and decided to give a distinctive character to the hiss, and the clumsy expedient of funnelling the lips is resorted to. The exercise on S and Sh above prescribed will be useful in manifesting both the existence and the dispensability of this labial action. The sound of this element is seldom represented by sh, except when initial or final. Wherever the articulations s and y come together, as in words beginning with s, followed by alphabetic u, there is a natural tendency in the organs to strike sh instead of the sy. S is produced with the tongue comparatively flat and pointed: Y is formed with the middle of the tongue raised in close approximation to the roof of the palatal arch and the position of sh being exactly tongue somewhat retracted, and its bulk somewhat elevated, —we see in the mechanism of the elements the reason why sh will very naturally take the place of sy in rapid utterance. This tendency is yielded to in some instances, but opposed by correct usage in others. In sure, assure, insure, fissure, tissue, &c., universal custom has authorised the exchange of sy for sh; but in suit, sue, superior, &c., it imperatively forbids it. In these, and all words containing this combination, we see the natural tendency strongly illustrated in the pronunciation of the uneducated. A tailor was threat'ning a debtor to shoe (sue), Says he, needy witling, "Kind sir, at your pleasure ;- Just to shoot (suit) me,—and now I can stand for my measure.' The pronunciation of the word sewer (a drain) illustrates the working of this principle, and also of one noticed at page 119, with reference to the vowel oo before r(8). The necessities of fluent speaking have demanded the curtailment of this word as one not worthy of the more emphatic and deliberate pronunciation of the double articulations; and the identity of its sound, so shortened, with another word, (sure) has rendered a vowel-change necessary to contradistinguish them. This has been done by the substitution of o(11) for oo; and the current pronunciation of the word (shore) is thus very naturally obtained. This tendency of anterior lingual articulations to take sh rather than the more difficult y into combination with them, is further manifested in words containing y after t, as in tune, tutor, &c. where vulgar pronunciation converts the y into sh. In unaccented syllables, this change is made by more than the vulgar, as in nature, feature, &c. which are too often colloquially pronounced na-tshoor, fea-tshoor, &c.; but careful speakers should articulate ty in all such cases. The vowel e, after s and before a vowel, is subject to be thus sunk into Sh in unaccented syllables, as in osseous, &c. but it is one mark of good speaking to be able to sound the vowel distinctly, and without loss of fluency in such words. In the terminational syllables sion, tion, cial, tial, cious, &c. English usage has fixed the sound of si, ci, ti, to sh. In French these syllables are pronounced se-on, &c. In some words in which se or sy have become slurred into sh, the ear does not seem satisfied to lose all trace of the elided sound, and a soft effect of y is heard, as in specie, tertian, &c. Shy is a very unfluent combination: in these cases, sh has that degree of prolongation which it receives before another articulation; and the tongue, before leaving the palate for the succeeding vowel, makes a slight backward and upward movement, which produces a shadowy effect of y. The student will find a useful exercise on the hissing articulations, th, s, and sh, by producing them in series repeatedly during the flow of one expiration, without any intervening vowel-sound. Thus: begin with th, and change that by a rapid motion of the tip of the tongue to s; then, by a farther retraction equally rapid, produce sh; then back to s and th, and thence again to s and sh; thus, th-s-sh-s-th-s-sh-s-th-s-sh-s-th, &c. Syllables with these elements alternately initial form an excellent lingual exercise. They present comparatively little difficulty when arranged in the order of their formation; th, s, sh; or sh, s, th; but when the anterior and posterior formations come together, as in the following arrangement, they present a stumbling-block, which probably the best articulator will not get over without practice. tha sha sa, sha tha sa, sa sha tha, sa tha sha, &c.