SOUNDS OF ENGLISH
:00
m~ BY HENRY SWEET
THE
SOUNDS OF ENGLISH
AN INTRODUCTION TO
PHONETICS
BY
HENRY SWEET, M.A.
UNIVERSITY READER IN PHONETICS, OXFORD
^ , ,a
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK AND TORONTO
1135
-,-•;.
PREFACE
THE object of this work is sufficiently shown in its
title.
It differs from my Primer of Phonetics (§ 367) — to
which it will serve as an introduction — not only in being
more elementary, more systematically graduated, and
more definitely based on the English sound-system, but
in being better adapted for self-instruction in other
respects as well. I hope it will be found specially useful
to those who have to teach phonetics in connexion with
elocution and modern languages.
In order to make the book as generally useful as
possible, I have also dealt briefly with the applications
of phonetics to historical and comparative philology, as
well as to the more practical sides of the study of
language ; and have added a bibliography to serve as
a first guide to the beginner in his further progress, and
to guard him against one-sidedness as well as uncritical
assimilation of the latest views merely because they
are new.
This book is the outcome of an exceptionally long
and varied experience as learner and teacher of pho-
netics. In early youth I enjoyed the inestimable privi-
lege of being a pupil of A. M. Bell, the author of Visible
Speech, and of personally discussing phonetic questions
A2
4 PREFACE
with such authorities as A. J. Ellis, Prince L. L.
Bonaparte, J. Storm, and afterwards E. Sievers, together
with many others — in fact, with nearly all the pioneers
of modern phonetics.
The impetus given to the study of phonetics by the
new regulation of the Board of Education has brought
with it two inevitable drawbacks. Many teachers who
used to profess not to know what phonetics was, forth-
with announced classes in it. And then came a flood
of worthless publications on phonetics — most of them
uncritical compilations from foreign works unsuited for
English needs.
I have, therefore, in conclusion, to express the hope
that our educational authorities will be cautious in
introducing phonetics and appointing teachers of it — and
that they will profit by the experience of Scotland.
H. S.
OXFORD, October, 1907.
CONTENTS
PACK
SPOKEN ENGLISH 7
SOUND-NOTATION 9
ANALYSIS or SOUNDS 14
THE ORGANS OP SPEECH 18
SPEECH-SOUNDS 22
Vowels and Consonants 22
Vowels 24
Consonants 39
Non-expiratory Sounds 47
SYNTHESIS 49
Glides 53
PHONETIC STRUCTURE OP ENGLISH 57
Sound-junction 58
Gradation . 65
THE SOUNDS OF STANDARD ENGLISH .... 70
STYLES OF PRONUNCIATION: PHONETICS AND P^LOCU-
TION
76
89
PHONOLOGY
. 100
STUDY OP GENERAL PHONETICS
. 103
Practical and Theoretical Study
Acquisition of New Sounds ....
Objective Methods : Instrumental Phonetics .
Study of the Literature
Phonetic Notation
. 104
. 105
. 107
. 110
. 112
6 CONTENTS
PAGE
THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS 118
Phonetics in Language-teaching 118
Qualifications of the Teacher 120
Qualifications of the Learner 123
Ear-training: Phonetic Dictation 124
Helps 127
Necessity of individual attention 128
Time 129
Examining in Phonetics .130
BIBLIOGRAPHY 134
NOTES ON THE TEXTS . 140
CONTRACTIONS
Am. = American.
E. = English.
F. = French.
G. = German.
Ir. «= Irish.
It. = Italian.
N. = North(ern).
occ. = occasional.
S. = South(ern).
Sc. = Scotch.
St. = Standard.
W. = West(ern).
SPOKEN ENGLISH
1. No language is perfectly uniform over the whole of its
area. Just as languages differ from each other in phonetic
structure— in their sounds and pronunciation — so also dia-
lects of the same language differ from each other more or
less. Thus the sound-system of Lowland Scotch, which
was originally a mere variety of Northern English, differs
considerably from that of Standard English.
2. Standard English itself was originally that mixture
of the Midland and Southern dialects which was spoken in
London during the Middle Ages, just as Standard French
is the dialect of that district of which Paris is the centre.
3. Standard English, like Standard French, is now a
class-dialect more than a local dialect : it is the language of
the educated all over Great Britain. But although it has,
to a great extent, supplanted the local dialects, it is still
liable to be influenced by them ; each speaker imports into
it something of his own local form of speech, whether it be
a rustic dialect or the vulgar cockney of London, Liverpool,
or any other large town. The best speakers of Standard
English are those whose pronunciation, and language gene-
rally, least betray their locality.
4. English, like all living languages, changes from gene-
ration to generation : slight and imperceptible as the differ-
ences in the pronunciation of father and son may appear to
be, there is always some change under ordinary normal
conditions. Hence pronunciations which are vulgar in one
century may become fashionable in the next, sounds which
are distinct in one generation may be confounded in another,
and new distinctions may be made, new sounds may
8 SPOKEN ENGLISH
5. A spoken language is, therefore, a vague and floating
entity. As regards English, the very fixity of its written
form gives all the freer play to the manifold influences
which cause change.
6. A standard spoken language is, strictly speaking, an
abstraction. No two speakers of Standard English pro-
nounce exactly alike. And yet they all have something
in common in almost every sound they utter. There are
some peculiarities of pronunciation which pass unnoticed,
while others, less considerable perhaps in themselves, are
at once felt as archaisms, vulgarisms, provincialisms, or
affectations, as the case may be, by the majority of educated
speakers
SOUND-NOTATION
7. The traditional or ' nomic ' orthography of English,
as of most languages, is only imperfectly phonetic. The
divergence between sound and symbol which makes Eng-
lish spelling unphonetic is in most cases the result of the
retention of phonetic spellings after they had become un-
phonetic through changes in the pronunciation of the words
which they represent. Thus such spellings as Might and
tvright were still phonetic in the time of Chaucer ; for in
the Late Middle English of the fourteenth century the
initial consonants of these words were still pronounced, and
the yli still had the sound of ch in German ich. So also we
write see and sea differently, not for the sake of making an
arbitrary distinction, but because they were pronounced
differently till within the last few centuries, as they still
are in the English spoken in Ireland.
8. In dealing with the sounds of English it becomes
necessary therefore to adopt a phonetic notation. It is now
generally agreed that the best way of constructing such a
notation is to give the letters of the Roman alphabet the
sounds they had in the later Latin pronunciation, with, of
course, such modifications as seem to be improvements or
otherwise desirable, supplementing the defects of the Roman
alphabet by adding new letters when required. This is the
' Romic ' or international basis.
9. This basis may be used to construct either a ' broad '
or a ' narrow ' system of notation. A broad notation is one
which makes only the practically necessary distinctions of
sound in each language, and makes them in the simplest
manner possible, omitting all that is superfluous. Letters and
10 SOUND-NOTATION
words in Broad Romic are enclosed in ( ), when necessary to
prevent confusion with the nomic spelling. Thus in English
Broad Komic we distinguish the present pronunciation of
knight and that which it had in the time of Chaucer as nait
and knigt. But these spellings, though accurate, are not
minutely accurate. Thus ai is the symbol of any diph-
thong beginning with a vowel resembling the ' Italian a ' in
father, and ending in an approximation to the i of it. Of
course, if the a is definitely broadened into o or thinned into
the se of man, then we write it oi or sei, as the case may
be. But minuter shades of vowel-pronunciation can be dis-
regarded for ordinary purposes, just as in writing nait we
do not generally consider it necessary to show that the two
consonants are formed on the gums, and not on the teeth, as
in French.
10. But in comparing the sounds of a variety of lan-
guages, or dialects of a language, and still more in dealing
with sounds in general, we require a ' narrow ', that is,
a minutely accurate notation covering the whole field of
possible sounds. Such a Narrow Komic notation, in which
each symbol has a fixed, definite value, serves as a key
to the exact pronunciation of the vaguer symbols of the
Broad Romic notations of each language. Narrow Eomic
are distinguished from Broad Romic symbols by being
enclosed in [ ]. Thus i (i) = [i] means that the vowel in
finny is ' wide ', not ' narrow ' as in the French [i] in fin i.
In the Broad Romic notations of both languages flni is
written for finny and fini alike. So also the English and
French n's are in Narrow Romic distinguished as [m] and
[m] respectively. Such distinctions may, of course, be
introduced into the Broad Romic notation of any language
when there is any practical advantage to be gained thereby.
The 'International Alphabet ' of Le Maitre Phone'tlqite, the organ
of the International Phonetic Association of Paris, is based on the
English roinic systems. It is a compromise between a broad and
SOUND-NOTATION 11
a narrow notation, being an attempt to make a special adaptation
of the romic principle to the needs of French into a general nota-
tion for all languages.
