and some others, though the combination itself never occurs in the proper spelling of any English word. ASSIMILATION OF CONSONANTS. The consonants called flat, vocal or sonant, and those called sharp, aspirate or surd, have a marked correspondence to each other. Thus, each flat, in the list following, has, immediately under it, its corresponding sharp:— b, v, th (as in thine), d, z, zh, g, flats. P, f, th (as in thin), t, s, sh, k, sharps. In the attempt to pronounce a flat and a sharp, in one and the same syllable, either one of the letters will become silent, or be assimilated to the other. Thus, in the words, debt and subtle, b being a flat and t a sharp, the b is not heard at all; for we pronounce these words as if written det, sut' l. In forming the English Possessive Case, on the other hand, as lad's, for example, we often bring together two consonants that are pronounced with ease, if pronounced at all, only by assimilating the sound of the one to that of the other; so that while to the eye, as in the above example, we have lad's, to the ear, the word is lad'z, that is, s which is sharp has, in reality, been changed into z, which is flat, so as to correspond with the d, which is, also, flat. This affinity between the two classes of consonants is, also, seen in forming plurals by the addition of s, as dogs (dogz), in the third person singular of verbs, as boards (boardz), and in affixing ed to form certain Preterits and Participles, as, marked (markt), missed (mist). See note, page 45. e, like long a, as in. ï, like long e, as in. u, preceded by r, as in. u, like short oo, as in..... û, as in .âir, câre, beâr. .ärm, fär, father. .åsk, gråss, dance. .all, talk, haul. .what, wander, wallow. êre, thêre, hêir. .eight, prey, obey. .ērmine, verge, prefer. .pïque, machïne, polïce. .irksome, virgin, thirsty. other, done, són. prove, do, tomb. .bosom, wolf, woman. .ôrder, form, stôrk. ..moon, food, booty. .wool, foot, good. rude, rumor, rural. .put, push, pull. ûrge, bûrn, concûr. KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION. REGULAR DIPHTHONGAL SOUNDS. oi, or oy (unmarked), as in...oil, join, oyster, toy. CONSONANTS. ç, soft, like s sharp, as s, sharp (unmarked), as in.....çede, çite, mercy. eall, eoneur, success. in....same, yes, rest. , soft, or vocal, like z, as in...has, prism, amuse. th, sharp (unmarked), as in...thin, breath, healthy. th, flat, or vocal, as in ng (unmarked), as in. n, as in..... x, like gz, as in. ph, like f, as in. thine, smooth, wither. ring, sing, single. linger, link, uncle. exist, example, exhaust. . phantom, sylph. ..queen, conquest. ..what, when, awhile. When one letter of an improper diphthong, or of a triphthong, is marked, it is to be taken as representing the sound of the combination, and the letter or letters which are not marked, are to be regarded as silent, as in aim, clean, cēil, people, group, sõul, joûrnal, tōw, &c. In the following work, all letters printed in Italics, are silent. This, however, is done only where mistakes in pronunciation are otherwise likely to be made. When several words, in the same column, are accented on the same syllable, the first only bears the accentual mark; so, also, when two or more words, in succession, have each one or more silent letters, occurring relatively on the same syllable, the first only is Italicised. This rule is, also, observed in respect to all the marks used in this book, to indicate the various sounds of tho vowels and consonants. |