For o as in 'no,' we have au, eau, eo, ew, oa, oe, ou, ow; as in hautboy, beau, yeoman, sew, loaf, hoe, soul, flow. For o as innot,' we have a, au, ou, ow, ua; as in what, nauseate, cough, knowledge, quantity. For o as in 'move,' we have ew, oe, oo, ou, u, ui; as in grew, shoe, soon, soup, rude, fruit. For u as in 'tube,' we have eau, eu, ew, ieu, iew, ue, ui, you; as in beauty, feud, dew, adieu, view, hue, juice, youth. For u as in 'tub,' we have o, oe, oo, ou; as in love, does, blood, young. For u as in 'bull,' we have o, oo, ou; as in wolf, cook, could. For oi as in For ou as in Ex. 3. oil,' we have oy; as in joy. house,' we have ow; as in now. Substitutes for Consonant Elements. For f as in 'fox,' we have gh, ph, as in laugh, sphere. CONSONANT SOUNDS. 8. To ensure a clear and distinct articulation it is necessary, while giving to each vowel its proper sound, to take especial care to give full effect to the consonants, simple and compound, and more particularly those with which words begin and terminate. It is the consonant sounds which are mainly subservient to articulation; and hence the pupil should be well exercised in the repetition of such sounds, particularly those which he finds difficult to his organs. The following exercises, arranged with reference to the organs of speech, by which the requisite sounds are in each case produced, will be found well suited for this purpose. The letters requiring particular attention are printed in italics. 9. The sound of the consonants is modified by the position of the tongue, palate, lips, and teeth, and by the degree in which the air is permitted to pass between them or through the nose in the act of articulation.* Hence the terms, lingual (Lat. lingua, * An articulate sound, in its literal meaning, is a sound proceeding from the articulation or jointing of the organs (Lat. articulus, a joint), and articulation is thus the art of closing or joining the organs in the production of speech. the tongue); palatal (Lat. palatum, the palate); labial (Lat. labia, the lips); dental (Lat. dentes, the teeth); guttural (Lat.. guttur, the throat), which appear in the following table : Organic Classification of Consonant Sounds. The column headed 'voiceless,' includes the consonants which are produced by the breath alone without voice; and that headed 'Voice' those to which voice is superadded. The distinction, which will be readily observed in attempting to pronounce the sounds represented by the corresponding pairs of consonants, p-b, t-d, f-v, k-g, is one of some importance in Elocution. The voice consonants partake much of the nature of vowels; and it is a pleasure to a good reader,' says Mr. Smart, when he has such sounds to utter. He dwells upon them, throws into them all the voice they are capable of receiving, and, through their means, mellows his whole pronunciation. But to an uncultivated reader all sounds come alike indifferent. He clutters them together, curtails them of their due length, deprives them of the share of voice which belongs to them, and thereby reduces them all to mutes or aspirates.' Ex. 4. Labials (bp, m). Formed by the contact of the lips. pay, peer, pine, pope, pompous, sharp, deep, help, type, bay, beer, bend, babe, bubble, rub, barb, bulb, tube, grub, may, mean, mind, maim, remember, rhythm, drachm. Peter Piper picked a peck of pepper. The barbarous Hubert took a bribe To kill the royal babe. Of man's miraculous mistakes this bears the palm. And bubbling and troubling and doubling And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling, And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping; All at once and all o'er with a mighty uproar, And this way the water comes down at Lodore. Ex. 5. Labio-dentals (ƒ, v). Formed by the contact of the lower lip with the upper teeth. feel, fee, fine, foe, fifty, fifth, phial, wife, rough, stuff. vain, veer, vile, voice, revive, evolve, nephew, hive, nerve. The flag of freedom floats once more aloft. Wave your tops, ye pines, Ex. 6. Lingua-dentals (th [thin] th [thine]). Formed by the application of the tongue to the fore-teeth. thane, think, through, thwack, thousandth, warmth, health, than, they, thus, then, thyself, wither, lathe, breathe, clothes. Theodore Thickthorn thrust thistles through the thick of his thumb. Soft as the thrill that memory throws across the soul. Thus wondrous fair, Thyself how wondrous then! Ex. 7. Lingua-palatals (d, l, n, r*, s*, sh, t, z*). Formed by the application of the fore-part of the tongue to the forepart of the