Still the general tendency in these days of universal reading, to submit the pronunciation to the writing, has here, as in ê, è, ai, ei, often proved stronger than the natural pronunciation: ô or a is seen, and the attempt follows to give the word the long sound. And ô, â, are often long in spite of position. Some words have resisted. Although hôtel, rôti, are now supposed to be more correct than roti, hotel, the world goes on saying roti, hotel, side by side with rôti, hôtel. Mauvais, again, the dictionaries tell us, equals morais, but certainly movais is usually heard. Contrast mauve, where au is tonic. In hôpital, ô even descends to o in modéré. This, no one disputes. § 80. Diphthongs.-1. The union in one syllable of any two vowel sounds forms a double vowel sound, or diphthong: ui in lui ; oui in Louis; ouan in louange. For practical purposes this definition is sufficiently accurate. The following is given by Professor Max Müller:-"The diphthongs arise when, instead of producing one vowel immediately after another with two efforts of the voice, we produce a sound during the change from one position to the other that would be required for each vowel." 2. It is perhaps necessary to caution the student against the (till lately) common English explanation of a diphthong, viz., that it is the written combination of the letters a, e, i, o, u, without regard to the double or single sound. Certainly, in English it is objectionable to be obliged to speak of a in fate, i in fine, pike, etc., and the u in amuse, mute, etc., as diphthongs. But this is preferable to destroying the meaning attached to the term in all works of philology. Max Müller, Morris, Latham, etc., use the term diphthong as it is employed in French. 66 3. Only a few of the numerous modern French diphthongs are strong," i.e., with tonic accent on first vowel, a'i (aille); eu'i (feuille); oui (houille). The others are weak, 4. With some exceptions, the exact pronunciation of a French diphthong may be ascertained by dividing it into its component vowels. But the sounds must be compressed together. Compare oui, yes, and out, heard; ouais and où est, where the sense seems to require a distinction to be made.* Is this distinction really made in rapid speaking, and are not all such combinations practically diphthongs? All the above are practically diphthongs; some are caused merely by the accidental concurrence of two syllables, and would not for many purposes of etymology be acknowledged as true diphthongs. § 81. e mute (e muet or e sourd.)-1. If any one compares the English of Chaucer with modern English, perhaps the first thing that strikes him is the prevalence of e as a suffix.* This final e is the remnant of various Saxon grammatical endings. In Chaucer's time it was distinctly sounded in most cases. Even so late as Shakespeare many instances can be found in which the sound of the e is necessary to the rhythm.‡ + See Chaucer (Clarendon Series), p. xlvi. passim, and Ellis's Early English Pronunciation, pp. 318, 400, for etails. See also § 434, note, See Abbot's Shakesp. Grammar, pp. 386, etc. The process of degradation proceeded gradually, and seems now to have reached its limit; the e has either disappeared, or is merely employed as an orthographical expedient, like the superposed e of the German: fat, fate, Vater, Väter.* 2. Various vowels have similarly descended to e in modern German. But in German the pronunciation is, so to speak, that of Chaucer. The e is almost always heard. This is true of French in some parts of France. This pronunciation must not be imitated. 3. The origin of the French e mute is in a great measure parallel. In Old French, most Latin atonic vowels had either disappeared altogether, or had left e as their representative. This e, as in Old English, was, as a rule, distinctly sounded till the sixteenth century.† Then it began to be dropped in pronunciation. The phonetic decay has not, however, in modern French, reached the same stage as in English. Whether final or medial, it is sounded or not, according to fixed rules founded on considerations which may be thus stated : a. Every sounded consonant in modern French must have its full value, and must not be carelessly or slovenly pronounced. B. There are certain combinations of consonants, which it is either difficult or impossible to pronounce without full help from the vowel. 7. E mute must only be so made use of, as to enable these consonantal sounds to be distinctly articulated without effort, interruption, or harshness. 8. It is evident that a very slow and very clear speaker will need more help from the vowel, than one who speaks rapidly. Hence on all occasions when it is necessary to speak with exceptional distinctness and clearness, the e is more employed than in ordinary speaking and reading. The rules given in § 65 are founded on these facts. In singing it is rarely possible to omit e, nor, as a rule, is any attempt made to omit it. Its use in verse is altogether peculiar, see Prosody. *The tendency, however, of any atonic vowel to sink at once to the neutral sound is still in full force in modern English. (Early English Pronunciation, pp. 1158, passim.) But printing preserves the orthogra phical symbols from corruption. Ex. idea, Maria, above, placable, against, surgeon, fashion, waistcoat, huntsman, etc. † See Palsgrave's Grammar, 1530. His testimony is very distinct. "He shall be sounded almost like an o, and very much in the noose.' See also Littré, "Histoire de la Langue française, p. 197, passim." It is never initial. The mute e in fable, catéchisme, pinnacle, etc. The English custom of pronouncing the e in such words as the above, as if the word were written fabel (e=u in duck), cannot be too much guarded against. Ellis speaks of it as the test of a correct French pronunciation, and he is right. E mute in faites-le, etc.