ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

PART I.

ETYMOLOGY.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON LETTERS, ETC.

1. LANGUAGE, when spoken, is composed of elementary sounds; and when written, is composed of elementary forms, called letters, which have been invented to represent those sounds.

The correct employment of the signs and sounds of language is taught by the science of Grammar, and is determined partly by the natural distinctions and relations of speech, and chiefly by the concurrent usages of reputable writers and speakers.

2. The sounds of which language is composed are called articulate, a word which literally means uniting by joints, because these sounds are distinct, yet fitted for combination; they are a system whose parts can be separately distinguished as the effects of certain positions of the several organs of speech.

The inferior animals are enabled to utter instinctive but inarticulate sounds, in order to express what they feel. These, however, are not sufficiently numerous and precise to suit the necessities of a rational nature; and hence man has been enabled to form an immense variety of artificial ex

B

pressions, whereby he can make known to others his various sentiments and conceptions.

3. But extensive as that variety is, the differing elementary sounds of which it is constituted, are remarkably few. In our own language and others they might, indeed, be a little more numerous than we find them; but a sufficiently perfect language does not demand, for the construction of it, that every elementary articulation of which the organs of speech render us capable, should be supplied. The elementary sounds in the English language are at least thirty-three; and its alphabet, to be perfect, should contain one distinct letter for each of these sounds. But that alphabet is defective, as it wants a distinct single sign for each of the following sounds,- -those of sh in ship, of z in azure, of th in thin, of th in then, and of ng in song; it is defective also, in not having distinct letters to represent varieties of sound given to a and some other letters. Moreover, it is redundant, as c, q, j, and x, are unnecessary, -c sounding like s or k, j like dzh, and x like ks or gz.

4. The English alphabet is usually divided into vowels and consonants; the former, viz., a, e, i, o, u, w, y*, having continuous sounds, without interruption of the passage of the breath; the latter, the remaining letters, having sounds more or less imperfect, in consequence of the passage of the breath being interrupted by the tongue, lips, or teeth.

*When w ory begins or helps to begin a syllable, it is generally regarded as a consonant, and is sometimes called a semivowel; as in the 'words wisdom, youth, reward, beyond, twice, where. Some respectable grammarians maintain that w and y are always vowels; and, with respect to w, at least, a comparison of the diphthongal ew with its reverse we seems to evince that w in we is as well entitled to be reckoned a vowel as e in ew; in the former instance, the sound of w is short, and that of e is long; in the latter instance, the reverse takes place. Besides, it is commonly said that uoy in buoy is a proper triphthong; and yet has not u in that combination the same sound as the (so called) consonantal w?

divided into Mutes, or Thus, b, d, f, g, h, k, are liquids. But it

5. The elementary consonantal sounds may be obstructed sounds, and Liquids, or fluent sounds. p, s, t, v, z, th, sh, zh, are. mutes; l, m, n, r, ng, should be remarked, that f, h, s, v, z, th, sh, zh, have continuous sounds, though not so fluent as the liquids.

6. The Mutes (excluding h*) may be divided into sharps and corresponding flats. Thus, the sounds p and b are distinguishable merely as sharp and flat; so are t and d, fƒ and v, k and g, s and z, th (in thin) and th (in then), sh and zh.

In ordinary utterance the main distinction between a flat and its sharp is, that the sharp is formed by the breath only, and the flat by the breath and voice together. Accordingly, some grammarians give the sharps the name of whispering or surd mutes, and the flats that of vocal or sonant mutes. It will appear, however, on pronouncing ten and den whisperingly, that the sharp and flat mutes have a distinction independent of voice.†

7. The Mutes are divisible into aspirated and unaspirated, and also into labials, dentals, gutturals, and sibilants.

* The sharp mute h has no corresponding flat in the English language, but has it in some other languages. Some grammarians consider h to

be no articulation, but merely a breathing.

t "The seven couple of simple consonants differ, each from its partner, by no variation whatever of articulation, but by a certain unnoticed and almost imperceptible compression of, or near, the larynx."— Horne Tooke, quoted by Arnold, Gram. § 214.

"As we cannot pass from a flat to a sharp, without altering the conformation of the larynx, the facility of utterance makes it a rule for all languages, that if two of these consonants concur, they will be pronounced as both flats, or both sharps, that is, both with, or both without the compression of the larynx.". Arnold, § 215. This, as Arnold admits, is not a universal rule. See Latham's Elem. Gram. § 44.

Sharp ch is a compound of t and sh; its corresponding flat is j in jest, or g in gem.

8. A syllable consists of some vowel sound, or of a vowel sound pronounced in immediate combination with one or more vowel or consonantal sounds.

A syllable must contain a vowel; and the consonantal sounds preceding and following vowels are, as it were, joints, whereby one syllable is joined to another. It is the intervention of consonantal to vowel sounds that more especially constitutes articulation, preventing what is called hiatus.

9. A syllable occurring singly in discourse is called a monosyllable; two syllables combined form a dissyllable; three, a trisyllable; more than three, a polysyllable. Thus, a, of, bound, are monosyllables; avert, offend, bounded, are dissyllables; averted, offending, unbounded, are trisyllables, &c.

10. When two vowels come together in one syllable, they form what is called a diphthong; a proper diphthong, if each vowel is sounded, -an improper diphthong, or rather a digraph, if only one vowel is sounded. Thus oy in boy forms a proper diphthong, oa in boat an improper. The sounds of i and u, in pine and duty, may be reckoned diphthongal.

There are said to be only four proper diphthongal sounds, viz. those of ou in proud, ew in few, oi in soil, and i in

time.

Three vowels coming together in one syllable form a triphthong, as iew in view.

11. The above remarks belong chiefly to that department of Grammar which is called Orthography. Three other departments are commonly specified in books of Grammar, viz.: Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.

Orthography teaches the correct employment of the letters in writing and speaking, and includes what is called Orthoepy or Pronunciation. Etymology treats of the classification and derivation of words, and of the relation of their forms to their meanings.

Syntax is a system of rules for the arrangement of words in sen

tences.

Prosody treats of verbal accent, and of the structure of verse.

The principal departments, however, which modern books of English Grammar comprehend, are Etymology and Syntax, the one treating chiefly of words by themselves, the other explaining their arrangement in

sentences.

12. For the purpose of examination on the preceding sections, we shall subjoin an assemblage of words, respecting each of which the pupil may be required to tell what elementary sounds the word contains, to distinguish its syllables, to assign each letter to its class, &c. General questions on the subject of the above chapter may be also addressed.

Example. How many letters does the word Same contain? What elementary sounds form its pronunciation? Its syllabic name? What species of sound must every perfect syllable contain? (Vowel.) The vowel in this instance? To what class of consonants does the first letter belong? (Sibilant mutes.) Is it a sharp or a flat mute? Its corresponding flat? What is the general distinction between sharp and flat mutes? &c. &c.

EXERCISES.

Fate. Wish. Aspect. Pine. Deduced. Bright. Question. Fat. Presumptive. Afterwards. Surety. Unwarrantable. Ball. Mete. Zealously. These. Paraphrase. Disunite. Actual. Confusion. Augments. Pith. Unyielding. Sweet. Admiration. Stephen. Egbert. Yesterday. Assuage. Nephew. Whispers. Recoil. Whose. Prejudice. Example. Grotesque. Beware. Euphony. Reflex. Hounds. Daybreak. Preacher. Guarantee. Shipwreck. Mortgagee. Beautify.