11. The following is a convenient preliminary classification
of the vowels of Standard English, with key-words : —
V : up e : sofa i : it e : men es : mail u : pull o : not
aa : baa 99 : sir ii : see ei : vein uu : pool ou : soul,
o : nought
ai : aisle, au : Faust oi : oil
aid : fire, aus : our ie : ear ee : air ue : poor ois : joyous,
oa : ore
Here the vowels are in four rows : (1) normally short and
monophthongic, (2) long, or half-diphthongic, (3) fully diph-
thongic, (4) murmur diphthongs. Those under (1) are often
lengthened, but they always remain absolutely monoph-
thongic. The only one in the next row that is always strictly
monophthongic is ee ; all the others, as we shall see after-
wards, tend to become more or less diphthongic, especially
in the pronunciation of the South of England, being often
exaggerated into full diphthongs of the ai- and au-type
in vulgar speech, aia, aue, oia are, strictly speaking,
triphthongs, which in slow speech are disyllabic.
12. As regards the script forms of the phonetic symbols,
ae should always be written thus, not in its italic form,
which is liable to be confused with ce. u is written B —
an inverted italic or script a, in which form it is easily
joined to other letters.
13. The following are the consonants of Standard Eng-
lish :—
»j r ; >, « s, z ; J. 5 wh, w ; f, v
1
k, g t, d p, b
rj n m
For the aspirate h see § 169.
12 SOUND-NOTATION
The only consonant-symbols that require explanation are
rj, as in ink ink, j, as in you, )>, as in thin, tJ, as in then,
/, as in she, 5, as in measure.
14. In naming the consonant-sounds, as distinguished
from the letters by which they are denoted, it is often
simplest to take the lengthened sound itself as the name,
as with the vowels. But this is often inconvenient, and
cannot be done at all with k, t, p. In such cases the con-
sonant-name is formed by adding (a) : ka, ba, wa, rja or
rjn. In writing, J> is simply a looped-up p, tJ may be
written without the cross-stroke as a d with a back-sloping
loop, J* with two loops, g as a z descending below the line,
z itself being always written small.
15. When sounds are symbolized, not isolated, but joined
together in words and sentences, it is often necessaiy to add
marks to show the quantity or length, the stress (compara-
tive force or loudness), and intonation (comparative pitch or
height) of sounds and syllables.
16. In English Broad Komic it is only necessary to dis-
tinguish long from short vowels by doubling the former.
o is not doubled because it does not occur short. Repeated
vowels can be distinguished from long ones by inserting
a hyphen, as in hsepi-ist happiest. For minuter distinctions
of quantity see § 145.
17. In English it is necessaiy to distinguish four degrees
of stress : weak (•), medium or half-strong (:), strong ('), extra
strong or emphatic (;). The last is only occasionally re-
quired. These marks are put before the symbol of the
sound on which the stress begins, so that they serve at the
same time to indicate the syllable-division : 'dount :kon-
tra-dikt -im do not contradict him. But strong stress need
not be marked in monosyllabic words, or when it falls on the
first syllables of longer words whose other syllables have
weak stress, as in veri wel very well. If a monosyllabic
word has weak stress, it must be marked by prefixing (-).
SOUND-NOTATION 13
But if the weak-stressed monosyllable contains an a, it is
not necessary to mark the stress, as this vowel occurs only
in weak syllables : a msen av ona a man of honour. If
only one strong or emphatic stress is marked in a poly-
syllable, all the other syllables are assumed to have weak
or medium stress ; in which case the often doubtful distinc-
tion between medium and weak stress need not be marked.
Hence the sentence first given may be written more simply
dount kontra-dikt -im or dount kontra;dikt -im accord-
ing to the degree of emphasis.
18. It is sometimes necessary to distinguish weak vowels
and syllables as ' pre-tonic ' and ' post-tonic ' according as
they occur before or after a strong- or medium-stressed
syllable ; thus in amerika America the first a is pre-tonic,
the second post-tonic.
19. As regards intonation, we distinguish the following
tones: level (~), which hardly ever occurs in English ; rising
('), as in whot' what ? fatting (v), as in nouv no ! falling-
rising or compound rise (v), as in teik vkea take care !
rising-falling or compound rise (A), as in (Aou) oli ! as an ex-
pression of sarcasm. The tone-marks may be put either at
the end of the sentence or before the word on which they
fall, as is most convenient. If no tone-mark is added,
a comma or ? implies a rising tone, a full stop, colon, or
semi-colon a falling-tone.
ANALYSIS OF SOUNDS
20. The analytic, as opposed to the synthetic study of
speech-sounds involves first of all the discrimination of the
individual sounds of each language, as we have already
done for Standard English. We have thus laid the founda-
tions of a scientific phonetic study first of English sounds,
and then of sounds in general.
21. Phonetics is the science of speech-sounds. But
sounds may be considered from two opposite points of view,
the organic and the acoustic. From the organic point of
view a sound is the result of certain positions and actions
of the organs of speech, as when we define f as a lip-teeth
consonant. This is the point of view of the speaker of
a language ; to whom, for instance, if English is his native
language, the numerical symbol 5 suggests a movement of
the lower lip towards the edges of the upper teeth, by which
he forms the initial consonant of the word faiv. To the
hearer, on the other hand, f is not primarily a lip-teeth
consonant, but a hiss consonant similar to that denoted by
)>, although this latter is formed by quite a different articu-
lation ; this is the acoustic point of view.
22. It is indispensable for the student of phonetics to
cultivate both the organic and the acoustic sense : to learn
to recognize each sound by ear, and to know the correspond-
ing organic positions and actions by the muscular sensations
which accompany them.
23. These processes we are continually carrying on in
ordinary conversation ; but, of course, only unconsciously
and instinctively. All therefore that we have to do in
ANALYSIS OF SOUNDS 15
dealing with native sounds is to develop this unconscious
organic and acoustic sense into a conscious and analytic
sense.
24. The only sure basis of a knowledge of sounds in
general is a thorough practical and theoretical command of
a limited number of sounds — that is, of course, those which
are already familiar to the learner in his natural pronun-
ciation of his own language or dialect. It is evident that
the more familiar a sound is, the easier it is to gain
insight into its mechanism, and to recognize it when
heard.
25. The first step is to learn to isolate each sound : to
learn to pronounce it — whether it be a vowel or a consonant
— apart from its context. Thus, let the student cut up the
word Jive into ff, vv, and ai, and this last into its two
constituent vowels, emphasizing and lengthening them
without altering the position of the tongue. Then let him
analyse au in Jtow in the same manner, and compare the
first elements of the two diphthongs both acoustically and
organically. Then he may go on to transpose the sounds
in such a sentence as sing a song! into rjis a rjos, or rest
into tser, brings into zrjirb, carefully preserving the con-
sonantal r — not making tser into tsaa, for instance. Such
exercises may be multiplied ad infinitum.
20. The next step is to analyse the formation of these
familiar sounds. Let the beginner isolate and lengthen the
breath consonant f and the corresponding voice or voiced
consonant v till he not only hears the voice-murmur in the
second one, but also feels the vibration in the throat by
which that murmur is produced. He will then find that
while f is articulated only in one place, v is articulated
in two : between lip and teeth, and in the throat. If he
presses his first two fingers on the larynx or ' Adam's
apple ', he will feel the voice-vibration externally as well as
internally.
16 ANALYSIS OF SOUNDS
27. He can then go on to perform a few simple experi-
ments. If he removes the lip from the teeth in pronounc-
ing these two consonants, he will hear the unmodified voice-
murmur of v, and the unmodified breath-friction of f, the
latter in the form of a faint sigh, or aspiration. These
processes can then be reversed : if the learner first breathes
in the ordinary way, and brings lip and teeth together while
the breath is passing out, he will produce a f ; if he does
the same while making a voice-murmur, he will produce
a v. The same experiments should be repeated with the
other pairs of breath and voice consonants s, z ; J", 5 ; )>, tS
till the distinction is clearly felt and under perfect control,
so that the learner can pass from the breath to the voice
consonant of each pair and vice versa — sszz, zzss and
so on — and feel distinctly the change of articulation in the
throat.
28. He can then test his command of the distinction by
deducing the unfamiliar breath consonants Ih, nh from
the corresponding voice consonants 1. n. In trying to
pass from 1 to In in the same way as he has learnt to
pass from v to f, he must be careful to keep the point of
the tongue firmly pressed against the gums all the while ;
and not be misled by the acoustic effect of the new conso-
nant into imitating its hiss by making it into s or J). So
also in passing from n to nh the tongue must keep its
position throughout, the only change of articulation being in
the throat.
29. The movements and positions of the tongue and
lips are most easily perceived by passing from one con-
sonant to another : by comparing t with k and p, d with 1
and ?S, S with r and z, b with w and v, and so on.
30. Then the vowel-positions should be compared by
passing, for instance, from i to te, and then to aa, from
aa to o and uu. And then, if he combines the tongue-
position of i with the lip-position of u, the learner will
ANALYSIS OF SOUNDS 17
without difficulty obtain the French y in pure — or at least
a close approximation to it.
