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RULES OF PRONUNCIATION,

REFERRED TO FROM

TIE FOREGOING FRENCH TEXT, AND PRINCIPALLY FROM THE FIRST FABLE.

RULE 1. All nasal vowels are long at the end of words, when fo' lowed by a consonant, as: méchant, long, mains, bruns. Therefore, dwell longer on dans than on the word tan.

2.

When a final is joined to the next word, it sounds like z. Thus, montueux et is pronounced as if spelled montueu-zé.

3. The two l's are liquid. They are so in almost all words, when preceded by i; except i begins the word, as in illustre. The liquid 7, which is marked throughout the First Part of this work by a dot under it, thus, is similar to the sound of the last i in William—not the first. The last i being articulated just after the sound of ll, and before that of the vowel a, requires the tongue to be forcibly bent on the roof of the palate to give it utterance. It is the sound of the i, and not of ll, which represents the French liquid 7. Thus, sillonné is pronounced as if spelled si-io-né.

It is to be remarked that i followed by ll and preceded by another vowel, is always silent in pronunciation; it serves only to indicate the liquid sound of the l, as in paille, soleil, patrouille, which should be pronounced pa-i, solè-i, patrou-i. But when i is not preceded by another vowel, as in fille, it retains its natural sound, and serves at the same time to indicate the sound of l. And here, in fille, pronounced fi-i, we find both the i natural, and the i which stands for ll.

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4. When the final z or z is preceded by a vowel, it generally makes that vowel long.

5. The three letters ent, at the end of the third person plural of verbs, never form a nasal sound, but only a mute e; and if they follow i, they make the preceding sound more open. Thus, tiraient is pro. nounced as if spelled tire.

6. Ch followed by a vowel is pronounced like sh in the English word shade. When followed by a consonant it sounds like k.

7. Vowels are broad when, in the middle of words, they are followed by r; except a, which is generally short. Thus, eu and o sound broader in beurre and aurore, than in jeune and robe.

8. The unaccented e, in monosyllables and the first syllable of words of more than one syllable, is always distinctly uttered, when the preceding word ends with a hard, or consonant, sound; but it is silent when the preceding word ends with a soft, or vowel, sound. As in the words ne and demander, in the two following examples:

Pour ne pas leur demander must be read, pour neu pas leur deumander; because these two words are preceded by the hard sound r.

Je ne veux pas demander must be read, je n' veux pas d'mander; because ne is preceded by the soft sound of je, and demander by that

of pas.

When the unaccented e is to be distinctly sounded, it will be indicated in the First Part of this work by eu placed over it, as in the instance of the word le in the text. Where it is silent, it will be printed in italic. There are a few cases in which it is to be faintly sounded, when it will be printed thus, ĕ.

9. The unaccented e final in monosyllables is always silent when it comes after a soft or vowel sound like that of mois. Thus, mois de is pronounced moâd. See Rule 8 ante.

Letters which are silent in pronunciation will be printed in the italic character in Parts I. and II. of this work.

10. The u is not sounded after q, except in a few words coming from the Latin.

11. G has always its soft sound, like s in the English word pleasure, before e and i. It is always hard, as in the English word gale, before a, o and u.

12. Y, between two vowels, performs the office of two i's, and is always preceded by a, o or u :

When preceded by a, it unites its first i with this vowel, and makes as in rayons, which is pronounced re-ions; when preceded by o, its first i alone makes è, as in joyeux, which is pronounced joè-ieux; and when preceded by u, its two i's preserve their natural sound, as in appuyer, which is pronounced appui-ier.

Y has, in all other instances, the power of one i only; except in pays, pay, an, paysage, which are pronounced pè-i, pè-izan, pè-izage.

13. The single l, at the end of words, is sounded exactly the same as ll in the middle of words; for there is not the least difference between the pronunciation of pareil and that of pareille. See Rule 3 ante.

14. Of the double consonants, like tt in attelage, only one is sounded. When both are to be sounded, they will be noted.

15. When g is joined to the next word, sanget is pronounced san-ké.

sounds like k. Thus,

16. The t of the conjunction et is never sounded.

17. Pronounce exténué as if spelled éksténué. X has two sounds: that of ks, as in sexe, boxer; and that of gz, in all words beginning with x or ex, followed by a vowel, as in Xavier, exil.

