Part 181 (1/2)

OBSERVATIONS

OBS 1--The pronunciation of the English language is confessedly very difficult to be mastered Its rules and their exceptions are so nueneral syste the different systems which have been published, is there any which is worthy in all respects to be accounted a STANDARD And, if we appeal to custom, the custom even of the best speakers is far from an entire uniformity Perhaps the most popular directory on this subject is Walker's Critical pronouncing Dictionary The ”Principles of English pronunciation,”

which this author has furnished, occupy fifty-six closely-printed octavo pages, and are still insufficient for the purpose of teaching our orthoepy by rule They are, however, highly valuable, and ought to be consulted by every one ishes to be master of this subject In its vocabulary, or stock of words, this Dictionary is likewise deficient Other lexicographers have produced several later works, of high value to the student; and, though no one has treated the subject of pronunciation so elaborately as did Walker, soence in a for the good ones, is the Universal and Critical Dictionary of Joseph E Worcester

OBS 2--Our ulated almost wholly by the noted rule of Sanctius, which Walker has copied and Englished in the Introduction to his Key, and of which the following is a new version or paraphrase, never before printed:

RULE FOR THE ACCENTING OF LATIN

_One_ syllable has stress of course, And words of _two_ the _first_ enforce; In _longer_ words the _penult_ guides, Its _quantity_ the point decides; If _long_, 'tis _there_ the accent's due, If _short_, accent the _last but two_; For accent, in a Latin word, Should ne'er go higher than the third

This rule, or the substance of it, has beco and extensive use; but it should be observed, that stress on monosyllables is lish, the accent governs quantity, rather than quantity the accent

SECTION III--OF ELOCUTION

Elocution is the graceful utterance of words that are arranged into sentences, and that forht application, of emphasis, pauses, inflections, and tones

ARTICLE I--OF EMPHASIS

EMPHASIS is the peculiar stress of voice which we lay upon some particular word or words in a sentence, which are thereby distinguished fronificant[473]

As accent enforces a syllable, and gives character to a word; so euishes a word, and often deter of accent, in the utterance of words, is therefore notof emphasis, in the utterance of sentences If no emphasis be used, discourse beconized as English

”Eulator of quantity

Though the quantity of our syllable is fixed, in words separately pronounced, yet it is ed in[to]

sentences; the long being changed into short, the short into long, according to the i: and, as it is by e can be pointed out, eulator of the quantity”--_L Murray's Graes, not only the quantity of words and syllables, but also, in particular cases, the sent of the accent This is de examples: 'He shall _in_crease, but I shall _de_crease' 'There is a difference between giving and _for_giving' 'In this species of composition, _plaus_ibility is much more essential than _prob_ability' In these examples, the emphasis requires the accent to be placed on syllables to which it does not co”--_Ib_, p 247

In order to knoords are to be ive constant heed to _the sense_ of what he utters; his only sure guide, in thisa just conception of the force and spirit of the sentiainst the error ofemphatic words too much; for, to overdo in this way, defeats the very purpose for which ee this stress with exact propriety, is therefore one of the surest evidences both of a quick understanding, and of a delicate and just taste

ARTICLE II--OF PAUSES

Pauses are cessations in utterance, which serve equally to relieve the speaker, and to render language intelligible and pleasing

Pauses are of three kinds: first, _distinctive_ or _sentential_ pauses,--such as form the divisions required by the sense; secondly, _emphatic_ or _rhetorical_ pauses,--such as particularly call the hearer's attention to so which has been, or is about to be, uttered; and lastly, _poetical_ or _harmonic_ pauses,--such as are peculiar to the utterance of metrical compositions

The duration of the distinctive pauses should be proportionate to the degree of connexion between the parts of the discourse The shortest are long enough for the taking of some breath; and it is proper, thus to relieve the voice at every stop, if needful This we htly at a comma, more leisurely at a semicolon, still more so at a colon, and co or in public discourse, ought always to be formed after the manner in which we naturally form them in ordinary, sensible conversation; and not after the stiff, artificial manner which many acquire at school, by a mere mechanical attention to the common punctuation

Forced, unintentional pauses, which accidentally divide words that ought to be spoken in close connexion, are always disagreeable; and, whether they arise fro, or from unacquaintance with the text, they are errors of a kind utterly incoraceful elocution

Emphatic or rhetorical pauses, the kind least frequently used, may bewhich the speaker thinks particularly important, and on which he would fix the attention of his audience Their effect is si emphasis; and, like this, they must not be employed too often