Part 5 (1/2)

Fatle ” Fatal.

Gravle ” Gravel.

Travle ” Travel.

Sudd'n ” Sudden.

Infidle ” Infidel.

_Scroop_'-lous ” _Scru-pu_-lous.

And a long train of _et cetera_, of which the above examples do not furnish a t.i.the.

_Note._--That to sound the _e_ in _garden_ and _often_, and the _i_ in _evil_ and _devil_, is a decided error. They should always be p.r.o.nounced _gard'n_ and _oft'n_, _ev'l_ and _dev'l_.

Some people p.r.o.nounce the _I_ in Irish and its concomitants so as to make the words Ireland, Irishmen, Irish linen, &c., sound as if they were written _Arland_, _A-rishmen_, _Arish_ linen, &c. This is literally ”knocking an _i_ out.”

VI.

It is affected, and contrary to authority, to deprive the _s_ of its sharp hissing sound in the words _precise_, _desolate_, _design_, and their derivatives.

VII.

There is one peculiarity which we feel bound to notice, because it has infected English speakers,--that of corrupting the _e_ and the _i_ into the sound of _a_ or _u_, in the words ability, humility, charity, &c.; for how often is the ear wrung by such barbarisms as, humi_lutty_, civi_lutty_, qua_laty_, quan_taty_, cru_alty_, char_aty_, human_aty_, barbar_aty_, horr_uble_, terr_uble_, and so on, _ad infinitum_!--an uncouth practice, to which nothing is comparable, except p.r.o.nouncing _yalla_ for yellow.

VIII.

There is in some quarters a bad mode prevalent of p.r.o.nouncing the plural of such words as _face_, _place_, &c., _fazes_, _plazes_, whilst the plural of _price_ seems everywhere subject to the same strange mutation.

The words should be _faces_, _places_, _prices_, without any softening of the _c_ into _z_. There is, too, an ugly fas.h.i.+on of p.r.o.nouncing the _ng_, when terminating a word or syllable, as _we_ p.r.o.nounce the same combination of letters in the word _finger_, and making such words as ”singer,” ”ringer,” &c., rhyme with _linger_. Sometimes the double _o_ is elongated into the sound which we give to that dipthong in ”room,”

”fool,” ”moon,” &c., which has a very bad effect in such words as _book_, _look_, _nook_, _took_, &c.; and sometimes it is contracted into the sound of short _u_, making ”foot,” and some other words, rhyme with _but_.

IX.

And having remarked on the _lingering_ p.r.o.nunciation, it is but fair to notice a defect, the reverse of this, namely, that of omitting the final _g_ in such words as _saying_, _going_, _s.h.i.+lling_, &c., and p.r.o.nouncing them ”sayin,” ”goin,” ”s.h.i.+llin.” This is so common an error that it generally escapes notice, but is a greater blemish, where we have a right to look for perfection, than the peculiarities of the provinces in those who reside there.

X.

It is also a common fault to add a gratuitous _r_ to words ending with a vowel, such as Emma_r_, Louisa_r_, Julia_r_, and to make _draw_, _law_, _saw_, _flaw_, with all others of the same cla.s.s, rhyme with _war_; to omit the _r_ in such words as _corks_, _forks_, _curtains_, _morsel_, &c.; in the word _perhaps_, when they conscientiously _p.r.o.nounce_ the _h_; and sometimes in _Paris_; or to convert it into the sound of a _y_ when it comes between two vowels, as in the name _Harriet_, and in the words _superior_, _interior_, &c., frequently p.r.o.nounced _Aah-yet_, _su-pe-yor_, _in-te-yor_, &c.

XI.

There is a vicious mode of amalgamating the final _s_ of a word (and sometimes the final _c_, when preceded and followed by a vowel) with the first letter of the next word, if that letter happens to be a _y_, in such a manner as to produce the sound of _sh_ or of _usu_ in _usual_; as, ”A _nishe_ young man,” ”What _makesh_ you laugh?” ”If he _offendsh_ you, don't speak to him,” ”_Ash_ you please,” ”Not _jush_ yet,” ”We always _pa.s.sh_ your house in going to call on _Missh_ Yates,--she lives near _Palash_ Yard;” and so on through all the possibilities of such a combination. This is decided, unmitigated _c.o.c.kneyism_, having its parallel in nothing except the broken English of the sons of Abraham; and to adopt it in conversation is certainly ”not speaking like a Christian.” The effect of this p.r.o.nunciation on the ear is as though the mouth of the speaker were filled with froth, which impedes the utterance, and gives the semblance of a defect where nature had kindly intended perfection; but the radical cause of this, and of many other misp.r.o.nunciations, is the carelessness, sometimes the ignorance, of teachers, who permit children to read and speak in a slovenly manner, without opening their teeth, or taking any pains to acquire a distinct articulation.