A 919,699
"

ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
E-PLURIBUS-UNUM
LUZBOR
SI-QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
8205
167
1
1
1
SOAMES'S PHONETIC METHOD
FOR LEARNING TO READ
THE TEACHER'S MANUAL
EDITED BY
WILHELM VIETOR, PH.D., M.A
Professor in the University of Marburg
PART I
The Sounds of English

"ARDVA •QVÆ• PVLCRAC
London
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. LIMO
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1897
820.5
167+e
V. I
BUTLER & TANNER,
THE SILWOOD PRINTING WORKS,
Frome, and London.
!
SOAMES'S PHONETIC METHOD.
The Series consists of the following:-
THE TEACHER'S MANUAL, Part I. The Sounds
of English
THE TEACHER'S MANUAL, Part II. The Teacher's
s. d.
2 6
...
Method ...
THE CHILD'S KEY
...
ALBANY PHONETIC READER, No. 1
ALBANY PHONETIC READER, No. 2
...
...
...
...
...
26
... 0 6
...
...
0 4
0 4
...
0 8
08
...
.
...
...
...
09
0 9
ALBANY PHONETIC READER, No. 3, for 1st
Standard
THINGS NEW AND OLD, No. 1. By H. O. ARNOLD
FOSTER. For 1st Standard
N.B.-These can be had from Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., in London,
and from Messrs. Macmillan & Co., in New York.
iii
iv
Liquids.
SCHEME OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.
LIPS.
LIP-
TEETH.
POINT-
POINT.
TEETH.
Stops
p b
Nasal
mn
Side
Trill
Open Consonants
wh
W
Vowels
t d
1
n
Voiced.
FRONT.
Breath.
Voiced.
BACK. GLOTTAL.
Breath.
Voiced.
k g
ng
r
4x4
f
th dh
S
z [r] sh zh
x [w]
h
î (ü)
i
(ú)
(u)
ey ()
(OW)
e
ое се
ê
2
(ô)
â (0)
Sounds used only in loan words are printed in italics. Round brackets signify lip-rounding.
Breath.
Vowels.
Consonants.

Stops
p
b
d
k
A PHONETIC ALPHABET.
THE CONSONANTS.
wh
W
f
V
th as in thistle, Arthur
th
g as in get, egg
m
dh
11
Liquids ng
11
singer, sink
sh
1
zh
r
Ꭹ
h
this, father
scal, hiss
zeal, his
nglazier,measure
Composite (clit, sh—as in chest, larch, batch
\ j=d, zh
" jest, large, badge
m', n', l', are used for syllabic m, n, 1, as in sizm', ritn', botl'
(schism, written, bottle).
n-g, w-h, t-h, d-h, s-h, z-h are used for the sounds in engage,
blow-hole, out-house, blood-hound, mishap, and hogshead.
Foreign Sounds used in Loan Words.
Open
Sç-as in German Pfennig.
{
Consonants x
"}
11
Aachen.
Observe that the Liquid r is retained before a consonant, and
at the end of the word, in Loan Words, as in sortic, seigneur.
ix
b
X
A Phonetic Alphabet
Long.
THE VOWELS.
Short.
a—as in attend (attend)
â—as in bâ (baa)
1)
00 boen (burn)
11
pæti (putty)
ê
11
fêri (fairy)
æ
11
pæt (pat)
11
ey feyt (fate), prey
e
pet
11
fît (feet)
""
pit
Ô
""
Pôl (Paul)
"1
pot
OW
"1
"}
pilo' (pillow)
u
put
""
Diphthongs.
au-as in aul (owl).
oi-as in oil.
powl (pole), bowl
pûl (pool)
ai-as in ail (isle, aisle).
Besides the following six diphthongs, for which no special
symbols are required, as they can be represented by combining
two of the symbols already given above:-
yû—as in tyûn, yûl (tune, yule)
yu
regyular (regular)
êa
bêar (bear)
îa-as in bîar (bier)
ôa
bôar (boar)
??
ûa
22
bûar (boor)
Front-
round
Foreign Sounds used in Loan Words.
Short.
à-as in French étapc.
ân-as in French encore
Long and Short.
-as in French milieu
ü
11
""
a pcrgu
Nasal
æn
77
"7
pincencz
Ôn
bonbon
оег
"1
vingt un
Script Forms.
The script forms of a and c can be written without lifting
the pen, thus:
æ
се
Stress.
Stressed or accented syllables may generally be known by rules
(see ch. viii.); but when it is necessary to indicate them they are
marked thus-inténd, invést, infô'mal, impô'tant.
The Vocal Organs
xi

a
d
k
M
f
THE VOCAL ORGANS.
[From Prof. Victor's German Pronunciation, p. viii.]
a Nose. b Hard Palate. c Soft Palate. d Mouth.
Bone. h Epiglottis. i Glottis. k Vocal Chord.
n n Cricoid Cartilage. o Windpipo. p Gullet.
e Tongue. ƒ Pharynx. g Hroid
Thyroid Cartilage. m Larynx,
CONTENTS
Scheme of English Sounds
Alphabet with Notes
Diagram-The Vocal Organs
Table of Contents
·
Author's Preface
•
Editor's Preface
PAGE
•
vii
ix
xi
. xiii
•
xvii
xxiii
CHAPTER I.
How to Study Phonetics. Difficulty of trusting our ears. Sounds
must be distinguished from symbols. Some common miscon-
ceptions. Illusions as to the sound of r
The Alphabet. New Alphabet necessary. Alphabet used here.
Names of the sounds
The Vocal Organs. The Lungs. The Larynx. The Glottis. The
Superglottal Passages. How to use the Vocal Organs
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMBOLS.
•
The Short Stressed Vowels-ce, æ, e, i, o, u
Three Short Weak Vowels-a, o', unstressed i
Questions.
1
3
5
сл
789
CHAPTER II.
Consonants and Vowels Defined
Consonants. The Stops-p, b, t, d, k, g. Stops and Open Consonants.
Lip, Point, and Back Consonants. Breath and Voiced Conso-
nants
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMBOLS.
The Five Principal Vowels, â, ey, î, ow,
û
The Stops, p, b, t, d, k, g
Four Open Consonants, th, dh, s, z.
Three Weak Words, a, or an, the, to
Final r
Questions .
•
•
10
11
13
13
14
11
14
15
xiii
xiv
Contents
CHAPTER III.
PAGE
Consonants continued. The Liquids. The Nasal Consonants, m, n,
ng. The Side Consonant 1. The Trilled Consonant r. French
and German r. The Liquids. Syllabic Consonants, m', n', l' . 16
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMbols.
Three Long Vowels, oe, ê, ô
The sound a following the vowels ê, î, ô, û
The Liquids, m, n, ng, 1, r
The Syllabic Consonants, m', n',
Questions.
22222
19
•
20
•
21
21
21
CHAPTER IV.
Consonants concluded.
Open and Composite Consonants. Lip-Open
Consonants, wh, w. Point-Teeth Open Consonants, f, v. Point-
Teeth Open Consonants, th, dh. Point-Open Consonants, s, z,
sh, zh. Front Open Consonant, y. Glottal Open Consonant, h. 22
Two German Open Consonants, ç, x.
Composite Consonants, ch, j
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMBOLS Concluded.
Remaining Open Consonants, wh, w, f, v, sh, zh, y, h
Composite Consonants, ch, j .
The Diphthongs ai, au, oi, yû, yu
The sound a following the diphthongs ai, au, yû
Questions
•
•
24
24
25
25
•
25
•
26
26
CHAPTER V.
The Long Vowels. The Five Principal Vowels, â, cy, î, ow, û. The
Long Vowels, ê, ô, oe
The Foreign Vowels, ö, ü. The French Nasal Vowels, ân, æn,
ông oen
NOTES ON INFLECTIONS.
Words ending in r.
The endings t, d, id; 8, z, iz
Adjectives distinguished from Verbs
Verbs ending in mp and ngk.
Change of th to dh
•
Substantives with plural ending iz
Adjectives ending in ng.
Vowel changes
Questions :
4
28
33
34
34
36
•
36
36
37
37
•
•
1 37
38
Contents
XV
CHAPTER VI.
The Short Stressed Vowels. They differ from the Long Vowels. The
Short Front Vowels, æ, e, i. The Short Back-round Vowels, o, u.
The Short Vowel œ. Relations of Long and Short Vowels.
Narrow and Wide Vowels. Short à of French and German
Short Unstressed Vowels. Introductory. The Symbols e', i', u'. The
Short Murmur Vowel a. Short o'. Unstressed i and i'.
stressed e and e'. Unstressed u and u'.
Cockney Dialect
NOTES ON FAULTS OF PRONUNCIATION.
Indistinct Consonants
ᏢᎪᏩᎬ
39
Un-
41
Common Mistakes. (1) Mistakes in Consonants. (2) Mistakes in
Vowels
Questions.
•
•
45
45
45
47
CHAPTER VII.
Diphthongs and Triphthongs. The Diphthongs ai, au, oi, yû, yu. The
Murmur Diphthongs êa, îa, ôa, ûa, and Murmur Triphthongs,
aia, aua, yûa. The Murmur Diphthongs in detail
Weak Words. Introductory. The Sentence is the true unit of
speech. Classified examples of Weak Words. How Weak
Words are written in this method
NOTES ON FAULTS OF PRONUNCIATION CONTINUED.
(3) Mistakes in Joinings
(4) Pedantic Mistakes
•
(5) Miscellaneous Mistakes
Questions .
CHAPTER
VIII.
•
49
53
•
55
•
송영영
​56
59
GO
Quantity. Long Vowels. Half-long Vowels. Short Vowels
Stress. Stress in Single Words. Stress Rules.
·
Words. Level Stress. Shifting Stress.
Stress in Compound
Contrasted Words.
Sentence Stress or Emphasis. Logical Stress. Rhythmical
Stress
Intonation. Key
D
Doubled Sounds. Consonants Combined. Weak Vowels Combined.
Syllable Division. Breath Groups. Intensity of Sound. Inten-
sity due to particular Sounds. Intensity due to Effort of
Speaker. Syllable Division. Syllables without Vowels.
Word Division
NOTE ON LOAN WORDS USED IN ENGLISH.
61
62
66
66
Questions,
. 70
xvi
Contents
APPENDIX.
TEXTS.
PAGE
1. The Sentence
2. In Praise of Leisure
•
Prof. A. H. Sayce
George Eliot
73
74
3.
On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture
W. Cowper
75
4.
Life
A. L. Barbauld
77
5.
Brother Benedict.
•
J. H. Ewing
78
6. The Same Text, showing Variable Words in my own
Pronunciation.
79
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
THIS book is primarily intended for those who are
teaching young children to read, either at home or in
Infant Schools or Kindergartens. Many intelligent
teachers are now trying to teach this art on what is
called a phonic method, that is they attempt to teach
the sounds of English by means of the current spell-
ing, beginning with those words in which the current
spelling is phonetic, and gradually proceeding to those
in which it is more or less irregular. But this attempt
soon reveals the chaotic condition of our spelling, and it
becomes evident that the task of teaching the sounds
of English without some definite symbol for each sound
—that is, without a new phonetic alphabet-is as hope-
less as it would be to teach arithmetic by means of the
old Roman numbers.
A genuine phonetic method, such as is here offered to
the public, will certainly make it easy to learn to read
in half the time now devoted to that study. (1) Learn-
ing to read will be made easy and pleasant. (2) A good
pronunciation will be acquired—unless, indeed, the teacher
pronounces badly, and (3) a good foundation will be laid
for learning the pronunciation of foreign languages. More-
over, the transition to reading and writing in the
xvii
xviii
Author's Preface
ordinary spelling presents no difficulty. On the con-
trary, beginning to read ordinary books, the children
will at once guess almost every word, and they will also
learn to spell better than other children. They will be
quick to notice silent letters, and will see at a glance
which words are spelt regularly and which are not, and
what is the nature of the irregularity.
Teachers of singing, who know that the shortest way
for learning to sing at sight from the ordinary notation
is to begin with a notation in which the facts are pre-
sented clearly and simply to the children's minds-I
mean the Tonic Sol-fa notation-will not find it difficult
to believe in the use of a corresponding method for
learning to read. The cases are precisely parallel.
•
Testimonies as to the success of a phonetic method,
and the facility of the transition, are quoted in the
Prospectus of this method, reprinted at the end of the
Child's Key.
This Teacher's Manual has been arranged in two
parts, each complete in itself, so that students of Eng-
lish pronunciation who are not teachers of young child-
ren can use the first part only-The Sounds of English
-whilst pupil teachers and other teachers who may be
unable to find time for the study of the first part, will
find in the second-The Teacher's Method-brief ex-
planations of how each sound is formed, and will,
through the practice gained in teaching, become prac-
tically familiar with the sounds of English and their
symbols.
In some respects it may be hoped that this work will
be found to be an advance upon my Introduction to
Author's Preface
xix
Phonetics, which was so kindly and well received by
phoneticians at home and abroad when it appeared in
1891. For their criticisms, especially those of Prof.
Storm, of Christiania, have been very instructive; and
much has also been learnt by me since then from the
study of phonetic literature and from careful observa-
tion of the pronunciation of English. The phonetic
English alphabet also has been simplified and improved.
The classes of people to whom the Sounds of English
may prove especially useful, in helping them to acquire
a sound knowledge of English pronunciation, are these:
(1) As already mentioned, those who teach little chil-
dren to read English. (2) All teachers of English.
Without some study of phonetics, it is impossible to
criticise and cure faults of pronunciation, though the
teacher may be vaguely conscious of them and say
that his pupils have an indistinct, or a broad, or a pro-
vincial, or a Cockney pronunciation. Only the student
of phonetics will be able to perceive clearly what is
wrong in each case, and be able to find a remedy.
(3) All teachers of foreign languages. These ought
doubtless to go beyond my Sounds of English, and to
study the sounds of French and German, either in my
Introduction to Phonetics, or in the writings of M. Paul
Passy and Prof. Vietor.¹ But the root of the whole
The simplest and most necessary manuals are German Pro-
nunciation, Prof. Vietor (O. R. Reisland, Leipzig), 2nd ed., 1m.50;
Sons du Français, Paul Passy, Docteur ès Lettres (Firmin-Didot,
Paris), 4th ed., 1fr.50. Specimens of various other languages,
besides English, French, and German, in an International Phonetic
Alphabet, will be found in M. Passy's monthly periodical Le
Maître Phonétique (Fonetik, Neuilly-St.-James), sent gratis to
XX
Author's Preface
matter, both for teacher and pupils, is a knowledge of
the sounds of English and of how they are formed. We
must proceed from the known to the unknown. The
late Mr. W. H. Widgery wrote:-"In striving to im-
prove the pronunciation of a large class in German, I
found I could get the sounds produced rightly at times
by persistent insistence; but the moment the attention
was taken off, the English habit reasserted itself, and I
began to feel that if the teaching of pronunciation was
to be something less than a Sisyphus piece of labour,
it was imperative to begin on English. The English
sounds at least were certain, and by practising on them
some idea of the formation of sounds in general might
be arrived at. We can only hope to obviate English
habits by a thorough drill of the organs of speech."
The book may also prove serviceable (4) to students
of any foreign language whatever, as a key to the pro-
nunciation of sounds in general. (5) Also to English
people who are conscious of any defects in their pro-
nunciation, dialectal or otherwise. And (6), and finally,
I cannot but hope that some of my numerous friends in
many foreign lands, who are engaged in teaching the
English language, and who accorded such a warm wel-
come to my first book, may find in this one also some-
thing worthy of their notice.
But my chief desire is that, through the assistance of
friends in England who feel the urgent need of a reform
in our methods of teaching English children to read,
this branch of education may be a means of stimulating
members of the Phonetic Teachers' Association, who subscribe at
least 3 fr. per annum, or pay a life subscription of at least 30 fr.
Author's Preface
xxi
the children's observing faculties, and become a pleasure
instead of a weariness to both teachers and pupils, and
that it may also assist the rising generation to acquire a
clear and beautiful pronunciation of our noble language.
And I should be still further rewarded if missionaries
and others who are spreading a knowledge of English
in the remotest parts of the globe would not only make
use of my writings to assist them in acquiring the pro-
nunciation of foreign languages, as I believe many are
doing already, but would try the experiment of using
my phonetic method for teaching English to the natives.
Like all those who are now teaching English phonetic-
ally in Germany, Scandinavia, and elsewhere, those who
venture to try this plan will soon testify with one voice
that nothing shall ever induce them to return to the old
methods again.
July, 1894.
LAURA SOAMES.
EDITOR'S PREFACE
Ir was the wish of the late author that I should edit
her Teacher's Manual, if she proved unable to finish her
work. Unhappily, this has been the case. When Miss
Soames passed away on January 24th, 1895, her book
was not ready for the printer.
The eight chapters forming the First Part, The
Sounds of English, having been written under great
difficulties, and partly consisting of mere indications
and references, required much revision and occasionally
re-writing. I have, however, been able to complete
that part of the work without materially resorting to
the author's permission "to alter or abridge anything
which in my judgment needed alteration."
แ
I have scrupulously avoided introducing my own
views into the text of the book. Wherever it seemed
worth while to record differences of opinion this has
been done in editorial notes marked as such.
The Second Part consists of The Teacher's Method.
According to Miss Soames's instruction this was not to
contain much more than the Notes on the Child's Key
already printed with the Child's Key itself in smaller
type. Miss Soames had asked Miss Annette Verrall, one
xxiii
xxiv
Editor's Preface
of her literary trustees (the others being the author's
brother, Mr. Arthur W. Soames, and Dr. Walter Leaf),
to re-arrange and supplement these Notes, but wished
me to be finally responsible for the Second Part as well.
The Appendix to the Second Part contains copious
word lists, including all those words which are under-
stood by children five years of age, and a large number
of words which are liable to be mispronounced. Miss
Soames had collected sufficient words for these lists, but
some of them needed re-arranging or had to be omitted
in a final revision. This has been undertaken by Mr.
Arthur W. Soames.
The standard of pronunciation adopted throughout is
that of the author. Important variations in some of the
words have been noted by Dr. Leaf, who is a native of,
and resident in, London, and are given in footnotes, with
his initials.
I much regret that the publication of this book has
been so long delayed, principally owing to circumstances
which have made it impossible for me to devote myself
to the work during the greater part of the preceding
year.
The Teacher's Manual may be regarded as an abridged
and revised edition of the corresponding chapters of the
author's Introduction to Phonetics, published in 1891. I
trust it will meet with the same favourable reception as
the older and larger work.
WILHELM VIETOR.
December, 1896.
THE TEACHER'S MANUAL.
PART I.
THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH.
CHAPTER I.
HOW TO STUDY PHONETICS.
A knowledge of phonetics, which is the science of speech
sounds, is like that of other branches of science, in that it can-
not be acquired by reading alone. The use of books on pho-
netics is to help the student to observe and classify facts. It
is, therefore, essential that he should learn (1) to listen, so as to
distinguish the sounds by ear; (2) to isolate and prolong the
sounds, so that he may the better hear the difference between
them, and see or feel how they are formed; (3) to see the move-
ments of the vocal organs, as far as this is possible; and (4)
when this cannot be done, to feel these movements. And the
knowledge thus gained should be tested and made definite by
written exercises.
Difficulty of trusting our Ears. This hindrance must
be realized before we can overcome it. It not only meets us in
the study of every foreign language, where the new and un-
familiar sounds are almost always difficult to distinguish, but
in that of English sounds also.
In English our chief difficulty is, that we think we already
know how we pronounce, being, in fact, misled by the ordinary
spelling. We are like beginners in drawing, who find it hard
to trust their eyes. They think, for instance, that because they
know that the sides of a square are equal in length, they must
represent them as equally long when two of them happen to be
B
2
The Sounds of English
foreshortened; and that because they know that a distant hill is
covered with green grass and trees, they must paint it bright
green, like the grass and trees in the foreground.
