CHAPTER II.

THE PHONETIC ELEMENTS IN COMBINATION.

PRONOUNCEABLE COMBINATIONS.

§ 132. 1. The Vowel elements in combination with one another, whether they coalesce, as in diphthongs, or continue separate, are easily pronounced, as oi in voice, ia in Indian.

2. The Vowel elements, in combination with the consonantal elements, either simple or compound, are easily pronounced, as Atlas, Chester.

3. The Consonantal elements, in combination with one another, are some of them pronounced easily, some with difficulty, while some of them can not be pronounced at all. Thus the sound of blends easily in the pronunciation with any other consonantal element which precedes it, as in bra, tra. But the sound of t does not easily blend with that of c in the word facts, but requires an effort of the organs. And the sound of d can not be made to blend with that of p in the combination apd. See $134.

UNPRONOUNCEABLE COMBINATIONS.

§ 133. Two consonantal elements, the one marked SURD in the table, the other SONANT, can not be pronounced in the same. syllable. See Table of Elementary Sounds, § 118.

Thus, if you attempt to pronounce the combination sofd, in which there is a surd and a sonant, you will find it impossible. The same will be true of any like combination. The organs are thrown into a condition by pronouncing the one element which will not allow them immediately to pronounce the other.

A CHANGE OF ELEMENTS IN PRONUNCIATION.

§ 134. In attempting to pronounce, in one syllable, a surd and a sonant, either the surd will become a sonant, or the sonant will become a surd. Thus, in the pronunciation of sofd,

the sound off will become that of v, or the sound of d will become that of t, and the word will become either sovd or soft. In the same manner, the combination indicated by the letters sobs must be pronounced as if spelled either sobz or sops. So in the following list:

THE IMPORTANCE

OF THE FACT JUST STATED.

§ 135. "There is no fact that requires to be more familiarly known than this. There are at least three formations in the English language where its influence is most important. These are, (a) the possessive forms in -s; (b) the plurals in -s; (c) the preterits in -d and -t.

Neither are there many facts in language more disguised than this is in English. The s in the word stags is sharp; the g in the word stags is flat. Notwithstanding this, the combination ags exists. It exists, however, in the spelling only. In speaking, the s is sounded as z, and the word stags is pronounced stagz. Again, in words like tossed, plucked, looked, the e is omitted in pronunciation. Hence the words become toss'd, pluck'd, look'd; that is, the flat d comes in contact with the sharp k and s. Now the combination exists in the spelling only, since the preterits of pluck, look, and toss are, in speech, pronounced pluckt, lookt, tosst.

The reason for the difference between the spelling and the pronunciation is as follows: For the possessive case singular, for the nominative plural, and for the preterit tense of verbs, the forms in Anglo-Saxon were fuller than they are in the present English. The possessive singular ended not in -s only, but in -es, and the nominative plural in -as. Similarly, the preterit of the verbs ended either in -od or -ed, not -d only; e. g., wordes of a word (word's), flódes= of a flood (flood's), landes—of a land (land's), thinges=of a thing (or thing's), endas=end's, and so on throughout the language. In this case, the vowel separated the two consonants, and kept them from coming together. As long as this vowel kept its place, the consonants remained unchanged, their different degrees of sharpness and

flatness being a matter of indifference. When the vowel, however, was dropped, the consonants came in contact. This reduced a change on one side or the other to a matter of necessity. Liquid and vowel sounds, though vocal or flat, will combine with aspirated or sharp consonant sounds. If this were not the case, the combinations ap, at, alp, art, would be unpronounceable. The law exhibited above may be called the Law of Accommodation. Combinations like bt, kd, &c., may be called Incompatible Combinations."-PROFESSOR LATHAM's English Grammar, p. 29.

THE ACCUMULATION

OF

CONSONANTAL ELEMENTS.

§ 136. Combinations are also unpronounceable from the accumulation of consonantal elements. This is evident from the nature of these elements. It is only saying that there is a limitation to the number of consonantal elements which can be brought together in one syllable.

The consonantal elements have the power of blending with each other in the same syllable in very different degrees. The elements represented by 1 and r have this power of blending with others in a very eminent degree. The element represented by s is distinguished among the surds for its power of blending with the other consonantal elements. The word restraints affords an instance, it is said, of as great a number of consonantal elements pronounceable in the same syllable as can be found in the language. Perhaps the possible number may be somewhat greater.

COMPARATIVE PHONOLOGY IN RESPECT TO COMBINATION.

COMBINATIONS NOT IN THE LANGUAGE.

§ 137. The English, like every other language, has its characteristic combinations. It has but few Nasal sounds in comparison with the French; but few Guttural sounds in comparison with the Hebrew; but few Rough-breathing or true aspirates in comparison with the Greek, and those mostly confined 'to compound words like off-hand, withhold, knife-handle; but few Reduplications of sound, and those confined to compound words like soulless, book-case.

In the Greek there are combinations of the elements indicated by 40 (phth), as in p0ious; by Tu (tm), as in Tuayev. In the Armenian there are syllables like stzges; in the Choctaw, like yvmmak; in the Welsh, like yspryd; in the Gaelic, like

dhaibk; in the Erse, like ndcanadh; in the Icelandic, like njala; in Wendish, like szvetloszti.

Combinations like these are altogether undesirable, it would seem, in any language; at least, we can felicitate ourselves that they are not found in the English language.

Having, in this chapter, examined the phonetic elements of the language in their pronounceable and their unpronounceable combinations, we are prepared in the next chapter to examine them in their actual combinations in syllables and words.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER II.

1. What classes of phonetic elements are pronounceable in combination? 2. What is said of the pronunciation of the consonantal sounds in combination?

3. Give three consonantal combinations which illustrate the answer to the last question.

4. What is said of a surd and of a sonant element in combination?

5. What is the reason that a surd and a sonant can not be pronounced in combination?

6. What is said of a change of elements in pronunciation ?

7. Give some illustrations: what does avt become? &c.

8. In what three classes of words is the fact stated in the section respecting a change of elements of importance in its influence?

9. What is said of an accumulation of consonants?

10. What consonanted elements have eminently the power of blending with others?

11. What is said of the English in comparison with other languages in respect to combinations?

12. Are difficult combinations, like those found in some languages, desirable?

CHAPTER III.

COMBINATIONS IN SYLLABLES.

§ 138. CERTAIN combinations of the phonetic elements form SYLLABLES. A syllable, in the spoken language, is one or more elementary sounds pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word or a part of a word.

A syllable, in the written language, is a letter, or a combination of letters, which represent a syllable in the spoken language; wis-dom.

as, an,

In the word man there are three elementary sounds, constituting one syllable in the spoken language. These three sounds are represented by the three letters m, a, n, which together constitute one syllable in the written language. The word syllable is from the Greek words oúv, with, and λabeiv, to take.

Every syllable in the spoken language contains at least one vocal element. This element is either a vowel or a liquid; as, Pat, prism, pronounced priz-m, in two syllables.

Every syllable in the written language has at least one vowel, but this is not always sounded in pronunciation; as, in the last syllables of ta-ble, rea-son, e-vil, nev-er.

NAMES OF WORDS FROM THEIR DIVISION INTO SYL

LABLES.

§ 139. Words consisting of single syllables are called monosyllables, from the Greek word povós, alone; as, man, he. Words consisting of two syllables are called dissyllables, from the Greek word dis, twice; as, o-ver, un-der. Words consisting of three syllables are called trisyllables, from the Greek word τpię, thrice; as, dis-a-ble, fa-ther-less. Words consisting of more than three syllables are called polysyllables, from the Greek word Toλús, many; as, fer-men-ta-tion.