IV. Herb, herbalist, verb, reverberate, verbiage, ermine, ferment, (s.) firm, firmament, germ, germinate, hermit, kermes, mermaid, permanent, permeate, permit, (s.) sermon, skirmish, sperm, term, terminate, termagant, thermal, thermoscope, vermin, myrmidon; cervical, fervent, fervour, nerve, nervous, serve, pervious, servant, service, swerve; tirwit; kersey, sirs, hers; bird, gird, girdle, herd, merge, perdurable, perjure, third, verdant, verdict, verge, verjuice, dirge, virgin; earn, earnest, fern, kern, kernel, learn, learning, stern, ternary, vernal, yearn, internal; earl, early, earldom, girl, merlin, pearl, sirloin, sterling, twirl, whirl, whirlpool, whirlwind; bergamot, birgander.

V. Err, her, sir, stir, whir, myrrh, defer, prefer, aver, confer, deter.

Distinguish between

Words of the same pronunciation, but different orthography.

berth

birth

earnest
Ernest

herd
heard

verge virge

aw.

NINTH VOWEL.

OBSERVATIONS.-In forming this vowel, the tongue is drawn back a degree farther than for the preceding element—hardly midway to its position for This sound is always short in English, except when it occurs before R, final or followed by an articulation: it is consequently very liable to be changed to the more familiar long sounds ah or aw, when it has to be prolonged, as in singing. This arises, not from any difficulty in maintaining the 9th position, but from the English organs being unaccustomed to maintain it. A Welshman would have no trouble in prolonging the vowel to any extent, simply because he is accustomed to form it as long as our ah or aw.

Among English speakers, there is too little precision in this sound. All the

open vowels are liable to considerable variation among individual speakers; but this vowel is perhaps one of the most indefinite and variable of any. It would be well if at least a clear distinction were preserved between it and the preceding förmation, in such words as urn and earn, fur and fir, purl and pearl, &c. but the erratic habits of both these vowels renders it the more difficult to confine them to a settled location in the mouth. When the Art of speech shall be more generally studied, these confusions and diversities will be condemned as unworthy of the educated speaker. The perfect distinction of minutely differing vowels is no less a test of polished and elegant speech than is the clear enunciation of unaccented syllables the test of a good articulation. The power of marking these vocal and articulate niceties with clearness, evidences a degree of command over the vocal organs which is rarely obtained without considerable application. It gives, besides, a precision and graceful variety to the utterance, which should, of themselves, sufficiently recommend its cultivation to the tasteful student.

13

9

13

13

In some English dialects, we hear, instead of u, a sound approximating to oo -ranging in some cases between oo and o(re), and in others between oo and the French vowel û or eu; as in mother, one, further, Thursday, &c. pronounced mather, won, further, &c. It was probably a dialectic habit like this of sounding o for the 9th vowel, which seduced a recent writer on English sounds into the assertion, that the vowels in cup and cope are identical in quality, and differ only in quantity.* All these peculiarities arise generally from a habitual contraction of the labial aperture, and a too close position of the teeth. Let the defective vowel be practised with a very open formation—even though, at first, the sound be as open as ah; and the ear and organs will soon be able to distinguish and form the 9th vowel with precision.

In Scotland, this element is slightly less open, and of a deeper formation than in England, the tongue being farther retracted towards its position for aw. This Scotch sound will be found separately noted in our general vowel-scheme

9

(page 28.) The open character of the English u will be readily acquired, by simply opening the mouth well, and retracting the lips in its utterance; and, when it is followed by R, final or before another articulation, by guarding against

9

any lingual vibration for the R. The Irish pronunciation of u has, like the Scotch, a deeper formation than the English,—partaking more of the quality of aw; it will be Anglicised by the same means.

We take occasion here to notice the peculiar French sound eu, which, in ignorance of its mechanism, is often so difficult to the English mouth; and to bring it in contrast with the English u(9)—the formation of which is equally difficult to French organs. The 9th vowel is not heard in French: the nearest ap

• Pitman's Phonography.

proach to it is the vowel eu, as in jeune, peur, &c. Frenchmen do not, how

ever, pronounce eu instead of, but generally aw or o. They may with little difficulty acquire the true sound of this vowel when they compare its formation with that of their eu. The French eu is formed with the organs internally ar

ranged as for the English eh, and externally as for aw; it is the compound, or Labio-lingual vowel corresponding to these simple Labial and Lingual Formations. (Let the English student of French apply this theory to his mouth, and he will at once produce the perfect French eu. The simplest way to practise is

4

to dwell on the sound of eh, and, while doing so,

10

to contract the labial aperture

9

to its ordinary shape for the sound aw.) The English u is intermediate in formation to aw and ah. The French student of English cannot fail to produce it by sounding the vowel ah, and while doing so, allowing the organs slowly to arrange themselves upon the sound, so as to modify it into aw. An acute ear will trace several shades of vowel-quality in the progression from ah to aw. The English sound of u is rather less than half way between these points. Having acquired the formation, let the sound be pronounced as abruptly as the vowel in que, de, &c., and it will be perfect.

9

EXERCISES.