In the case of foreign sounds, or sounds of standard English
which the student may unfortunately not have acquired, owing
to his not speaking standard English, but Cockney, or some other
English dialect, a knowledge of the manner in which the un-
known sounds are formed will be of great assistance; but it will
still be necessary to repeat the sounds very frequently after a
competent teacher until (1) the ear distinguishes them clearly,
and (2) the student can reproduce them just after the teacher,
and (3), and lastly, the sounds can be pronounced at will, and
in any combination.
Sounds must be distinguished from Symbols. This
is so important that full notes on sounds and their symbols are
appended to the earlier chapters, to assist the learner in recog-
nising the sounds under their different disguises, and every
chapter is followed by an exercise to give practice in represent-
ing each sound by the appropriate symbol. But before proceed-
ing to enumerate the sounds of English, it will be necessary to
guard against some common misconceptions arising from
our mode of writing. The appearance of the written or printed
page suggests (1) that there is a pause between each word, and
(2) that each word has one form only, and should always be
pronounced in the same way, except in one instance, namely a
or an, which is not only pronounced but written differently be-
fore a consonant or before a vowel. It certainly makes the page
clearer to leave spaces between our words, and it saves much
trouble to write the same word always in the same way; but as
a matter of fact we make no pause between our words except at
the end of sentences, or when, a sentence being long, it is con-
venient to stop before the close. There are also, as will be
shown later on, several large classes of words which are pro-
nounced differently under different circumstances; but only one
class need be mentioned here, namely, those ending with or
re.
Illusions as to the sound of r. It is a very common
mistake to suppose that in careful speech we pronounce the
How to Study Phonetics
3
sound of r whenever the letter is written; but in every case
where a word ends with or re in our ordinary spelling, the r
is like the n of an, heard only when a vowel follows in the next
word. So is sounded in poor old man, dear Annie, never
ending, far off, and centre of gravity; but silent in poor child,
dear me, never mind, far distant and centrepiece.
Secondly, the sound heard at the end of such words as near
and poor, when not followed by a vowel, is commonly mistaken
for the sound of r, because it occurs in words spelt with r, and
is absent from similar words spelt without it. Cp. neat and
near, boot and boor. But it is, in fact, a vowel sound just like
the a in idea, Dorothea, sofa, aroma.
And thirdly, most people fancy that they pronounce » when
followed by a consonant in the same word. But it is always
dropped in such cases. For instance, we pronounce father and
farther, alms and arms, laud and lord, colonel and kernel,
exactly alike, and what we hear in moored, steered, beard, to dis-
tinguish them from mood, steed, bead, is really the vowel a, as
in sofa. In fact, r is never heard unless a vowel follows in the
same word, e.g., in red, merry, sorry, or in the next one.
THE ALPHABET.
A new Alphabet necessary. Before we can discuss and
classify the sounds of English, it is necessary that we should
have a definite symbol for each one, as the Roman alphabet is
inadequate for this purpose. Although we can afford to dis-
regard many shades of vowel sounds for which symbols are pro-
vided in Dr. Murray's New English Dictionary, we want no
less than forty-four symbols, so that the twenty-six letters of
the Roman alphabet will not suffice. We must either devise an
alphabet which is altogether new, or add in some way to the
alphabet already in use. If we decide to utilize the symbols
with which we are already familiar, which is found to be most
convenient, there remain three ways of adding to the existing
alphabet. We may (1) invent new symbols, or (2) use diacritic
marks, over or under the letters, or (3) we may employ digraphs,
that is, combinations of letters each of which represents a single
sound, such as th, sh, ng, as used in thin, ship, sing.
4
The Sounds of English
The Alphabet used here. In this alphabet, which is
placed for facility of reference on pp. ix., x., it will be seen that
no new letters are used, and very few diacritic marks, most of
the additional symbols being digraphs. This makes it neces-
sary to observe and remember that we do not, as some people
fancy, pronounce two separate sounds in the ng of sing, for
instance, but that we use two symbols for one sound merely as
a matter of convenience. The use of new letters avoids this
slight difficulty, and seems more logical; but the alphabet used
here, as compared with new letter alphabets, undoubtedly has
the three advantages of being easy to read, easy to write, and,
above all, easy to print.
Names of the Sounds. The student should read aloud
the names of the sounds of English, as arranged in the phonetic
alphabet, which are as follows:-
Consonants. Except ng, which is called ceng, as in rung,
they are called pa, ba, da, etc., as in parental, baboon, taboo,
Darius, and so on. Tha, dha, sha, zha, ya, are pronounced as
in Bertha, father, Elisha, glazier, India.
Long Vowels and Diphthongs. The names of these are iden-
tical with their sounds, except that ê may for greater facility be
called êa, as in skêas (scarce), and the last six diphthongs may
be named by naming their two component parts.
The Short Vowels are called a, œt, æt, et, it, ot, short o', ut,
as in the key-words attend, putty, pat, pet, pit, pot, pillow, put,
In naming a, as also in naming the consonants pa, ba, ta, etc.,
care must be taken to make a quite short, to distinguish it from
the long vowel oe. Compare these vowels in athoest, Boetha
(athirst, Bertha).
Foreign Sounds used in borrowed words :-
French.
à as in patte
F: 0:1
German.
French.
German.
Mann.
ân as in pan.
x as in ach.
Ӧ
""
", peu
...
schön.
æn
27 27
pin.
ich.
""
ü
19
,, pu
kühn.
Ôn
"} " pont.
Final
17 27
in foreign words is printed as an italic, to show that
it is never silent, thus: àmûr propr (amour propre).
oen
un.
How to Study Phonetics
5
20
The
The sounds of the vowels will serve as their names.
consonants x and g are called after two short German words,
the ach sound, and the ich sound.
It is important, when studying phonetics, to form the habit
of calling the sounds by the names given above. To use the
names generally given to the letters of the alphabet would
cause great confusion.
THE VOCAL ORGANS.
It is impossible to explain and classify the sounds of any
language without first describing the apparatus by which
human speech is formed. The organs of speech are the lungs,
with the bronchial tubes, the windpipe, the upper portion of
which is called the larynx, the pharynx, or passage immediately
above the windpipe and gullet, the mouth and the nose. A dia-
gram giving a general view of all the vocal organs, except the
lungs and the bronchial tubes, will be found on page xi.
The Lungs. The function of the lungs in speech is simply
to act as bellows, and to propel the air through the windpipe to
the larynx, where the voice is formed. The notion that some
voice sounds are formed in the chest, while others proceed from
the head, and so on, is very widely prevalent, but it is a delu-
sion to suppose that the voice can be formed anywhere except in
the larynx.
The Larynx or voice-box is the upper part of the wind-
pipe. It may be seen in men to form the projection in the
throat familiarly called Adam's apple. In the larynx are two
horizontal membranes called the vocal chords. These are con-
nected by membranes called ventricular bands with the walls of
the larynx, so that the air from the lungs is obliged to pass be-
tween them.
The Glottis. This is the name given to the opening be-
tween the vocal chords. When we are silent, the chords are
relaxed, leaving the glottis wide open, so as to give free passage
to the breath, but it can be completely closed. We close it and
open it again with an explosion when we cough or clear our
throats. But when we produce voice sounds in speaking or
singing, the voice chords are brought together, and so stretched
6
The Sounds of English
that the air can pass between them in a series of puffs, causing
the chords to vibrate.
The Superglottal Passages, through which the breath
passes when it has left the larynx, form a resonance chamber,
modifying the quality of the voice. Sounds can be formed by
the breath in these passages, without any vibration of the vocal
chords, as, for instance, s and sh, used in hissing and hushing,
but not the sound we call voice.
The breath passes first into the pharynx, which is separated
from the larynx by a movable lip called the epiglottis. This lid
is closed in the act of swallowing, to prevent the food from pass-
ing into the windpipe and choking us. And from the pharynx
it passes out through the mouth or the nose.
The passage through the nose can be opened or closed by the
movements of the soft palate. For although the front half of
the palate is hard, the back part, to which is attached the little
tongue called the uvula, is soft and movable. By lowering the
soft palate we allow the air to pass behind it and escape by the
nose, as it commonly does when we are at rest; but in speaking
and singing the soft palate is raised, and the nose passage shut,
so that the breath all passes through the mouth, except when
we pronounce those vowels and consonants which are called
nasal.
It is by the movements of the lips, tongue and soft palate,
that the various vowels and consonants are formed, as we shall
see when considering them in detail.
How to use the Vocal Organs. Two points have to be
considered here: (1) the production of the voice, and (2) arti-
culation, or a distinct utterance of the various speech sounds.
Defects in the voice are seldom found to arise from any fault or
weakness in the vocal chords. They are almost invariably due
to a faulty method of breathing. The lungs ought not to be
expanded by raising the collar bones and the chest, but by
lowering the diaphragm and expanding the ribs, and the
clothing should be loose enough to allow the ribs and abdomen
to expand freely.
Two other faults should also be avoided. In speaking or
reading aloud the head should be held erect, so as to give free
How to Study Phonetics
7
4:
play to the larynx. Stooping over a book interferes seriously
with the production of the voice. The other point to be con-
sidered in voice production is choosing a suitable pitch for the
voice. The commonest mistake in this respect is pitching the
voice too high. It is an advantage to be able to choose a higher
or lower key at will, as by varying the key the speaker can
sometimes avoid over-fatigue.
Articulation will be greatly improved by the study of
phonetics, as this will draw attention to the way in which
each sound is produced and the necessary movements of the
various organs of speech, and also train the ear to observe faults
of pronunciation. Laziness in moving the lips is a defect cha-
racteristic of English people, and one which students must
carefully avoid.
Useful exercises for breathing, and others for training the
lips and tongue will be found in Brown and Behnke's Voice,
Song, and Specch. (Messrs. S. Low, Marston & Co.)
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMBOLS.
The Short Stressed Vowels. The names of the eight
short vowels should be learnt by heart, the easiest way being
to learn, first, the key words, sofa, putty, etc., and then the
names. Only six of these vowels occur in stressed syllables,
namely, œ, æ, e, i, o, u, as in putty, pat, pet, pit, pot, put.
It is quite unnecessary to commit to memory the various
symbols used in ordinary spelling for each of the sounds of
English, but it will be useful to inspect the symbols enumerated
below, so as to learn to recognise each sound in spite of its
different disguises.
Amongst the symbols used for the short stressed vowels are
the following:-
For :-u, 0, ou, oo, o-c, oc-bud, mother, touch, blood,
come, does.
For æ-a, a-c, ai, c-man, have, bade, plait, thresh.
For e:-e, ca, ci, ic, co, c-c, a, ai, ay, a-c, u—bed, head, heifer,
friend, leopard, diocese, any, many, said, says, ate, bury.
For i:-i, y, e, o, u, ie, ee, ui, oa-bid, hymn, pretty, England,
women, busy, sieve, breeches, build, groats.
8
The Sounds of English
For 0-0, a, au, o-c, ow, ou-hot, watch, fault,¹ shone, know-
ledge, hough.2
For u-u, oo, ou, o, or-pull, wool, would, wolf, worsted.
Three Short Weak Vowels. There are among the
short vowels only two weak, or unstressed, ones to which
special symbols and names are allotted. These are a, as in
sowfa (sofa), and o', as in pilo' (pillow). A third short weak
vowel, namely i, as in pœti ( putty), should also be noticed, as it
is very common indeed. The weak vowels a and i occur much
more frequently than any others.
The vowels a and o' must be carefully distinguished from the
stressed vowels, which they most closely resemble in sound; that
is, a must be distinguished from ce, and o' from ow. In the
prefix un- the vowel is œ, this prefix being always slightly
stressed.3
a compared with œ, and o with ow:
abov
ajæst
botar
kælar
œnjost
powlo'
anoedhar
cndon
pro'mowt
abondans
sowlo'
pro'vowk
In ordinary spelling:-
above
adjust
butter
colour
another
abundance
unjust
polo
undone
promote
solo
provoke
Some of the symbols for these three weak vowels are as
follows:
For a -a, e, o, u, ou, ar, cr, re, or, ur, our, yr, oar—amid,
litany, villa, mystery, waggon, cherub, pompous, mustard,
cntertain, centred, comfort, Saturday, honours, martyrs, cup-
board.
For o':-0, ow-omit, hero, follow.
1 fôlt.-W.L.
2 hoef.-W.L.
3 In such words as œneybl' (unable), œnîzi (uneasy), the stress is, indeed,
so slight that the prefix might practically be considered unstressed.
Yet aneybl', anîzi, would rather suggest an able (man), an easy (way).
Compare: anent, anoint, etc.-Ed.
How to Study Phonetics
9
For unstressed i :—i, y, e, ie, cy, ai, a, ia―plentiful, plenty,
remain, acme, college, Bessie, money, captain, courage, carriage.
Many other symbols might be added for a and for unstressed
i.
Additional examples of the Short Vowels :-
livery
property
ransom
history
inward
fulsome
спету
shadowy
remedy molest
injury
myriad
chariot
pretended prohibited
literary
hundred
meadow
Elizabeth industrial
impctus entered
regret
indigo
temporarily
hazardous abandon
begun
heroine
involuntarily
Written phonetically:-
livari
propati
rænsam
enimi
shædo'i
histari
inwad
fulsam
remidi
mo'lest
injari
miriad
chæriat
priténdid
pro'hibitid
litarari
hændrad
medo'
Ilízabath
industrial
impitas
entad
rigrét
indigo'
tempararili
hæzadas
abændan
bigon
hero'in
invólantarili
QUESTIONS.
1. Describe briefly the vocal organs.
2. Write down the phonetic symbols for the short vowels
with key-words in ordinary spelling.
3. In what cases is heard in English, and what sound are we
liable to mistake for it? Give illustrations.
4. Write the following words phonetically, marking the stress
when it does not fall upon the first syllable. The conso-
nants require no alteration, except that in some cases »
must be omitted.
wood
flourish
unfit
liberty
womanhood
fun
flooded
breakfast
vigorous
egoist
plaid
abash
sheltered
onerous
repented
London
method
wondering element
testimony
salad
elbow
wandering melody
adversary
lizard
bereft
memento
jeopardy profundity
M
CHAPTER II.
CONSONANTS AND VOWELS DEFINED.
Sounds may be divided into two classes, which the ear is
accustomed to distinguish, namely musical sounds, and non-
musical sounds, or noises. Those speech sounds which are
musical are called vowels, whilst non-musical speech sounds
are called consonants.
Consonants are formed by stopping or squeezing the breath
after it has left the larynx, except in the case of the glottal
stop, used in German, and the sound of h. These are formed
by stopping or squeezing the breath in the larynx itself.
In vowels, the superglottal passages are not so much con-
tracted, and the voice can be clearly heard. When we shout
or sing, we are forced to dwell upon the vowels. They are voice
sounds modified by giving some definite shape to the
above the glottis, but without audible friction. There is, how-
ever, no sharp line of demarcation between consonants and
vowels.
as
The names "vowel" and
""
passages
consonant are not inappropriate,
At vowel " means
it vocal," or "having voice," whilst " con-
sonant" means "sounding together." We have seen that the
voice is clearly heard in vowels, and as regards consonants
the general rule is that they cannot stand alone to form a
syllable, but must accompany some vowel which is the nucleus
of the syllable.
CONSONANTS. THE STOPS.
The consonants are easier to distinguish and to classify than
the vowels, so it is convenient to begin with them.
The student should pronounce the names of the six stops,
p, b, t, d, k, g, and learn them by heart, and then pronounce
10
Consonants and Vowels Defined
11
the sounds alone without the vowel a, and this should be done
with each set of consonants as they are studied in succession.
Stops and Open Consonants. Proceeding then to com-
pare the stops with the open consonants, we may observe that
whereas some consonants-c.g. the open consonants s and sh-
used in hissing and hushing, can easily be prolonged, the
attempt to prolong any of these stops-c.g. in the words taper,
labour, heating, heeding, seeker, eager-results only in an inter-
val of absolute silence. The fact is that in forming all these
sounds, the breath is not merely squeezed, but completely
stopped, and then the passage is opened so as to make an ex-
plosion. For some exceptional cases, where only the act of
closing the breath passage is heard, see pp. 67, 68.
The distinction between the stops and the open consonants, in
which a small central passage through the mouth is left for the
breath, is said to be a distinction as to form.
Lip, Point and Back Consonants. The next distinc-
tion to be observed relates to the place where the breath is
stopped or squeezed, as the case may be. As regards the six
stops, it is not difficult to observe that p and b are formed by
closing the lips, and t and d by placing the point of the tongue
against the upper gums, whilst for k and g the stoppage is
further back. In k and g the closure is formed by the back of
the tongue touching the soft palate. We may, therefore, clas-
sify these six sounds as lip stops, point stops, and back stops.
These three classes of consonants are sometimes called labial,
dental, and guttural.
Breath and Voiced Consonants. The nature of the
distinction between p and b, t and d, k and g respectively is
less obvious. In p, t and k we expel the breath more forcibly
than in b, d and g; so p, t, k are sometimes called hard, and b,
d, g soft consonants. But the essential distinction is of a
different kind, and is more easily appreciated if we compare a
pair of open consonants, such as s and z, or f and v.
Take, for instance, s, and prolong it. The hissing sound of s
is evidently formed by the passage of the breath through the
mouth; whilst in a prolonged z, although there is no alteration
in the position of the lips or tongue, there is a buzzing sound
12
The Sounds of English
to be accounted for. The origin of this sound can be ascer-
tained by gently tapping the larynx whilst we pronounce a
prolonged s and a prolonged z, or by making the same experi-
ment with any such pair of open consonants, e.g. f and v. We
then find that the s sound is uninterrupted, whilst the z sound is
suddenly stopped each time the larynx is tapped, just as any
vowel sound would be stopped under the same circumstances.
The essential difference between these two classes of conso-
nants is, then, that one class is simply formed by the breath in
the superglottal passages, whilst in the other the vocal chords
vibrate so as to produce a faint sound of voice. They are
accordingly called breath and voiced consonants, and the voiced
consonants may be regarded as midway between the breath con-
sonants and the vowels.
This distinction is very important, giving us a key to several
foreign sounds, c.g. French voiceless 1 and r, German ch in ich,
and the Welsh ll, which is only a voiceless 1, and the student
should not fail to master it. It will be useful, for instance, to
try to pronounce the sound of p alone and very forcibly, and then
b in the same way. Then in p we hear only the explosion of the
breath, but in b there is a slight murmur, whilst the lips are
still closed, and a faint vowel sound-a-when they open, like
the a in balloon. Again, if f be suddenly stopped, there is
silence, but on stopping v we clearly hear a vowel sound like the
a in variety. But the most striking experiment of all is to pro-
long z or v, or any one of the voiced open consonants, whilst the
ears are stopped. The buzzing sound formed in the larynx will
then be heard very clearly indeed, as a loud noise, whilst it
is altogether absent in the corresponding breath consonants s
and f.
The classification of the stops is shown in the table of sounds
on p. vii. Their full description is as follows:
p, the breath lip stop.
b, voiced
t,
""
""
27
11
breath point stop.
d, the voiced point stop.
k, breath back
""
17
voiced 27
17
Consonants and Vowels Defined
13
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMBOLS.
When the student has learnt to recognise the sounds illus-
trated below, in addition to the short vowels, he will be able to
write many short sentences phonetically.
The Five Principal Vowels. These are â, ey, î, ow,
û, as in father, fate, feet, pole, pool. Amongst the symbols used
for them are the following:-
For â :—a, au, ah, aa, ar, ear, uar, er—father, past, aunt,
ah, salaam, farther, hard, heart, guard, clerk.
For ey :—a-e, a, ai, ay, ei, ey—fate, lady, pain, pay, vein,
obey.