31. If he has any difficulty in co-ordinating the two
movements, he can 'round' the ii and yy mechanically
by pinching the lips together with the thumb and fore-
finger of both hands, so as to leave only a narrow passage
in the middle. He should then reverse the process by
unrounding the yy into ii, which, again, can be done
mechanically by separating the lips with finger and thumb.
Let him then try to unround u, o, o and any other round
vowels that may be familiar to him. The acoustic effect
of rounding and unrounding may be still more easily pro-
duced— or rather, simulated — by covering the sides of the
mouth with the two hands, and then removing them.
32. The share of the nose in forming nasal or nasalized
sounds is soon felt by comparing the pairs b, m ; d, n ; g, rj.
Then, if the learner tries to form an m with his mouth
a little open, he will obtain a nasalized lip-consonant, which
by further opening of the mouth will become a nasal a,
which, again, by raising the front -of the tongue, he can
easily make into a nasal i ; if, on the other hand, he lowers
his tongue, and draws it back, he will obtain an approxima-
tion to the French an, en.
33. When the student has gained a thorough knowledge
and a thorough command of the articulations of his own
native sounds, he may go on to modify them in various
ways, especially by altering the degree of closure of the
configurative passages. This may often be done mechani-
cally and almost involuntarily by ' gabbling ' — uttering over
and over again with extreme rapidity— the syllable contain-
ing the sound which is being experimented upon. Thus if
jaja is gabbled in this way, the tongue will involuntarily
close the passage between the middle of the tongue and
the palate, so that the ' open ' will be converted into the
corresponding 'stop' consonant. If baba and mama are
SWEET 8K n
18 ANALYSIS OF SOUNDS
treated in the same way, two new open consonants will be
produced, the second of which we have already met with as
a stepping-stone to nasal a. If we compare these two new
consonants, we shall see that the latter is the nasalized form
of the other one.
34. The time and trouble spent on these preliminary
exercises is not wasted. They are the best possible pre-
paration for the systematic study of sounds in general,
which should not be attempted till the student has acquired
the power of isolating, lengthening, shortening, rounding,
nasalizing his natural sounds without otherwise altering
them.
35. It is the height of folly to enter on a detailed study
of the anatomy of the organs of speech, to begin acoustics
and physics, or manipulate the apparatus of the instru-
mental (experimental) phoneticians before this practical
mastery of the sounds of the native language has been
attained.
THE ORGANS OF SPEECH
36. Most speech-sounds are ultimately formed by the air
expelled from the lungs (voice-bellows). This air passes
through the two contractible bronchi, or bronchial tubes,
into the also contractible trachea or wind-pipe, on the top of
which is fixed the cartilaginous larynx (voice-box). Across
the interior of the larynx are stretched two elastic ligaments,
the ' vocal chords ', which are inserted in the front of the
larynx at one end, while at the other end they are attached
to two movable cartilages, so that the passage between — the
'glottis' — can be closed, or narrowed in various degrees.
The glottis is, therefore, twofold, consisting of the chord
glottis and the cartilage glottis. The two can be narrowed
or closed independently. The chords can also be lengthened
or shortened, tightened or relaxed in various degrees and
in different directions — lengthways or crossways.
37. When the whole glottis is wide open, no sound is
produced by the outgoing breath except that caused by the
friction of the air. This is the foundation of ' breath '
sounds, such as f . In ' voiced ' (voice) sounds, such as v,
the cartilage glottis is more or less completely closed, and
the chords are brought close enough together to be set in
vibration by the air passing through them. Breath (voice-
lessness) is indicated when necessary by adding the breath-
modifier [/«] in Narrow Komic, which in Broad Komic is
written simply h : [1/j] = In = voiceless (1).
38. If the glottis is narrowed without vibration, 'whis-
per ' is produced. In the ' weak whisper ' there is narrowing
of the whole glottis ; in the ' strong whisper ', which is the
usual form, the chord glottis is entirely closed, so that the
B 2
20 THE ORGANS OF SPEECH
breath passes only through the cartilage glottis. In what
is popularly called whisper — that is. speaking without voice-
vibration —the breath sounds remain unchanged, while the
voice sounds substitute whisper in the phonetic sense for
voice. Thus if the initial f of feel is pronounced by
itself, the hearer cannot tell whether the word is spoken
aloud or whispered ; but if it is immediately followed by
ill formed with vibration of the vocal chords, he knows
that it is spoken ; if by ill formed with only narrowing of
the glottis, he knows that it is spoken in a whisper.
39. Whispered sounds may form integral elements of
ordinary loud speech. Thus in English the final consonants
of such words as leaves, oblige are whispered except when
a voice sound follows without any pause, as in obliging. In
such a word as obliged ablaidgd before a pause or a breath
sound the two last sounds are both formed with whisper.
It will be observed that whisper in consonants has acous-
tically the effect of weak breath.
40. The contractible cavity between the larynx and the
mouth is called the ' pharynx '.
41. We now come to the mouth. Its roof consists of the
' hard palate ' in front, and the ' soft palate ' behind. The
inner boundary of the former may easily be found by press-
ing a finger against it and pushing the finger back till the
palate suddenly yields to the pressure.
42. The lower pendulous extremity of the soft palate is
the ' uvula ' (throat-tongue, as it was appropriately called in
Old English). In its passive state, as in ordinary breathing,
it leaves the passage into the nose open ; and this makes
any accompanying mouth-sound into the corresponding
' nasal ' or ' nasalized ' sound. Nasality is indicated when
necessary by adding the nasal modifier \n\. In the forma-
tion of non-nasal (oral) sounds, such as b, the uvula is
pressed backwards and upwards, so as to close the passage
from the pharynx into the nose. If b is pronounced with
THE ORGANS OF SPEECH 21
this passage opened by lowering the uvula, it becomes the
corresponding nasal consonant m = [bw].
43. The other extremity of the palate is bounded by the
teeth, behind which are the gums, extending from the
' teeth-rim ' to the ' arch-rim ', formed by the projection of
the teeth-roots or ' alveolars ', behind which is the hollow
called ' the arch '.
44. The tongue can articulate with various parts of its
surface against various parts of the palate, the teeth, and
the lips.
45. The lips can articulate against each other, and against
the teeth. The passage between the lips can be closed or
narrowed in various degrees. Sounds modified by lip-
narrowing are called ' lip-modified ' (labialized) or ' round '
(rounded), the last term being specially applied to vowels.
SPEECH-SOUNDS
46. The most general test of a single sound as opposed to
a group of sounds (sound-combination, sound-group) is that
it can be lengthened without change, as we see in lengthen-
ing a simple monophthongic as opposed to a diphthongic
vowel.
47. As regards the place of articulation, no sound is really
simple : every sound is the result of the shape of the whole
configurative passage from the lungs to the lips ; and the
ultimate sound-elements, such as breath and voice, are never
heard isolated. The most indistinct voice-murmur is as
much the result of the shape of the superglottal passages as
the most distinct of the other vowels, and its organic forma-
tion (position) is as definite and fixed as theirs is ; the only
difference being that while in what we regard as unmodified
voice-murmur all the organs except the vocal chords are in
their passive or neutral positions, the other vowels are formed
by actively modifying the shape of certain definite portions
of the configurative passages. Thus if we pass from the
neutral vowel-murmur to i we raise the front of the tongue
close to the palate, the lips remaining neutral as before ;
while in forming u we narrow the lip-passage, and at the
same time raise the back of the tongue.
48. Vowels and Consonants. The two most important
elements of speech-sounds are those which depend on the
shape of the glottis on the one hand, and of the mouth- and
lip-passages on the other.
VOWELS AND CONSONANTS 23
49. It is on the relation between these two factors that
the familiar distinction between vowel and consonant de-
pends. In vowels the element of voice is the predominant
one : a vowel is voice modified by the different shapes of
the superglottal passages, especially the mouth and lips.
In consonants, on the other hand, the state of the glottis is
only a secondary element : a distinctively consonantal articu-
lation is the result of narrowing some part of the configura-
tive passages so as to produce audible friction, as in f, v,
or of complete stoppage, as in p, b. Vowels are character-
ized negatively by the absence of audible friction and of
stoppage. If such a vowel as i is formed with the tongue
so close to the palate as to cause distinct buzzing, it becomes,
from the articulative point of view, a consonant, although
we hardly feel it as such, because it still retains its syllabic
function (§ 149). Such half consonantal vowels are called
' constricted '.
60. There is no more difficulty in combining vowel-
position with breath and whisper than there is with
consonants. Whispered vowels occur as integral elements
of loud speech in many languages ; they may be heard in
English in rapid speech in the initial weak syllables of such
words as together, September, and in weak monosyllables such
as but.
61. Breath or voiceless vowels may be heard in French
at the end of words, as in ainsi, where the breath [i]
sounds like a weak voiceless j. An open vowel such
as a is much less distinct when formed with breath :
it is little more than a sigh. This want of sonority is,
of course, the reason why breath and whispered vowels
are so much rarer than the corresponding classes of con-
sonants.
