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late them from their vowels, and pronounce them, the sound is that of a whisper.

If you treat the sounds of b, v, d, g, z, th in thine, z in azure, in the same way, the sound is no whisper, but one at the natural tone of the voice. The first class are called SURDS, the second class SONANTS. Instead of these, the terms sharp and flat have been used, or aspirate and vocal, and are their equivalents.

CONTINUOUS AND EXPLOSIVE SOUNDS.

§ 75. A part of the consonant sounds are CONTINUOUS, and a part are EXPLOSIVE. If you isolate the sounds of p, b, t, d, k, and g surd, you have no power to prolong the sounds or of resting on them. They escape with the breath at once. It is not so with the sounds off, v, sh, z, zh, s, l, m, n, r, ng. Here the breath is transmitted by degrees, and the sounds can be prolonged. The first class are explosive, the second continuous. See LATHAM's English Language, and Introduction to WALKER'S Dictionary.

§ 76. TABLE OF THE PHONETIC ELEMENTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

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Explain the meaning of the terms Continuous and Explosive, and mention the sounds to which they are usually applied. Give the headings of each division in the table. Give the phonetic elements under each heading.

COMPOUND CONSONANT SOUNDS.

89. That of ch in chest, surd.

40. That of j in jest, sonant.

COGNATE CONSONANT ELEMENTS.

§ 77. From the twenty-first to the thirty-fourth inclusive, the consonant sounds allied in pronunciation, or cognate, are arranged in pairs. In each pair, the sound of the even number has vocality, being produced by the voice, and the sound of the odd number has only an aspiration, or a whisper, being produced by the breath. Thus, if the sound of p in the first pair be isolated from its vowel, it will be only that of a whisper; but if the allied sound of b be uttered, it will be not a whisper, but the natural tone of the voice.

As already mentioned, the sounds in the series p are indicated by the terms surd, aspirate, or sharp; and the sounds in the series b are indicated by the terms sonant, vocal, or flat.

The Tahitians confound the cognate elements represented by d and t, and also those represented by b and p.

THE SUMMATION OF SURD AND SONANT ELEMENTS.

§ 78. The Vowel sounds, the Nasal sounds, and the Liquid sounds, are sonant; one half of the remaining sounds are sonant, and the other half and the sound of the letter h are surd. See § 76.

THE SUMMATION OF EXPLOSIVE AND CONTINUOUS ELE

MENTS.

§ 79. The Vowel sounds, the Nasal sounds, the Liquid sounds, the sounds of f, v, s, sh, z, zh, of th in thin, of th in thine, are continuous. The sounds of b, of p, t, d, k, g, and h, are explosive.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ELEMENTARY

CONSONANTAL

SOUNDS ACCORDING TO THEIR ORGANIC FORMATION.

§ 80. I. Labials, that of p, b,f, v. II. Dentals, that of t, d, s, z, th, sh, that of z in azure. III. Gutturals, that of k, g, l, r. These are also called palatals. IV. Nasals, m, n, ng. The labial sound of b, the dental of d, the guttural of g, have a nasal quality. The sounds indicated by t, th, d, and n, have also been called cerebrals, as they seem to proceed from the head. The sound of m is labial as well as nasal.

COMPOUND SOUNDS.

§ 81. I. Compound Sounds, formed by means of two vowel Sounds, are called DIPHTHONGS; as that of ou in house, oi in voice, u in muse, i in pine.

Give the summation of the surd and sonant elements. Give the summation of the explosive and continuous elements. Give the classification of the elementary consonant sounds according to their organic production. Give the three classes of compound sounds.

1. The nature of the compound ou is disguised by the spelling. It consists of the sounds of a in father, and of oo, or of the w in will, rapidly pronounced.

2. The sound of the compound oi is the sound of o modified, plus the sound of y modified.

3. The sound of u in muse, and of ew in new, is that of i in pit and of oo, or of w in will.

4. The sound of i in pine, like that of u in muse, is disguised by the spelling. As it is represented by means of the letter i, the erroneous notion prevails of its being a simple single elementary sound; and also of its being the sound of i in pit, lengthened in the pronunciation. The real elements of the sound in question are generally considered to be the a in fat and the y in yet, rapidly pronounced. The word diphthong is from the Greek dis, double, and phthong-gos, a voice. It is immediately related to the spoken language, not the written.

Some of the vowel sounds do not readily combine, as those of e and a in beat. Only one of the elements is sounded. When two vowel letters are thus brought together in a written word, and the sounds which they represent will not coalesce, they are called a DIGRAPH.

II. Compound Sounds formed by means of three vowel sounds are called TRIPHTHONGS; as in buoy.

When three vowel letters are brought together in a syllable, and the sounds which they represent will not coalesce, they are called a TRIGRAPH.

