7 unguent — ^ting'gwent. unhandsome — tin-htod'sum. unheard — ^tin-herd'. Webster said ii^n-herd', tin-in'ter-est-ed. • • • -III • I I —— .^w— ■■«■ S«» Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIl. tin 187 it. tin-in'ter-est-inff. • • • Cj One of the most common of errors is the mis- placing of the accent of the verb interest and its derivatives. See note on interesting, unison — ^yu'ne-stin. Smart says yu'ne-zHn, ii-nit'ed-ly, not -tid-. tin-kind'ness, not -ntis. See ailment. lin-leam'ed, adj., not -lemd. tin-mask', Tiot -m^k'. See advance. tin-pr^Q^e-dSnt-ed, n^t -pre'ce-. iin-r\ily. See accrue. unscathed — skatht'. tin-tune', not -tun'. tih-tu'tored, not -tu'-. • 7 •• unvanquished — ^tm-vtog'kwislit. ' lin-wa'ry. tip'most, not -mtist. tJ'rai-nlis. usage — ^yu'zaij, not -saj. usurious — ^yu-zM'ri-liSe u-gArp', n^t -sArp'. uxorious — ^tigz-o'ri-tis. 1- See Key to Frononoiation, p. XXIII. 188 V. This character represents a uniform conso- nant sound, and is never silent. (See U.) In German the letter v invariably has the sound of/, except in words derived from foreign languages. vdc'gine, or v^c'glne. v^-ga'ry, not va'ga-ry. " They changed their minds, Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell As they would dance." — Milton, v^ret ; in French, vAla'. valet de chambre (French) — ^x'ala' de sh6ng'br. va-Kse\ v^ru-a-ble, not vAru-bl, nor v^ru-a-bl. vanquish — ^vtog'kwish. va'ri-e-gate, 7^(?^ va-ri'-. va'ri-e-gat-ed, va^i-o-loid, Twt vdr'i-. va-ri-o'rum. vase, or vage. For the pronunciation vdz, in imitation of the French sound — more frequently heard in Eng- See Key to PronunciiatioE, p. XXIII. bies. 189 de )f tbe Eng- land than with us — there is no authority what- ever ; nor is there authority for vawz, which was only permitted by Jameson. The pronunciation to which we give the first place is unquestionably the most rational and most euphonious, especially in the plural. ** I have a pretty fancy for bric-4-brac and antique vases; Know how to carve a cabinet and make books on the races. ij vaunt, or vaunt. ve'he-mSnce, not ve-he'mence. ve'he-mSnt, not ve-He'ment. v^l'vet, not -vit. vSn-due', not -du'. Venezuela — vSn-e-zwe'la, or -zwa'la. ve'ni-al, or vSn'ial. venison — vSn'zn, or v6n'e-zn. This word is rarely pronounced in three sylla* foles. venue — ^vfen'yu, not ve'nu. veracious — ve-ra'shus, not -r^li'us. ver-bose', not -boz'. ver'di-gris, or -gris. verdure — verd'yur, or -yur. vermicelli — ^ver-me-sSre, or -cliSre. vermilion — ^ver-nill'yun, not -mire-un. Bee Key to PFonunciation, p. XXIII. h I!'. 190 version — ver'sliun, not -zhun. ver'ti-go, ver-ti'-. vesture — ^vSst/yrr. vSs'sel, Twt vSsl. vSt'er-i-na-iy, not vfet'ri-na-iy. Vibert — ve'bar'. vi(?'i-n^ge. vi9'i-ng,l, or vi-ci'nal. vi-cis'si-tude. See adduce, vic'to-iy, not vic'try. victuals — ^vit'tlz. *^ This corruption, like \most others, has ter- minated in the generation of a new word ; for no solemnity will allow of pronouncing this word as it is written. Yictuals appeared to Swift so con- trary to the real soun i, that, in some of his manu- script remarks, he spells the word vittles,^^-^ Walker. villain — ^vil'lin, not vll'llin. vin'di-ca-tive, vin'di-c^-to-ry. vi'9-l6nce, not -llince. vi'Q-lSnt, not -Itint. See ailment. vi-ra'go, or vi-ra'-, not -ra'-. ^ I ■ — ' — ■ ■ ■■% See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 191 Vircllow — ^fir'ko. virile — vir'^i, m^ -il. virtue — virt'yu. " Dr. Hill piiblished, in ajpamphlet, a petition from the letters i" and tito David Garrick, Esq., both complaining of terrible grievances imposed Mpon them by that great actor, who frequently banished them from their proper stations, as in the word virtue^ which, they said, he converted into Viurtue ; and, in the word ungrateful, he dis- placed the u, and made it ingrateful, to the great prejudice of the said letters. To this complaint Garrick replied in the following epigram : * If it is, as you say, that I've injured a letter, I'll change "my note soon, and, I hope, for the better. May the right use of letters, as well as of men, Hereafter be fixed by the tongue and the pen. Most devoutly I wish they may both have their due. And that I may be never mistaken for W " — Walker, vir'nL-lSnce, not vir'-. , vir'u-lSnt. It will be observed that i in these two words has the sound of i in vista, viscount— vi'kount. vlg'or. There is but little authority for vVzor. It is only permitted in the later editions^ of Webster. viKSual — vizh'u-al. ! 