In the word tyrant there is a stress on the first syllable. In the word presume there is a stress on the second syllable. This stress is called accent, which is sometimes expressed by a mark ('); in which case the word is said to be accented, that is, to have the accent signified by writing.

1. Words accented on the last syllable: brigade', pretence', harpoon". Words accented on the last syllable but one, or the penult: anchor, has'ten, father. Words accented on the last syllable but two, or the antepenult: regular, antidote, fortify. Words accented on the last syllable but three: regulating, ab'solutely, inev'itable.

2. Some words have a secondary accent; as, car"avan', vi"olin', privateer'.

GUEST, in his History of English Rhythms, has proved that accent, in English, consists in stress, and not in acuteness, by two arguments: "1. When a sentence is whispered, and musical tone is thus excluded, the difference between the accented and the unaccented syllables is still perceptible. 2. In the common pronunciation of the Lowland Scotch, the syllable on which the greater stress is laid is pronounced with a grave accent."

SECTION CXLVII.—RULES FOR ENGLISH ACCENT.

The rules for accent are general, and subject to many exceptions. 1. In words from the Anglo-Saxon, the accent is generally on the root; as, love, lovely, loveliness. This is called the radical accent. 2. In words from the classical languages, the accent is generally laid on the termination; as, confuse', confusion; affirm', affirma'tion. This is called the terminational accent.

3. Many words are accented to distinguish them from others which are spelled like them, as in the following instances: attribute, to attribute; the month August, an august person; a compact, compact, close; to conjure (magically), to conjure', enjoin; desert, wilderness, desert', merit; minute, sixty seconds, minute, small; supine, part speech; supine, careless. This is called the distinctive accent.

Accent is to syllables what emphasis is to words: it distinguishes one from others, and brings it forward to observation.

SECTION CXLVIII. ACCENT ON MONOSYLLABLES.

Monosyllables standing alone have no accent. In sentences they sometimes take the accent, and sometimes do not take it, according to their accidental importance; as in the following line: “Far' as the solar walk' or milk'y way." Some of the particles are not accented, except when under emphasis. For the meaning of the word particle, see Section CCCLXI.

SECTION CXLIX.-ACCENT ON DISSYLLABLES.

Words of two syllables have necessarily one of them accented,

generally the first; as, follow, holy, paper. Amen, farewell, and some others, are pronounced with two accents.

1. Dissyllables formed by affixing a termination have the former syllable commonly accented: as child'ish, kingdom.

2. Dissyllables formed by prefixing a syllable to the radical word have commonly the accent on the latter; as, to beseem', to retain'.

3. Dissyllables which are used either as nouns or verbs, commonly have the accent, when used as nouns, on the former syllable, and when used as verbs, on the latter; as a cement, to cement'; a con'tract, to contract. To this there are many exceptions.

4. Dissyllables that have two vowels which are separated in the pronunciation have always the accent on the first;` as lï'on, riot; except create'.

SECTION CL.-ACCENT ON TRISYLLABLES.

1. Trisyllables formed by adding a termination or prefixing a syllable retain the accent on the radical word; as, ten'derness, bespatter.

2. Large classes of words of three syllables have the accent on the first; as, coun'tenance, en'tity, leg'ible, hab'itude.

3. Trisyllables ending in -ator, or which have in the middle syllable a diphthong, or a vowel before two consonants, accent the middle syllable; as, specta'tor, endeavour, domestic; except or'ator, sen'ator, barrator, legator.

4. Trisyllables that have their accent on the last syllable are commonly French; as, repartee', magazine'.

SECTION CLI.-ACCENT ON POLYSYLLABLES.

Polysyllables generally follow the accent of the words from which they are derived; as, arrogating, from arrogate; incontinently, from con'tinent. As a general rule, polysyllables accent the antepenult; as, extravagant, particular, notoriety.

SECTION CLII.-THE EFFECT OF EMPHASIS UPON ACCENT.

The distinction between emphasis and accent is this: A stress upon a word in a sentence, by which it is distinguished from the other words, is emphasis. A stress upon a syllable of a word, by which it is distinguished from the other syllables, is accent. Emphasis sometimes changes the place of accent in a word. Thus the accent of unsociable, intolerable, increase, decrease, falls regularly on the syllables so, tol, in, de. But when we say, "Some men are sociable, others unsociable; some men are tolerable, others intolerable; he must increase, I must decrease," we throw the accent upon un, in, de, the particles on which the contrast depends.

Having, in this chapter, examined syllables and words under the laws of accent, we shall proceed, in the next chapter, to consider them in relation to quantity.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER IV.

1. What is classical accent, and what is the derivation of the word accent?

2. Mention the three different kinds of accent, and in what places in a word they are severally employed.

3. What is English accent?

4. Give examples of words accented on different syllables.

5. Have any words more than one accent?

6. What are GUEST's arguments to prove that English accent consists in stress and not in acuteness?

7. Give an example of a word having a secondary accent.

8. What is said of accent on monosyllables?

9. Give the rules for the accent on dissyllables.

10. Give the rules for the accent on trisyllables and polysyllables.

11. What is the effect of emphasis on the place of accent?

12. Give an example of a word whose accent is changed by emphasis.

CHAPTER V.

QUANTITY.

SECTION CLIII.-CLASSIC OR SYLLABIC QUANTITY.