9(short.) Unaccented.-Bombast, bombard, buffoon, consul, corpuscle, doubloon, ductility, justiciary, fungosity, lumbago, lustration, multangular, multiloquous, punctilious, runcation, rusticity, scurrility, stultiloquence, subdue, subjunctive, sublime, submission, subordinate, subscribe, substantial, subtract, subvert, succession, succinct, suffice, suffuse, suggest, supplant, support, suppose, suppress, susceptible, suspect, suspend, suspire, sustain, ulterior, umbrella, unable, uncertain, unclean, uncommon, undoubted, uneasy, unfold, unfortunate, ungainly, unhappy, unkind, unless, unmerciful, unnecessary, unpleasant, unpopular, unquestionable, unravel, upon, unrol, unsafe, unseen, unsightly, unsound, untidy, until, untrue, unusual, unwary, unwieldy, upbraid, uphold, uxorious, seldom, influx, impulse, bankrupt, bismuth, medium, odium, opium, earldom, birthdom, blithesome, wearisome.

In the terminational syllables ous, us, ion, &c. as in amphibious, synchronous, pestiferous, somniferous, abnormous, enormous, sy

nonymous, dubious, conscious, studious, atrocious, jealous, marvellous, oviparous, precious, syllabus, genus, incubus, genius, momentous, troublous, gorgeous, ferocious, grampus, collection, obligation, selection, elocution, delusion, collusion, omission, demission, transmutation, vision, evasion, adhesion, version, question, dudgeon, retention, dimension, attention, extortion, distortion, intrusion.

9 (short). Accented.-II. Bluff, buffalo, cuff, chough, gruff, huff, muffin, muffle, enough, puff, ruffian, scuffle, slough, snuff, stuffing, suffer, suffocate, suffrage, tough, tuft, couple, crupper, cup, puppet, scupper, supplicate, supplement, supple, suppurate, upland, uproar, upward, abrupt, interrupt, nuptial; doth; bluster, bust, buskin, bustle, cluster, custard, custom, cusp, dusk, dust, fluster, frustrate, gust, gusset, husk, hustings, joust, justice, lustre, musket, must, pustule, rusk, rustic, russet, thrust, thus, trusty, percuss, discuss; but, button, butler, buttress, clutch, clutter, cut, crutch, cutler, flutter, glut, hut, mutter, much, mutton, nut, nutmeg, putty, scuttle, shut, shuttle, strut, sputter, subtle, utmost, utterance; brush, crush, flush, hush, luscious, mushroom, rush, usher, bucket, buxom, buxeous, chuckle, duck, duct, ducat, flux, huckster, juxta, luxury, structure, succulent, suction, truckle, tuck: blunt, brunt, bunch, constable, dunce, front, grunt, hunch, hunt, junto, luncheon, month, punch, unto, bump, bumpkin, chump, clump, consumption, comfort, company, comfit, crumple, culpable, jump, lumpish, mump, pumpkin, something, stump, sumptuous, trumpet, umpire, bulk, consult, cultivate, dulcet, fulcrum, fulsome, gulf, hulk, mulct, multiform, multiply, multitude, pulp, pulse, stultify, skulk, silk, sulphur, sultry, ulcer, ultimate, vulture, result, wont, consult, function, junction, monk, monkey, puncture, punctual, sunk, truncate, uncle, unction.

III. blubber, borough, brother, buzzard, chubby, colour, courage, cousin, covenant, cover, cully, cunning, cupboard, currant, curricle, curry, double, dozen, drubbing, drugget, drummer, flurry, furrow, gullet, honey, huddle, juggle, luggage, money, monetary,

mother, mummery, nunnery, puddle, rubbish, rudder, rugged, rummage, shovel, shudder, sloven, slubber, smother, smuggle, summer, study, stubborn, subaltern, sullen, summit, thorough, Thummim, druggist, surrogate, tunnel, worry, hurricane, shrubbery, colander.

9 (long) only before R.-Purple, turf, surfeit, cursory, worse, burst, hurt, curtain, workman, lurk; suburban, worm, furze, curly, churlish, furl, worldly, churn, burnish, furnace, turner, urn, word, absurd, occurred, curdle, burden, purge, urgent, urge; purr, burr, murmur, fur, spur, slur, cur.

TENTH VOWEL.

OBSERVATIONS.—This vowel, called the German A, is formed by an increased retraction and abasement of the root of the tongue, coupled with a slight contraction of the labial aperture. It is perhaps the most melodious and mellow-toned of all the vowel-sounds.

Mr Knowles considers this the most open vowel-formation, but our experiment, stated at page 23, proves that the oral aperture is considerably smaller for this than for the 7th vowel; and this latter may be proved by a simple, and conclusive experiment, to be the most open possible vowel-formation. Thus, let the mouth be opened to the uttermost,—by widely separating the teeth,— flattening the tongue, and drawing back the lips; and if the vocal effort be made, ah will result. Endeavour to sound aw, and it will be found impossible to do so without relaxing the lips or approximating the teeth, and manifestly reducing the oral aperture. In the light of experiment, there can be no question of the relative openness of these vowels.

The sound of this vowel is often too much modified by the lips; their projection and corrugation-faults too common-are injurious alike to grace and distinctness of articulation. It may be stated to be one of the characteristics of a good and practised speaker, that he forms his vowels as much within the mouth as possible. The beautiful Oratorical Voice-the Orotund-which many speakers acquire from long practice, but which may also be attained by cultivation, tends very greatly to subdue the action of the lips in speech; and this is attended with another advantage, that it leaves the lips free for their higher offices of emotional expression.

The habit of contracting the lips for this vowel is apt to modify it into the next, viz. 11, or even into 12, to the confusion of such words as war and wore; scald and scold, &c.

In practising the 10th vowel for the reduction of the labial action, the tongue

P