18. The r final when preceded by e is silent, unless followed by a word commencing with a vowel. The e preceding r final is always sounded é.

19. C, before a, o, u, has always the sound of k. Thus, aucun is pronounced aukun.

20. C, before e, i, y, has always the soft sound of s.

21. When s final is joined to the next word, it sounds like z in the English word zeal. Thus, les uns is pronounced lè-zuns.

22. When s is placed between two vowels, it sounds like ≈; except in compound words, in which it preserves the sound of the initial, as in parasol. Thus, chose is pronounced choz.

23. Gn, as a general rule, has a liquid sound nearly similar to that of ni in the English word onion.

24. When i, in the middle of words, is preceded by o, it alway sounds like è as in moine; except it is followed by r, when it sounds like a, as in gloire; or when it is followed by n and forms a nasia sound, in which case the i is unchanged by o preceding it, as in roine.

25. In the case of all words ending in n, in which the n i joined to the following word, as in un-âge; in order to give the cerct utter. ance, it is necessary to double the n. Thus, un age is pronounced as if spelled un_kâge, and not u_nâge. This is done for the sake

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of preserving the nasal sound of un, which would be lost if the latter pronunciation (u-nâge) were correct.

26. A is always long when followed by s at the end of words.

27. When the final e is preceded by a vowel, it always makes that vowel long. Thus, iin Marie is longer than in mari; and ou in moue is longer than in mou.

28. When the consonants rr form a single articulation, the vowel or vowels which precede them are generally long. Thus, bizarre is pronounced bizarre.

29. The t is soft before i, when i is followed by some other vowel or vowels. Thus, attention is pronounced atansion.

30. The u, in this word and its derivatives, has no power but that of giving a hard sound to the c preceding it.

31. The u between g, and e or i, never performs any office but that of making the g hard; except in aiguille, aiguiser, linguiste and their derivatives, and in arguer, besaiguë, ciguë, sanguification and languide; in which the u is distinctly sounded.

The s

32. When i follows o, in monosyllables or in the last syllable of words of more than one syllable, it is always sounded like a. final makes it long. Thus, trois is pronounced as if spelled troâ.

33. The c has always the soft sound of s when there is a cedilla, thus under it.

34. The unaccented e at the end of words of more than one syllable is never sounded; but the consonant which precedes it is to be distinctly uttered with its natural sound. Hence, une, fine, &c., are not to be pronounced with the nasal sounds of un, fin, but thus, u-ne, fi-ne.

t

35. When d final is joined to the next word, it always sounds like Thus, prétend_animer is pronounced as if spelled prétan-tanimé.

36. The e, followed by z, at the end of the of verbs, is always long and sounded like é. nounced as if spelled pè-ié.

second person plural Thus, payez is pro

37. Final consonants are not sounded when followed by words commencing with consonants. Thus, dans followed by les is pronounced dan.

.

38. Final consonants are generally joined to the next word, when that word begins with a vowel. Thus, les affaires is pronounced le safer. These joining letters are marked in the Three First Parts of this work by a curve, thus

39. When the unaccented e is found in two adjoining moncsyllables, it is sounded in the first and silent in the second; thus, je me is pronounced je m'. When it occurs in three consecutive monosyllables, it is generally sounded in the first and last, and silent in the second: thus, que je te is generally pronounced que j' te.

40. There is no nasal sound when n or m is doubled, and the preceding vowel is short; except in ennoblir, ennuyer and their derivatives, and in emmener and all the words beginning with emm. These last three words are pronounced as if spelled an-noblir, an-nuié, anmné.

41. The c final always sounds like k.

42. When two c's come together, the first always sounds like k; the other follows the general rule. See Rules 19, 20, ante.

43. The s is sounded in plus (the adverb of comparison) followed by que.

44. Ph is always sounded like ƒ.

45. The h is never sounded after t.

46. The diæresis, thus", is placed over the vowels e, i, u, thus ë, I, ü, to intimate that they are to be pronounced separately from the preceding vowel. Thus, héroïnes is pronounced éro-ï-n.

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