QUANTITY, in the classic sense, has reference to the length of syllables, measured by the length of time taken up in pronouncing them. In measuring the quantity of syllables, the vowel must be considered along with the consonants that follow it. Accordingly, in Latin and Greek, a vowel before two consonants is long by position, as it is called. Measured by this rule, the English syllables mend and mends would be considered long. A long syllable requires double the time of a short one in pronouncing it.

SECTION CLIV.-ENGLISH OR VOWEL QUANTITY.

Quantity, in the English sense, has reference to the length of vowels, measured by the time taken up in pronouncing them. By comparing the sound of the vowel in each word in the column below, at the left hand, with the sound of the vowel in the word opposite, in the column at the right, as, for instance, the sound of a in fate with the sound of a in fat, it will be seen that the first in each case is pronounced more slowly than the second. The first, therefore, in each couplet, as the utterance of it occupies more time, is called long. The second, as the utterance of it occupies less time, is called short.

SECTION CLV.-THE TWO MODES OF MEASUREMENT.

If the quantity of the syllable be determined by the quantity of the vowel, in the English mode, all syllables are short in which there is a short vowel, and all long in which there is a long one. According to this mode, the syllable see, in seeing, is long, and sits is short. But if the quantity of the syllable be measured, in the classic mode, not by the length of the vowel, but by the length of the syllable taken altogether, see, in seeing, being followed by another vowel, is short, and sits is long, the syllable being closed by two consonants. Thus we see that what is long by the one mode of measurement is short by the other. The syllables mend and mends, already mentioned as long when measured by the classic rule, are short when measured by the English rule.

SECTION CLVI.-DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT.

Professor LATHAM proposes for the words long and short to substitute independent and dependent. He says, "If from the word fate I separate the final consonantal sound, the syllable fa remains. In this syllable the a has precisely the sound which it had before. It remains unaltered. The removal of the consonant has in no wise modified its sound or power. It is not so with the vowel in the word fat. If from this I remove the consonant following, and so leave the a at the end of the syllable, instead of in the middle, I must do one of two things: I must sound it either as a in fate, or else as the a in father. Its (so-called) short sound it cannot retain, unless it is supported by a consonant following. For this reason it is dependent. The same is the case with all the so-called short sounds, viz.: the e in bed, i in fit, u in bull, o in not, u in but. The words independent and dependent correspond with the terms perfect and imperfect of the Hebrew grammarians." The division of vowels into long and short coincides nearly with the division into independent and dependent.

SECTION CLVII.-COMMON RULES.

A vowel or syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel, which occasions it to be slowly joined in the pronunciation to the following element; as, fall, bale, mite.

A vowel or syllable is short when the accent is on the consonant, which occasions the vowel to be quickly joined to the succeeding element; as, băn'ner, fil'let, butter.

A long syllable generally requires double the time of a short one in pronouncing it. Thus mate and note should be pronounced as slowly again as mat and not.

Unaccented syllables are generally short; as, admi're, baldness. But to this rule there are many exceptions; as, al'sō, exile.

When the accent is on a consonant, the syllable is often more or less short, as it ends with a single consonant or more than one; as,

25 [ENG. LANG. 7.]

robber, matchless. When the accent is on a continuous consonant, the time of the syllable may be protracted by dwelling on the consonant; as can', fulfill'. But when the accent falls on an explosive consonant, the syllable cannot be lengthened in the same manner; as, bubble, tot'ter.

1. All vowels under the principal accent, before the terminations -ia, -io, and -ion, preceded by a single consonant, are pronounced long; as, regalia, folio, adhesion, explosion, confusion; except the vowel i, which in that situation is short; as, militia, punctilio, decision, contrition. The only exceptions to this rule seem to be, discretion, battalion, gladiator, nătional, rătional.

2. All vowels that immediately precede the terminations -ity and -ety are pronounced long; as, deity, piety, spontaneity. But if one consonant precedes these terminations, every preceding accented vowel is short, except u, and the a in scarcity; as, polărity, sevěrity, divinity, curiosity, impunity. Even u before two consonants contracts itself; as curvity, taciturnity, &c.

3. Vowels under the principal accent, before the terminations -ic and -ical, preceded by a single consonant, are pronounced short; thus, satanic, pathetic, elliptic, harmonic, have the vowel short; while tunic, runic, cubic, have the accented vowel long; and fanatical, poětical, Levitical, canonical, have the vowel short; but cubical, misical, &c., have the u long.

4. The vowel in the antepenultimate syllable of words with the following terminations is always pronounced short.

SECTION CLVIII.—THE RELATION OF ACCENT TO QUANTITY.

Accent and quantity do not coincide. Nothing shows this more clearly than words like the adjective august, and the substantive August, where the quantity remains the same, although the accent is different. Still, accent has an influence on quantity.

"Besides the increase of loudness, and the sharper tone which distinguishes the accented syllable, there is also a tendency to dwell upon it, or, in other words, to lengthen its quantity. We cannot increase the loudness or the sharpness of the tone without a certain degree of muscular action; and to put the muscles in motion requires time. It would seem that the time required for producing a perceptible increase in the loudness or the sharpness of a tone is greater than that of pronouncing some of our shorter syllables. If we attempt, for instance, to throw the accent on the first syllable of