For î:-ee, ea, e-e, e, ei, ie, i, i-e-feel, heat, scene, cedar,
ceiling, niece, invalid, machine.
For ow:-o-e, o, oa, ou, ow, owe, oe, oh, ew-bone, most, road,
mould, mow, owe, woe, oh, sew.
For û :—00, u, u-e, ou, ui, ue, ew, o, o-c, oe—cool, truth, rude,
group, fruit, blue, brew, do, move, shoe.
The Stops. The names of the stops should be learnt by
heart.
Note that in ordinary spelling pp, bb, tt, dd, gg are common
symbols for the single sounds p, b, t, d, g. Doubled consonants
are rarely heard. They occur, however, in lamp-post, cab-
builder, coat-tail, mid-day, book-keeping, home-made, unneces-
sary, coolly, misstatement, and some other words. Most people
think they hear them in such words as stepping, rabbit, bud-
ding, etc., but in reality the double symbol written in such
cases only suggests that the preceding vowel is short and
stressed, and the rule of using a double symbol in such cases
is not invariable. Cp. tepid, rabid, study, with stepping,
rabbit, muddy.
The following symbols are amongst those used for the
stops :-
For p:—p, pp―rapid, happy.
For b-b, bb-robin, robbing.
For t:-t, tt, ed, th, tw-matins, matting, stopped, thyme,
two.
For d :—d, dd, ed-body, nodding, robbed.
14
The Sounds of English
For k:-k, c, q, ck, ch, qu, que-king, cat, queen, back, ache,
liquor, grotesque.
For ks:-x, xh-box, exhibition.
For ksh-xi-noxious, complexion.
For g:-9, 99, gh, gue-flagon, flagging, ghost, league.
For gz:—x, xh—example, exist, exhaust, exhibit.
Four Open Consonants-th, dh, s, z. The difficulty
some persons have in distinguishing the breath consonants th
and s from the corresponding voiced consonants dh and z arises.
simply from the fact that we are not in the habit of using
symbols appropriate to each. They are really as distinct from
each other as ƒ and v. When English people are speaking,
they never make the mistake of interchanging th and dh. For
instance, no one would fail to distinguish the sounds in such
words as thai and dhai, îthar and îdhar, shîth and shîdh (thigh,
thy, ether, either, sheath, sheathe). In like manner we so often
use the symbol s for the sound z that the eye does not help us to
recognise that his rhymes with fizz, and does with buzz (hiz,
fiz, doz, boz), or that in cats and dogs, cocks and hens, the end-
ing is not really the same (kæts, dogz, koks, henz). If the
student hesitates about either of these four sounds, he should
prolong the doubtful consonant, when he will easily hear
whether it is voiced or not.
Among the symbols used for th, dh, s, z are the following:
For th:-th, t, h, tth-thin, Southampton, eighth, Matthew.
For dh:-th, the-this, soothe.
For s: s, ss, se, c, ce, sc, scc, z-seal, hiss, pulse, cell, dance,
scene, coalesce, chintz.
For z:-z, zz, ze, s, ss, se, sc, x-zeal, buzz, bronze, his,
possess, cleanse, discern, Xerxes.
Three Weak Words — A or an, the, to. These words
are so rarely stressed and pronounced ey, æn, dhî, tû, that they
should be written in their weak forms a, an, dhi, or dha, tu (dhi,
like an, to be used only before a vowel), thus:—a hen, an eg,
dha hen, dhi eg, tu âsk. But when to happens to be stressed, it
should be written tû, as in tû ænd frow (to and fro).
Final r. We have seen (p. 3) that in words commonly
spelt with final r or re, the r is not heard unless a vowel follows
Consonants and Vowels Defined
15
in the next word. But it is convenient to have a fixed form for
such words, so for jar, star, baker, tailor, collar, colour, centre,
we always write jâr, stâr, beykar, teylar, kolar, kælar, sentar,
and so on.
But when a consonant is added as an inflection, as
in stars, baker's bread, coloured, we write stâz, beykaz bred,
kolad, and so on, omitting the r.
QUESTIONS.
1. Distinguish between consonants and vowels.
2. How can you distinguish experimentally (a) between a stop
and an open consonant, and (b) between a breath and a
voiced consonant?
3. Enumerate the six stops, and state where each is formed.
4. Write phonetically, marking the stress when not on the first
syllable:
Ill weeds grow apace. Extremes meet. Great is the
truth, and it shall prevail. None of these things moved
him. Alms are the salt of riches. A prophet has no
honour in his own country. A rolling stone gathers no
moss. Men should be what they seem. Every one can
master a grief but he that has it. The better part of
valour is discretion. Let the shoemaker stick to his last.
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep.
Dor M
CHAPTER III.
CONSONANTS CONTINUED-THE LIQUIDS.
The Nasal Consonants. These are m, n, and ng (ng as
in sing, sink, singer). Note that ng is a single sound, quite
different from n and g, heard in en-greyv, cen-gâdid (engrave,
unguarded), and learn to pronounce it as an initial sound, saying
first singa (singer) and then nga. It is never heard in English
as an initial sound, but in some languages it occurs in this posi-
tion, e.g., at the beginning of names of places in New Zealand
and Central Africa.
for p and
It is obvious that for m we close the lips, as we do
b, and that for n the point of closure is the same as for t and
d, the point of the tongue touching the upper gums. For ng the
closure is at the same place as for k and g, being formed by the
back of the tongue touching the soft palate. But whereas it is
impossible to prolong any of the stops, and if we try to do so,
e.g. p and b in tepid, robin, a silence ensues, we find it easy to
prolong m, n, and ng in promis, hœni, singar (promise, honey,
singer), for this reason, that the breath finds a passage through
the nose. This is effected by lowering the soft palate and
allowing the breath to pass behind it. When a cold in the
head stops up the nose, it is difficult to pronounce m, n,
and ng,
and impossible to prolong them. No other English sound ought
to be pronounced through the nose, but in American and Cock-
ney English the vowels are nasal, the passage behind the soft
palate not being completely closed.
The nasal consonants are always voiced in English. When
we hum a tune, we sing it on the sound m, which would be
impossible if m were voiceless.
The Side Consonant 1 is generally formed by closing
the breath passage in the centre with the point of the tongue
16
Consonants continued-The Liquids
17
against the upper gums, and letting the breath escape at the
two sides, so that the stream of breath is divided, and it is often
called a divided consonant. But some persons, myself among
the number, let the breath escape on one side only, so it seems
better to call it a lateral or side consonant.
The English 1 is voiced, but voiceless 1 occurs in French and
in Welsh, and the student who has mastered the distinction
between voiced and voiceless consonants will have the satis-
faction of being able to pronounce the terrible Welsh 77 without
any difficulty, since it is only a voiceless 1.
The Trilled Consonant r. It may be well to repeat
here that (1) the sound of r is never heard in standard English
except before a vowel, following either in the same word or in
the next one. There is, indeed, an old traditional rule, accord-
ing to which such rhymes as morn and daun, harm, and calm,
are condemned as Cockney rhymes, but in standard English
these rhymes are really perfect, the of morn and harm being
quite silent. And (2) there is a sound often heard where is
written, namely the sound which distinguishes beard, peers,
stecred, moored, from bead, peas, steed, mood, which is not the
sound of r, nor indeed a consonant sound at all, but the vowel
a of sowfa (sofa). See above, p. 3.
The r of southern English is, it must be allowed, only the
remnant of a trill, and it will be seen in my scheme of English
sounds on p. vii. that I have placed an r in square brackets among
the open consonants, to show that it is not always pronounced
as a trill.
Prolonged trills are produced by the elastic parts of the
mouth, which, by vibrating, alternately close and open the
breath passage. They may be made by the point of the tongue
or by the uvula, or by blowing upon the lips, as babies some-
times do. But they are often reduced to a single flapping move-
ment of the tongue or of the uvula, which may conveniently be
called a trill. In French and German some speakers use the
point r, and others uvular r, but in England uvular r is quite
exceptional. It may be heard in the north of England, and it
is called the Northumberland burr.
In standard English it is rare to hear r as a prolonged trill.
C
18
The Sounds of English
The prolonged trill is, however, used sometimes to express
strong emphasis. I have heard it very well marked in skrîmd
(screamed) spoken in conversation by my youngest sister. It is
also usual for teachers, when trying to correct a defective r, to
make their pupils attempt a long trill; and no doubt if young
children are once taught to make a long trill, they will pro-
nounce r all the better in consequence, both in English, and also
when they come to learn French or German or Italian. When
childhood is past, it is difficult, if not impossible, to learn to
make a trill.
In English, then, r is generally made by a single flapping
movement with the point of the tongue, either closing the
breath passage completely, as in skrîm, meri, sori (scream,
merry, sorry), or very nearly, as in red, Mêri (Mary). It
seems that the complete closure seldom, if ever, takes place
except after a consonant or a short stressed vowel.
English r is voiced, but voiceless r occurs in French and in
Welsh.
French and German r. As observed above, some French
and German speakers use point r, and others uvular r. Uvular
r is used by Parisians, and it is spreading in Germany. But
this uvular r is so difficult to English people that they will do
best to aim at point r, which is admissible in both languages.
They should, if possible, learn to make a long trill with the
point of the tongue, as the best preparation for sounding r with
a complete closure, and in any position, and then they should
proceed to practise r final, and r before a consonant, both of
which are difficult to the English.
In such words as French pire and pour (pîr, pûr), they must
be especially careful not to pronounce a either as a substitute
for r or before it, as we do in English peer, poor (pîa, pûa, or
before a vowel, pîar, pûar). Compare also with English mere,
dear, tour, Germ. mir, dir, nur, and Fr. tour (mîr, dîr, nûr,
tûr).1
1 As a matter of fact, such words as mir, dir, nur, are very commonly
pronounced mîa, dîa, nûa, by the Germans themselves, the a, as in
English, also appearing before r, in the middle of a word, e.g. falîara
Consonants continued-The Liquids
19
The Liquids. The nasals m, n, and ng, with 1 and r, are
commonly called liquids, and it is convenient to retain this name
and to regard them as one group, intermediate between the stops
on the one hand, and the open consonants on the other, for they
have two characteristics in common. (1) They partially ob-
struct the breath passage, not closing it entirely, like the stops,
nor leaving a free channel for it through the centre of the
mouth, like the open consonants. And (2) they combine very
readily with other consonants.
Syllabic Consonants. The liquids m, n, and 1 are often
so prolonged as to form a distinct syllable, as in sizm', owpn',
botl' (schism, open, bottle), and they may then be called vocal
or syllabic. M, n, and 1 are always syllabic when they occur at
the end of a word, preceded by a consonant, as in the examples
given above, or between two consonants, as in owpn'd, botl'd.
They are seldom syllabic in any other case, but in a few in-
stances syllabic n is followed by a vowel, as in strengthn'ing,
prizn'ar (strengthening, prisoner).
These are the only syllabic consonants heard in careful speech,
but careless speakers sometimes make s serve for a syllable, as
in s'lisitar, s'powz (solicitor, supposc), where the first syllable
ought to be pronounced sa.
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMBOLS.
Three Long Vowels-oe, ê, ô. Besides the five principal
vowels, there remain the three long vowels, oe, ê, ô, to be illus-
trated. The long vowels oe, as in curve, burn, and ê, as in
fairy, Mary, are heard only in words spelt with ", except in the
word colonel, pronounced koenl', just like kernel, where the olo
stands for oe. For ô, the most frequent symbol is or, as in
lord, fort. Lord and laud sound exactly the same. Some of the
symbols for these vowels are as follows :—
Symbols for oe :—ur, cr, ir, or, our, car, yr, urr, crr, urrc,
erre, irre, eur, olo-turn, herd, firm, work, journcy, earth,
myrtle, purrs, errs, purred, erred, stirred, amateurs, colonel.
(verliere). In careful speaking, however, final r is still lightly trilled,
and medial—îr—etc., kept pure, as indicated in the text.-Ed.
20
The Sounds of English
Symbols for ê:-a, ai, ea, e-e-Mary, fairy, wearing,
wherein.
Symbols for ô:—a, o, aw, au, ou, oɑ, oo, awe, or, ore, var,
our, ar, arre, oor, aor, eor-fall, broth,¹ hawk, pause, trough,2
broad, flooring, awe, port, stored,3 board, court, warm, warred,
floors, extraordinary, George.
5
4
The Sound a following the Vowels ê, î, ô, û.—This
sound cannot be said to have any symbol appropriated to it in
ordinary spelling, but it occurs either between these vowels and
the consonant r, or remains where the r is no longer sounded,
as in the following examples :-
→ sounded.
"' sounded.
→ dropped.
stare
stares
staring
steer
steers
steering
store
stores
storing
moor
moon's
mooring
Written phonetically:-
stêar
stêaz
stêring
stiar
stîaz
stîaring
stôar
stôz 6
stôring 7
mûar
mûaz
mûaring
The following words are very rarely stressed, and in conse-
quence the sound a is hardly ever heard in them:
Ολ
пор
To be written phonetically:-
ôr
for
your
nôr
for
yôr
oar
Nore
four
yorc
Which should be written :—
ôar
Nôar
foar
yôar
In contradistinction to:-
Symbols for the Liquids. It may suffice to mention
that for each of the liquids, except ng, doubled symbols are very
common, as in hammer, dinner, well, merry, whilst before the
sounds k and g, the symbol for ng is n.
1 Broth; 2 trof; 3 stôad; 4 bôad; 5 flôaz; 6 stôaz; 7 stôaring.-W.L.
Consonants continued-The Liquids
21
Thus we have n standing for ng in:-
finger
hungry
donkey
ankle
anchor
anger
think
monkey
conquer
anxious
angry
thank
uncle
banquet
lynx
Phonetically:-
finggar honggri
dongki
ængkl'
ængkar
ænggar thingk
mongki
kongkar ængkshas
ænggri
thangk
cengkl'
bængkwet lingks
For m':-
ทน
Symbols for the Syllabic Consonants.
-baptism, criticism, rhythm, chasm.
For n'-en, on, in, ain, enn-seven, open, lengthening,
button, person, reasoning, cousin, Britain, halfpenny.
For l'-le, el, al, ul, ael, ual-apple, vessel, musical, diffi-
cult, Michael, victuals.
QUESTIONS.
1. Enumerate the liquids, and explain how they are formed.
Which way do you form 1?
2. Under what circumstances is the n of ordinary spelling often
pronounced as ng? Give examples.
3. Write phonetically, marking the stress, when not on the first
syllable :-
Look before you leap. Thorny paths lead to glory.
Though the day be ever so long, at length it ringeth to
evensong. The smallest worm will turn being trodden
on. Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. Nought shall
make us rue, If England to itself do rest but true. More
haste, worse speed. The pot calls the kettle black. Chil-
dren, obey your parents. The fear of man bringeth a
Snare. Ill-doers are ill-deemers. Many a little makes
a mickle. Monkeys copy their masters. A scalded dog
fears cold water. A poor man is better than a fool.
CHAPTER IV.
CONSONANTS CONCLUDED-THE OPEN AND
COMPOSITE CONSONANTS.
We have observed that, in the English stops and liquids, the
place of closure in the mouth is either the lips, the point of the
tongue against the upper gums, or the back of the tongue
against the soft palate. But the English open consonants are
found in six different places. Beginning, as before, with those
which are formed by the lips, and arranging them in order
according to the place of formation, we have six classes of open
consonants, namely, lip, lip-teeth, point-teeth, point, front or
palatal, and glottal consonants.
The Lip Open Consonants wh and w. These sounds
differ from one another simply in that wh is a breath consonant,
whilst w is voiced. Except in compounds, e.g., bewhiskered, un-
whipped, overwhelmed, the sound wh occurs only at the begin-
ning of words, and many persons-most southerners, indeed—
never use this sound, but substitute for it the voiced consonant w.
They pronounce when like wen, whale like wail, and so on. But
those who generally avoid this sound may sometimes be heard
to utter it in an emphatic interrogation, such as "where?" and
it seems not improbable that the attempt to revive the regular
use of wh in southern English will be successful.
Wh and w are not simple lip open consonants. We meet with
these in German Quelle, and south German Wesen. In the
English wh and w the lips and tongue take the same position as
in the back-round vowel û (oo in pool); that is to say, the lips
are rounded, not opened as a slit, but with the corners drawn
together, and the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft
palate. So they may be called back-round open consonants.
The Lip-teeth Open Consonants f and v. These
form a pair of breath and voiced consonants. Both are pro-
22
The Open and Composite Consonants
23
duced by pressing the lower lip against the upper teeth, so that
the stream of breath passes between the teeth.
The Point - teeth Open Consonants th and dh.
These also are a pair of breath and voiced consonants. They are
formed by placing the point of the tongue against the edges of
the upper teeth, so that the breath passes between the teeth, as
it does in f and v. The difficulty which foreigners and young
children often find in producing these sounds may be overcome
by observing their mechanism, which is really very simple.
These are
The Point Open Consonants s and z.
formed by placing the point of the tongue close to the upper
gums; but they differ from t and d, in that the tongue does not
quite touch the gums. A little channel is left for the breath.
S is the most clearly audible of all the consonants, and can be
distinctly heard without any vowel, as in hissing, or in the
French and German pst.
The only difference between s and z is that z is voiced and s
is not.
The Point Open Consonants sh and zh. The breath
consonant sh and the corresponding voiced zh are formed in a
manner very similar to s and z, but the tongue is slightly re-
tracted, and not only the point but the blade, i.e. the part just
behind the point, is raised, whilst the channel left for the breath
is widened. The four consonants, s, z, sh, zh, are commonly
called sibilants, from their hissing sound, and they may be dis-
tinguished by calling s and z narrow, and sh and zh broad
sibilants.
Observe that zh is the same as French j in je. In English it
never occurs at the beginning of words.
The Front Open Consonant y. We form y by raising
the middle, technically called the front, of the tongue, and
bringing it near the hard palate. The tongue is, in fact, for a
moment in the same position as for the vowel î. Y is voiced.
Compare below (p. 24) the German ç, formed in the same place.
These consonants are often called palatals.
The Glottal Open Consonant h. Some persons do not
reckon has a consonant, because it is not formed in the super-
glottal passages, but in the glottis itself; that is, in the opening
24
The Sounds of English
between the vocal chords. But it does not seem to differ essen-
tially from the other consonants, being formed by squeezing the
breath in the glottis, just as other consonants are formed by
squeezing it after it has left the larynx.
TWO GERMAN OPEN CONSONANTS.
The Front, or Palatal Open Consonant ç, com-
monly called the iç (ich) sound, is a breath consonant corre-
sponding with English y, and it may easily be learnt by
dwelling on the sound î, as in ît (cat), and then breathing
forcibly through the mouth, whilst keeping the tongue in the
position for î.
The Back Open Consonant x. This consonant, the so-
called ax (ach) sound, may be heard in the Scotch loch. It is
formed in the same place as k, g, and ng, by the back of the
tongue approaching the soft palate, but there is not a complete
closure. It is a breath consonant.
For examples of c and x, see page 72. Note that ę occurs
after a front vowel or a consonant, whilst x always comes after
a back vowel.
The Composite Consonants ch and j. It is not diffi-
cult to hear that each of these is composed of two sounds-that
ch=t, sh, and j=d, zh. Dr. Murray calls them consonantal
diphthongs. In the phonograph the succession of sounds can
be reversed, so that ch is heard as sh, t.
In ordinary spelling we sometimes symbolise the first part of
these composite consonants correctly, using tch for ch, and dg
or dge for j, as in fetch, judgment, edge, and we never use j at
the end of a word, either ge or dge being put for it, as in change,
hinge, ridge, lodge.
It sometimes happens that t and sh come together in places
where each sound belongs to a separate syllable, as in nutshell.
In such cases we write tsh-not næchel, but notshel.