52. The division between vowel and consonant is not an
absolutely definite one. As we see, the closer a vowel is,
the more it approaches to a consonant ; thus it may seem
24 SPEECH-SOUNDS
difficult to know whether to regard the English j as a very
open or ' loose ' consonant, or as a constricted unsyllabic
vowel. But if it is lengthened, its consonantal buzz comes
out clearly enough, showing that the former view is the
correct one.
53. But there are some consonants which in their voiced
forms have no more buzz than a vowel, even when length-
ened, such as 1 and the nasals rj, n, m, which are accord-
ingly called liquid, vowellike, or ' soft ' consonants, as opposed
to the ' hard ' consonants, which include the stops and the
hisses f, s, &c., which when voiced, v, z, &c., are called
' buzzes '. m, indeed, is so much a vowel that it can be
sung on : ' humming a tune ' means singing it with the nose
passage open and the mouth shut — that is, on a lengthened
m. If we hum in this way, and then close the passage
into the nose by retracting the uvula, the voice-murmur
still has a purely vowellike effect, although, of course, it
cannot be held except for a short time, b itself, although
formed with complete stoppage of the breath, is therefore
acoustically a pure vowel — at least in the middle of its pro-
longation. It is only the audible percussion which accom-
panies its beginning, and still more its end, which proclaims
it to be, after all, a consonant. The same percussive or
flapping effect is heard, though in a less degree, at the end
of m, 1 and the other soft consonants.
Vowels.
54. Tongue-Positions. As each new position of the
tongue produces a new vowel, and as the number of possible
positions is infinite, it follows that the number of possible
vowel-sounds is also infinite. It is necessary therefore to
select certain definite fixed points to serve as marks, as it
were, of latitude and longitude, whence the intermediate
VOWELS 25
positions can be measured and defined with more or less
minuteness.
55. The horizontal movements of the tongue produce two
well-marked classes of vowels : ' back ', such as aa, o, u,
and ' front ', such as ii, e, ee. In the former the tongue is
retracted into the back of the mouth, and its fore part is
pressed down, so that the tongue slopes down from the back
to the front of the mouth. In the latter the front of the
tongue is raised towards the front of the palate, as in the
front-open consonant j, so that the tongue slopes down
from the front backwards. The retraction of the tongue in
back vowels may be easily tested by putting the little finger
inside the lower teeth while forming first the front vowel
ss and then the back vowel o. While the se-position is
being maintained the tip of the tongue presses on the finger.
When the change is made to the o-position, the tip of the
tongue is drawn back quite clear of the finger. There is
a third class of ' mixed ' vowels, in which the tongue does
not slope either way, and is neither retracted nor ad-
vanced, but lies flat in a neutral position ; aa is a mixed
vowel.
56. The vertical movements of the tongue, which are
accompanied by, and partly depend on, the raising and
lowering of the lower jaw, produce various degrees of height
or distance of the tongue from the palate. In a ' high '
vowel, such as ii, the tongue — in this case, the front of
the tongue — is raised as high and as close to the palate as is
possible without causing audible friction ; while if it is
lowered as much as possible from this position without
otherwise altering the relative position of tongue and palate,
we obtain the corresponding ' low ' vowel. Thus SB is a
low-front, o a low-back, and aa a low-mixed vowel. If
the tongue stops exactly half-way, we obtain the normal
' mid ' position, as in the first elements of ei and ou,
which are mid-front and mid-back respectively.
26
SPEECH-SOUNDS
In this way the whole mouth may be mapped out schemati-
cally into nine squares : —
high- back
high-mixed
high-front
mid-back
mid-mixed
mid-front
low-back
low-mixed
low-front
67. It follows from what has been said that each of these
squares admits of further subdivisions. English i and ii
are both high front vowels ; but if we isolate the beginning
of the vowel in eat and compare it with the vowel in it, we
shall find that the tongue is raised higher in the long than
in the short vowel, and that the tongue can be raised even
higher than it is in the long vowel without developing con-
sonantal friction and becoming constricted.
68. It may here be remarked that vowels as they actually
occur in speech are seldom raised or lowered to their extreme
positions ; which, therefore, can hardly be regarded as the
normal ones. Nevertheless, in studying the vowel-system
as a whole apart from any one language, it is important that
the learner should get into the habit of always forming the
high and low vowels in the extreme rather than in the less
definite normal position — or rather, positions — so that the
points from which he obtains the normal mid position of
each vowel may be as definite as possible.
69. If then we regard English ii as beginning with the
normal high-front vowel, we can define any approximation
to the extreme high position as ' raised ' i^-, while any posi-
tion lower than normal can be distinguished as ' lowered '
1^. In Scotch pronunciation i is lowered still more ; so
VOWELS
•27
much so indeed that it must be regarded rather as a raised
mid vowel — e-^.
60. If now we compare the English & with the ideal
low-front vowel, we shall find that in addition to not being
fully lowered, it is not fully front : in our ss the tongue is
slightly retracted. We define it therefore as ' inner ', which
we mark by adding the 'inner modifier', sen, just as we
defined the height of i by adding the ' raiser ' * and the
' lowerer ' T. When a back vowel is advanced towards the
front of the mouth, it is said to be in the ' outer ' position ;
for which, again, an appropriate ' outer modifier ' is pro-
vided. Thus u> is the English sound in put, in the German
sound in mutter.
61. It is, of course, possible to combine the vertical and
horizontal modifiers, as in sen-1- = the English vowel in
man. Such combinations as -IK, ^ may be used to show
expressly the normal positions implied generally by the
absence of such modifiers.
62. In this way each of the nine squares may be again
subdivided into nine smaller ones ; thus with the front- vowel
square : —
IT
K
Further subdivisions would go beyond the limits of appre-
ciation of even the most sensitive and highly trained ear.
63. Narrow and Wide. This important distinction
applies to all vowels : every vowel, whatever its position
28 SPEECH-SOUNDS
in the scale, must be either narrow (tense) or wide (lax). In
the Narrow Komic notation wide vowels are distinguished
by being put in italics. French i in fini and English i in
finny are both high-front vowels, but the former is narrow
[i], the latter wide [i]. In passing from [i] to [i] the
passage between the front of the tongue and the palate is
further narrowed, not by raising the whole body of the
tongue, but by altering its shape : in a narrow vowel the
tongue is bunched or made convex lengthways, and there is
a feeling of tension or clenching ; in wide vowels the tongue
is relaxed and comparatively flattened. The change from
wide to narrow may be illustrated by laying the hand
loosely on the table, and then tightening its muscles so as
to draw the finger-tips back a little, and raise the knuckles,
so that the upper surface of the hand becomes more convex.
64. If we lower the tongue, starting from [i] and [?']
respectively, we obtain the two parallel series : —
high-front-narrow [i] : F. si high-front-wide [i] : it
mid-front-narrow [e] : F. ete mid-front-wide [e] : ate
low-front-narrow [«] : air low-front-wide [te] : at
The E. vowel in see varies between the two extremes, [ii]
in Sc., Ir., and N.E., and [«•••] in S.E. The latter is a semi-
consonantal diphthong, which may be expressed by ij in
Broad Romic. It varies greatly, being sometimes almost
monophthongic, and only half wide— intermediate between
narrow and wide — while in vulgar pronunciation it is
broadened more or less in the direction of ei and ai.
The vowel in say, name, vein varies similarly between the
Sc. [ee], the N.E. [ez-r], and the S.E. [ci-r], which in vulgar
speech is broadened in the direction of ai.
65. Before going a step further the student should
familiarize himself thoroughly with these six vowels in
their ideal extreme and exact mid positions (§ 58), most of
VOWELS 29
which are sure to be strange to his dialect, whatever it
may be.
66. Most English speakers have the greatest difficulty
with [e], while [i] is easily acquired by imitation, even by
those to whom it is not natural. When it has been acquired,
the student should cautiously ' broaden' it by slightly
lowering the tongue, but without thinking of the mid
position, lest he should lapse into ei. When [i-ri-r] has
been successfully lowered to the [e*e*] of Edinburgh Sc.
say, there will be no difficulty in fixing the normal mid
sound. If [ee] is familiar, the process may be reversed by
raising it gradually to the mid position.
67. [e] may be evoked mechanically by pressing down
the learner's tongue with a thin paper-knife while he is
trying to form [i]. But such methods should only be
employed as a last resource.
68. As regards the wide vowels, it is to be observed that
[i] is now generally lowered towards -[«T] in S.E. But
those who have this pronunciation can generally get a close
approximation to the high vowel by isolating the first
element of their ij.
60. The narrow and the wide vowels should be practised
separately. It is confusing both to tongue and ear to pass
from narrow to wide and vice versa.
70. The development of the acoustic perception of the
sounds ought to run parallel with that of the control of
the tongue-positions by the muscular sense. The student
must learn to hear as well as feel the distinction between
narrow and wide.
