51. A perfect alphabet should contain a distinct symbol for each separate sound. The English alphabet is imperfect. (1) It expresses several distinct sounds by one symbol; e. g. thirteen vowel sounds are represented by five letters. f expresses v in of, and ƒ in fat. g expresses a guttural in gate, and a sibilant in gem. 8 expresses s in sun, sh in sure, z in dogs, and zh in pleasure. x expresses z in Xenophon, ks in fox, and gz in exert. (2) A single sound is frequently represented by two or more symbols. (See § 38.) (3) The same two symbols sometimes represent two or more distinct sounds, e.g. ch tsh in chest, sh in chaise, k in choral: ph = f = in physic, v in nephew; th in thin, and th in thine. (4) It contains superfluous letters; c, q, x, w and y. (5) Many distinct sounds have no separate symbols to represent them; e.g. th (thin), th (thine), sh (shine), zh (azure), tsh (chest), ng (singer). 52. When sharp and flat mutes or sibilants meet in the same word a change usually occurs. The sharp is assimilated to the flat or the flat to the sharp, e.g. pd becomes either pt or bd. This principle, which is of great importance in grammatical inquiries, has been termed the Law of Accommodation. Nearly all the ordinary inflections of the English language are regulated by this law; e. g. the formation of the Gen. Sing. of the Plural of nouns-of the 3d Person Sing. (Pres. Imperf.) of the Past Indefinite-and of the Perf. Participle. 53. Another important principle is the modification of the root vowel when a suffix is added to the root-e.g. cock, chick-en; cat, kitt-en; brother, brethr-en; break, brok-en, &c. ORTHOGRAPHY. 54. Orthography, derived from the Greek ortho-, "right," and graph-, "write," is the correct application of letters to the formation of words; i. e. it teaches us how to spell properly. Orthoëpy, derived from the Greek ortho-, "right,” and ep-, speak," is the correct application of sounds to the formation of words; i. e. it teaches us how to speak properly. 55. A perfect system of orthography would represent each separate sound by a separate and appropriate symbol. Hence it cannot exist without a perfect alphabet. 56. The orthography of the English language is imperfect : (a) because the alphabet is imperfect, and various expedients are employed to remedy the imperfection; (b) because the language contains words derived from various sources at different periods, and the orthography of these languages is frequently retained, though the mode of pronouncing the words is changed; (c) because the pronunciation of many native words has changed, while the original spelling has been preserved. 57. The following are examples of the expedients employed to remedy the defects of the alphabet: (1) The vowel-sounds in mate, mete, note, and the diphthongs in bite, acute, are distinguished from the vowel-sounds in mat, met, not, bit, cut, by adding an unsounded e to the word. Many words of this class were originally disyllabic; the pronunciation has been changed and the old spelling retained. Hence a mute e does not always indicate a lengthened vowel, as in live, give, &c. For other modes of representing these variations in sound, see §§ 35, 38. (2) A consonant when not final, is often doubled to show that the preceding vowel is short; as cărry, Nělly, Willy, fölly, súlly. Hence monosyllables ending in a single consonant, or other words accented on the last syllable, in which the vowel is short, double the consonant when a suffix is added-hot, hott-er; bid, bidd-en; begín, beginn-er; allót, allótt-ed. For this reason doubled consonants do not represent a doubled sound, unless the two letters belong to different parts of a compound or derived word, soul-less, un-natural, stern-ness, ill-luck, &c. (3) h is often added to mark the asperates of p, t, s. 58. As examples of the second disturbing principle mentioned in § 56, the word censor still retains the guttural c (k) of the Latin language, though we have changed the sound to s. Sign retains the Latin g, though we have ceased to pronounce it. The asperated k of the Greeks (x) becomes either a k or a tsh in English; archangel, archbishop. 59. As an illustration of the third disturbing cause, we may note the suffix -ed in the Past Indef. and Perfect Participle, lov-ed, arriv-ed; and the suffix -es in the Plural and Gen. Sing. of certain nouns, wolv-es, kniv-es, wif-es. The vowel was once sounded and is still retained. So with bough, knave, debt, &c. 60. It may be useful to point out a few of the most striking defects of English orthography: (a) s is frequently written where z is pronounced; dogs, birds.* This is usually the case when s is suffixed to a flat mute, a vowel, or a liquid. (b) ed is frequently written where t is pronounced; slipped, stopped. This occurs whenever ed is suffixed to a sharp mute. (c) ti, si, and ci, if followed by a vowel, are sounded as sh; nation, fusion, precious, patrician. (d) es is frequently written where z only is sounded; lives, wolves, sides. (e) Letters are occasionally written which are not sounded; tomb, indict, sign, hour, knife, calm, mnemonics, condemn, receipt, island, bustle, wrong, marriage, engine, fashion, gaol, coquet. (f) When a consonant is doubled, one only is sounded; appear, address, immure, full, grass, ruff. * To remedy this defect, Wallis (c. i., s. 1) proposed to employ ƒ when 8 is intended; cat-f: and s when z is required; dog-8. Ben Jonson justly observes, " z is a letter often heard among us, but seldome seene." (g) At the end of words le is written where el is sounded. (h) A single letter often represents different sounds, and a single sound is often represented by different letters. SYLLABLES. 61. A syllable is a single vowel-sound, with or without one or more consonants; as a, strength, o-mit, ug-ly, strong-est. The word is derived from the Greek sul-labe, that which is taken together; i.e. a number of letters taken together. This Greek defini. tion is not very accurate. In the following words syllables are formed of single vowels; a-part, e-mit, hol-i-day, o-mit, turb-u-lent. 62. Every syllable was once a significant word, i.e. had a distinct and independent meaning in the language to which it originally belonged; but this meaning has very frequently become obsolete. Thus the word en-tire, derived from the Latin in-teger, meant nottouched; the word bi-shop, from the Greek epi-skopos, signified overlooker; god-ly was god-like; the er in such words as reap-er, meant man; a-loft is in-air. 63. When a single syllable, or a combination of two or more syllables, possesses a distinct and independent meaning, it is called a word; as man, sparrow, industrious. 64. A word consisting of one syllable is called a monosyllable; of two syllables a disyllable; of three, a trisyllable; of more than three, a polysyllable: from the Greek words for one, two, three, many. ACCENT. 65. Accent is the stress laid upon a syllable in pronouncing a word; as By scaly Triton's winding shell.-Milton. It must not be confounded with Emphasis, which is the stress laid upon a word in pronouncing a sentence: Bear my greeting to the senators, And tell them that I will not come to-day; Shakspere. When a word is a monosyllable, accent and emphasis may coincide: To bé, or not to be.-Shakspere. 66. A monosyllable can have but one accent; but the accent does not fall upon every monosyllable. Brightest and bést of the sons of the morning.-Heber. Here best and sons are accented; and, of, the are not. 67. A disyllable can have but one accent, which may fall on either the first or the second syllable; living, alóne. The words ámén and farewell appear to be exceptions. In all disyllabic compound nouns, the accent falls upon the first syllable; stár-light, sún-beam, ráin-bow. 68. A trisyllable may have either one or two accents. The single accent may fall upon any syllable; mérrily, horizon, pioneer. The last are usually foreign words of comparatively recent introduction. If there are two accents, one must fall upon the first, the other upon the third syllable; interrupt, cómprehend. In compound words the two accents will sometimes fall on the first and second syllables; heád-máster. 69. A word of four syllables may have either one or two accents. If it has but one, the accent may fall upon any of the first three syllables; as mércenary, impóssible, cavalierly. If there are two, they must fall upon either the first and third, or the second and fourth; inconsistent, inaúguráte. |