It is interesting to observe that the period when words spelt
with ch were derived from the French may be determined by
their pronunciation. In those borrowed at an early period, ch is
The Open and Composite Consonants
25
pronounced ch, as chine, rich, but the later ones retain the
French pronunciation sh, like machine.¹
NOTES ON SOUNDS AND THEIR SYMBOLS.
The Open Consonants. Four of these, namely, th, dh, s,
z, have already been fully illustrated on page 14. The chief
symbols for the remainder are as follows:
For wh-ch-when.
For w :—w, u, o, nothing at all-will, quill, languid, per-
suade, choir, reservoir, one.
For f:—f, ff, ph, gh—fill, stiff, physic, laugh.
For v :—v, ve, f, ph-vest, twelve, of, nephew.
For sh-sh, ch, s, ss, c, t, shi, si, ssi, ci, ti, sci, ce-she,
machine, fetch, sugar, assure, officiate, vitiate, fashion, pension,
mission, social, motion, conscious, ocean.
For zh :—z, s, zi, si, ti, ssi, g, ge, j-seizure, treasure, glazier,
division, transition, abscission, menagerie, badger, rouge, hedge,
adjourn.
For y-y, i, e-yes, onion, hideous.
Note that the sound y occurs very frequently in the endings
-yan, -yant, -yans, yas, yal, yar, yari, as in million, guardian,
chameleon, obedient, convenience, dubious, piteous, filial,
familiar, pecuniary.
After r, however, the sound i may be clearly heard in such
endings, as in criterion, librarian, glorious, vitreous, material,
of which the endings are pronounced ian, ias, ial.
For h-h, wh-he, who.
The Composite Consonants.
For ch:-ch, tch, che, t,
ti, te, c-chest, rich, ditch, niche, luncheon, nature, manufactory,
question, violoncello.
For j-j, g, ge, gi, dj, dg, dye, di, ch—jest, gentle, hinge,
dungeon, collegian, adjourn, badger, hedge, soldier, spinach.
The Diphthongs ai, au, oi, yû, yu. The name diphthong
is generally given to the double symbols æ and œ, but it is used
here to denote a double sound.
¹ In both cases the French sound is retained, ch being=ch (tsh) in
Anglo-French and Old French generally, and sh in Modern French.--Ed.
26
The Sounds of English
Among the symbols used for these diphthongs are :—
For ai :—i, i-e, y, y-c, ie, ye, uy, eye, ai-kind, dine, try,
type, tie, dye, buy, eye, aisle.
For au:-ou, ow-round, now.
For oi-oi, oy-boil, boy.
For yû:-u, u-e, ue, ui, eu, ew, yu, you, yew, ieu, iew, ewe,
eau-unit, duke, due, suit, feud, few, yule, you, yew, lieu, view,
ewe, beauty.
For yu, which is always unstressed :—u, u-e, ue, ew—unite,
regular, resolute, statue, mildew.
The Sound a following the Diphthongs ai, au, yû.
The following examples show how a occurs between the diph-
thongs ai, au, yû and the sound r, or remaining in cases where
the r is silent :
R sometimes sounded. R dropped.
hire
sour
cure
Phonetically-
hired
soured
cures
R sounded.
hiring
sourest
curing
haiar
haiad
haiaring
sauar
sauad
sauarest
kyûar
kyûaz
kyûaring
At this stage the student should begin to write phonetically
connected passages of English, since all the sounds have been
illustrated by examples, showing some of the various ways in
which each sound is represented in ordinary spelling.
QUESTIONS.
1. Enumerate the English open consonants, classifying them as
to place.
2. Explain fully how w is formed.
3. Give examples of th and dh, also of s and z used for the
plural inflection-six examples of each.
The Open and Composite Consonants
27
4. What sounds are heard in ch and j? Write phonetically
three words to illustrate each, first with the abbreviated
symbols ch and j, and then so as to show the component
sounds of each.
5. How are the German ach and ich sounds formed?
6. Transcribe phonetically, marking the stress when it is not
(1) on the first syllable, or (2) the vowel of the first
syllable being a, o', or yu, it is not on the second syllable.
Memory.
Oh that our lives, which flee so fast,
In purity were such,
That not an image of the past
Should fear that pencil's touch!
Retirement then might hourly look
Upon a soothing scene,
Age steal to his allotted nook,
Contented and serene;
With heart as calm as lakes that sleep,
In frosty moonlight glistening;
Or mountain rivers, where they creep
Along a channel smooth and deep,
To their own far-off murmurs listening.
CHAPTER V.
THE LONG VOWELS.
The student who has read the preceding Notes on Sounds and
their Symbols and written out answers to the questions, may be
supposed to have already learnt to recognise the various vowel
sounds of English and to use for each its appropriate symbol,
but the formation and classification of the vowels remains to be
studied. The difference between vowels and consonants has
been stated above (p. 10).
If the whole alphabet has not yet been committed to memory,
the student should lose no time in doing this. In the case of
the vowels and diphthongs it is easiest to learn by heart first
the key-words, and then the names of the vowels themselves.
The vowels present some special difficulties, for although those
used in stressed syllables can be easily distinguished and
enumerated, there are really an infinite number of positions of
the jaw, tongue and lips possible for the formation of vowel
sounds, so that we may have a number of vowels shading imper-
ceptibly into one another, and consequently difficult to distin-
guish. This makes the acquisition of foreign vowel sounds very
difficult, and also affects us practically in English in two ways:
(1) We may often be in doubt in weak syllables what the vowel
really is. The obscure vowel sound in the second syllable of
basket, for instance, is intermediate between the e and i of pet
and pit, and would consequently be written as e by some phone-
ticians, whilst others would write it as i. And (2) when we
wish to correct a dialectal pronunciation of the vowels, such as
we hear in Cockney or in some of our provincial dialects, we
shall find it a matter requiring considerable time and patience.
The Five Principal Vowels. The best key to the
classification of the vowels is the mastery of the five principal
28
The Long Vowels
29
ones, namely, â, ey, î, ow, û, as in father, fatc, feet, pole, pool
(fâdhar, feyt, fit, powl, pûl). These are approximately the
sounds given to a, e, i, o, u in German, Italian, and most con-
tinental languages, and we may observe that these five sounds
are represented in the continental fashion in some English
words, e.g., in father, obey, machine, polc, rule, and that two of
the symbols adopted here, namely, ey and ow, are already
familiar, as we meet with ey in they, grey, prey, obey; and ow
in a great many words, such as boul, flow, grow.
This diagram shows the position of the tongue in forming the
five principal vowels and two other foreign vowels. Round
brackets signify lip rounding.
HARD PALATE
î (a)
`ey (0)
Front
SOFT PALATE, Uvula“

Back
Tongue
(تا)
巨​念
​(ow)

 in father. When we sound â in father the tongue is
lowered, and the mouth passage is wide open, so it is called an
open vowel; and it is reckoned one of the back vowels because
it is at the back that the tongue is nearest to the palate, so that
this is the place of greatest friction, and the vowel is named
accordingly.
Ey in fate and i in fect. It is very obvious that when we
pass from â to î we raise the lower jaw considerably. But the
sound can be produced without thus closing the jaws; and if by
an effort we keep down the lower jaw, we can see that the
tongue rises and approaches very near to the hard palate. It is
the centre or so-called front of the tongue which rises most, so î
is called a front vowel. And in forming ey the jaw and the
30
The Sounds of English
same part of the tongue are raised, but not quite to the same
extent; so ey likewise is called a front vowel, and distinguished
from î as being half-close, whilst î is said to be close.
The vowels ey and î, like the consonants y and ç (p. 24) and
all other sounds formed by raising the front of the tongue
towards the hard palate, are sometimes called palatals.
In order to feel more distinctly the movements of the front of
the tongue, practise saying: (1) â î â î â, and (2) â ey î ey â ey
î ey â, prolonging these vowels and making no pauses between
them.
Ow in pole and û in pool. The most obvious fact when we
pass from â to û is that the lips are contracted and the corners
of the mouth drawn towards one another, so that it approaches
the form of a circle, and that at the same time the lower jaw is
raised. This movement of the lips is called rounding, and û is
said to be a round vowel. Ow is formed in the same way, but
the lips are not so much contracted, and the jaw not so much
raised. It is intermediate between â and û, and is called half-
close, whilst û is said to be closc.
But another movement takes place in forming ow and û,
which is not so obvious as the process of rounding. Ventrilo-
quists can produce ow and û tolerably well without moving their
lips at all, and there are some few lazy people who always pro-
nounce them in this fashion; but whether the lips are rounded
or not, the back part of the tongue is always raised in forming
these vowels and brought near the soft palate for û, and not
quite so near for ow, as shown in the diagram. They are there-
fore called back-round vowels.
The consonants wh and w are related to û, as ç and y are to î,
being formed by placing the lips and tongue in the same posi-
tion as for û and i respectively, and this is shown in the scheme
on p. vii.
How û and î differ from w and y. When a pair of these
sounds come together, as in tû wûndz (two wounds), or wi
yîldid (we yielded), the open consonants w and y are found to be
somewhat closer than the close vowels û and î, and the lips are
visibly more contracted for w than for û; but before an open
vowel, as in wâft, yâd (waft, yard), this is not the case.
The
The Long Vowels
31
essential difference seems to be that whereas in û and î the
organs remain long enough in one position for the voice to be
clearly heard, in w and y it is only the process of opening that
we hear, as the mouth gradually assumes the position for the
following vowel-in other words, we hear only the glide on to
the vowel.
Ey and ow are not pure vowels. Ey and ow are so far from
being pure vowels that they may be called half diphthongs.
But they are the best representatives we have of the close e and
o of French, German, and Italian, and it is convenient to find a
place for them amongst the vowels.
The best way to convince oneself that ey in fate becomes
gradually closer, and ends in a sound approaching to î, whilst
ow closes up and ends in a sound which is almost û, is to observe
how they are pronounced in singing by untrained singers.
Such persons will be heard to pass rapidly to the close î or û
sound, and to prolong it, producing a very disagreeable effect.
But a well-taught singer will hold the first and more open sound
as long as possible, changing it just at the end of the note, and
will be careful, in singing French, German, or Italian, to keep
the vowel quite pure and unaltered throughout.
Observe how the five principal vowels, â, ey, î, ow, û, are
placed in the diagram (p. 29), which may serve as a key to the
grouping of the vowels in the scheme on p. vii.
The Long Vowels ê, ô, œ. E in fairy and ô in Paul.
The sound ê occurs only in words spelt with r, and is a vowel
modified by r. Compare meykar and Mêri, seylar and Sêra
(maker, Mary, sailor, Sarah), and then substitute ey for ê in
Mêri and Sêra, noticing what an effort this involves, and how
strange it sounds.
When studying ê, practise prolonging it without making it a
diphthong by the sound of a following, as every one is accus-
tomed to do when it is final, or followed by a consonant, e.g. in
êa, skêas (air, scarce), and as some do even when r is heard after
it, saying Mêari, fêari, instead of Mêri, fêri (Mary, fairy).
When naming the sound, it may, however, for greater facility,
be called êa.
The two sounds & and ô belong to classes of vowels already
32
The Sounds of English
described, ê being, like ey and î, a front vowel, and ô, like ow
and û, a back-round vowel, but they are both open vowels, de-
cidedly more open than ey and ow. In both of them the jaw
and tongue are decidedly lower, and in ô the lips are less con-
tracted than in ow.
It will be observed that for ô the tongue is lower than for ê,
and even lower than for â. But it is not possible to place the
tongue so low for an open front vowel as for an open back one,
and if we take this into account, it will not be misleading to put
ê and ô on the same line in the scheme of vowels. Each of them
is almost as open as it is possible for a vowel of its own class to
be.
Oe in curve. This sound, like ê, occurs only in words spelt
with ", with one exception, colonel, pronounced koenl', exactly
like kernel.
The vowel oe is formed by letting the voice escape whilst the
mouth is in the easiest and most natural position. It may be
called a murmur vowel, having a murmuring sound, and occur-
ring in moemar (murmur).
Oe is not so open as â. It is a half-open vowel, and being
neither a front nor a back vowel, it is said to be mixed.
The following diagram shows roughly the position of the
tongue for each of the English long vowels, together with ö and
ü, which occur in French and German, and which are explained
below. Round brackets signify lip rounding.
FRONT.
MIXED.
BACK.
Close
¡ (ü)
(ú)
Half-close
ey (ö)
(ow)
Half-open
ое
Open
ê
â
(ô)
The Long Vowels
33
The Foreign Vowels ö and ü, as in French peu, pu, or
German Göthe, Flügel, pronounced pö, pü, Göta, Flügl'. Of
these ü is the easiest to learn, and the most important, being
often used in loan words. The tongue should be placed in the
position for î and the lips contracted as for û, or even more
closely brought together. The student should practise saying
repeatedly â î ü, dwelling upon each vowel, and not stopping
between them, having some competent person to give a good
pattern ü. In ö the tongue takes the position for ey, whilst the
lips are rounded as for ow. Practise, after a teacher, saying â
ey ö, avoiding the faint sound of î with which we usually finish
ey. ö is called a half-close, round vowel, and ü a close, round
vowel.
The French Nasal Vowels, ân, æn, ôn, oen, as in pan,
pin, pont, un. Of these the most important for English people
is ôn, which is used in many loan words. These words are often
supposed by French people as well as by the English to be a
vowel sound plus the consonant n, but this is a mistake, though
in liaison, that is when a vowel follows in the next word and
the preceding word is altered in consequence, we do hear n after
the word un.
The italic n written at the end of each must
therefore be regarded simply as an indication that they are
nasalised. If it were desirable to write words containing nasal
vowels in italics, then might be printed in ordinary Roman
type, thus :—ân, cn, ôn, oen.
We have observed that the consonants m, n and ng are nasal,
the breath passing through the nose whilst the mouth passage
is completely stopped. But when vowels are nasalised—and any
vowel may be nasalised-the passage through the mouth is left
open, and at the same time the soft palate is lowered, leaving
some of the breath to escape through the nose. It is unfortu-
nately the practice in Cockney and in American English to
nasalise all the vowels more or less, and this is a habit to be
avoided, but in French there are four vowels which must be
strongly nasalised. The student must of course try to imitate
these sounds as pronounced by a teacher, but it will be a great
help to notice which English vowels most closely resemble them.
These are â, æ, ô, oe, as in father, fán, fawn, fern. The student
D
34
The Sounds of English
should try to say after a competent teacher, â, ân, æ, æn, ô, ôn,
oe, oen, pronouncing, before each French nasal vowel, the English
oral vowel which most closely resembles it. It will also be
useful to practise the examples of the nasal vowels on pp. 71, 72.
NOTES ON INFLECTIONS.
The real character of English inflections is often disguised by
our spelling. For instance, the termination t in looked is written
ed, though it is really the same as the t in slept. And there
are also vowel changes which do not appear in written English.
We find, for example, that the present and past tenses of the
verb to read are written alike, although pronounced respectively
rîd and red. It may therefore be convenient, without giving
a complete view of the inflections of English, to show those
which are not clear in our ordinary spelling.
Words ending in r. The facts respecting these words
have already been noted above (pp. 2, 17, etc.), but we may repeat
here (1) that r disappears before a consonant ending, so that in
all words ending with r we drop it before the z or d added to
verbs, or the z added to substantives, either for the plural or
the possessive. Examples, planda(r) (plunder), plœndaz, plæn-
dad; beykar (baker), beykaz (bakers, baker's).
And (2) words in -êa(r) and -ôa(r) drop not only the r, but in
certain cases the a also, thus :—
bêa(r) (bare)
bôa(r) (bore)
bêar
bôr 1
bêad
bôd 2
bêring
bôring
the a of -êa(r) disappearing when the r is sounded owing to a
vowel following, and the a of -oa(r) being retained only when
-oa(r) is final.
The Terminations t, d, id; s, z, iz. These endings to
verbs and nouns are written in our ordinary spelling as t, d, ed;
s, ce, es, as in the following examples :-
felt
hoped d=t
t=t
hopes
S=S
pence
ce s
moved d=d
added ed=id
pens
S = Z
dresses es iz
1 bôar.
2 bôad.-W.L.
The Long Vowels
35
The rules governing the use of these terminations are that—
(1) After a breath consonant we use a breath consonant, either
t or s, as the case may be.
(2) After a voiced consonant or a vowel we use a voiced con-
sonant, either d or z.
And the exceptions are these:-
(1) After a liquid we sometimes use t, and in the word pence
we use s after the liquid n, although all the liquids are voiced.¹
(2) After consonants which cannot conveniently be combined
with d or z because of their similarity to them, we retain the
vowel i, making the terminations id and iz.
are
The consonants which cannot be combined with d
the point stops t and d, and those which cannot be combined
with z are the sibilants s, z, sh, zh, and the composite conso-
nants, ending in sibilants, ch=t, sh, and j=d, zh.
Examples of endings t, d, id; s, z, iz:-
After breath After voiced
After
After
consonants.
consonants.
vowels.
liquids.
After t, d, and
sibilants.
dropt
robd
pleyd
sind
spotid
nokt
begd
frîd
longd
dredid
poft
livd
flowd
sweld
dresiz
goetht
beydhd
vyûd
dremt
myûziz
drest
myûzd
fænsid
loent
pushiz
pusht
rûzhd
folo'd
boent
rûzhiz
fecht
Lejd
pleyz
dwelt
fechiz
drops
robz
frîz
drîmz
Lejiz
spots
dredz
flowz
penz
noks
begz
vyûz
singz
pofs
livz
fænsiz
telz
goeths
beydhs
folo'z
pens 1
The word haus makes the plural hauziz, changing s into z
before the termination iz, but the possessive is hausiz.
Note particularly that after the liquids m, n, 1 in the follow-
¹ Pence, pronounced pens, is a petrified form, the inflection s being in
Middle English-s also after voiced consonants or vowels.-Ed.
36
The Sounds of English
ing words we should pronounce t, though they are often written
with ed :-
boent, loent, dremt, dwelt, spilt, spelt, spoilt.
But in the Biblical phrase "they spoiled the Egyptians," where
the meaning is "they took spoils from," we pronounce spoild.¹
Adjectives distinguished from Verbs. Note that
there is a distinction in sound, though not in spelling, between
the following verbs and the corresponding adjectives:-
Past tense and part of verb. Adjective.
aged
learned
eyjd
eyjid
loent
loenid
unlearned
œnloent
cnloenid
cursed
koest
koesid
blessed
blest
blessid
beloved
bilovd
bilovid
And used, past tense and part. of to use, is pronounced yûzd,
whilst used accustomed is pronounced yûst.
Verbs ending in mp and ngk. In these verbs the p
and k are necessarily silent before the ending t. Thus we pro-
nounce jomt, thængt (jumped, thanked), being unable to make
thep and k heard in the combinations mpt and ngkt. The move-
ment which usually produces the sound p or k is indeed made by
opening the lips or the back of the mouth after the m or the
ng, but not before the opening for t has been effected, so that
only the t is heard. Before the ending s, however, the p or k is
quite audible, as in jamps, thængks.
Change of th to dh. The plural of substantives and the
third person of verbs ending in th are frequently formed by
changing th to dh and adding z, just as f is often changed to
v in similar cases, e.g. in lowf, lowvz; thîf, thîvz (loaf, loaves;
thief, thieves). After a short vowel or a consonant the th is
¹ Dr. Leaf remarks:-"I believe that in nine out of ten cases you
would hear in church, Jowzef drîmd a drîm, and I cannot agree that
this is wrong." "So dispoild (despoiled) always.”—Ed.
The Long Vowels
37
retained, as in breaths, deaths, months, tenths, healths, but after
a long vowel the change generally takes place, as in these
examples :-
båth bådhz
owth owdhz
mauth maudhz
shith shîdhz
pâth pâdhz
yûth yûdhz
rîth rîdhz
klôth klôdhz
trûth
trûdhz
The sub-
Substantives with plural ending iz (cs).
stantives in is which have the plural spelt es, such as crisis,
thesis, pl. crises, theses, change the consonant as well as the
vowel in the plural ending, which is pronounced îz-kraisîz,
thîsîz, and so on.