71. The first thing that he should cultivate is the habit of
listening attentively to an unfamiliar sound till his ears are
steeped in it, as it were. Not till then should he attempt
to imitate it. If he fails to imitate it correctly after two or
three trials, he should desist, and listen again, instead of
fixing the wrong articulation by blind repetition, as most
30 SPEECH-SOUNDS
beginners are inclined to do. And then, perhaps, the
correct articulation will come to him suddenly when he
least expects it.
72. It will be observed that the three narrow vowels are
quite distinct from one another in sound, and so also the
three wide ones, but that certain narrow vowels are very
similar to certain wide vowels. Thus [se] and [e] are so
alike in sound, especially when short, that they may from
the 'broad' point of view be regarded as interchangeable
representatives of the ' open ' vowel corresponding to the
' close ' [e]. It is only by careful and repeated hearing
that we can observe that the low vowel is a little broader
and opener in sound than the mid one. This broader sound
of the e is frequent in English, especially in the North
English and Scotch dialects.
73. To understand these relations it is necessary to
realize that a vowel is, acoustically speaking, voice modified
by a resonance-chamber or resonator, namely the mouth.
Every time we move the tongue and lips we create a new
resonance-chamber which moulds the voice into a new vowel.
74. The pitch of every spoken or sung vowel can be
raised by tightening, and lowered by relaxing the vocal
chords, as when a scale is sung on one vowel. But each
vowel has, besides, an inherent pitch of its own, which
is the result of the size and shape of its resonance-chamber.
Thus if i, a, and u are all sung on the same note, it
is easy to hear that the first is the highest, the third the
lowest in pitch, that u is deeper than a, while a itself
is deeper than i. The best way of hearing the inherent
pitches of the vowels is to whisper them, for this gives
the pitch of the resonance-chamber, which is invariable : a
whispered vowel cannot be sung.
75. If, then, we whisper the three narrow front vowels in
the order high, mid, low, we shall find that [e] is a tone
lower than [ij> and that [ae] is a tone lower than [e]. If
VOWELS 31
we whisper the corresponding wide vowels in the same
order, we shall observe the same relation between their
pitches, each wide being a semitone lower than the corre-
sponding narrow vowel, so that if we whisper all six in
the order [i, i, e, e, SB, ce], the series will form a descending
semitonic or chromatic scale.
76. The connexion between the size and shape of the
resonance-chamber and the pitch is clear enough in the
case of these vowels, [i] owes it high pitch to its being
formed by a very narrow, short passage in the front of the
mouth. In [i] the flattening of the tongue lengthens and
widens the passage, and consequently dulls the sound.
It is still more dulled in [e], in whose formation the whole
body of the tongue is lowered. In fact, in the series
[i, i, e, e, 89, CB] there is progressive widening of the con-
figurative passage. This may easily be tested experiment-
ally by pressing the little finger against the palate, and
trying to articulate the series against it ; it will be observed
that the strong pressure of the tongue against the finger in
forming the first vowel is distinctly relaxed in the second,
and still more in the third, and so on till the extreme \ci\ is
reached, in whose formation the tongue does not touch the
finger at all.
77. Rounding. Bounding can, of course, be added to all
the tongue-positions.
78. The degrees of rounding are infinite. As fixed points
we distinguish three, corresponding to the three heights of
the tongue, the general rule being that the higher the
tongue-position of the round vowel, the narrower the lip-
passage, as may be seen by comparing the back round
vowels : —
high-back-narrow-round [u]: F. sou h.-b.-wide-r. [u]: good
mid-back-narrow-round [oJ:F. beau m.-b.-w.-r. [o]:oil
low-back-narrow-round [o]:all l.-b.-w.-r. [3]: not
32 SPEECH-SOUNDS
79. It is to be observed that the English o is generally
slightly diphthongic, which is the result of the tongue being
allowed to slip into the mid-mixed-wide-round position at
the end of the vowel, so that it may also be written [oo].
Compare aa, § 91.
80. In going down either of these series it will be seen as
well as felt that as the tongue is lowered from the high-back
position, the lip-passage is progressively expanded. In ' high
rounding ' the lip-passage is made as small as possible
without causing friction, in ' mid rounding ' there is a wider
opening of the lips, and in 'low rounding' they are only
drawn together a little at their corners.
81. But abnormal rounding also occurs. There is no
difficulty, for instance, in combining mid position of the
tongue with high rounding, as in the second element of
ou in no, which differs from the first only in being formed
with high instead of mid rounding, the position of the
tongue remaining unchanged throughout the whole diph-
thong. This kind of abnormal rounding is called ' over-
rounding ', and is expressed by adding the ' rounder ' to the
symbol of the corresponding normally rounded vowel. Thus
the Narrow Komic notation of English ou is [oo)J.
82. It is also possible to under-round. The vowel in good
is ' under-rounded ' in the dialects of the North-west of
England : the high position of the back of the tongue is
retained, while the lips are relaxed almost to low rounding.
Under-rounding is expressed by adding the rounder to the
symbol of the corresponding un-round vowel ; thus the
vowel in question is written [A)]. This vowel has to a
Southern ear a sound intermediate between that of put
and putty.
83. In comparing narrow and wide u it will be observed
that there is a tendency to pout the lips more in the former.
The same difference is observable, though in a less degree,
in o and o. This pouting is only a secondary phenomenon,
VOWELS 33
which is the result of the strong general contraction in the
back of the mouth with which back vowels are made
narrow. Lip-pouting does not sensibly modify the acoustic
effect of a vowel : it only makes the rounding a little more
marked.
84. The differences in the pronunciation of the English
back-round vowels are parallel to those in the front series.
The vowel in too varies between the two extremes of the
Sc. and N.E. [uu] and the S.E. [MM)] or uw, in which the
first element is sometimes narrow or half wide, besides
undergoing various changes in position (§ 98 foil.), which
are mainly the result of the tendency to the outer position
in the English back-round vowels, as may be seen by com-
paring them with the fully retracted German [uu, M, oo, o]
in gut, mutter, so, oft. The English ou, like the ei, has
its first element narrow in the North, wide in the South,
where it is, however, sometimes only half wide. In vulgar
pronunciation the o of ou is broadened and unrounded in
various degrees, so that it often becomes a broad au. The
first element of oi is sometimes lowered towards [_o].
85. It is, of course, just as easy to round front as back
vowels, although front-round are not so frequent in languages
as back-round vowels. They do not occur in St. E. But
the student should now learn to round at least the narrow
front vowels, by which he will obtain the following well-
marked series of vowels, all of which occur in French :—
high-front-narrow-round [y] : F. pur
mid-front-narrow-round [a] : F. pen
low-front-narrow-round [09] : F. peur
86. What has been said of the relations between tongue
height and rounding in the back-round applies equally
to the front-round vowels. Here also we find occasional
abnormal rounding. Thus if [a] is over-rounded into
34 SPEECH-SOUNDS
[a)] by exaggerating its mid into high rounding, we obtain
the North German long vowel in uber, which has a duller
sound than that of the Trench u,
87. When the student has learnt to round [i, e, se] into
[y, a, ce] respectively, he should test the accuracy of the
process by unrounding the latter. If he is able to make the
distinction between French u and German u, he will find
that while the French vowel unrounds into an [i], the
German vowel unrounds into [e] or [eA].
88. Here, as with the front vowels, the student must
learn in time to dispense with the help of key-words —
which at best are never absolutely reliable guides — and
form his round vowels, both front and back, in their most
ideally distinct forms, so that, for instance, his [i] and [y]
have exactly the same tongue-position, which even in French
is not always the case.
When facility has been attained in unrounding the front-
round vowels, the student should proceed to the more
difficult task of unrounding the back -round vowels.
89. The greater difficulty of unrounding these is mainly
the result of the difference between the l inner rounding '
with which they are formed and the ' outer rounding ' of
the front-round vowels. In the latter the lips are brought
together vertically, so that such a vowel as y can easily be
unrounded mechanically by separating the lips upwards and
downwards with the finger and thumb of both hands. In
inner rounding, on the other hand, there is lateral compres-
sion of the sides of the mouth and the cheeks. To unround
a back-round vowel mechanically it is necessary to intro-
duce a finger and thumb some way into the corners of the
mouth, and expand sideways. Inner rounding, when it is
necessary to distinguish it from outer rounding, is denoted
by adding the ' inner rounder ' [&], which symbol, like that
of rounding, is taken from the Organic Alphabet. If
a back vowel, such as a, is modified by outer rounding
VOWELS 35
only, it does not become the corresponding round vowel,
but is merely muffled in sound.
Front position can, of course, be combined with inner rounding.
Inner-round [y] has a deeper pitch than the normal outer-round [y].
These vowels i-esemble the corresponding round mixed ones (§ 97),
which, when formed with the tongue in the outer position, are
almost identical with them.