III. Compound Consonant sounds are represented by ch in chest, and j in jest. Ch is=t+sh; j is=d+zh. These are compound Sibilants, that of ch being surd, and that of j being sonant.

PHONETIC ELEMENTS NOT IN SOME OTHER LANGUAGES. § 82. The English has phonetic elements not found in some other languages. Thus, that of th, as in thine, and th, as in thin, are not found in the French and the German; and those off, v, and of sh, are not found in the Javanese. The sound of is wanting in the Zend, and that of r is not in the Chinese. These are only specimens.

DIFFERENCE OF QUALITY IN THE SAME ELEMENT. $83. The same elementary sound, as exhibited by two individuals belonging to different nations, may differ from itself in quality, just as the same musical note differs from itself when produced by a flute and a violin. Both the identity and the diversity are perceived at once. This diversity, if it does not proceed from a difference of physiological structure, such as obtains between the different races of men, is to be accounted for by the early training of the organs, which in time become rigid, and lose the imitative power for fixed habits.

Enumerate certain phonetic elements found in the English, but not found in some other languages. Explain what is meant by difference of quality in the same element.

CHAPTER II.

THE PHONETIC ELEMENTS IN COMBINATION.

PRONOUNCEABLE COMBINATIONS.

§ 84. 1. The Vowel elements in combination with one another, whether they coalesce, as in diphthongs, or continue separate, are easily pronounced, as oi in voice, ia in Indian.

2. The Vowel elements, in combination with the consonantal elements, either simple or compound, are easily pronounced, as Atlas, Chester.

3. The Consonantal elements, in combination with one another, are some of them pronounced easily, some with difficulty, while some of them can not be pronounced at all. Thus the sound of r blends easily in the pronunciation with any other consonantal element which precedes it, as in bra, tra. But the sound of t does not easily blend with that of c in the word facts, but requires an effort of the organs. And the sound of d can not be made to blend with that of p in the combination apd. See § 86.

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UNPRONOUNCEABLE COMBINATIONS.

§ 85. Two consonantal elements, the one marked SURD in the table, the other SONANT, can not be pronounced in the same syllable. See Table of Elementary Sounds, § 76.

Thus, if you attempt to pronounce the combination sofd, in which there is a surd and a sonant, you will find

What classes of phonetic elements are pronounceable in combination? What is said of the pronunciation of the consonantal sounds in combination? Give three consonantal combinations which illustrate the answer to the last question. What is said of a surd and of a sonant element in combination? What is the reason that a surd and a sonant can not be pronounced in combination?

it impossible. The same will be true of any like combination. The organs are thrown into a condition by pronouncing the one element which will not allow them immediately to pronounce the other.

A CHANGE OF ELEMENTS IN PRONUNCIATION.

§ 86. In attempting to pronounce, in one syllable, a surd and a sonant, either the surd will become a sonant, or the sonant will become a surd. Thus, in the pronunciation of sofd, the sound off will become that of v, or the sound of d will become that of t, and the word will become either soud or soft. In the same manner, the combination indicated by the letters sobs must be pronounced as if spelled either sobz or sops. So in the following list:

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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FACT JUST STATED.

§ 87. "There is no fact that requires to be more familiarly known than this. There are at least three formations in the English language where its influence is most important. These are, (a) the possessive forms in -s; (b) the plurals in -s; (c) the preterits in -d and -t.

"Neither are there many facts in language more disguised than this is in English. The s in the word stags is sharp; the g in the word stags is flat. Notwithstanding this, the combination ags exists. It exists, however, in the spelling only. In speaking, the s is sounded as z, and the word stags is pronounced stagz. Again, in words like tossed, plucked, looked, the e is omitted in pronunciation. Hence the words become toss'd, pluck'd, look'd; that is, the flat d comes in contact with the sharp k and s. Now the combination exists in the spelling only, since the preterits of pluck, look, and toss are, in speech, pronounced pluckt, lookt,

tosst.

"The reason for the difference between the spelling and the pronunciation is as follows: For the possessive case singular, for the nominative plural, and for the preterit tense of verbs, the forms in Anglo-Saxon were fuller than they are in the present English. The possessive singular ended not in -s only, but in -es, and the nominative plural in -as. Similarly, the preterit of the verbs ended either in -od or -ed, not -d only; e. g., wordes of a word (word's), flódes of a flood (flood's), landes of a land (land's), thinges of a thing (or thing's), endas=end's, and so on throughout the language. In this case, the vowel separated the two consonants, and kept them from coming together. As long as this vowel kept its place, the consonants remained unchanged, their different degrees of sharpness and flatness being a matter of indifference. When the vowel, however, was dropped, the consonants came in con

What is said of a change of elements in pronunciation? Give some illustrations: what does avt become? &c. In what three classes of words is the fact stated in the section respecting a change of elements of importance in its influence?

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