for ûrge.

The twelfth vowel in the table, always followed by the consonant r. very little trouble.

caret û as in ûrge, is

This sound gives us

Occasionally we hear students straining for an over-nice pronunciation of this vowel, endeavoring to give it the sound of waved ē, thus, ērge

The long ā, No. 13 in the table, is made by uniting the original element, or name sound of the letter, with long ē, thus a=a+ē.

LIST OF WORDS FOR PRACTICE.

The long i, No. 14 in the table, is made by uniting.

Italian ä with long e, thus i=ä+ē.

LIST OF WORDS FOR PRACTICE.

bias bi'cycle declinable

bide

kine

rhyme

dyke

life

scythe

finite derisive

deify

The long ō, No. 15 in the table, is made by uniting the name sound of the letter with oo, thus õ=õ+σ. The vanish into oo is slight.

The diphthong oi is made by uniting broad a with ẽ,

thus oi=a+ē.

The diphthong ou is made by uniting Italian ä and σ,

thus ou=ä+00.

LIST OF WORDS FOR PRACTICE.

drowsy counter countersign fountain foundling counselor gouty cowardice houseless dowager

bough mount tower

cowl now vouch

doubt pout fowl rouse

hound

vowel

blouse

rowdy

house sour drought resound

mouthing lowering

The diphthong long ū has always been a stumbling block to the most of our public speakers. According to the best orthoëpists, it is equivalent to the sound of the consonant y and oo; thus ū=y+00. The only way to prove this is to make the sound of y and oo in rapid succession and blend them; or we may say that in pronunciation ū=you. Here the y forms the initial part of the diphthong and ou the oo part. When the long ū stands as a syllable by itself, we experience no difficulty in hearing the diphthongal sound; thus, ed-yoo-cate, yoo-nite, In such cases we never think of dropping the y part of the diphthong, and saying ed-oo-cate; also when long u does not form a syllable by itself, but is found in combination with certain consonants, we always hear the initial y and the sound of oo; thus, mute-we never hear the y suppressed and the word pronounced moot; we never hear

etc.

beauty pronounced booty, cute pronounced coot, or pūre pronounced poor. The trouble in pronouncing this diphthong occurs when any of the following consonants, d, t, 1, n, s, or th happens to come before a long u; thus, we are apt to pronounce duty as though it were spelled dooty —i. e. we make the long ū in such cases equal to oo; but it is equal, as we have shown, to y+oo. The question then to be answered is this, Why do we suppress the y part of the diphthong whenever d, t, 1, n, s, or th happens to come before a long u? Simply because d, t, 1, n, s, and th are made in the fore part of the mouth by the tip of the tongue and teeth, and the y part of the diphthong is made by the palate. We see plainly that to pass from the front part of the mouth to the palate is the greatest possible distance in the articulative machinery, hence it is easier to pass from d, t, 1, n, s, and th to the oo sound than to take up the intermediate y. The rule then in all cases where d, t, 1, n, s, and th precedes the long u is this: always introduce the sound of y as the initial part of the diphthong, with this added caution that it be given with as slight a sound as possible, to avoid affectation.

duke

tūne

LIST OF WORDS FOR PRACTICE.

thews duty

dew

duet

tūmult tūtor lūte tūbe Lucy

nude Luke neuter new Susan dūde tulip

suit

due

dubious indubitable tuberose maturity Tuesday lubricate illuminate nuisance numerous innumerable Matthew studious enthusiasm

supine institūte superiority

The pupil must be impressed from the foregoing discussion that the vowels whose pronunciation requires the most careful attention are the long Italian ä and short Italian & No. 2, the caret â No. 4, the waved ẽ and ĩ No. 7, the long oo and short oo No. 9, and the diphthongal long û No. 18. In order that the life-long habits of mispronunciation may be amended, continuous daily practice of the lists of words, with special attention to the five difficult vowel sounds mentioned, is recommended as absolutely necessary. A knowledge of what is right does not always insure the practice of what is right.

Unless this rigid and continuous practice be kept up for a long time, the student will find himself unconsciously

slipping back to the old and incorrect pronunciation. The main thing is to keep the subject constantly before the student. This can be done in a very simple and practical way. Let each student procure a piece of cardboard 30x15 inches, and arrange the words for practice in vertical columns. It is not necessary to include all the lists of words in this chart, but simply those that illustrate the five vowel sounds that are the most difficult. The chart should be hung on the wall of the study room, and the words printed. or written large enough to be seen at a considerable distance. The words should be repeated several times a day until ease and accuracy in their pronunciation is attained. It will require patience and industry to break up long established habits of mispronunciation, but the plan suggested is the simplest and surest method to accomplish the task.

Outline of Chart for the Vowel Sounds.-Practice vowel sounds to secure accuracy in pronunciation.

Vowel sounds that give us the most trouble in pronun

The full table of vowel sounds should appear on the completed chart, and the vertical columns of words for practice should be filled out.

Constant use of the table of vowel sounds is necessary in order that pupils may be trained to detect vowel sound as rapidly as they read words.

EXAMPLES FOR ILLUSTRATION.

8 15 7 18 8 17 2 33 688 18 8 9 There is no virtue without a characteristic beauty to 13 8 2 8 18 12 8 II make it particularly loved of the good, and to make the

ΙΟ

II

6 6 10 8

bad ashamed of their neglect of it.

9 3

9 13

The diacritical marks may be used in this exercise, although I prefer the numerals for two reasons. First: It is not necessary, in using the numerals, to respell words like bury, any, etc. Second: Students, who are not sure of their knowledge of vowel sound, can make diacritical marks so ingeniously that no teacher can tell what they

mean.

EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE.

Mark the vowels in the following sentences:
The mourners went home in the morning.
Honesty is the best policy.

Blood, says the pride of life, is more honorable

than money.

In some of the recently published dictionaries, there is a strong tendency in the direction of current pronunciation. This is to be commended, provided the movement does not become so radical as to interfere seriously with the standards of good taste in pronunciation. We are yielding, I fear, too much to the easy way of pronouncing words, and allowing ourselves to hold in light esteem some of the delicate distinctions in vowel sound that have given to cultivated speech its distinctive charm. The duty of the conscientious student of elocution is to conserve all that adds to the grace and finish of human speech, and, at the same time, to avoid the weakness of over-nicety and oddness. We have endeavored in this discussion to present a positive and working system of English phonation. We have given to each vowel sound a definite existence, and have contended for a phonation clearly outlined and fixed in its quality and quantity.