90. Back (un-round) vowels. These are obtained by
unrounding the back-round vowels already described : —
high-back-narrow [A] high-back-wide [a]
mid -back-narrow [a] : up mid -back-wide [a] : father
low-back-narrow [fc] : occ. low-back-wide [»] : F. pas
F. pas
91. The student should begin with unrounding [o], which
will give the mid-back-wide vowel, the ' Italian a ' in father,
calm. The English aa is less clear in sound than the
Italian because it is more or less muffled by the neutral
position of the lips, which in Italian, as in many other lan-
guages, are habitually spread out at the corners — except, of
course, in round vowels — which raises the pitch of the
vowels by widening the mouth of their resonance-cavity.
Our aa also differs from that of most other languages in
being slightly diphthongic : it generally ends in the mid-
mixed-wide vowel, so that it might be written aa.
92. By unrounding [3] we obtain the deeper-sounding
low-back-wide, which is frequent in French and in many
English and Scotch dialects.
93. Turning now to the narrow vowels, if we unround
[OK], we get the English vowel in come up.
94. The high-back vowels are the most difficult to un-
round, [a] may be heard as the first element of ai in some
English dialects, and in Ir.E. in the word Irish itself.
95. Mixed vowels. These are denoted in Broad Eomic
c2
36 SPEECH-SOUNDS
by two dots over the symbol of the front or back vowel of
the same height, whichever is most convenient. The un-
round mixed vowels are : —
high-mixed narrow [i] : high-mixed-wide [2]
N.Welsh un
mid-mixed-narrow [e] : mid-mixed-wide [e] :
Sc. better better [eV]
low-mixed-narrow [a] : low-mixed-wide [a] : how
sir
The student should begin the narrow series with the low,
the wide with the mid position, unless, of course, other
positions are more familiar to him. The high mixed vowels
are the most difficult to acquire.
96. From the acoustic point of view it is important to
note that the mixed vowels have the same pitch as the cor-
responding front-round vowels. Thus [i] has the same
pitch as [y], and [a] has the same as [oe], which explains
why French peur sounds like purr to an English ear.
Speaking acoustically, we may say that [a] is the [se] of
care, obscured, not by rounding, as French [OB] is, but by
flattening the tongue.
97. The round mixed vowels are not frequent in lan-
guage, being mostly vague and indistinct in their acoustic
character ; their rounding is inner ; outer rounding only
muffles them : —
h.-m.-n.-r. [ii] : W.E. two h.-m.-w.-r. [«]
m.-m.-n.-r. [6] m.-m.-w.-r. [o] : Dutch beter
l.-m.-n.-r. [o] l.-m.-w-.r. [3] : N.Ir., Swed.
full.
98. Shifted vowels. We have already seen that all
back vowels do not have exactly the same degree of tongue-
retraction : we distinguish between inner and outer back.
If we start with the fully retracted [WH] of German mutter,
VOWELS 37
und, and shift the tongue progressively forward in the
mouth, without otherwise altering its position relative to
the palate, we at last move it right out into the middle of
the mouth, into the position of a mixed vowel. This is
called the ' out ' position, and is denoted by the addition of
the ' out-shifter ': [uo]. This is the vowel in the second —
unstressed— syllable of veelju value, although many have
only [M-] for weak u. Narrow long [ua] is the N.Ir.
vowel in you.
99. An out-back vowel is, therefore, one which, while
retaining the slope of a back vowel, has the place of a mixed
vowel. The round out-back vowels have nothing of the
acoustic quality of the mixed vowels ; and yet are quite
distinct from the fully retracted back vowels : they are
intermediate in sound between them and the corresponding
front-round vowel ; thus [us] has a sound between that of
[u] and [y].
100. [o] and [o] are also shifted to the out-position in
unstressed syllables in English, as in the last syllable of
solo [o303>], and the first of October [33].
101. By unrounding the former of these we obtain the
mid-out-back-wide [GP], which is the first element of E. ai,
and is a frequent substitute for [a] in come up. This vowel
hus something of the acoustic effect of a mixed vowel.
102. By unrounding [33] we obtain the low-out-back-
wide, which is the thin French a in la patte, and a frequent
substitute for se in many E. dialects. It has a clearer
sound than [as], just as [a] is clearer than [e] ; acoustically
it is between [a] and [ee].
103. Just as a back vowel may be shifted forward into
the out-position, so also a front vowel may be shifted back
into the ' in ' position, denoted by the ' in-shifter ' [c],
although the difference between in and inner front is not
generally so marked as that between out and outer back.
High-in- (or inner-) front- wide [it] is frequent in such words
38
SPEECH-SOUNDS
as pretty and prince. Mid-in-front-narrow is one of the
many pronunciations of the vowel written ui in Sc. in such
words as guid ' good '.
104. Mixed vowels also have an in-position, obtained by
retracting them into the full back position while keeping
the tongue flat, instead of sloping it from back to front as
in a genuine back vowel. If the [a] of sir is retracted in
this way, we get the low-in-mixed-narrow [ac], heard in the
Irish pronunciation of come up, sir ! [ic] is the most usual
pronunciation of Scotch Gaelic ao, as in gaoth, 'breeze/
where the fh is silent.
105. Table of Vowels. The following tabulation of the
vowels will be found convenient for reference, and practice
in passing from one to the other : —
1. A
7.i
13. i
19. a
25. >
31. i
2. a
8.8
14. e
20. a
26. i;
32. e
3. B
9. a
15. 88
21. n
27. a
33. (E
4. u
10. u
16. y
22. u
28. u
34. y
5. o
11.6
17. a
23.o
29.6
35.a
6. o
12.5
18.03
24:. 0
30. y
36. ce
VOWELS
89
37. ic
43. A3
49. ic
55. >'c
61. as
67. ic
38. ec
44. ao
50. ec
56. ec
62. as
68. ec
39. ac
45. us
51. sec
57. ac
63. 03
69. «?c
40. tic
46. U3
52. yc
58. uc
64. wo
70. yc
41. 6c
47. oo
53. ac
59. oc
65. oo
71. 9c
42. 5c
48. oo
54. oec
60. 3c
66. oo
72. a?c
Consonants.
106. Consonants admit of a twofold division, (1) by form,
(2) by place.
Thus p, b are by place lip-consonants, by form stopped
consonants or stops.
107. Nasal consonants are formed by closing the mouth
passage in different places, while the nose-passage is left
open by lowering the uvula. If any stopped consonant,
such as d, is modified in this way, it becomes the corre-
sponding nasal, in this case n.
108. When a non-stopped (open or divided) consonant is
formed with the nose-passage open, it is said to be ' nasal-
ized '. Thus if we try to pronounce m with the lips a
little apart (§ 32), we obtain the nasalized lip-open conso-
nant P«.
40 SPEECH-SOUNDS
109. Open consonants are the result of narrowing instead
of completely closing the passage, as in the back-open-
breath [x] in Scotch and German loch, Spanish hi jo. This
consonant may easily be deduced from the corresponding
stop in lock by emphasizing and isolating the ' breath-glide '
after it. The back- open- voice [y] in Middle German sagen
may be obtained by gabbling gaga.
110. In some open consonants there is sometimes slight
contact of the organs. Thus in J) and f there is often
contact of the tongue and teeth, and lips and teeth respec-
tively. But this does not sensibly impede or otherwise
modify the flow of breath, except by increasing its
friction.
111. In divided (side, lingual) consonants there is central
stoppage with opening at the sides of the tongue, as in the
point-divided-voice 1. When this consonant is unvoiced,
ths friction of the air along the sides of the tongue is both
felt and heard very distinctly. The divided consonants are
often formed with an opening on one side only, and are
then called 'unilateral'. The voiceless Welsh II is gene-
rally unilateral, the breath escaping only on the right side.
Unilateral formation of voiced 1 is also not unfrequent in
Welsh and other languages. Unilateral formation does not
sensibly modify the quality of the sound.
112. Trilled (rolled) consonants are special varieties of
non-stopped consonants. They are formed by the vibration
of flexible parts against each other, as when the lips are
trilled, or against some firm surface, as when the point of
the tongue trills against the gums in the Scotch [rrj, where
[r] is the ' trill-modifier '. The ' burred r ' is a uvula-trill :
the uvula is lifted up by the back of the tongue, is driven
upwards by the force of the out-going air, falls by its own
weight, is driven up again, and so on. In this sound —
which is a frequent substitute for r both in individuals
and in dialects — the trilling part is passive, while in [IT]
CONSONANTS 41
the trilling tip of the tongue is active. In learning the
latter, the tongue should be lightly thrown, as it were,
against the gums ; if it is held at all stiffly, trilling is
impossible.
There are some more general modifications of consonants
which fall under the head of form.
113. Thus all consonants may be formed either with
tightness (constriction) or looseness, according to the de-
gree of approximation of the organs. Thus the English j
is much less constricted than the buzzed German conso-
nant in ja — so loose, indeed, that it is almost a vowel.
Tightness and looseness must not be confounded with narrowness
and wideness.