Adjectives ending in ng. The only adjectives ending.
with ng which take comparative and superlative inflections are
long, strong, yong (young), and they are inflected by adding
-gar, -gest, thus: longgar, longgest, and so on.
Changes of Vowels. The following changes of vowels
are not apparent in ordinary spelling:
child
children
chaild
childran
woman women
wuman
wimin
hero
heroine
hîaro'
hero'in
pence
sixpence
pens
sixpans
say
says, said
sey
sez, sed
read
read past tense)
rîd
red
and part.
eat
eat, ate
ît
et
dream
dreamed
drîm
dremt
lean
leaned, leant
lin
lent
leap
leaped, lept
lîp
lept
mean
meant
mîn
ment
clean cleanly
klîn
klenli
hear
heard
hîar
hoed
can
can't
kæn
kânt
shall
shan't
shæl
shânt
do
don't
dû
downt
There is no change of vowel in the plural gentlemen, except
sometimes in the vocative, nor in the plurals formed from names
38
The Sounds of English
of nations ending in a sibilant, such as Englishmen, French-
men, Welshmen, which are pronounced just like the singular,
with the ending -man.
QUESTIONS.
1. Explain the production of â, ey, î, ow, û, and make a dia-
gram to illustrate this.
2. Explain (a) a mixed vowel, (b) formation of ö and ü, (c) how
vowels are nasalised.
3. State rules for the pronunciation of the inflections -ed, -es,
-'s, and mention some other case or cases where inflections
are disguised by spelling.
4 Transcribe phonetically, marking the stress as before (p. 27):—
The yellow room was a large airy one, with white-
painted wainscoting, a huge four-post bed with yellow
curtains, and a pretty view from the windows. In the
middle of the floor we saw our box standing in all its dig-
nity, uncorded, and ready. Then it was that the terrible
fact broke upon our minds that the key was left behind.
My sufferings during the few seconds before I found cour-
age to confide this misfortune to our new friend were con-
siderable. When I did tell her, the calmness and good
nature with which she received the confession were both
surprising and delightful.
CHAPTER VI.
THE SHORT VOWELS.
It will be convenient to begin with the consideration of the
short vowels in accented syllables, because there is a great un-
certainty about unaccented vowels, whilst the accented ones are
clear and well defined.
We meet with six short vowels in unaccented syllables,
namely œ, æ, e, i, o, u, as in putty, pat, pet, pit, pot, put.
These six accented vowels are always stopped, i.c. followed by a
consonant in the same syllable; and as it is not easy to pro-
nounce them alone, it is convenient to give them the names œt,
æt, et, it, ot, ut.
They differ from the Long Vowels. It is instructive
to compare each of these short vowels with the long vowel
most nearly corresponding to it, as in the following example :-
oe and œ in boen and boen (burn, bun).
mæri (Mary, marry).
ey
î
e
17
ê
æ Mêri
11
""
19
", geyt
11
get (gate, get).
i
fît
27
22
fit (feet, fit).
0 19
Pôl
""
Poli (Paul, Polly).
,, pûl
22
û
u
""
pul (pool, pull).
Note that in the alphabet on p. x., these pairs of long and
short vowels stand opposite to one another.
If each of these six short vowels is prolonged, care being
taken not to alter its character in any way, it will be found
that every one of them differs more or less in formation and
sound from the corresponding long vowel.
The nature of the difference between the long and short
vowels can be more conveniently discussed after we have
examined each short vowel separately.
39
40
The Sounds of English
The Short Front Vowels-æ in pat. Note that the
symbol for this vowel can easily be written without lifting the
pen, and made quite distinct from œ, if the first part is made
like a reversed e (see p. x.).
It is a common mistake to suppose that æ is the short vowel
corresponding to â in father. In point of fact it is a front
vowel, like ê in fairy, but more open. It is indeed as open as
it is possible for a front vowel to be. The short vowel which
corresponds with â in father is German à in Mann.
E is sometimes pronounced quite long, e.g. in man, but this
drawling pronunciation is not a good one.
E in pet may be called a half-open vowel, being decidedly
more open than ey. It is intermediate between ey in fate and
ê in fairy.
I in pit is the short vowel corresponding to î, but it is by
no means identical with it, as may easily be perceived if we
prolong it, taking care not to alter the sound at all. Fill and
feel, fit and feet, differ in the quality of the vowel, as well as in
its length; and it is sufficiently obvious that in the short vowel
i the tongue is lowered, making it more open than î.
The Short Back-round Vowels-o in pot. The vowel
o in pot is the short vowel corresponding with the long ô in
Paul, and is pronounced with the tongue in the lowest position
possible. It is not difficult to prolong this vowel, and one often
hears it made long, c.g. in dog, but this is a vulgarism to be
avoided.
U in put is not a very common sound in English. It bears
the same relation to û as i does to î, being decidedly more open
than its corresponding long vowel û. The u of pull or full,
when prolonged, is quite distinct from the long û in pool, fool.
The Short Vowel œ in bun. This may be regarded as
an abnormal vowel. Though a back vowel, it is not rounded.
Like oe and e, it is a half-open vowel. It is very difficult to
prolong œ without altering the sound so as to make it identical
with oe, or to shorten oe and stress it without pronouncing œ,
so these vowels may be regarded as a pair of long and short
vowels, although œ is a back vowel, whilst oe is mixed, that is
neither back nor front.
The Short Vowels
41
Relations of Long and Short Vowels. Refer to the
scheme of vowels on p. vii., where it will be seen that each short
stressed vowel, except œ, is placed immediately below its cor-
responding long vowel, to indicate that it is somewhat more open.
Narrow and Wide Vowels. It would appear however
that there is some other distinction between the longs and
shorts besides the fact that the short vowels are more open, for
the short ones are all alike in being difficult to pronounce,
except in stopped syllables. And the long vowels are also alike
in being difficult, for English people at least, to shorten without
altering their quality. The tongue seems to be bunched up for
the long vowels, whilst it is relaxed and widened for the short
ones. To express this difference, the long ones have been called
narrow, and the short ones wide. There is however some
disagreement among phoneticians as to the so-called narrow and
wide vowels.
It is very conve-
Short à of French and German.
nient, especially in French loan words, to be able to pronounce a
vowel resembling â of father, but shorter. The German short
à of Mann may be regarded as simply a shortened â, but the
French short à of patte is intermediate between English â and
æ of father and fat. In the case of loan words, it will be quite
sufficient to use the easier German à, whether the borrowed
word be French or German.
SHORT UNSTRESSED VOWELS.
Introductory. The unstressed vowels must be discussed
separately. They constitute a great difficulty in our language,
for they are not easy to distinguish from one another, and per-
sons whose ear is not trained by the study of phonetics imagine
that in most cases they pronounce, or ought to pronounce, un-
stressed vowels according to the spelling, when in reality,
whatever the spelling may be, most vowels in unstressed
syllables are reduced to one of these two :-(1) a as heard in
attend, portable, villa, or (2) i as in immense, plentiful, horrid.
In this matter nothing can be learnt from the generality of
pronouncing dictionaries, which are all quite misleading, except
the large unfinished New English Dictionary, where they are
42
The Sounds of English
carefully distinguished, and in this we have such a large num-
ber of different symbols used to represent the weak vowels that
some of the distinctions seem impossible to understand.
The only unstressed vowels which need be discussed here are
a and o' of sowfa and pilo', for which special symbols are pro-
vided, and which have been fully illustrated above, and the
e, i, u of trompet, piti, intu, vælyu (trumpet, pity, into, value).
Examples of other unstressed vowels are:-
â
átílari
artillery
се
hœbæb
hubbub
ое
ædvoes
adverse
æ
ambæ'sadar ambassador
ê
dhêrín
therein
e
insekt
insect
ey reylway
railway
i
ræbit
rabbit
î
îkwóliti
equality
0
hostiliti
hostility
ô
ôthoriti
authority u
fulfil
fulfil
OW
inmoist
inmost
ai
airéyt
irate
Û
prúdénshal prudential au
swonzdaun
oi taifoid
swansdown
typhoid
The Symbols e', i', u'. Whilst discussing the unstressed
vowels, it will be convenient to use these symbols to distinguish
the sounds in trompe't, piti', intu', vælyu', from the unstressed
e, i, u of insekt, ræbit, fulfil, as the sounds are not quite the
same, but in ordinary phonetic spelling it will suffice to use
e, i, u for both purposes.
The five unstressed vowels to be discussed may be shown, with
the stressed vowels most resembling them, thus:-
Stressed.
Long. Short.
Unstressed.
foen fœen sowfa
pet
træmpe't
pit piti
low
pilo'
pûl
put intu', vælyu'
Stressed.
Long. Short.
fern fun
Unstressed.
sofa
pet
trumpet
pit
pity
low
pillow
pool put
into,
valuc
The Short Murmur Vowel a. The vowel a so closely
resembles the long vowel oe, as in burn, fern, that it may be
regarded as practically the same vowel, only short, and without
stress. The name murmur vowel suits them both, and they
The Short Vowels
43
both occur in the word moemar (murmur). It is sometimes
called a natural vowel, being formed by sounding the voice
whilst the vocal organs are in the position most natural to
English people, and without any effort being made to pronounce
any vowel in particular. Speakers often use it to fill up a gap
when they are hesitating. It is illustrated on p. 8.
As a and œ sound much alike, although one is a mixed and
the other a back vowel, it should be observed that there are
very few cases indeed in which œ is unstressed. It almost
always has, if not the chief stress, a secondary one, as in
œnjost, tîkæp (unjust, teacup). Hubbub, punctuality, pug-
nacious, ductility, ulterior, may be regarded as exceptions, in
having an unstressed œ.1
Short o'. This vowel resembles the long ow of pole, low,
etc., but it is short and unstressed and slightly mixed, whilst
the final sound of the half-diphthong ow is heard less distinctly
or not at all. If however a vowel follows, as in hero'in (hero-
ine), the w is clearly pronounced, to avoid a hiatus. Short o'
occurs only in open syllables, that is in syllables not ending
with a consonant, as in proceed, clocution, hero, follow, or in
the last syllable followed by a consonant used as an inflection,
as in heroes, follows, followed. It is illustrated on p. 8.
Unstressed i and i'. There are two varieties of unstressed
i. The i of rabbit, frolic, is practically the same sound as the
stressed i of pit, bit, lick, but at the end of words, and wher-
ever a consonant does not follow in the same syllable, and in
the endings -i'z, -i'd-corresponding, we may observe, with the
endings -o'z, -o'd of heroes, followed-we hear the more open
and mixed sound represented by i'. Examples :-di'sîv, riʼzist,
abíli'ti', meri'ar, fishi'z, fiti'd, piti'd (deccive, resist, ability,
merrier, fishes, fitted, pitied).
Unstressed e and e'. The unstressed e of insect, stipend,
mendacity is the same as the stressed e of pet, but this clear
unstressed e is very rare. There is however a considerable
number of words in which e, a-e, ai, or ay is written in un-
stressed syllables, and where the sound is not a clear e, nor a
1
¹ Perhaps it would be more correct to say that these words have a
still more slightly stressed œ.-Ed.
44
The Sounds of English
decided i or i', but a sound between e and i, which we here
symbolise by e’.
The usage of different speakers varies a good deal with re-
gard to e'. Some slow speakers make it quite distinct in every-
day conversation, e.g. in trumpet, basket, towel, but others
pronounce trempit, bâskit, and pronounce such words as towel,
vowel, cruel, gruel with endings -i'l, -il, l' or even 1, so reduc-
ing them to one syllable-taul, vaul, krûl, grûl-a pronuncia-
tion which is best avoided by aiming at the ending -e'l.
There are other words, e.g. many words written with -ness
or-less, where the usage of the same speaker varies according
to circumstances. The speaker who in every-day speech says
-nis, and -lis, will often in public reading or speaking say -ne's
and -le's.
Examples of words where we may hear e':
enjoy
happiness
poetry
purchase
exist
tempest
majesty
fountain
exceed
forest
private
mountain
market
nearest
delicate
mountainous
carpet
greatest
candidate
Sunday
blanket
prospect
associate, sb.
Monday
darkness
subject
heritage
yesterday
restless
poet
patronage
always
In some words, similarly spelt, we never hear e', e.g. fittest,
prettiest, village, courage, are pronounced with the endings
-ist, ij. In this phonetic method, words where e' is sometimes
heard are written with e.
Unstressed u and u'. The unstressed u of fulfil, man-
hood, is practically the same as the stressed u of put, but u', as
in into, February, instrument, influential, rather resembles the
û of pool, shortened, and slightly mixed. It most frequently
occurs as part of the diphthong yu, as in vælyu, regyular,
popyular (value, regular, popular), and, like i' and o', it is found
only in open syllables, or in final syllables-usually where the
inflections z or d are added, e.g. in vælyu'z, vælyu'd (values,
valued), but also in a few other cases, as in volyu'm, tribyu't
(volume, tribute).
The Short Vowels
45
NOTES ON FAULTS OF PRONUNCIATION.
There are in English many words, and even many classes of
words, which it is allowable to pronounce in more than one way,
besides weak words, which will be discussed in the next chap-
ter, and the student who practises phonetic transcription will
not fail to notice some of these. But although it is impossible
to make every one pronounce exactly alike, it may be useful to
point out some mistakes and defects which must be avoided by
those who wish to speak standard English and to articulate
clearly and well.
Cockney Dialect. It would be useless to attempt to
enumerate the mistakes of uneducated speakers, but the fright-
ful Cockney dialect is spreading so much, both at home and in
the colonies, that all who are in danger of learning to speak
Cockney should take great pains in trying to acquire the vowels
of standard English. What they should particularly seek to
avoid is (1) nasalising all the vowels, and (2) mispronouncing
ey, ow and au.
Indistinct Consonants. The importance of a distinct
pronunciation of the consonants is well known, but it is probable
that few people know exactly where they fail in this respect.
Several cases in which consonants are mispronounced are enu-
merated below. Indistinctness in pronouncing consonants is
generally due, not only to laziness in the use of the tongue and
lips, but sometimes to an inattentive ear, as when m and n are
confused, and very frequently to laziness in the use of the vocal
chords. It is often difficult to hear clearly whether consonants
are voiced or not, especially in the case of s and z occurring
between two vowels, e.g. in greasy, dishonest and Jerusalem,
which should be pronounced grîzi, dizónest,¹ Jirûsalam. Prac-
tice in prolonging the voiced and voiceless open consonants will
help to overcome this defect.
Common Mistakes. Mistakes in pronunciation may be
classed as follows: (1) mistakes in consonants, (2) mistakes in
vowels, (3) mistakes in joinings, (4) pedantic mistakes, i.e.
1 disónest. — W.L.
46
The Sounds of English
mistakes made in attempting to pronounce as we spell; and (5)
miscellaneous mistakes.
I. Mistakes in Consonants. 1. Defective r. This is
best cured by learning to make a long trilled r.
2. Omission of r. This is especially liable to occur where
there is more than one r in the same word. Examples of such
words, often mispronounced, are :—
laibrari
kontrari
sekritari
litarari
Februari
temparari
læbaratari
tempararili
3. Insertion of a between r and a preceding consonant. This
is most liable to occur when the r is somewhat defective. Ex-
amples-Henari, ambaréla, Jibaróltar.
4. Confusion of m and n. It is common to hear this, e.g. in
pæntamaim, nastœsham, enkówmyam, krisanthimom, anemani,
Bænbari, mispronounced pæntamain, nastœshan, enkównyam,
krisænthinom, anenami, Bæmbari (Banbury).
After a lip consonant some careless, though by no means
vulgar, speakers pronounce m instead of n, and say ilévm' a
klok, givm' œp, a kæp-m' sôsar, and so on.
5. Failure to pronounce syllabic m'. It is wrong to substi-
tute -im or -am for syllabic m', as in sizm', bæptizm', trûizm',
rûmatizm', mispronounced sizim, bæptizam, trûizam, rûma-
tizam.
6. Confusion of n and ng. The ending -ing must not be
pronounced -in, as in telin, givin, seyin. And after a back con-
sonant n' must not be changed to syllabic ng as in beykn',
teykn', sometimes mispronounced beykng, teykng.
7. ty reduced to ch, = tsh, in stressed syllables, e.g. opatyuniti
mispronounced opachûniti. In unstressed syllables we commonly
make this change, pronouncing ch in fortune, nature, lecture,
etc. In other cases it is optional whether we use ch or ty, e.g.
in picturesque, where ty is preferable, but not obligatory.
8. dy reduced to j,= dzh, in stressed syllables, e.g. in dyûar-
ing, mispronounced jûaring. Generally speaking this change
should be avoided in unstressed syllables also, except in soldier,
The Short Vowels
47
which it would be affected to pronounce otherwise than sowljar,
and in immediate, immediately, which, in colloquial English
at any rate, are almost always pronounced with j. Many well-
educated people pronounce j in educated, individual, guardian,
and similar words, but dy is preferable, and in hideous, Indian,
etc., j is reckoned very careless. It is still worse to introduce j
into trimendas, where there is not even the excuse of dy but
only d in the correct pronunciation.
9. Omission of Consonants. Examples of this are âktik,
æntâ'ktik, rekagnaiz, æstarisk, neybahud, mispronounced âtik,
æntâ'tik, rekanaiz, æstarik, neybarud.
II. Mistakes in Vowels. 1. Mispronunciation of ua or
yûa, by substitution for ûa of ô or oe, as in shûar, shûali, tûana-
mant, kyûariositi, mispronounced shôar, shôli, tônamant, kyôr-
iositi; and tûarist, plûarisi, mispronounced toerist, ploerisi.
You are is also frequently contracted to yô(r) instead of yû a(r),
and this should be avoided.
2. Changing final ô to ôa, as in "Dha pleys iz rô,” “Ai
thingk it wil thô," mispronounced rôa, thôa, in accordance with
the English tendency to convert long vowels into diphthongs.
3. Changing ∞ to e, as in kæch, thængk yû, mispronounced
kech, thengk yû.
4. Changing o' to a, as in windo', felo', mispronounced winda,
fela, and sometimes, before a vowel, windar, felar, e.g. in Dha
windar iz owpn'.
5. Changing i to a, or the reverse, in unstressed syllables.
The change of i to a is very common in the ending -iti, mispro-
nounced -ati, e.g. in yûniti, abiliti. Other examples are Eypril,
vizibl', herisi, fæmili, mispronounced Eypral, vizabl', herasi,
fæmali.
Examples of a changed to i:-mirakl', obstakl', klorafôm,
filósafar, pælas, teras, mispronounced mirikl', obstikl', klorifôm,
filósifar, pælis, teris.
QUESTIONS.
1. Enumerate the short stressed vowels, and show which of the
long vowels they correspond with.
2. How are the vowels in patte and Mann formed?
48
The Sounds of English
3. Give examples, three of each, of the unstressed vowels, e', i',
u'.
4. Arrange the English vowels in tabular form as on p. vii.
5. Write phonetically Macaulay's History, chap. iii. p. 348.
6. Transcribe phonetically, marking the stress as before (p.
27):-
I had never seen any country like this; and if I had been
horrified by the black town, my delight with the noble
scenery beyond it was in proportion. I stood at the open
window, with the moor breeze blowing my hair into the
wildest elf-locks, rapturously excited as the great hills
unfolded themselves and the shifting clouds sent shifting
purple shadows over them. Very dark and stern they
looked in shade, and then, in a moment more, the cloud was
past, and a broad smile of sunshine ran over their face, and
showed where cultivation was creeping up the hillside and
turning the heather into fields.
CHAPTER VII.
DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS.