18 8e« Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIIL 192 \ vivacious — vi-vfi'sbus, not -vfeh'us. vizier — viz'yer, or vi-zer. v6'cai,-ble, not v5c'g,-. v5r^-tile, not -til. v5Lca'n6, not -ca'no. The latter pronunciation, although etymolog- ically correct, is so seldom heard as te sound pedantic. volume — v5ryum. Wehster said v6Vum, von (Ger.) — ^ftin, not v5n. This German monosyllable is pronounced pre- cisely like the English word fun, except that its utterance is somewhat shorter or more abrupt. Hence we should ssiyftln (not vdn) Arnim, etc. IS w. This letter is a consonant (or more correctly a semi-vowel) at the beginning of a word or of a syllable, and when preceded by a consonant in the same syllable. Its combination with a pre- ceding a in the same syllable produces the sound of broad a in hall, as in lawn; with €, a diph- thong sounding like long u, as in new, or, if pre- ceded by r or y, like the u in rule — i. e., like long 00 — as in crew, yeio ; with o, the diph- tfrr nmr r "' tt«« UAf to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. ^^ 193 thongal sound sometimes also represented by ow, as in town, or that of long o (the w having no effect), as in glow. It is always silent before r in the same sylla- ble, as in write, wring, wren, wrong, etc.; it is likewise silent in the words sword, answer, two, toward. Before another vowel in the same syllable, it is frequently represented by u, as in languor, question, etc. In German, w has the sound of v in English. waft, not w^ft. See advance. Wagner — ^vag'ner, Wa-ha'bee§. waistcoat — ^wast'kot, or wfes'kot. wan — ^w5n, not wto. "Mr. Sheridan has given the a, in this word and its compounds, the same sound as in man, Mr. Scott and Dr. Kenrick have given both the sound I have given and Mr. Sheridan's, but seem to prefer the former by placing it first. I have always heard it pronounced like the first syllable of wan-ton; and find Mr. Nares, W. Johnston, and Mr. Perry have so marked it."— Walker, w4r'y. wassail — w5s'sij. weapon — wSp'n, w^p-6n« well, Tiot w^l. iCm.- Sdd KQf to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 16 i I "I / 194 we, (yr we, according to the stress it should receive. " We hjoeX go to Boston ; they to Chicago." " We \yoe[ hope to see you when we \yoe^ ar- rive ; if we \yoe\ do not, we [t' iS Lr. your — ^yur, when eniphatic / otherwise^ yur, or yer. In the latter case the word is pronounced pre- cisely like the last syllable in the word lawyer, " What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong? You [ye\ have among you [ye] many a purchased slave, Which, like your [yur\ asses and your [yur] dogs and mules, You [ye] use in abject and in slavish parts, Because you [ye] bought them [th''rn\\ shall I say to you [ye\ ' Let them [Wm] be free, marry them [tWrn] to your [yur] heirs? Why sweat they [tha\ under their [ther] burdens? let their [thdr] beds Be made as soft as yours [yurz\ let their [tMr] palates Be seasoned with such viands. You * will answer, The slaves are ours ! So do I answer you [yu]. The pound of flesh which I demand of him * Is dearly bought, is mine, and I will have it I If you* deny me [me\ fie upon your [yur] law ! There [ther] is no force in the decrees of Venice. I stand for judgment : — answer : shall I have it ? " — ShylocJc, The writer would take occasion now to say that he is not of opinion that the sound of the pronouns should always either be brought out distinctly and fully, or that it should be touched very lightly, in strict accordance with the mark- ings he has given, which are intended to repre- * Here the rhythm and not the sense lengthens the vowel somewhat, which accounts for the quantity of the sound being left unindicated. S«« KejT to Pronunciation, p. SL&IIIi 200 sent only