114. This latter distinction applies to consonants as well
as vowels, although it is generally hardly noticeable in con-
sonants, because of their harsher sound, but if the English
j and w are lengthened, their wide quality becomes at
once apparent. English w is a consonantized [M], while
French w in oui is a consonantized [u]. This is why in
French w the lips are pouted, while in the English w
they are flat (§ 83). English j is loose and wide, while
English w is tight (constricted) and wide — that is, at the
beginning of a stressed syllable. When unstressed it is
loose, as in the second syllable of wayward. If way is pro-
nounced with the loose w of -ward, the word becomes
irrecognizable. This loose w has only the mid rounding
of [o] or [<5], which latter it most nearly resembles.
115. By place the number of consonants, like that of
the vowels, is infinite. As with the vowels, we select
certain definite points of division, and distinguish inter-
mediate positions as inner and outer. The main divisions
are back, front, point, blade, fan, lip, lip-teeth.
42 SPEECH-SOUNDS
116. Back (guttural) consonants are formed between the
root or back of the tongue and the soft palate. In English,
as in most other languages, the place of articulation varies
according to the nature of the accompanying vowels. Thus
in Mng kirj the front vowel draws the back stop and back
nasal forward into the outer position, the contact being
between the upper part of the back of the tongue and that
part of the soft palate which is just behind the beginning of
the hard palate. In gong gorj, on the other hand, the low
back vowel draws them back into the inner position, the
contact being between the root of the tongue and the lower
part of the soft palate. If we take two such words as key
and caw, and transpose their consonants, k-iii, kto, the
great difference between inner and outer back becomes
clearly apparent.
117. Front (palatal) consonants, such as the front-open-
voice j, are formed by the middle of the tongue against
the hard palate, the point of the tongue lying passively
behind the lower teeth. It is easy to make j into the
front-stop-voice j by closing the passage (§ 33). This was
the sound of Old English eg in lirycg ' back ' and of g in
sengan ' singe ', where the preceding n is the corresponding
front-nasal-voice consonant fi. The inner form of the same
consonant [fi-i] is the French gn in vigne. If j is formed
with side-openings while the central contact is maintained,
it becomes the front-divided-voice X, which is the sound of
Old English I before front stops, as in swelc ' such ', where c
is the front-stop-breath consonant c, which, again, is the
result of stopping the front- open-breath c. in German ich
and the North English and Scotch initial consonant in such
words as Ivm c,uu, which in Southern English is generally
pronounced hjuw with h followed by voice j.
118. X and n must be carefully distinguished from the
consonant-groups Ij, nj in million, onion, although the 1
and n in these words have not exactly the same sound as
CONSONANTS 43
the ordinary point 1 and n in mill, none ; they are modified
by the following j into a combination of point (tongue-tip)
articulation with simultaneous outer front contact. If the
syllables mil and ran in the above words are isolated, the
front modification of their final consonants will be plainly
heard.
119. Point consonants may be classified in two ways,
(1) with reference to the part of the mouth they articulate
against, and (2) according to the direction of the tongue.
From the first point of view they are distinguished as
' inner point ', formed on the arch-rim, ' medium (inter-
mediate) point ', formed on the gums just behind the teeth,
and outer point or ' point-teeth ' (dental), formed on the
teeth. From the second point of view they are distinguished
as ' flat-point ', in which the tongue lies horizontal in the
mouth, and ' up-point ', in which it is directed upwards.
120. When the tongue is in the first direction, as in
)>, tJ, it naturally points to the teeth ; hence these two
consonants are flat-point, and at the same time point-teeth
consonants. But if the flat direction is preserved, it is pos-
sible, although not natural, to form inner — or rather, inner-
most— J), tS as far back as the arch-rim. If formed on the
gums just behind the teeth, these consonants are practically
indistinguishable from the normal point-teeth varieties.
121. When the tongue is directed upwards, as in the r
in red, rearing, it as naturally points towards the arch-rim ;
hence r is normally both an up-point and an inner-point
consonant. And yet, if the tongue-tip is curled upwards,
an r can be formed in the medium point position as
well.
122. The English r is vowellike in sound, being quite
free from buzz, which is partly the result of its being loose,
partly of diminished breath-pressure. Trilling the r— -' roll-
ing one's r's ' — is considered a defect in English, although it
is not unfrequent in declamation.
44 SPEECH-SOUNDS
128. In English the other point consonants t, d, n, 1 are
formed in the medium position. In combination with J)
and 8 they are formed in the outer position, as in breadth,
eighth, tenth, wealth. Outer t, d, &c., are the normal sounds
in French, and some English dialects.
124. Blade consonants are formed by the ' blade ' of the
tongue, that is, its surface immediately behind the point.
If the hand represents the tongue, then the upper blade
would be roughly represented by the finger-nails. The
blade of the tongue may also be regarded as its flattened
point. The blade-open consonants are in English formed
against the gums just behind the teeth, in the same place
as t, d, n, 1. These latter are in English often formed
with the tongue somewhat flattened, so that they are
approximations to blade-consonants.
125. If s, z are modified by turning the tongue upwards
and backwards, so as to bring the point more into play, they
become the point-blade consonants J, 5 respectively. The
blade-point stand to the blade consonants in the same rela-
tion as r stands to ft ; J, g being the up-point consonants
corresponding to the flat-point s, /. Hence although J, g
are naturally formed more inner than s, z, both classes
can be retracted as well as advanced without being con-
fused.
126. The point-blade have a deeper pitch than the blade
consonants : J is. acoustically, a dull s. In some lan-
guages, such as German, this dull quality of J" is exag-
gerated by rounding, one result of which is that the tongue-
articulation tends to be neglected, so that at last nothing
remains but a slight raising of the blade or outer front
of the tongue. Bounding of J, g occurs individually in
English.
127. When the blade-point are combined with point
consonants, as in church tfaatj, judge dgBdg, singe sing,
Welsh welf, they are formed with less retraction of the
CONSONANTS 45
point, being thus intermediate between blade and blade-
point consonants both in formation and sound.
128. Fan (spread) consonants are varieties of point and
blade consonants ; they are denoted by the modifier [I]. In
them the sides of the tongue are spread out, so that the
hiss of such a consonant as the blade-fan-open [si] is formed
not only between blade and gum, but also between the sides
of the tongue and the back teeth, which gives a peculiar
deep, dull ' guttural ' quality to the sound, tl, dl occur in
Irish English as substitutes for J>, tJ respectively ; in them
the fan modification is supplemented by a slight raising of
the back of the tongue. Fan 1 may be heard in Scotch
Gaelic.
129. Lip consonants, such as p, m, and lip-teeth conso-
nants, such as f, offer no difficulty.
130. The lip-open consonant <f> does not occur in
English : it is the sound produced in blowing out a candle.
The lip-open-voice consonant 3 can be obtained by gab-
bling baba. It is a frequent substitute for v in German,
especially in such words as quelle, where another consonant
precedes, and was the old-fashioned substitute for w in
Dickens's ' Sam Veller '.
131. If the lip-open consonants are modified by raising
the back of the tongue, they become the English lip-back-
open consonants wh, w in what, we, which are, practically,
consonantized [w], although the back of the tongue need not
necessarily be raised to the full high position. In these
consonants the lip-articulation predominates.
132. In the back-lip-open [xw] of German auch and
North Irish win, in wJiat the back x is the predominant
element. This was one of the sounds of gh in Middle
English, as in laugh, enouyh lauxw, enuuxw.
133. Compound Consonants. This last is one of a large
number of ' lip-modified ' consonants, of which the German
46 SPEECH-SOUNDS
sell is, as we have seen (§ 126), a further example. Lip-
modified r is not uncommon in English as an individual
peculiarity.
134. In a similar way consonants can be ' front-modified '.
French and German 1, as compared with the deeper-sounding
English 1, may be regarded as front-modified ; in them the
tongue is more convex than in English, its upper surface
being arched up towards the front position of j. In French,
[y] is often consonantized into the lip-front-open (front-
modified lip-open) sound in lui \lftji~]. Front-modified
forms of r, s, m, and other consonants may be heard in
Eussian.
135. Shifted Consonants. In the consonants hitherto
described it has been taken for granted that the tongue
articulates against that part of the mouth which is opposite
to it. But this is not always the case. Thus in advancing
the point of articulation of a back consonant it is not neces-
sary to stop short at the outer extremity of the soft palate —
in the kh or kn-position ; it is possible to articulate still
further forward, with the outer back of the tongue against
the hard palate. In this way we get the out-back ka, which,
although it is from one point of view a front consonant,
is quite distinct from c or even c-n. ka, go are the old-
fashioned sounds in such words as sky, garden. To an un-
accustomed ear they sound like kj, gj. In Irish Gaelic
such pairs as ko and c are kept quite distinct : the former
is heard in cedl [koool] ' music ', the latter in teacht [canxt]
' to come '.
136. The out-point consonants to, &c., are formed with
the tip of the tongue against the upper lip. They do not
seem to occur in articulate speech.
137. The in-point, in-blade, and in-blade-point consonants,
generally included under the term ' inverted ', occur in many
languages ; the in-r is heard in the dialects of the West of
CONSONANTS 47
England. In their formation the tip of the tongue or its
blade is turned back into the arch, so that its lower part
articulates against the palate. Articulation against the arch-
rise may be regarded either as outer in-point or inner point.