Diphthongs are not formed by simply pronouncing two vowels
in succession. They begin with one vowel and end with another,
but the change from one to the other is gradual. The vocal
organs pass through all the intermediate positions, so that the
sound is changing all the time, and it is therefore difficult, in
some cases, to analyse them accurately.
The half diphthongs ey and ow have already been discussed
(p. 31), and we now proceed to consider
The Full Diphthongs ai, au, oi, yû, as in isle, owl, oil,
yule. There is some diversity of opinion as to the elements of
which these diphthongs are composed. The fact is that it is
difficult to dwell upon the separate elements without altering
their character. The result of a rough analysis, the only
analysis of which children would be capable, is as follows:-
ai in ail=â, î.
au,
aul = â, û.
oi in oilô, î.
yû,, yûl=y, û.
But on analysing ai more carefully, we find that it lies be-
tween â and î, without quite reaching either extremity. The
first sound in ai is the French a in patte, midway between â and
æ, for which we may use the symbol à, and the last is i', as in
piti'.
There are however three English words containing a diphthong
which resembles ai, and yet is not quite identical with it, having
the full sound of â for its first element. It may be represented.
by âi, and is heard in Isaiah, aye, and ayah (Aizâia, âi,
âia).
Au is composed of à and the mixed vowel u', as in prejudicc
influence, and oi of ô and i'.
49
E
50
The Sounds of English
Yû and yu. Yû, which occurs only in accented syllables, is
composed of y and û, and we have seen (p. 44) that in unstressed
syllables, e.g. in regular (regyular), there is a corresponding
weak diphthong which consists of y and u', and which we write
as yu.
So this is the more accurate analysis of these four diph-
thongs:-
ai = à, i'.
au = à, u'.
oiô, i'.
yû=y, û.
yu=y, u'.
In words where yu is followed by a, as in annual, conspicu-
ous (ænyual, kansipkyuas), yu is often so weakened that it
ceases to form a separate syllable. When such words have
another syllable added to them, as in annually, conspicuously
(ænyuali, kanspikyuasli), yu is regularly weakened in this
manner.
The Murmur Diphthongs and Triphthongs. The
murmur diphthongs, êa, îa, ôa, ûa, and the murmur triph-
thongs, aia, aua, yûa, are so called because they are formed by
the addition of the murmur vowel a to some preceding vowel or
diphthong. This additional a is due to r following, as we have
already had occasion to notice (pp 20, 26).
We must also repeat here that
r is never heard unless a vowel follows in the same word or
in the next. Consequently all words commonly spelt with r or
re final, have at least two forms, the being sounded when a
vowel follows in the next word, but not under any other circum-
stances (pp. 2, 17). The only exception to the above rule is
when syllabic l' or n' follows r, as in quarrel, barrel, barren, pro-
nounced, by some persons at least, kworl', bærl', bærn', and here
l' and n' perform the function of a vowel.
In this chapter it will be convenient to remind the reader of
the rule respecting final r by enclosing this in brackets,
thus: bêa(r), though in ordinary phonetic spelling the r is
simply retained.
Examples of the murmur diphthongs and triphthongs :-
Diphthongs and Triphthongs
51
R some-
R some-
times
R dropped. R sounded.
sounded.
times
sounded.
R dropped. R sounded.
pêa(r)
pêad
pêring
pare
pared
paring
pia(r)
pîad
pîaring
peer
pecred
peering
pôa(r)
pôz
pôring
pore
pores
poring
pûa(r)
pûali
pûarest
poor
poorli
poorest
faia(r)
faiaz faiaring
fire
fires
firing
saua(r)
sauad sauarest
sour
soured
sourest
pyûa(r)
pyûali pyûarest
pure
purcly
purest
The addition of the murmur vowel a is evidently due to the
difficulty, to English tongues at least, of proceeding directly
from the position required for the preceding vowel to that neces-
sary for r.
This added vowel sound may therefore be called a
glide. Note that when r is dropped, the glide vowel still re-
mains, e.g. in pîad, pûali.
One may often hear a similar glide before 1, c.g. in school,
pronounced skûal, but this is a defect in articulation which
should be carefully avoided.
The added a is often a
not commonly reckoned as such.
sere and seer
rear
separate Syllable, though
Compare
11
frecr
hour and shower
flour flower
11
poor "
hire higher
docr
pure n
curc
cuer
skewer
}}
lyre"
liar
It is not very important to notice in what cases we have two
syllables instead of two vowels uniting to form a true diphthong,
and we may be content to write a for the last sound in either
case, but the rule is as follows:
We never have syllabic a after ê or ô, c.g. in pare, bear, stair,
or porc, boar, store.
In the case of îa, ûa, aia, aua, yûa, we hear syllabic a only
when r disappears, c.g. in peer, poor, fire, sour, pure when they
are final, or in pecred, fires, soured where a consonant follows,
but when r is heard, as in peering, poor Annie, the a is not a
52
The Sounds of English
distinct syllable. Neither is it a distinct syllable in poorly,
purely, poor child, but apparently only in those cases where
there is a pause just after the a, or only a single consonant fol-
lowing before the pause.
The Murmur Diphthongs in Detail.
Several points
respecting the murmur diphthongs remain to be noticed, the
first of which is that in êa and ôa, and also in îa and ûa when
pronounced as true diphthongs and not as two separate syllables,
the sounds of ê, î, ô, û are shortened, so that the whole diph-
thong is not longer than the corresponding long vowel, as in
fêri, fît, Pôl, pûl.
In both the diphthongs îa and ûa, we may observe a tendency
to change. In very common words, such as hear, near, dear,
for instance, îa is usually changed in colloquial English to yoe,
the stress being shifted to the second element, which is
lengthened and becomes oe, whilst the first is weakened to y.
The diphthong ûa is very difficult for children, and apparently
not for children only, for in some words it is mispronounced as
oe, e.g. in tûarist, plûarisi (tourist, pleurisy), sometimes care-
lessly pronounced toerist, ploerisi, and in others, as ô, e.g. in
pûar, shûar, shûali (poor, sure, surely), often carelessly pro-
nounced pôa(r), shôa(r), shôli.
Respecting êa and ôa we have to note that the usage of differ-
ent speakers varies to some extent. Some would never use ê
without a following, even before r, as in fairy, which they
would pronounce fêari, and others would never use ôa at all,
pronouncing door, dô, and floor, flô, just like daw, flaw, unless a
vowel follows, causing them to sound the r.
The rule followed here is to omit a between ê and r, as in fêri,
and to write a after ô only at the end of a word, as in bôa(r).
Examples:-
Before a
Before a
Final.
conso-
nant.
Before r.
Final.
conso-
Before 1.
nant.
bêa(r) bêad
bêring
bare
bared
baring
bôa(r) bôd
bôring.
bore
bored
boring
But it must be noted that although, for convenience sake, we
Diphthongs and Triphthongs
53
use the fixed forms bêar, bôar for bare, bore, and words which
rhyme with them, all such words, if quite accurately repre-
sented, according to their position in the sentence, would have
to be written thus:-
Before a
Before a
Before a
Before a
Final.
consonant.
vowel.
Final.
consonant.
vowel.
bêa
bêa
bêr
bôa
bô
bôr
pêa
pêa
pêr
pôa
pô
pôr
stêa
stêa
stêr
stôa
stô
stôr
Note for instance how we pronounce the following:-
Siks shilingz a pêa. Dhis pêa wil fit.
Dhis pêa wil fit. A pêr ov shûz. Hî
shot a waild bôa. Dha bô¹ woz deynjaras. Dha bôr 2 iz ded.
The diphthong ôa occurs in two words where there is no r,
namely in Nôa3 and bôa (Noah, boa).
The English habit of introducing a before r, or in its place, is
a fertile source of mistakes in speaking foreign languages (see
above, p. 18).
WEAK WORDS.
Introductory. A variation in one of these weak words,
namely, an, is recognised in our ordinary spelling, for we write
a or an according as a consonant or a vowel follows in the next
word; but the variations which we do not thus indicate are
very numerous indeed. For where words occupy a subordinate
place in a sentence and consequently have no accent, clear
vowels generally become obscure, or they disappear altogether,
and consonants are very often dropped. And, as a rule, this is
not due to slovenly speaking, but is a necessity of the case.
To pronounce such words always in their emphatic forms would
be very strange and unnatural, and quite contrary to the genius
of our language. In fact no Englishman could do it, however
carefully he might aim at correctness and precision in his
speech. For indeed, as philologists now generally recognise, not
the word, but
The Sentence is the True Unit of Speech, words
being only parts of the sentence, and some of them necessarily
subordinate parts. This important point is dwelt upon at
3 Nowa.-W.L.
1 bôa;
2 boar;
54
The Sounds of English
length by Prof. Sayce in his Introduction to the Science of
Language.
He observes (I. 114), "The sentence is the unit of significant
speech"; and again (p. 115), "The student of language cannot
deal with words apart from sentences." And that this is true
from a phonetic point of view is very noticeable when children
are taught to read. What can be more unsatisfactory and un-
meaning than the reading of beginners who, not having yet
learnt the art of phrasing, that is of duly subordinating the
weak words to the strong ones, pronounce every word with
equal distinctness? Inspectors will not tolerate this, even in
Infant Schools.
Classified Examples of Weak Words. Examples of
words where the vowel, when not stressed, is reduced to a are
am, and, as, at, can, had, has, have, shall, than, that, where æ
becomes a; of, from, was (woz, waz), where o becomes a, and
to (tû, tu, ta) usually reduced to ta before a consonant.
Again, the word and has four forms, used by everybody, and
all recognised in the Oxford Dictionary. When we make a
pause after it, we pronounce it (1) and, to rhyme with band
(bænd), but the two forms most frequently used are (2) and, like
and in husband (huzband), (3) an, like an in organ (ôgan); as
in pen and ink (and), go and see (an), whilst in some familiar
phrases, as in bread and butter, it is invariably weakened to
(4) n'.
The d need not disappear before every consonant, but only
before those with which it could not combine at the beginning
of a word. We can use the form and in strong and well, cp.
dwell, cold and raw, cp. draw, and so on, but in familiar speech
no one adheres to this rule, and even in public reading and
speaking one may often hear the d dropped before a vowel.
And again, the has two forms, recognised by singers, though
not distinguished in ordinary spelling. Before a vowel it is
dhi, and before a consonant dha. We say dhi æpl', dhi orinj, dha
melan, dha pêar.
Another point worth noticing is that in unemphatic words h
is almost invariably dropped, that is, the words has, have, had,
he, him, his, her, when they are not stressed, e.g. in Giv im iz
Diphthongs and Triphthongs
55
hæt (Give him his hat). It is exceedingly rare to hear h in any
of these, and the utmost which can be done without stressing them
is to retain the h (1) at the beginning of a sentence, as in hav
yû bîn aut? (have you been out?), or (2) after r, so as to prevent
the r making the absence of h more conspicuous. Few people
follow this last rule, but it is better to say nîa him than nîar
im and pripê'a ha(r) than pripêr a(r) (near him, prepare her).
Observe also how we almost invariably drop h in weak
syllables, e.g. in Shepad, Boemingam, Bælam, hauso'ld, folsud,¹
hâtsôn, fóred, viikl', viimant, postyumas, Mowikan (shepherd,
Birmingham, Balham, household, falsehood, hartshorn, fore-
head, vehicle, vehement, posthumous, Mohican).
The word iz (is) is often reduced to z or s, according to the
sound preceding it-it-s not rait (it's not right), hî-z mistéykn’
(he is mistaken).
Many other examples might be given, but the student will
probably be able to observe the remaining weak forms for him-
self, as far as this may be requisite.
Some other classes of variable words are pointed out in the
notes appended to this chapter.
How Weak Words are written in this Method.
The only weak forms used in this Phonetic Method are a, an,
dhi, dha, tu, instead of the strong forms ey, æn, dhî, tû (a, an,
the, to); except in poetry, where it would be impossible to scan
the lines unless the number of syllables were indicated cor-
rectly.
In the weak words or, nor, for, your, and in the unstressed
final syllables of therefore, wherefore, lessor, vendor, guarantor,
we have the ending ôr before a vowel and ô in other cases, but
ôa is seldom or never heard, and we spell them all with ôr,
thus: ôr, nôr, fôr, yôr, dhêafôr, and so on.
Note that when a word in its weak form does not constitute
a separate syllable, it is joined to the word with which it is
pronounced by a hyphen, thus: ai-d, wî-v (I would, we have).
On p. 79 is a specimen of prose in which the pronunciation
of the weak words is shown.
III. Mistakes in Joinings. These are surprisingly com-
1 fôlsud.-W.L.
56
The Sounds of English
mon in the pronunciation of well-bred people as well as amongst
the uneducated. They are of two kinds.
1. Superfluous r between two vowels. This is commonest
after a, and especially when the following vowel also is a. In
the following examples it is convenient to show the weak words
as they are pronounced in the sentence, and not in their strong
forms. Dhi aidîa (r) av it. Eyda(r) az gon aut. Dha sowfar
iz kœvad. Viktô'ria(r) aua Kwîn.
After ô and â superfluous r is not so common, but after ô it
is not unfrequently heard in church, e.g. in Dha lô(r) av dha
Lôd. It must of course be avoided also after â, e.g. in Papâ(r)
iz not wel.
2. Failure to pronounce point consonants before y. The con-
sonants s and z are liable to be changed into sh and zh, before
y, and when t or d comes before y, the y is altered to sh or zh.
Change of s to sh before y is often heard in this year, six
years, bless you, a nice young man, pronounced dhish, siksh,
blesh, naish.
Change of z to zh before y in these years, as yet, tease you,
please you, pronounced dhîzh, æzh, tîzh, plîzh.
Change of y to sh after t. As tsh is usually written ch, the
fact that the t is retained is not obvious unless we write tsh full
length. The change is common in don't you know! won't you
go? can't you tell? last year, pronounced kânt shu tell? etc.
Change of y to zh after d. Here also, if we abbreviate dzh
to j, the nature of the change is not clearly seen. It is often
heard in would you, could you, should you, pronounced wud
zhu, and so on.
Dropping of d before b. This curious mistake may be heard
any day in Yû betar, Hî betar, and so on, intended for yû-ad or
yû-d betar, hî-ad or hi-d betar. It then naturally follows, from
the total omission of the verb hæd, that some children mistake
betar for a verb and inflect it accordingly, betaz, betad, which
has a queer effect.
IV. Pedantic Mistakes. These are mistakes due to the
opinion that we ought to pronounce as we spell, and in this
direction teachers are the chief, though by no means the only
offenders. The false theory which gives rise to these mistakes
Diphthongs and Triphthongs
57
is so widely spread, that we cannot wonder if many persons
pick out a word here and there and try to reform the current
pronunciation. The word selected for experiment is often one
of a class all pronounced in the same way, but the speaker is
quite unconscious of his own inconsistency in singling out this
particular word for alteration whilst leaving a number of simi-
lar ones unchanged. For instance, a celebrated London phy-
sician makes a point of pronouncing nothing exactly as it is
spelt, with oth sounding as it does in apothecary. To be con-
sistent he ought to give the same sound to the o of doth, other,
mother, brother, etc.¹ And how many of the purists who say
asowsiet for asowshiet (associate, sb.) have noticed that to be
consistent they ought to say sowsial, owsian (social, ocean), and
so on? Some of the worst faults belonging to this class are the
words often, says, said, England, propitiation, mispronounced
ôftan or oftan, seyz, seyd, Enggland, pro'pisieyshan, all of which
are unfortunately spreading amongst half-educated people. It
is an extraordinary mistake to pronounce t as s, a sound which
it never has in any word of our language, and probably due to
the analogous and somewhat affected pronunciation of associa-
tion as asowsieyshan.
EXAMPLES OF PEDANTIC MISTAKES.
Properly.
Mispronounced.
mountain
maunteyn
fountain
faunteyn
cp. captain
villain
magistrate
mæjistreyt
candidate
kændideyt
cp. reprobate, sb.
maunten or mauntin
faunten or fauntin
kæptin
vilin 2
mæjistret
kændidet
repro'bet
estimate, sb.
separate, adj.
estimet
separet
¹ Historically speaking, the word nothing is not quite on the same
level with doth, other, etc., nothing having in Middle English an open,
doth etc. a close ô sound. In the latter class of words a was developed
earlier than in the former instance, which appears to be a dialectal
form introduced into standard English about 1700.-Ed.
2 Dr. Leaf regards vilin as Cockney, and pronounces vilan.-Ed.
58
The Sounds of English
Mispronounced.
thorough
thero'
ep. borough
medicine
medisin
Properly.
thæra
bæra
medsn'
diocese
daiasîs
daiases
England
Enggland
Inggland
cp. pretty
priti
ate
eyt
et
bade
beyd
bæd
sate
seyt
sæt
says
seyz
sez
said
seyd
pedagogy
pîdagowji
laborious
inspiration
leybôrias
sed
pedagoji
labôrias
inspaireyshan
inspireyshan
deprivation
dipraiveyshan
depriveyshan
recitation
rîsaiteyshan
resiteyshan
cp. admiration
ædmireyshan
respiration
respireyshan
resignation
rezigneyshan
associate (sb.)
associate (vb.)
cp. social
asowsiet
asowshiet
asowsieyt
asowshieyt
musician
officiate
propitiation
pro'pisieyshan
cp. satiate
initiation
sowshal
myuzishan
ofishieyt or afishieyt
pro'pishieyshan
seyshieyt
inishieyshan
nature
neytyuar
neychar
lecture
lectyuar
lekchar
soldier
sowldyar
sowldjar
conquer
kongkwar
cp. liquor
often
exchequer
cp. soften
castle
cp. wrestle
thistle
ôftan or oftan
kâstl'
kongkar
likar
ekschékar
ôfn' or ofn'
sôfn' or sofn'
kâsl'
resl'
thisl'
Diphthongs and Triphthongs
59
Mispronounced.
Properly.
spilled
spild 1
spilt
spelled
speld 1
spelt
learned
loend¹
loent
dreamed
drîmd ¹
dremt
V. Some Miscellaneous Mistakes.
aye (yes)
beneficent
Mispronounced.
ey
binífisant
biography
bîógrafi
Properly.
âi 2
binéfisant
baiógrafi
calisthenic
kælisténik
kælisthénik
camelopard
kæmelépad
kæmelo'pâd
Christian
Krishtyan
Kristyan or
Krischan
clematis
kleméytis
klematis
drama
dræma
drâma
economic
eko❜nómik
îko'nómik
God
Gôd
God
height
heterogeneous
homogeneous
haitth
hait
hetaro'gényas or
hetaro'jenyas
hetaro'jînyas
howmo'genyas
I dare say,
ai desey
idyll
Isaiah
idil
Aizáia
just
matron
howmo'jînyas
ai dêa sey
jest
mætran
nomenclature
panorama
pænaræ'ma
patron
pætran
philanthropic
filantrópik
filanthropik
presumptuous
prizœmshas
prizomtyuas
primer
primar
praimar
question
kwesshan or
kweschan
kweshshan
via
vîa
vaia
nowménklachar
aidil
Aizâ'ia 2
jæst
meytran
nowmenkleycha
pænarâ'ma
peytran
1 Dr. Leaf does not think these forms can be regarded as uncondition-
ally wrong. See p. 36.-Ed.
2 For the diphthong âi see p. 49.
60
The Sounds of English
QUESTIONS.
1. Enumerate the murmur diphthongs and triphthongs produced
by r, giving an example of each.
2. The diphthongs îa and ûa have a tendency to change. Ex-
plain and illustrate this.
3. Give examples of weak words in which (a) æ changes to a,
(b) other vowels change to a, (c) h is dropped-at least
three of each.
4. Give four examples of pedantic mistakes, four of miscel-
laneous mistakes, and one each of the various kinds of
mistakes liable to occur in joinings between words.