the two extremes. Much must be left to the discretion of the reader, who, it is believed, if he takes the trouble to observe and to give the matter a little thought, will quickly come to the conclusion that nothing tends more to make one's delivery stilted and unnatural than the continual bringing out of the full name-sound of the pro- nouns, after the fashion of so many of the would- be correct. z. This letter has the sound of soft s, as in maze^ gaze, zone. In some words, combined with a succeeding vowel, it has the sound of zh, as in azure, glazier, etc. In German, it has the sound of ts ; in Span- ish, that of th as in thin, or (in Spanish America) of sharp s as in sun, Zamacois (Sp.) — ^tha-ma-ko'is. zealot — zSPot, not ze^ot. .7 « "There are few words better confirmed by authority in their departure from the sound of their simples than this and zealous. If custom were less decided, I should certainly give my vote for the long sound of the diphthong ; but, as propriety of pronunciation may be called a compound ratio of usage and analogy, the short sound must, in this case, be called the proper one." — Walker, See KQf to Pronunciation, Jp. %%llh ^j:*t 201 ze'nitli. "I never once called in doubt the pronuncia- tion of this word till I was told that mathemati- cians generally make the first ijyllable short. LTpon consulting our orthoepists, I find all who have the word, and who give the quantity of the vowels, make the e long, except Entick. ... If this majority were not so great and so respect- able, the analogy of words of this form ought to decide." — Walker. Smart says zen'ith, Zeus, not Ze'us. zo-6ro-gy, not zo-. zo-o-l6g'i-cal, not zoo-. Zunz (Ger.) — ^ts()bnts. \Ii SUPPLEMENT. One of the objects I have in view in adding J;o this manual is to make an opportunity to say something about the pronunciation of conver- sant, exemplary, obligatory, and peremptory. All the dictionaries in general use accent these four words on the first syllable, and all the Eng- lish-speaking world, except the few that chance to know how the modern orthoepists mark them, accent them on the second. The dictionary ac- See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 202 centuation is as difficult as it is unnatural, the case of conversant excepted, and ought, in my judgment, to be abandoned, not only because it IS difficult, unnatural, and unpopular, but also because, if we go back to the dictionaries pub- lished a hundred years ago, we find that the weighs of authority was then decidedly on the side of the second-syllable accent. I have re- cently consulted twelve dictionaries published between the years 1730 and 1799, with the fol- lowing result : Conversant is accented in ten of them on the second syllable ; exemplary in all of them on the second ; obligatory in eight on the second ; and peremptory in seven on the second. Walker, whose dictionary appeared in 1791, accented all four words on the first sylla- ble, and the later orthoepists appear to have been content to follow his example. If Walker's accentuation was ill-advised, as the result, it seems to me, clearly proves, then we shall do well to allow usage, seconded as we see by am- ple authority, to be the umpire, and say, con- ver'sant, ex-em'pla-ry (egz-), ob-lig'a-to-ry, and per-emp'tp-ry. acacia — a-ka'slie-a. * • ^c'cu-rate, not ^k'er-6t. Vowels in syllables standing next to accent- ed syllables are generally obscure ; there are. See Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 203 li- re. however, a considerable number of vowels so situated, and that Worcester marks obscure, which properly receive their long sound some- what shortened. Of these, u is the one most frequently met with. Giving these vowels their full long sound has the same effect that it has to make the pronouns, articles, prepositions, and conjunctions too prominent : it makes the speak- er appear pedantic and self-conscious. He speaks best whose manner of speaking is least noticed. A few of the words in which this peculiar vowel appears are accurate, adwlation, deputize, emolu- ment, occi«pation, occwpy, particular, perpen- dicular, and s?