CHAPTER I.

PRONUNCIATION.

PRONUNCIATION anciently included the whole of delivery. By modern usage, it is limited to the enunciation of single words.* It comprehends articulation and accent.

SEC. I. ARTICULATION.

I. Articulation, primarily, signifies the junction which takes place in the organs of speech when a sound is interrupted and thus separated from other sounds; and, secondarily, by an easy transition from cause to effect, the distinct utterance of the various vocal sounds, represented by letters, diphthongs, triphthongs, syllables and words.

II. By distinct utterance is to be understood,

1. The expression of all the sounds which enter into the pronunciation of a word.

The fault opposed to this, the suppression of essential sounds, is one of common occurrence. Thus, h is often dropped in the pronunciation of where, which, what, and their derivatives: of shrill, shriek, shrunk, humble, and many others. N is often dropped from government; pronounced as if written goverment: er from governor, and u, from regular; as if written govnor, reglar.

2. The exact expression of the sounds which enter into the pronunciation of a word.

It is not sufficient, for example, that a should have any one of its sounds, but that specific sound which usage ascribes to it in a given position; as in mane, man, mat.

Bad articulation in this respect will leave the hearer in doubt as to the particular word used, or suggest one different from that used; and the result will be either a perplexed or perverted meaning.

3. The separate and complete expression of sounds, whether of letters, syllables, or entire words.†

* Dividitur igitur pronunciatio in vocis figuram, et corporis motum.-Rhet. ad Herenn. 1. iii., ch. 2.

Pronunciatio a plerisque actio dicitur; sed prius nomen a voce, sequens a gestu videtur accipere.-Quinctil. 1. xi., 3.

Est enim actio quasi corporis quædam eloquentia, cum constet voce atque motu.-Cic. Orat. 17.

Pronunciation, in the modern acceptation of the term, is limited to the mode of enouncing certain words and syllabies.-Austin. Chiron.

† A good articulation consists in giving every letter in a syllable its due proportion of sound, according to the most approved custom of pronouncing it, and in making such a distinction between the syllables of which words are composed, that the ear shall, with out difficulty, acknowledge their number, and perceive at once to which syllable each letter belongs. Where these points are not observed, the articulation is proportionally defective.-Sheridan.