—with e, i, o, 00. Let the three syllables, with varying accents, be pronounced as one word, and reiterated as rapidly as can be done with distinctness. Then let two of the combinations be united verbally, and read with varying accents; thus,— tha sha sa sha tha sa, &c.; sa sha tha sa tha sha, &c.—with e, i, o, oo. To the Stammerer who has sufficiently mastered the fundamental principles on which his cure must be based, these perplexing combinations will be of much service in developing power and precision of lingual action. Sh initial combines only with R in English, as in shrew, shrine, &c. This combination is harsh, and somewhat difficult; and it tends to make our speakers use the lips to assist them in effecting it more easily. Labial interference should, however, for it may,-be dispensed with. EXERCISES. Initial.-Sheep, sheaf, sheave, sheath, sheather, sheet, sheen, sheer; ship, shibboleth, shift, shiver, shin, shingle; shape, shame, shave, share, shake; shepherd, shed, shell, shelf, sherry, shekel; shabby, sham, shadow, shall, shackle, shag; shaft; sharp, shard, shark; sherbet, shirt, shirk; shove, shovel, shuffle, shutter, shudder, shun; shawm, shawl, shorl, short, shop, shot, shod, shone, shock, shog; shore, shorn; show, shoulder, shoal; shoe, shoot, should, sure, shook; shy, shine; shower: chaise, chagrin, champaign, chandelier, charade, charlatan, chevalier, chivalry, chevisance, chevron, chicanery. Between vowels.-fisher, wishing, dishes, meshes, ashes, bishop, blushing, bushel, cushion, cushat, dashing, echelon, fashion, A a fishify, fleshiness, freshet, motion, mission, caution, nation, passion, ocean, pension, possession, position, potion, precious, satiate, suspicion, suspension, trashy, usher, vitiate, vicious, washing, ration, ambition, oppression, pressure, fissure, issue, patient, potential, precocious, special, social. Before an articulation.—Fishmonger, wishful, dish-cloth, ashlar, bashful, blushful, fleshly, freshness, hush-money, Mishna, mushroom. Before a softened sound of Y.-Asian, Ascii, Antiscii, cassia, caseous, facial, Grecian, justiciary, nescience, Periscii, Russian, specie, species, tertian. Final.-Leash; fish, wish, dish, whitish, blackish, radish, reddish; flesh, fresh, mesh; sash, dash, lash, gnash, rash, crash, clash, gash, trash, hash; marsh, harsh; rush, crush, gush, hush, blush, thrush, plush, tush; quash, wash; push, bush: (Tsh) each, beech, beseech, itch, witch, ditch, etch, wretch, latch, hatch, batch, larch, birch, crutch, lurch, church, botch, blotch, Scotch, porch, poach. Zh. OBSERVATIONS.-This articulation, which is not uncommon in English, arising out of the necessities of fluent utterance, instead of zy, has no appropriate symbol in our orthography. Before alphabetic u=yoo, we have it represented by s, as in measure, &c.; and by z, as in seizure, &c. It legitimately occurs also in lesion, vision, &c. ; and it is heard in transition, where the regular sound of ti, viz. sh, is vocalised, to avoid the less euphonious combination of two hissing elements. Careless speakers pronounce zh instead of y in educate, credulous, &c., and often even in accented syllables, as duke, duel, &c. This will be carefully avoided by all who desire to speak well. In its formation, this element is precisely the same as the preceding, with the addition of glottal sound. In this simple state, it occurs initial in no English word, but is invariably commenced from the obstructive position d. The combination thus produced, namely, dzh, is represented by J or G, as in James, George, &c. Zh final is never unaccompanied by d, except in naturalized French words,— such as rouge. Its English use is exemplified in judge, cage, &c. In the former word, the letter d is redundant, since g alone, as in cage, represents the combination dzh. The writing of this redundant d is one of our orthographical expedients to denote that the preceding vowel is to have its "stopped" or "short sound,"--and the writing of a final e is another expedient to show that the g is to have its "soft," or double sound, and not its "hard," or single sound. How much more easy and natural would it be,-how much perplexity would it save foreigners,—and how many weary tasks and useless punishments would it ward from unhappy learners, if we could only be brought to submit our orthography to rational correction? Here, for instance, is a division of this work on a sound which our acknowledged literal symbols furnish us with no mark to designate,-which is only recognised among the elements of our language as one constituent of a double alphabetic sound,— apparently deemed indivisible, because represented by a single letter; and yet we are compelled to use a digraph to represent the half of this alphabetic monograph, or we could not show its relation to the breath-articulation of the same formation,-sh. Between Vowels.