5. Transcribe phonetically, marking the stress as before (p. 27):-
Although in all lovely nature there is, first, an excellent
degree of simple beauty, addressed to the eye alone, yet
often what impresses us most will form but a very small
portion of that visible beauty. That beauty may, for in-
stance, be composed of lovely flowers, and glittering
streams, and blue sky and white clouds; and yet the
thing that impresses us most, and which we should be.
sorriest to lose, may be a thin grey film on the extreme
horizon, not so large, in the space of the scene it occupies,
as a piece of gossamer on a near-at-hand bush, nor in any
wise prettier to the eye than the gossamer; but because
the gossamer is known by us for a little bit of spider's
work, and the other grey film is known to mean a moun-
tain ten thousand feet high, inhabited by a race of noble
mountaineers, we are solemnly impressed by the aspect of
it, and yet all the while the thoughts and knowledge which
cause us to receive this impression are so obscure that we
are not conscious of them.
CHAPTER VIII.
QUANTITY, STRESS, INTONATION.
Several subjects coming under the head of synthesis remain
to be considered, the preceding chapters having been almost
exclusively devoted to analysis, but these subjects may be dealt
with very briefly.
QUANTITY.
Both vowels and consonants vary in quantity, that is in dura-
tion or length, but the quantity of consonants need not be con-
sidered here.
The English vowels naturally fall into two classes, long and
short, but their length is not always fixed and invariable. It
depends upon two things, (1) whether they are stressed or not,
and (2) whether they are followed by a breath consonant.
It is obvious, for instance, that unstressed ô in ôthoriti is
shorter than stressed ô in ôthar, that kâd has a longer vowel
than kât, and mæn than kæt.
Dividing the vowels into long, half-long, and short, they may
be classified thus:-
Long Vowels. All so-called long vowels and diphthongs,
when they are stressed and either final or followed by a voiced
consonant.
Half-long Vowels. (1) All so-called long vowels and
diphthongs, when followed by a breath consonant.
(2) All so-called short vowels, when stressed and followed by
a voiced consonant.
Short Vowels. All so-called short vowels, when followed
by a breath consonant.
For further details, see the chapter on quantity in Dr. Sweet's
Primer of Spoken English.
61
62
The Sounds of English
The following arrangement may be a help in remembering the
rules for quantity.
Long.
Half-long.
Short.
Long {
( kâ(r)
kâd
kât
kæb
kæp
Commonly called
Short
Long {pley
pleyz
pleys
Short
led
let
Long {
flow
flowd
flowt
Short
log
lok
The open and so-called short vowels æ and o, when followed by
a voiced consonant, as in mæn, and dog, are sometimes so pro-
longed that they are fully long. This drawling way of speaking
should however be avoided. In a hesitating yes, e also may be
made even longer than an average long vowel.
STRESS.
Stress or force is due to the effort made in expelling the
breath from the lungs. If we compare the syllables of a sen-
tence, or of a single word, we find that there are different degrees
of stress, and for our purpose it will be enough to distinguish
stressed from unstressed or weak syllables, subdividing the
stressed syllables into those which have principal stress, and
those which have only secondary stress.
Stress in Single Words. To begin with, we will
consider stress in single words. Taking for instance the words
ventileyshan, kæraktaristik, we find that in these the principal
stress is on the penultimate syllable, and that there is secondary
stress on the first syllable, whilst the remaining syllables are
weak or unstressed.
In this method secondary stress is not marked, but in words
Quantity. Stress. Intonation
63
not stressed according to rule, the syllable which has the principal
stress is marked thus: inténd, impô'tant, biháind, ritóen. Note
that in ai, and in all diphthongs, the accent is placed over the
vowel which is most strongly stressed. The rules for marking
stressed syllables are based upon the following facts :
(1) In our language the stress generally falls upon the first
syllable.
(2) The vowels a, o' and yu are never stressed.
(3) Certain terminations, the commonest of which are -shan
and -iti, always cause the stress to be on the preceding syllable.
So in this method words which are not stressed according to
the following rules have the stress marked.
Stress Rules.
(1) Words ending in -shan or -iti invariably have the chief
stress on the preceding syllable. Examples: ventileyshan,
irritabiliti.
(2) Words not having these endings, but having a, o' or
yu as the vowel of the first syllable, almost invariably have
the chief stress on the second syllable. Examples: pasifik,
pro'gresiv, myunifisant.
(3) Words not falling under the above rules are mostly
stressed upon the first syllable.
Stress in Compound Words. In words which are not
compounds, we do not stress two consecutive syllables, but one
or more weak syllables occur between those which have prin-
cipal and secondary stress, as in kærakterístik, ditóeminéyshan.
In fact secondary stress occurs only because it is difficult to
pronounce many weak syllables in succession. But in compound
words, or rather in such words as are felt to be compounds, each
part of the word has its own proper stress, so that the stress
may happen to fall upon two consecutive syllables, as in
méydsóevant.
In most compound words one of the stressed syllables is sub-
ordinated to the other, and its stress may be called a secondary
stress. In pitfôl, autbreyk, wochwoed, for instance, the chief
stress is on the first syllable, and in cennówn, distéystful, it is
on the second.
The prefix en is always felt to be separable, and has a slight
64
The Sounds of English
stress upon it. On the other hand, some familiar words, such
as brekfast, kœbad, are no longer felt to be compounds, and in
these only one syllable is stressed.
Level Stress. The word amen and the interjections
halloa! bravo! are said to have level stress, as in them both
syllables are equally accented, but such instances are rare.
66 I
Shifting Stress. There are some words which have the
principal stress on the first or second syllable, according to cir-
cumstances. We say, for instance: "His age is fiftécn.”
have fifteen shillings."
wayside inn." "They sat outside." "An outside passenger."
"He went downstairs."
Chinese."
"Some fell by the wayside."
"A downstairs room."
"A
"Among the
"A Chinese lantern." "I saw the princess." "I
saw Princess Alice."
Contrasted Words. The stress is also shifted when we
want to contrast two words, the principal stress being laid on
the syllable which serves to distinguish them. So we say,
agrécable and disagrecable, decided and undecided, open and
ré-open, áscend and descend, though the principal stress gener-
ally falls as follows: disagrécable, undecided, rc-ópen, ascénd,
descénd.
Sentence Stress or Emphasis. To the ear this is just
the same as the stress of a single long word. In Giv mi sam
shuggar the stress is like that of kæraktaristik. In both the
first syllable has secondary stress, the fourth has principle
stress, and the rest are weak. But whereas in a single word of
more than one syllable the stress is fixed, in a sentence the
speaker often has some freedom of choice as to which words he
will emphasize most strongly.
(1) Logical Stress. In English, sentence stress depends
almost entirely upon the relative importance of the words, so
that a person who understands what he is reading, and has not
formed the habit of reading monotonously through bad teaching
in childhood, or through the propensity some English people
have for concealing all their feelings, will have little difficulty
in stressing his sentences properly.
(2) Rhythmical Stress. The stress is also much affected
by the rhythm of the sentence. We have noticed how in words
Quantity. Stress. Intonation
65
of many syllables there is generally a well-marked secondary
stress, just because it is not convenient to pronounce many
weak syllables in succession. Words which are an exception to
this rule, such as témpararili, labaratari, where we have four
weak syllables coming together, are difficult to pronounce on
that account. And so in sentences there is a tendency to intro-
duce stress at regular intervals, it being convenient to find a series
of syllables to lean upon at intervals which are tolerably regular.
It is true that the logical accent falling upon the chief words in
the sentence is of the first importance, and cannot be altogether
set aside; and yet if a set discourse, or any long sentence, be
listened to with a view to noticing the stress, it will be found
that the accents seem to occur very regularly. And closer
observation will show that, as a general rule, we unconsciously
select amongst the accented syllables some which shall bear the
chief stress, and contrive to let these occur at regular intervals
of time, hurrying over the intermediate syllables if they are
many, and taking them slowly if they are but few. The last
interval of time before a pause is however generally shorter
than the others.
The tendency to deliver prose in this rhythmical manner is
most observable when the passages read are so familiar as to be
nearly or quite known by heart. The stress occurs with almost
absolute regularity when family prayer or church prayers are
read by an unskilful reader. A reader whose taste is good will
avoid the monstrous effect produced by perfect regularity, but
the rhythm is still perceptible.
As examples of rhythm in prose, we may take the Lord's
Prayer and the beginning of the Exhortation.
Auar Fâ'dhar which â't in hévn', Hæ'lo'id bî' dhai Néym.
Dhai kíngdam ko'm. Dhai wil bî do'n in óeth, Ez it íz in hévn'.
Gív œs dhis déy auar déyli bréd. Ænd fôgív œs auar tréspasiz,
Æz wî' fôgiv dhém dhæt tréspas agenst œ's. End lî'd oes not
intu¹temtéyshan; Boet dilívar ces from î'vil. Âmén.
Dî'ali bilæe'vid brédhren, Dha skrípchar mû'veth œes in scéndri
pléysiz tu æknólej ænd kanfés auar manifowld sínz ænd wíkid-
nes; Æ'nd dhæet wî shúd not disémbl' nôr klówk dhem bifô'ar
¹ According to Dr. Leaf more usually not intu.-Ed.
F
66
The Sounds of English
dha féys ov Ôlmáiti Gód auar hévn'li Fâ'dhar; bœt kanfés
dhem widh an hoe'mbl', lówli, pénitant, and o'bî'dyant hâ't; tu
dhi énd dhat wî mey obtéyn fôgívnes ov dha séym, bai hiz ín-
finit gúdnes ænd móesi.
INTONATION.
The chief distinction between the use of the voice in speaking
and in singing is, that whilst in singing it is sustained for a
time at the same pitch, in speaking it is continually rising and
falling. And not only do single syllables rise and fall, but we
frequently hear a rise succeeded by a fall on the same syllable,
or the opposite, that is, a syllable falling and rising again.
The intervals through which the voice rises and falls in
speaking are however very difficult to ascertain accurately, nor
has any sort of notation been invented which can adequately
express them, so that the acquisition af good intonation, which
is of high importance in reading and speaking, must depend
more on the feeling and taste of the speaker, and on his oppor-
tunities of observing and imitating good models, than on any
systematic instruction.¹ It may suffice to state here two rules
which govern English intonation:-
(1) Syllables which are accented rise in pitch.
(2) In interrogative sentences the voice rises at the end, but all
other sentences have a fall at the close.
Key. The key in which speakers pitch their utterances de-
pends partly on their vocal organs, men naturally using a lower
key than women and children, and great differences being
observable between individuals of the same age and sex. Some-
thing also depends on the speaker's frame of mind. Joy, or any
great excitement, naturally leads to the use of a higher key than
usual.
DOUBLED SOUNDS.
These are not very frequent, though doubled letters are very
common in our ordinary spelling, but several consonants and
1 During the last few years the phonautograph (cymagraph) and
phonograph have been employed with satisfactory results to record the
intonation of the speaking voice. A musical notation (notes or figures)
would seem to answer all practical purposes.-Ed.
Quantity. Stress. Intonation
67
the short vowel i are sometimes doubled in the middle of a
word, and doubled sounds are of course liable to occur between
two words.
Stops.
Liquids, Continuants, Vowels.
pp, bb
tt, dd, kk.
mm, nn.
11, ss, ii.
læmppowst
kowtteyl
howmmeyd
howlli
hoppowl
heddres
œnnésisari
misstéytment
kæbbildar
bukkeys
œnnówn
pitiing
When stops are doubled, it should be noticed that the first
consonant differs from the second. The organs of speech take
the right position for the formation of the consonant, whatever
it may be, and the reopening of the passage through the mouth
is delayed a little, but the opening or explosion is not made
twice over.
The first consonant is heard in the act of closing
and the second in the act of opening.
When a liquid or a continuant is doubled, the sound is pro-
longed, and an increase of force is given to indicate the beginning
of a new syllable.
Vowels are generally doubled in the same manner, an increase
of force marking the beginning of a new syllable, as in Papâ
âsks, Thrî îgl'z, Drô ôf, Thrû ûtakamænd (Ootacamund), Bela
and Emili. But when unstressed i is doubled, as in pitiing,
kæriing, pritiist, a parasitic y is heard between the two vowels,
which it is not worth while to represent in writing.
CONSONANTS COMBINED.
Combinations of Consonants. Implosive and ex-
plosive Consonants. It is not only doubled consonants
which are liable to be modified in the manner just described, for
whenever two consonants which are ordinarily explosive, i.c.
two stops, come together, there is only one explosive, the first
consonant being heard only in the act of shutting the breath
passage, whilst the second is heard in the act of opening. In
such cases, though both consonants may be called stops, it is
only the second that is explosive. The first is said to be implo-
sive. Observe how the consonants are formed in such words as
68
The Sounds of English
ækt, lopt, ræbd, begd, for instance. There is no explosion for
the k, p, b and g in these cases.
Stops followed by a liquid are modified in a similar way, the
vocal organs being placed in the right position for the liquid
before the explosion takes place.
Examples:-Braitn', beykn', botl', æpl', owpn', fikl'.
WEAK VOWELS COMBINED.
When two weak vowels are combined, we commonly insert a
parasitic consonant between them, as already noticed in the case
of doubled i. The same thing happens when the first weak
vowel is the second part of a diphthong. After i we hear y,
as in pitiing, pritia(r), traiing, traial, emploiing, emploia(r),
and after u we hear w, as in konstruing, Februari, vælyuing,
vælyuabl', alauing, alauabl'.
The only other combinations of weak vowels which occur fre-
quently are a+i and a+a, and these occur only between two
words, as in "Bela iz indô'z," "Bela and Emili," where there is
a strong temptation to insert parasitic r, a temptation to be care-
fully guarded against, for many well-educated speakers succumb
to it.
SYLLABLE DIVISION.
We have already noticed that speech is not, as some persons
imagine, divided into words by means of pauses, or in any such
way as will enable the ear to perceive the division. Common
phrases, such as "at all events," are often mistaken by children
for single words, until they have been scen in writing. Indeed
it is now generally recognised that the true unit of speech is the
sentence, and not the word, whether we regard speech phonetic-
ally, or as the expression of thought, or go back to the history
of its origin.
Breath Groups. Regarded phonetically, speech consists
of breath groups, and these again are composed of syllables.
The breath group, which is usually a whole sentence, and
occasionally only a part of one, is easily recognised, as it con-
sists of all the sounds uttered without pausing to take breath;
but the limits of the syllable are not always very clearly defined.
Intensity of Sound. The grouping of sounds in syllables
Quantity. Stress. Intonation
69
depends upon the relative intensity of the sounds, that is, on
their being more or less easily heard. And their intensity
depends partly on the fact that some sounds are naturally more
sonorous than others, and partly on the force of expiration used
in uttering them.
Intensity due to particular Sounds. In such a word
as solid, the division into syllables is due to the difference in
the qualities of the sounds employed. The two vowels are more
sonorous than any of the three consonants, and each vowel
forms the nucleus of a syllable, the intermediate consonant 1
belonging equally to both syllables.
Intensity due to Effort of Speaker. But if we study
the syllable division of such words and phrases as Mis Smith,
kûlli, mînnes, drô ôf, we find that a new syllable may be begun,
without any change of sound, by merely giving a fresh impulse
of force to the sounds s, 1, n, and ô.
Syllable Division. These then are the two facts upon
which syllable division depends; and wherever there is a
marked increase of intensity, due either to the character of the
sound uttered, or to the force of utterance, we have a new sound.¹
Syllables without Vowels. Syllables can be formed
without any vowel, for some consonants are much more sonorous
than others. We can hear such sounds as sh and the com-
bination pst very distinctly; and in English, as we have already
observed, a prolonged m, n or 1 can form a syllable without the
aid of any vowel, as in schism, reasons, troubled (sizm', rîzn'z
træbl'd).
Word Division. In English the division of syllables is
generally, but not always, made to correspond with the word
division. Dr. Sweet observes that we distinguish a name and
a try from an aim and at Rye by the syllable division, that is,
by making the stress begin on the first sound of the second word.
Otherwise the phrases would sound exactly alike. But in some
cases the word and syllable division do not correspond, e.g. in
not at ôl, where the syllable division is a-tôl, a new stress be-
ginning on the t of æt.
1 As the context shows, "Intensity" is to be taken as signifying
"loudness," not "force of utterance," as usual.—Ed.
70
The Sounds of English
NOTE ON LOAN WORDS USED IN ENGLISH.
The right pronunciation of loan words from French and other
languages is a very perplexing question. Many of them are
pronounced in various ways, and it is by no means easy to decide
what pronunciation should be recommended, and whether those
who are able to pronounce the language from which they are
borrowed should use a foreign or an anglicised pronunciation,
On the whole it seems best to anglicise them, as far as custom
will permit, for it is seldom convenient to use the foreign pro-
nunciation when a borrowed word occurs in an English sentence.
The drawbacks to the use of the foreign pronunciation are
these. In the first place, our object in speaking is to make our-
selves understood, and with a view to this we are obliged to
mcdify the pronunciation of some foreign words. The German
Reichstag for instance would be more intelligible to most
English people as Raiçstâg than as Raiçstâx.
Secondly, many foreign words, and especially all French
words, are pronounced in a manner so contrary to the genius of
the English language, that it is almost impossible to make the
effort necessary to pronounce them in the genuine foreign fashion
in the middle of an English sentence; and finally, if we did
succeed in this, foreign words would not harmonise with the
rest of the sentence, and the effect would be very disagreeable.
In French words the distinction between stressed and un-
stressed syllables is very slight, but in English the difference is
strongly marked, and whether we do or do not pronounce some
foreign sounds in French loan words, we always stress them in
the English fashion.
The only foreign sounds which it is desirable to use in loan
words are enumerated and illustrated on pp. ix., x., and are ex-
plained above, r, p. 18; ç, x, p. 24; ö, ü, ân, æn, ôn, oen, pp.
33, 34; à, p. 41. Additional illustrations are given below.
Some of these ten sounds are not often wanted. The most
necessary of them are r, which in French and German is practi-
cally a new sound, being difficult to pronounce when final or
followed by a consonant, and the three vowels à, ü, ôn. Those
who cannot pronounce ân may substitute for it ôn, which is
easier.
Quantity. Stress. Intonation
71
Final r in loan words is sometimes treated as in English, being
silent unless followed by a vowel in the next word, in which
case we need use no special type to represent it, e.g. in vasar
(wasser), but in other words, where we invariably pronounce it,
it is printed as an italic, e.g. bel letr (belles lettres).
Note that when it is convenient to print whole words in
italics, ordinary Roman type may be used for final r, as well as
for the n used to indicate that the preceding vowel is nasal,
thus: repertuar (répertoire), bônbôn (bonbon).
In Italian loan words the only foreign sounds which need be
used are r and à, as in fortey, prîma donà (forte, prima donna).
Italian r is a point r.
In the following examples the foreign sounds most frequently
used in loan words are put first.
Stress is marked as in English.
Foreign Sounds in Loan Words.
I
à
sôrtî
(sortie)
eytà'p
(étape)
gûrmey
(gourmet)
nàîf
(naïf)
bel letr
(belles lettres)
plàto'
(plateau)
repêrtwâr (répertoire)
Hintarlànt
Firn
(Firn)
kîrshvàsar
Hêr
(Herr)
àl fresko'
ôn
ân
bên bôn
(bonbon)
(IIinterland)
(Kirschwasser)
(al fresco)
deypândâns (dépendance)
kûpôn
(coupon)
dîlîzhâns
gàrsôn
(garçon)
fîânsey
lîeyzôn (liaison)
pânsyên
(diligence)
(fiancé, -će)
(pension)
pro'nônsey (prononcé)
sûpsôn
(soupçon)
ü
kwàfür
(coiffure)
distængey
rakoneysâns (reconnaissance)
sürvéyyâns (surveillance)
2211
(distinguć)
düvey
(duvet)
fæn da syeykl
(fin de siècle)
fishü
( fichi)
ænpâs
(impasse)
menü
(menu)
pæns ney
(pince nez)
Flügl'
(Flügel)
tænbr
(timbre)
Mülar
(Müller)
træn da lüks
(train de luxe)
72
The Sounds of English
ö, oen
X, ç
Α
fö da zhwâ
mîlyö
(feu de joie)
(milieu)
Axan
Bâx
(Aachen)
(Bach)
prîdyö
(priedieu)
fâx
(fach)
Göta
(Göthe)
Metarniç (Metternich)
Köln
(Köln)
pfenîç
(pfennig)
vænt-ey-óén (vingt et un)
Raiçsrât
(Reichsrath)
QUESTION.