-In prose the rule is absolute the accented pronoun * after the verb in the imperative is always sounded. In verse rare instances occur in which the necessities of the metre render it essential that e should be omitted. Such omission can only occur before a vowel. (See Prosody.) 1. Thus the e has its full value in- .?-RACINE. De rossignols une centaine s'écrie: épargnez-le.-FLORIAN. § 82. The symbol eu.-(a) The Latin short o in most of the Romance languages was strengthened into a diphthong. In Italian it became uo, which remains: nuovo. In Spanish it became ue, which also remains: nueve. In the French of the ninth century, uo occurs: Buona pulcella fut Eulalie. But in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries we find sometimes ue (nuef), sometimes oe (noef), sometimes oeu. All these symbols probably represented the same sound. What this sound was, is not easy to say with certainty. Perhaps it was that of uo in Italian nuovo, perhaps that of u in English duke, namely you.† However that may be, u and e eventually changed places, and the sound descended to what it now is, a vowel sound standing between e mute and u. (B) ue, oe, oeu, eu.-Ue, oe and oeu remain in various words, but in them the pronunciation has followed the fortunes of eu. Each now represents the vowel sound heard in peu, feu, when the syllable is open; and each sinks to the neutral sound of e mute when the syllable is closed. 1. ue eu in cueillir, orgueil, écueil, and derivatives. A change in the position of the u and e would change the value of c and g, and the old symbols remain. 2. œu=eu in bœuf, œuf, sœur, nœud, etc. 3. œ eu in oil and derivatives. (y) eu e mute.-In closed tonic syllables in French it is more often the neutral sound of e mute than pure eu which is * Accented; for the addition of any pronoun is sufficient to shift the tonic accent, and to destroy the necessity of pronouncing the e: donnez-le, but donnez-le-moi donnez-l'-moi. † Even so late as 1530, Palsgrave gives the English ew in new as the equivalent of eu. This would seem to show tliat in his time it was still a diphthong. F heard fleuve, neuf, peur, leur, etc. But when a sibilant closes the syllable, in the mouth of careful speakers it is doubtless eu pure précieuse. It must be acknowledged, however, that Littré, throughout his Dictionary, makes no distinction in the phonetic symbol; he treats eu as possessed only of one pronunciation. Possibly his motive may be to prevent the language from degenerating through indolence. Compare his efforts with 7 mouillé.* eu is found in German ö in König, Wörter, etc. Professor Max Müller calls attention to the easy descent of ö to the neutral sound. Professor Whitney cautions the student against confusing the sounds: he says, "The German poets make ở rhyme with the simple e, and in parts of Germany the two are hardly distinguished. But their real difference, as properly pronounced, is quite marked, and should never be neglected." + (8) eu-u.-We have seen that the symbol eu has in most words supplanted the old ue.. But eu in old French had the sound now represented by u. When eu assumed its modern value, u was employed as a symbol of the old eu sound. The presence of a circumflex shows us occasionally the omission of the e (meure left as mûre), but oftener no accent is present. Thus, blesseure blessure. Numberless examples might be given. Throughout avoir, and in gageure, we have the only remains of the old spelling and pronunciation: here eu == u (du). § 83. e unaccented, but not mute.-1. "e unaccented, followed by a consonant in the same syllable, is pronounced as if it were accented: res-pec-ter" ($ 67). Consequently, when in the same syllable a consonant follows an e, no accent can be required. In the application of this rule a strict attention must be paid to the rules for the division of words into syllables (§ 45); the two stand or fall together. ré-flé-chir res-pec-ter re-tran-che dé-plai-re 2. x is a double letter, and therefore such words as vexation (vek-sa-tion), exiger (eg-zi-ger) may claim to fall under this rule. 3. s final is neither sounded nor has any influence over the preceding letters: hence succès, après, etc. Exceptions are, des (article), les, ces, ses, mes, tes, (tu) es. 4. In only a few words out of nearly two hundred that end in et, the circumflex accent remains to show the loss of a letter. * See also Ellis, Early English Pronunciation, p. 823. It may not be useless to caution the student against the careless pronunciation of this sound in that most difficult of all French words to an Englishman, Monsieur: pure eu occurs twice, meusieu. Even in Paris the first eu degenerates into e mute in the mouth of every waiter. "L'ancien usage allongeait les pluriels des nouns terminés por une consonne; le chat, les chats, (les cha); le sot, les sots, (les số). Cela s'efface beaucoup, et la prononciation conforme de plus en plus le purliel au singulier; c'est une nuance qui se perd.”—(LITTRÉ.) |