--Lesion, adhesion, vision, incision, transition, derision, invasion, abrasion, occasion, measure, corrosion, diffusion, contusion, delusion, intrusion, illusion. (D)zh final.-Liege, siege, midge, ridge, age, cage, wage, edge, ledge, pledge, hedge, badge, large, barge, serge, urge, budge, grudge, lodge, dodge, gamboge, gouge. Y OBSERVATIONS.-In forming this element, the back of the tongue is rounded upwards to a close position against the palate at a point intermediate to that of the formations sh and ch (German.) If the effort be made to compound these elements by sounding both together, the effect of a whispered Y will be produced. The tongue thus placed is almost in the position for the vowel ee; the voice in Y has therefore the character of that vowel,—just as in w it has the quality of oo. Y and W are articulated forms of the close vowel-sounds ee and oo. Y is always vocal in English: a very common fault among careless speakers is to aspirate y in connexion with breath articulations, and often to convert it into the proximate form sh. Thus tune is pronounced tshoon,— beauteous, beautshus; righteous, rightshus; &c. This should be avoided,—it is mere slovenliness. The First Vowel, unaccented, before a vowel, as in filial, saviour, glazier, &c. is in many words warrantably shortened into y. After the sound of Sh or Zh, as in social, vision, &c. the y is often entirely sunk. Y before the First Vowel presents a rather difficult combination. Many persons entirely omit the Y in that situation: thus we hear of "an old man bending under a weight of ears," instead of "years." A little practice will enable any one to master the combination without such asinine alterations. The letter Y when final is always a rowel: it has the sound of the 2nd vowel in such words as many, very, &c. and of the diphthong 7-1 in by, try, &c. The Articulation Y is never heard final in English; it occurs in French, as in fille, &c. Y initial combines with no articulation. The initial elements P, B, M, F, V, Th, (Breath) S, Z, K, G, take Y into combination, but only before the close labial vowel oo; as in pure, beauty, mew, feu, view, thurible, sue, zeugma, cupola, gewgaw. L, we have noticed, takes Y imperfectly into combination, as in lure, lute, &c. EXERCISES. Initial.-Ye, yean, year, yeast, yield, yea, yarely, yell, yellow, yelp, yes, yesterday, yet, yam, Yankee, yard, yarn, yerk, yearn, young, yon, yonder, yawn, yore, yolk, yokefellow, you, yew, Yule, youth. Between Vowels.—Oyer, lawyer, sawyer. K. This articulation is formed by the silent contact and audible separation of the back of the tongue and the posterior part of the palate. The precise points of contact vary before the different vowels. Before the close lingual vowel ee, the tongue strikes the palate much farther forward than before ah or aw. The organs may keep to one uniform position before all the vowels, but there is a natural tendency to accommodate facility of utterance by these little changes, which it would require an effort to avoid. The effect of the "broad” and "close" formations (as we have seen them discriminated in a Gaelic grammar, but never in an English one) differs only in the vowel quality of the breathing emitted in the explosion that follows the separation of the organs. But an English peculiarity of elegant speech depends entirely on this trivial circumstance. The posterior "broad" formation which would naturally come before the open vowel ah(7) is exchanged for the anterior "close" formation as a euphonism, in such words as card, carpet, kind, &c. The vocal correspondent of this articulation (G) is subject to the same peculiarity of formation, in such words as garb, garden, guard, guide, guile, §c. There is an extremely graceful effect in this, which is but clumsily imitated by those who interpose an e or a y between the k or g and the open vowel. In Smart's Pronouncing Dictionary, the student is carefully guarded against the affectation of sounding y in these cases, but, from the notation adopted, he will still be apt to overdo the euphonic effect; for it is ranked as a separate element, represented by an apostrophe—thus, c'ard, g'arment, &c. We have |