^perior. U thus situated is some- times obscure ; in disputant and disputable, for example. See opinion, also licentiate, acoustics. * All our dictionaries pronounce the ou of this word oio, while nearly the whole English-speak- ing world, as far as my observation goes, pro- nounce it 00, Many persons boldly pronounce it 00, knowing that the authorities are against them. Squalor is another word treated in like manner. I am of opinion that this manual has heretofore been in error in condemning, in com- mon with the dictionaries, the wellnigh univer- sal mode of pronouncing this word. If usage and not the orthoepists make the law, then it is the duty of " The Orthoepist " to sanction and not to condemn a-koos'tiks. A-kows'tiks, one of " The Orthoepist's " critics very justly says, " is a most unlovable pronunciation." V^- I- . . .. - ■ .. I — . ■■ — I, II —- w i i ii"^ See Key to Pronunciation^ p. XXIII, 204 Arkansas— ar'kan-saw. This is now, by act of the State Legislature, the legal pronunciation. Usage was long di- vided between this and ar-kan'sas. . a-cu'men, not ^k'u-men. adobe (Sp.) — a-do'M. Ajaccio — ^a-yat'cho. ar-bu'tus. • In the last edition of Webster's dictionary the accentuation of this word, to make it ac- cord with the Latin, is changed from that rec- ommended here to ar'bu-tus. Usage and au- thority, however, not only in English but also in German, decidedly favor placing the accent on th^ penult, which is certainly the more eu- phonious accentuation to the English ear, and the one that undoubtedly will prevail. Ar-ehi-me'deg. as-ph^t', not ais-phalt'. au't6p-sy. Beaconsfield — bfekWz-feld. Beli-al. bicycle — bi'ce-kel. B5s'ton, not baws'ton. carrousel (Fr.) — ^k^r'rob'zSl'. car-niv'o-ra, not kar-ni-vo'ra. Bee Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII, 205 cfl'se-ine. ca-§*i'n6 (It.) — a little house, ca3ualty — ^k^h'u-al-te. See accurate. cAt-a-ma-rto'. Incorrectly marked in the old editions of Worcester. ca-tS.m'a-ran. Cau-ca'sian, or kau-ka'zhi-to. caVe-^t, not kdv'. ce-r^mic, se-. ch&r'y. chiaro oscura (It.) — ^ke-a'ro 58-ku'r6. cli-m^tic. The vowel i is often long in the initial sylla- bles i, hi, chiy cU, pri, tri, though not under the accent, as in ideal, biography, chirology, cli- matic, primeval, tribunal, etc. c5m-mto-daiit' or -man'-. The pronunciation of this word is a compro- mise between the French and the English. c5m'mon-al-ty. coquetry — ^ko'-kfetre. dyn'am-ite, or di'n^m-ite, elongate — e-l5ng'gat. N", ending an accented syllable before g, Je, See Key to Fronunciatioi), p. XXIII. 206 hard c or cA, or qu, often has the sound of ng ; as in anger, ankle, rancor, anchor, banquet, etc. epizootic — 6p-i-zo-5t'ic. fa-Mt'ic, not fto'a-tic. floor — ^flor, not flo'a. Careless speakers often fail to articulate the letter r when it follows a vowel in the same syl- lable. f rttm, when emphatic ; otherwise, from. Geikie — ge'ke, gla-di'o-ltis, not gla-di-olus. Goethe — Ge-ta (nearly). hfir'ald — Tier as in heretic and aid as in Donald, not htir'rtlld. He-r6d'o-tus. Her-mi'o-ne. hSt-er-5ph'e-my. hyigi-6n'ic. hy-per'ba-ton. Jacques (Fr.) — zh^k. Jaques, in " As You Like It," is pronounced Ja'quSz, Lin-nae'us, Lin-nae'an. majolica — ^ma-j5ri-k^. Ma-lay\ See Key to Pronuoctatlon, p. XXIII. 207 m^-ni'^-cal, not ma'ni-g,-caL m&t-u-ti'nal. metonymy — ^me-tttn'e-me. Michaelmas — ^mik'el-mas. mi-cr5s'co-py, not mi-crQ-scttp'y. New-foundland. This accentuation is believed to accord with the best usage. 6r'€liid, dr'ehis. o-vlp'g;-rotis, not o-vi-pa'rotis. parquet (Fr.) — ^par'ka'. pas'tor, not p^'. quSr'u-lotis, not quer'u-. Both Webster (u) and Worcester (u) mark the u of this word, together with the t^ in a few other words, incorrectly. It is properly long, somewhat shortened. Forming a syllable by it- self, it is not affected by thu r. See accurate, re-cusant — rek'-u-ztot. Sar-d^n-a-palus. se-r^ph'ic. sW'ille* tg.-rtot'u-la. teJgg'ra-plier, not t^re-gr^pli-er. 14 tk^e Key to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. 208 tricliinarr-tri-ki'na ; j9?., trichinae. Yo-sfim'i-te. Bee S«y to Pronunciation, p. XXIII. THE BNU,