Transcribe phonetically, marking the stress according to the
rules on p. 27.
Bristol in 1685.
Large as Bristol might then appear, it occupied but a
very small portion of the area on which it now stands.
A few churches of eminent beauty rose out of a laby-
rinth of narrow lanes built upon vaults of no great solidity.
If a coach or a cart entered those alleys, there was dan-
ger that it would be wedged between the houses, and
danger also that it would break in the cellars. Goods
were therefore conveyed about the town almost exclusively
in trucks drawn by dogs; and the richest inhabitants
exhibited their wealth, not by riding in gilded carriages,
but by walking the streets with trains of servants in rich
liveries, and by keeping tables loaded with good cheer.
The pomp of the christenings and burials far exceeded
what was seen at any other place in England. The hos-
pitality of the city was widely renowned, and especially
the collations with which the sugar refiners regaled their
visitors. The repast was dressed in the furnace, and was
accompanied by a rich beverage made of the best Spanish
wine, and celebrated over the whole kingdom as Bristol
milk. This luxury was supported by a thriving trade
with the North American plantations and with the West
Indies.
APPENDIX.
PHONETIC TEXTS.
DHA SENTANS.
A sentans, it moest bî rimémbad, iz dha neym givn' bai dha
gramêrian tu whot dha lojishan wud kôl a propo'zishan ôr a
joejmant. End dhow a joejmant mey bî ænalaizd intu sobjekt
ænd objekt ænd kanekting kopyula (ôr mental ækt ov kampæ-
rizn'), wî kænot, if wî wish tu bî intélijibl', separeyt its elimants
won from dhi edhar. Dha howl sentans, dha howl logos, æz
dha Grîks wud hæv toemd it, iz dhi ownli posibl' yûnit ov thôt;
sobjekt ænd objekt âr æz moch koriléytid æz dha pozitiv ænd
negativ powlz ov dha magnet.
1
Længgwij, dhen, wî mey ley daun, biginz widh sentansiz,
not widh singgl' woedz. Dha lætar egzist ownli fôr dha leksikó-
grafar, ænd ivn' dha leksikógrafar hæz tu toen dhem intu sen-
tansiz bai afiksing a definishan if hî wud rendar dhem intélijibl’.
Wî âr akœstamd tu sî sentansiz divaidid intu dhêar indivídyual
woedz in raiting, and sow wî kom tu fænsi dhæt dhis iz rait ænd
næcharal. Boet dha veri æksn't which wî ley apon auar woedz
ôt tu show œs hau fâr dhis iz from dha trûth. Dhi æksn't ov
a woed vêriz akôding to its pleys in a sentans; fôr poepasiz ov
æksentyueyshan, wî rigâ'd not dhi indivídyual woedz, bet dha
howl sentans which dhey kampowz. End dhis autwad fækt ov
æksentyueyshan iz boet an indikeyshan ov dhi inwad fækt ov
signifikeyshan. Ôl længgwij moest bî signifikant; bot œntil
dha howl sentans iz œtad, œntíl dha howl thôt which laiz
biháind it iz eksprest, dhis kænot bî dha keys. Dhi ekspreshan
ov dha thôt mey bî folti ænd impóefekt, bot onlés dha thôt bî
safishantli eksprést tu bî intélijibl' tu anodhar, it hæz not yet
embódid itself in dha fôm ov længgwij. Dha Grîk logos woz
not dhi indivídyual woed, which, apât from its rileyshan tu
odhar pâts ov dha sentans, hæz now mîning in itself, boet dha
kamplît ækt ov rîzn'ing, which on dhi inwad said iz kôld a
jojmant, ænd on dhi autwad said a sentans ôr propo'zishan.
1 Kórileytid.-IV.L.
73
74
The Sounds of English
Dha singgl' woed iz tu dha sentans whot silabl'z ænd letaz âr
tu dha singgl' woed. Wî mey breyk op a woed intu dha sevaral ¹
saundz ov which it iz kampowzd, boet dhis iz dha woek ov dha
fo'nolajist, not ov dha spîkar. Sow, tû, wî mey breyk op a sen-
tans laik "Downt dû dhæt "intu dha fôar woedz, " Dû-not-dû-
dhat, boet dhis, ageyn,2 iz dha konshas pro'sîdyar ov dha
gramêrian.
Sentansiz mey bî ov eni length; dhey mey kansist ov a singgl'
silabl', laik gow! ôr yes, ôr dhey mey hæv tu bî eksprést bai a
lâj noembar ov separet 3 "woedz "; whot iz esénshal iz dhæt
dhey shud bî signifikant tu ancedhar, shud ædikwetli kanvey tu
hiz maind dha howl thôt dhæt iz inténdid tu bî eksprést. En-
lés dha saundz wî œtar âr kambaind intu a sentans, dhey hæv
now môar mîning dhæn dha kraiz ov dha jækôl ôr dhi yelping
ov dha koer; ænd centil dhey hæv a mîning, and sow reprizént
auar thôt, dhey dû not konstityút længgwij. Dha sentans, in
shôt, iz dhi ownli yûnit which længgwij kæn now, and dhi ælti-
met stâting-point ov ôl auar linggwistik inkwáiariz.-Prof.
A. II. Sayce.
IN PREYZ Ov LEZHAR.
""
Shûali ôl œdhar lezhar iz hori kampêad widh a sœni wôk
thrû dha fîldz from “âftanûn 4 choech,' æz sœch wôks yûst tu
bî in dhowz owld lezhali taimz, when dha bowt, glaiding slîpili
along dha kanal, woz dha nyûest lowkamówtiv wondar; when
Sænde buks hæd mowst ov dhem owld braun-ledhar kævaz
ænd owpn'd widh rimâ'kabl' prisízhan ôlwez in woen pleys.
Lezhar iz gôn 5-gôn whêar dha spining-whilz âr gôn, ænd dha
pæk-hôsiz, ænd dha slow wæganz, ænd dha pedlaz, hû brôt
bâginz tu dha dôar on sœni âftanû'nz. Injî'nyas filósafaz tel
yû, pahæps, dhat dha greyt woek ov dha stîm-enjin iz tu
krîéyt lezhar fôr mænkáind. Downt bilî'v dhem: it ownli
krîéyts a vækyuam fôr îgar thôt tu ræsh in. Îvn' aidl'nes iz
îgar nau-îgar fôr amyûzmant: prown tu ekskoeshan-treynz,
ât-myuzîamz, pîariódikl' litarachar, ænd eksáiting novl'z:
Alternative forms :-¹ sevral.
4 âftanû'n,
2 agen.
6
3 sepret.
when used as substantive; see below," sœni âftanû'nz.”
• Litrachar.
5 gon.
Appendix
75
prown îvn' tu saiantifik thîaraizing, ænd koesari pîps thrû mai-
kraskowps. Owld Lezhar woz kwait a difarant¹ poesn'ej: hî
ownli red won nyûspeypar, inasn't ov lîdaz, ænd woz frî from
dhæt pîariadisiti ov senseyshanz which wî kôl powst-taim. Hî
woz a kantemplativ, râdhar staut jentl'man, ov eksl'ant dijés-
chan,-ov kwaiat poesepshanz, œendizî'zd bai haipóthisis; hæpi
in hiz inabiliti tu now dha kôziz ov things, prifóering dha
thingz dhamselvz. Hî livd chîfli in dha kontri, among plezn't
sîts and howmstedz, and woz fond ov sôntaring bai dha frût-
trî wôl, ænd senting dhi eyprikots when dhey woer wômd bai
dha môning soenshain, ôr ov sheltaring himself œendar dhi ôchad
bauz æt nûn, when dha sœmar pêaz woer fôling. Hî nyû nœ-
thing ov wîk-dey soevisiz, and thôt noen dha woes ov dha Sonde
soeman if it alaud him to slip from dha tekst tu dha blesing-
laiking dhi âftanûn soevis best, bikóz dha prêaz woer shôtest,
ænd not asheymd tu sey sow; fôr hî hæd an îzi, joli konshans,
brôd-bækt laik himself, ænd eybl' tu kæri a greyt dîl ov bîar ôr
pôt-wáin-not bîing meyd skwîmish bai dauts and kwâmz ænd
lôfti æspireyshanz. Laif woz not a tâsk tu him, bot a saini-
kyûar: hî finggad dha giniz in hiz pokit, ænd et hiz dinaz, ænd
slept dha slip ov dhi irispónsibl'; fôr hæd hî not kept cep hiz
châtar bai gowing tu choech on dha Sonde âftanû'nz?
Fain owld Lezhar! Down't bî sivî'ar apon him, ænd joj him
bai auar modan stændad; hî nevar went tu Eksetar Hôl, ôr
hoed a popyular prîchar, or red Trækts fôr dha Taimz ôr Sâtor
Kisatas.-George Eliot.
ON DHA RISÎ'T OV MAI MEDHAZ PIKCHAR.
Ow dhat dhowz lips hæd længgwij! Laif hæz pâst
Widh mi boet roefli sins ai hoed dhî lâst.
Dhowz lips âr dhain-dhai own swît smailz ai sî,
Dha seym, dhæt ôft in chaildhud solast mi;
Vois ownli feylz, els, hau distíngkt dhey sey,
"Grîv not, mai chaild, cheys ôl dhai fîaz awey!"
*
*
**
#
Mai Maedhar! when ai loent dhat dhau wost ded,
Sey, wost dhau konshas ov dha tîaz ai shed?
Alternative form :-¹ Difrant.
76
The Sounds of English
1
Hovad dhai spirit ôar¹ dhai soro'ing son,
Rech îvn' dhen, laifs joeni joest bigoen?
Pahæps dhau geyvst 2 mî, dhow œnsî'n, a kis ;
Pahaps a tiar, if sowlz kæn wip in blis-
 dhet matoenal smail! It ânsaz—Yes.
Ai hoed dha bel towld on dhai berial dey,
Ai sô dha hoes, dhæt bôar dhî slow awey;
End, toening from mai noesri 3 windo', drû
A long, long sai, and wept a lâst adyû!
Boet woz it soch ?-It woz. Whêar dhau ât gôn,¹
Adyûz ænd fêawelz 5 ar a saund œnnówn.
Mey ai boet mît dhî on dhæt pîsful shôar,
Dha pâting saund shæl pâs mai lips now môar!
Dhai meydu'z, grîvd dhemsélvzat mai kansoen,
Ôft geyv mî promis ov a kwik ritóen.
Whot âdantli ai wisht, ai long bilîvd,
And, disapóintid stil, woz stil disîvd;
Bai disapointmant evri dey bigáild,
Dyûp ov ta-moro' îvn' from a chaild.
Dhoes meni a sæd ta-moro' keym ænd went,
Til ôl mai stok ov infant soro' spent,
Ai loent, æt last, sabmishan tu mai lot,
Boet dhow ai les diplô'd dhî, nêar fôgót.
Whêar weens wî dwelt auar neym iz hoed now môar,
Childran not dhain hæv trod mai noesri flôar;
And whêar dha gâdnar Robin, dey bai dey,
Drû mî tu skûl along dha poblik wey,
Diláitid widh mai bôbl' kowch, and ræpt
In skâlat mæntl' wôm, ænd velvet kæpt,
T-iz nau bikom a histri7 litl' nown,
Dhat weens wî kôld dha pâstral 8 haus auar own.
Shôt livd pazeshan! boet dha rekôd fêar,
9
Dhæt memri kîps ov ôl dhai kaindues dhêar,
Stil autlivz 10 meni a stôm, dhæt hæz efeyst
A thauzand dhar thîmz les dîpli treyst.
Dhai naitli vizits tu mai cheymbar meyd,
Dhæt dhau maitst 11 now mî seyf ænd wômli leyd;
Dhai môning bauntiz êar ai left mai howm,
Dha biskit ôr kanfekshanari plœm;
Dha freygrant wôtaz on mai chîks bistówd
Bai dhai own hænd, til fresh dhey shon ænd glowd;
1
Allernative forms :-¹ owvar.
5 féawélz.
10 autlivz.
2 geyvest. 8 noesari.
6 dhamsélyz. 7 histari.
11 maitest.
4 gon.
8 pâstaral. 9 memari.
Appendix
77
Ôl dhis, ænd môar endî'aring stil dhæn ôl,
Dhai konstant flow ov lov, dhæt nyû now fôl,
Nêar rœfn'd bai dhowz kætarækts and breyks,
Dhæt yumar intapówzd tû ôfn' meyks;
Ôl dhis stil lejibl' in memriz peyj,
Ænd stil tu bî sow tu mai leytest eyj,
Edz joi tu dyûti, meyks mî glæd tu pey
Soch onaz tu dhî æz mai nombaz mey;
Pahæps a freyl mimô'rial, boet sinsî'ar,
Not skônd in hevn', dhow litl' nowtist hîar.
Kud taim, hiz flait rivóest, ristô'ar dhi auaz,
When, pleying widh dhai veschaz tisyud flauaz,
Dha vaialet, dha pingk, ænd jesamin,
Ai prikt dhem intu peypar widh a pin,
(Ænd dhau wost hæpyar¹ dhæn maisélf 2 dha whail,
Wudst 3 sôftli 4 spîk, and strowk mai hed, and smail,)
Kud dhowz fyû plezn't auaz ageyn 5 apîar,
Mait won wish bring dhem, wud ai wish dhem hîar?
Ai wud not trost mai hât-dha dîar diláit
Simz tu bî sow dizáiad, pahæps ai mait.-
Boet now-whot hîar wî kôl auar laif iz soch,
Sow litl' tu bî loevd, ænd dhau sow moech,
Dhet ai shud il rikwáit dhî tu kanstreyn
Dhai cenbaund spirit into bondz ageyn.
88
G
#8
BB
#8
—Kûpar (Cowper).
LAIF.
Laif! ai now not whot dhau ât,
But now dhat dhau ænd ai most pât
Ænd when, ôr hau, ôr whêar wî met,
Ai own tu mî-z a sîkret yet.
Laif! wî-v bîn long tagedhar,
Thrû plezn't ænd thrû klaudi wedhar;
T-iz hâd tu pât when frendz âr dîar;
Poehæps t-wil kôst a sai, a tîar;
Dhen stil awey, giv litl' wôning,
Chûz dhain own taim;
Sey not gud nait, boet in som braitar klaim
Bid mi gud môning.
1
Alternative forms:- hæpiar.
–A. L. Barbauld.
agen.
2 misélf. 3 wudest. 4 softli.
6 œnbáund.
78
The Sounds of English
TEXT WITH FIXED SPELLING FOR VARIABLE
WORDS LIKE THE PRECEDING TEXTS.
BRODHAR BENIDIKT.
Brodhar Benidikt woz sow neymd bikóz whêar hî keym,
blesingz folo'd. Dhis woz sed ov him, from a chaild, when dha
beybiz stopt kraiing if hî ræn cep tu dhem, and when on dha
dâkest deyz owld wimin kud si soenbîmz pleying in hiz hêar.
Hî had ôlwez bîn fond ov flauaz, ænd æz dhêar woer not meni
thingz in dha Brodhahud ov dha Grîn Væli on which a mæn
kud ful-spend hiz enajiz, when prêaz woer sed, and dyûtiz doen,
Broedhar Benidikt spent dha bælans ov hiz apon dha gâdn'.
Ænd hî grû hoebz fôr hîling, and plants dhæt woer gud fôr fûd,
ænd flauaz dhæet woer ownli plezn't tu dhi aiz; ænd whêar hî
sowd hî rîpt, and whot hî plântid prospad, æz if blesingz folo'd
him.
In taim dha feym ov hiz flauaz spred biyónd dha væli, ænd
pîpl' from dha woeld autsáid sent tu beg plânts and sîdz ov
him, and sent him œdhaz in ritóen. End hî kept a rowl ov
dha plânts dhat hî po'zest, and dha list grâ longgar widh evri¹
Ôtam ænd evri Spring; sow dhat dha gâdn' ov dha monastri
bikéym fild widh rêar ænd kyûarias thingz, in which Broedhar
Benidikt tuk greyt praid.
Dha dey keym when hî thôt dhat hî tuk tû moch praid. Fôr
hî sed, "Dha kêaz ov dha gâdn' âr, âftar ôl, kêaz ov dhis woeld,
ænd ai hæv set mai afekshanz apon thingz ov dhi oeth." End
æt lâst it sow troebl'd him dhat hî abteynd lîv tu meyk a pil-
grimij tu dha sel ov an owld hoemit, hûz wizdam woz moch
estîmd, ænd tu him hî towld hiz fîaz.
Bot when Brodhar Benidikt hæd endid hiz teyl, dhi owld
mæn sed, "Gow in pîs. Whot a man leybaz fôr hî most lov,
if hî bî meyd in dhi imij ov hiz Meykar; fôr Hî rijóisiz in dha
woeks oy hiz hændz."-J. H. Ewing.
ov
Alternative form:-¹ evari.
Appendix
79
THE SAME TEXT, SHOWING VARIABLE WORDS
IN MY OWN PRONUNCIATION.
BRODHA BENIDIKT.
Brodha Benidikt waz sow neymd bikóz wêa hî keym, blesingz
folo'd. Dhis waz sed av him, fram a chaild, wen dha beybiz
stopt kraiing if hî ræn œp ta dham, and wen on dha dâkest
deyz owld wimin kud sî sœenbîmz pleying in iz hêa. Hî ad
ôlwez bin fond av flauaz, and æz dha wa not meni thingz in dha
Brodhahud av dha Grîn Væli on wich a mæn kud ful spend hiz
enajiz, wen prêaz wa sed, an dyûtiz doen, Brodha Benidikt spent
dha balans av hiz apan dha gâdn'. An hî grû hoebz fa hîling,
an plânts dhat wa gud fa fûd, an flauaz dhat war ownli plezn't
ta dhi aiz; and whêa hî sowd hî rîpt, and wot î plântid pros-
pad, az if blesingz folo'd him.
In taim dha feym av hiz flauaz spred biyond dha væli, an
pîpl' fram dha woeld autsáid sent ta beg plânts an sîdz av him,
an sent im odhaz in ritóen. An hî kept a rowl av dha plânts
dhat hî po'sest, æn dha list grû longgar widh evri Ôtam and
evri Spring; sow dhat dha gâdn' av dha monastri bikéym fild
widh rêr an kyûarias thingz, in wich Brodha Benidikt tuk
greyt praid.
Dha dey keym wen hî thôt dhat î tuk tû mœch praid. Fa hî
sed, Dha kêaz av dha gâdn' âr, âftar ôl, kêaz av dhis woeld,
and ai av set mai afekshanz apan thingz av dhi oeth." End at
lâst it sow trobl'd im dhat hî abteynd lîv ta meyk a pilgrimij
ta dha sel av an owld hoemit, hûz wizdam waz moch istîmd, an
ta him hî towld hiz fîaz.
Bat wen Broedha Benidikt had endid iz teyl, dhi owld mæn
sed, "Gow in pîs. Wot a man leybaz fô hî most lov, if hî bi
meyd in dhi imij av iz Meyka; fa Hî rijoisiz in dha woeks av
hiz hændz."-J. II. Ewing.
215 FEB 23

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