j, g

j

S

measure

Chili, chat, chercher, violoncelle.

CONSONANTS-Continued.

joli, jujube, Jean, gingembre, gymnase.

zèle, zizanie, dixième, dix huit, maison, les amis.

silence, ceci, cymbale, leçon, sens, nation, Bruxelles, Rhodez.

diligent, dîner, Didon, drole, David.

tillac, tarte, thé, Judith, grand homme.

guillotine, garde, gueux, Aglaé, second.

Krapack, khan, cacao, avec, Christ, rang épais qui, coq, excès.

OF VOWELS.

It has already been said that vowels, whether simple or compound, have only one sound; now this sound may be either long or short, according to the rapidity with which it is pronounced, a short vowel being pronounced in half the time necessary for the pronunciation of a long one.*

All long and short vowels are not equally long or short, but the difference is so slight that it is hardly appreciable, and I think that a mere mention of its existence is sufficient.

I would further say, that in conversation most vowels appear to be short; and that only persons who speak correctly observe the quantity of syllables.

Remark, 1st. That in French long and short vowels do not differ in sound, as they do in English; 2nd. That a single vowelform never represents a diphthong, as some do in English; and 3rd. That two vowel-forms representing only one vowel-sound, are called vowels and not diphthongs.

1st. făt, fate (English); pătte, pâte (French). Examples d

2nd. bit, bite do. affliger, il afflige, &c. do.

The time required for the pronunciation of vowels is not calculated with relation to any definite period, such as minutes or seconds, but with reference to the relative quickness or slowness of utterance of every speaker. Thus a person, whose pronunciation is rapid, can pronounce a long syllable in the same length of time that another, whose pronunciation is slow, will pronounce a short one; and yet both will pronounce correctly if they observe the difference that exists between long and short vowels, in reference to the duration of their relative pronunciation.

* Longam esse duorum temporum, brevem unius etiam pueri sciunt. (Quinctilian.)

† Et longis longiores, et brevibus sunt breviores syllabœ. (Quinctilian.)

THE SOUND A.

This sound appears under five different forms; namely, a, à, á, ea, eá; and is exactly the same as that of a in the English word far, or in the Italian caro.

It may be well to remark here that the unaccented e, which is found in many words between g and any one of the letters a, o, and (in a few words) u, is used merely to show that the preceding consonant has the soft articulation j; as in il songea, nous changeámes, il mangeait, nous chargeons, bourgeois, gageure, &c.

The circumflex accent (^) introduced to mark the derivation of a word, has the property of lengthening the sound of the vowel over which it is placed; but it does not affect the quantity of the vowel when the accent is a mere distinctive mark in some words otherwise spelt alike.

The grave accent (') when used over a does not affect by any means the sound of that letter, which preserves its proper sound whenever it is not combined with i, u, m, or n, so as to form with them the diphthong ai, the vowels ai, au, or the nasal syllables am, an.

A is not pronounced in Caen and its derivatives, aoriste, taon, août, aoûteron, Saóne; it is also silent in the last syllable of curaçao; but this letter is pronounced in aoûter, though this word is derived from août, in which it is silent. Usage alone can account for this and many other seeming inconsistencies which we meet with in the study of the French as well as other languages.

THE LETTER E.

This letter is highly suggestive of a few observations, which, I think, will not be out of place here, as they will throw some light on the following pages.

In the first place, I must tell the reader, that in spite of its

led him to perceive that the voice is weakened by not only the removal, but even by a mere lesion of the false vocal chords; so that he may safely come to the conclusion, that if the socalled false vocal chords are not the originators of sound, they nevertheless serve to give it a degree of force and harmony of which it would otherwise be deprived.

It is now generally admitted, if not universally agreed, that the human organs of the voice can be assimilated to stringed musical instruments; we may, therefore, account very easily for the difference that there is in the volume, tone, and strength of the voice in different persons. Indeed, who will for a single moment doubt, that it is owing to both the structure and the healthy state of the organs by which it is produced. I cannot, however, pass under silence the theory of the learned physiologists, who, considering the effects produced on the air of expiration, by the ascending and descending motions of the larynx, and by the different degrees of proximity of the latter to the epiglottis, maintain that this last organ acts in the same manner as the reed of a clarionet, and therefore will have that the human voice is not a stringed instrument, but rather one of the kind of clarionets.

The epiglottis is an elastic fibro-cartilage, situated a little above the larynx, and one of the offices of which is to close the rima glottidis when the larynx is raised during the act of deglutition.

We have now seen what are the organs called into action in the production of vocal sounds; these sounds are, however, modified by the roof of the mouth, or palate (whose shape, as well as that of the ventricles of the glottis, greatly influences the quality of sound), the teeth, the tongue, the lips, and also two small openings at the back of the mouth, through which we breathe when our mouth is closed. Here again I would direct your attention to the uvula, an appendix, as it were, of the soft palate, one of the functions of which is to prevent, by its elevation

during deglutition, any food from going into the nostrils. Some physiologists pretend that the uvula greatly modifies the sounds coming from the larynx; but as this is only probable, and nothing has been brought forward to prove the above assertion, I must let the matter stand as it is.

It is now clear, that in order to produce a pure vocal sound, or vowel-sound, it is sufficient that air be emitted from the lungs, and made sonorous in the larynx, without moving during its emission any other organ of the voice, from the moment that the sound begins to be produced in the larynx, till that sound is over. (See pp. 24 and 55.)

The office of the organs of the voice in the production of pure vowel-sounds has been well compared to that of the pipes of an organ. Indeed, these do not act themselves, they simply receive the air which, being forced through them, produces the required sound. It is just so in giving the vowel-sound with the voice; it is heard as long as the organs put in action to make it are kept in the same position. Consonants, on the contrary, are the result of the motion of some of the organs of speech, called into action in order to modify the sounds which are produced in the larynx. This remark will, I hope, readily show the impropriety of such expressions as these, "the sound. of a consonant," a sounded consonant," &c., which, notwithstanding the derivation and actual meaning of the word consonant, are found even in the best educational works for the use of English students.

66

Correct pronunciation, unless learnt in infancy, is a most difficult thing to acquire, and can only be learnt from the living voice; and even then not efficiently, unless the teacher, in addition to a good pronunciation, possesses a thorough acquaintance with the rules that govern it.

It is impossible to learn from a book alone what sounds have been given by usage to such letters, or combinations of letters, as the book presents to the eye. It therefore becomes necessary