palate. day, dew, did, drove, adjudged, derided, strengthenedst, lass, let, lip, love, lily, lovely, blame, lull, unable, pestle, nay, new, nip, none, gnash, nun, inn, impugn, scenery, ray,† red, rid, road, rural, roarer, very, wiry, wrestlers, bar,‡ here, third, pure, commerce, northern, arm, hearth, sad, send, siege, soil, serious, sense, sceptre, hosts, Psyche, shame, shell, shirk, shore, shriek, sash, shrove, rush, shawl, tan, tear, tease, torn, toast, tart, tempt, debt, brittlest, zeal, zest, zebra, zone, zigzag, blaze, zephyr, doze, amaze. His sister is a thistle-sifter, and she sifts thistles with a thistlesifter. What man dare I dare! Approach thou, like the rugged Russian bear, The armed rhinoceros, the Hyrcan tiger. The shade he sought, and shunned the sunshine, * In the case of r, s, and z the contact of the tongue and palate is not complete. R has two sounds, the trilled 'r' before a vowel and at the beginning of words or syllables, produced by the rapid vibration of the tip of the tongue; and the smooth 'r' before a consonant, when the trill is either omitted or feebly uttered. † Trilled. + Smooth. The frolic wind that breathes the spring, As he met her once a maying Over beds of violets blue, And fresh blown roses washed in dew, Promised her to thee. Ex. 8. Lingua-gutturals (g, h, j, k, ng, wh, y). Formed by the application of the back part of the tongue to the palate. gay, got, gun, guide, gregarious, giggle, dig, egg, vague, A giddy giggling girl, her kinsfolks' plague, VOWEL SOUNDS. 10. The vowel sounds, for the purposes of reading, may be divided into two classes, the accented or long vowels, and the unaccented or short vowels. While the proper pronunciation of the consonant sounds, is essential to distinct articulation, it is of primary importance that attention be paid also to the vowel sounds, as the proper use of these furnishes one of the most effectual safeguards against every form of provincialism. One of the most striking defects in the reading and speaking of ill-educated persons is a vulgar pronunciation of the vowels, more especially those not under accent. Thus we hear possible, singular, regular, particular, sounded as if written possuble, singlar, reglar, particlar. In the following exercises a full and prolonged sound is to be given to the long vowels marked by an accent, while a shorter but still distinct sound is to be given to the unaccented vowels, printed in italics, in the second extract. EX, 9. Long Vowels. Woe, to the traitors! Wóe. To arms! To arms! A thousand voices cried. He threw his bloód-stained sword in thúnder down, Who rush to glory or the gráve. He bursts upon them all ; Búrsts as a wave that from the clouds impénds, Ex. 10. Unaccented Vowels. Temperature depends upon the property all bodies possess, more or less, of perpetually absorbing and emitting or radiating heat. When the interchange is equal, the temperature of a substance remains the same; but when the radiation exceeds the absorption it becomes colder, and vice versa. The radiation is abundant when the sky is still, clear and blue; but clouds intercept it, so that a thermometer rises in cloudy weather and sinks when the air becomes clear and calm; even a slight mist diminishes radiation from the earth because it returns as much heat as it receives. The temperature of the air is subject to such irregularities from these circumstances, and from the difference of the radiating powers of the bodies at the surface of the globe, that it is necessary to find by experiment the mean or average warmth of the day, month, and year at a great variety of places, in order to have a standard by which the temperature in different parallels of latitude may be compared.—Mrs, Somerville. SYLLABICATION. 11. When the student has attained a complete command over the articulation of the elementary sounds, he should proceed to analyse the construction of syllables, more especially those combinations which do not readily unite in one syllabic impulse. The chief difficulties in such combinations arise from the presence of allied or reduplicated consonants, or a hiatus of vowels, where the sounds are apt with careless readers and speakers to run into each other, producing an indistinctness of utterance, and not unfrequently a confusion of the sense. The best rule in all such cases is, to take care that the organs completely finish one articulation before beginning to form another. Where a word or a sentence ends, and the next begins with the same or an allied consonant, a difficulty of utterance arises that should be obviated by dwelling on the final consonant, and then taking up the one at the beginning of the next word in a second impulse of the voice with a short pause between. |