The full in-r has a snarling, almost nasal effect. It can
hardly be trilled. It is often formed simultaneously with —
incorporated into — the preceding vowel, which then becomes
an in-point-modified vowel.
The Arabic q, which is a k formed even further back
than the English kn in caw, may be regarded as an in-back
consonant — kc.
138. Non-oral Consonants. Some consonants are formed
below the mouth.
It is, for instance, possible to produce a stopped conso-
nant in the larynx by opening or closing the glottis on a
passage of breath or voice. The opening is heard in an
ordinary cough, while the convulsive closure of the glottis
results in what is known as a hiccup. This ' glottal stop '
[!] occurs also as an integral element of ordinary speech.
In German all initial vowels in stressed syllables begin with
a more or less distinct glottal stop ; and this occurs also in
some English dialects, and in individual pronunciation in
Standard English as well. In some North English and
Scotch dialects (such as that of Glasgow) the glottal stop
occurs as a substitute for the ordinary mouth-stops, as in the
Glasgow pronunciation of water water.
For the aspirate h, which is to some extent an open
glottal consonant, see § 169.
139. Non-expiratory Sounds. All the sounds hitherto
described imply out-breathing or expiration. But they can
also be formed with in-breathing or inspiration. Thus in
English it is a not uncommon trick of speech to pronounce
no with in-breathing to express emphatic or earnest denial.
48 SPEECH-SOUNDS
Some consonants are produced without either out- or
in-breathing, solely with the air in the mouth or throat.
140. The sounds known as ' clicks ' or suction-stops are
examples. In their formation the tongue or lips are put in
the position for an ordinary stop, and then the air is sucked
out from between the organs in contact, so that when the
stop is released a sharp smacking sound is produced. Thus
the lip-click is an exaggeration of an ordinary kiss, and the
point-click is the interjection of impatience written tut ! In
some savage languages clicks are an integral part of ordinary
articulate speech.
SYNTHESIS
141. Besides analysing each sound separately, phonetics
has to deal with the various phenomena which accompany
synthesis, that is, the succession or combination of sounds in
syllables, words, and sentences. Although a sentence may
consist of a single word, and that word of a single vowel,
most sounds occur only in combination with others.
142. The ordinary division of speech into sentences, and
of sentences into words, is logical, not phonetic : we cannot
mark off the sentences in continuous discourse, and cut them
up into words, till we know the meaning of these words and
sentences, and are able to analyse them grammatically.
143. But the logical and grammatical division into sen-
tences corresponds to some extent with the phonetic division
into 'breath-groups', marked off through our inability to
utter more than a certain number of sounds in succession
without pausing to take breath.
144. Within these breath-groups there is no pause or
break between the words except where we pause for em-
phasis or to make grammatical distinctions. The only
necessary phonetic distinctions within a breath-group are
into syllables, sounds, and intervening ' glides '.
The three general factors of synthesis are quantity (length),
stress (force), and intonation.
145. Quantity. Although in the broad phonetic nota-
tion of English it is necessary to mark only two degrees of
vowel-quantity, it is easy to distinguish at least five : over-
long [»#], long [#], half-long or medium [*], short [t], and
very short or abrupt [»t]. » is written as a notched stroke.
SWEET SB
50 SYNTHESIS
146. The distinction between long and medium is well
marked in English, although it does not generally require
to be indicated in writing, as it is regularly dependent on
the nature of the following consonant. The rule is that
strong-stressed vowels when final or before a voice conso-
nant are long, while before a voiceless consonant they are
only half-long, as in see si», seize, broad compared with
cease si*s, eat, brought. The diiference is equally marked
in the diphthongs, as in no, ride, oil, compared with right,
voice. In other languages full length is preserved before
voiceless as well as voiced sounds, as may be heard in the
German pronunciation of all right !
147. The distinctions of quantity apply to consonants as
well as vowels. In English there is a tendency to lengthen
final consonants after strong short vowels, as in man com-
pared with German mann, where the final consonant is quite
short. There is also a tendency in English to lengthen soft
consonants before voice consonants, and shorten them before
voiceless consonants, as in buttd bil*d, compared with built
bilt.
?48. Stress. This is, organically, the result of the force
with which the breath is expelled from the lungs ; acoustic-
ally it produces the effect of loudness, which is dependent
on the size of the sound- vibrations : the bigger the waves,
the louder the sound, the greater the stress.
For the degrees of stress see ^fZ^>
149. On stress depends syllable-division. A syllable
consists of a 'syllabic' (syllable-former), either alone or
accompanied by non-syllabics. The distinction between the
two depends on sonority : the more sonorous a sound is, the
more easily it assumes the function of a syllabic. The most
sonorous sounds are the voiced ones, among which the most
open are the most sonorous, the most sonorous of all sounds
being the clear, open a. But the difference is only a relative
SYNTHESIS 51
one. When a vowel and a consonant come together, the
syllabicness of the vowel overpowers that of the consonant ;
but in such a word as little litl the second 1 is so much
more syllabic than the preceding voiceless stop that it assumes
syllabic function, and the word is felt to be disyllabic,
although it only contains one vowel. The syllabic quality
of the final consonant in little, reason riizn, open, &c., does
not require to be marked, because as long as these final con-
sonants are voiced they are necessarily syllabic. If it is
necessary to indicate syllabicness of a consonant in the
interior of a word, this can be done by putting -, or what-
ever stress-mark is required, after it, as in bBtn-irj button-
ing, botl-a bottler compared with butler.
150. The beginning of a syllable corresponds to the be-
ginning of the stress with which it is uttered. Thus in
atone the strong stress and the second syllable begin on the
t, and in bookcase bukikeis on the second k, the first
k belonging to the first syllable, so that the kk is here
really double — that is to say, there are two of them — not
merely long, as in book buk* by itself (§ 147).
151. Two vowels in succession uttered with one impulse of
stress, so as to form only one syllable, constitute a diphthong.
The English diphthongs ai, oi, au are 'falling' diph-
thongs, having the stress on the first element, «o that it is
the second element which is non-syllabic. The u and eu in
such words as union, euphony, was also a falling diphthong
iu in the Early Modern English of the sixteenth century.
In the beginning of the eighteenth century the stress in this
diphthong was shifted on to the second element, so that it
became the ' rising ' diphthong i*u, i'uu. As the unsyl-
labic vowel in such a diphthong is practically indistinguish-
able from a loose j, it is best to write it accordingly, ju, juu,
keeping the notation iu for the falling diphthong. In
English the falling diphthongs weaken their second ele-
ments, so that they are no longer full i, u, as in some
D2
52 SYNTHESIS
languages and even in some English dialects ; thus au in
Scotch is full [au], that is, B followed by high narrow u,
so that it might also be written aw.
152. It is not always easy to draw the line between
diphthongic and disyllabic pronunciation, as in the English
murmur-diphthongs such as ia, which when uttered
slowly have more or less of a disyllabic effect. This is still
more the case with triphthongs such as aia.
153. Conversely, in very rapid and careless speech even
such vowel-sequences as those in poetical, coerce, jEolic,
pou'etikl, kou'aas, ii'olik often become shorter by a syl-
lable, so that they might be roughly symbolized by pwetikl,
kwaas, jolik.
154. Intonation (§ 19). This depends on the rapidity of
the sound-vibrations : the quicker the vibrations, the higher
the pitch, the sharper and shriller the tone. Voiced sounds
are the only ones capable of variation of pitch, which in
speech and song depends on the tension of the vocal chords
and the length of their vibrating portion : the tighter and
shorter a string or similar vibrating body, the higher the
pitch.
155. In singing, the voice generally dwells on each note
without change of pitch, and then leaps up or down to the
next note as smoothly and quickly as possible, so that the
intervening pitch-glide is not noticed, except in what is
called 'portamento'. In speech, on the other hand, the
voice hardly ever dwells on any one note, but is con-
stantly moving upwards and downwards, sometimes by leaps,
but more generally by glides, in which all the intermediate
notes are heard in more or less rapid succession, as in
portamento.
156. The different tones — rising, falling, &c. — vary in
character according to the interval through which they pass.
The greater the interval, the more emphatic the tone. Thus
SYNTHESIS 53
a high rise, which begins high, and consequently can only
rise a little higher, expresses simple question ; while the
same word, if uttered with a low rise extending over an
interval of an octave or even more, expresses surprise or
indignation, as in iv hat ! compared with the simply interro-
gative what ?
Glides.
157. Consonant-glides. Such a word as cat consists not
only of the vowel and the two consonants of which it is
made up, but also of glides or positions between these
sounds. The glide from the initial consonant to the vowel
consists of all the intermediate positions through which the
tongue passes on its way from the k-position to that of ae.
The number of these positions is infinite ; but they are all
implied by the mere juxtaposition of the symbols of the
fixed sounds, it being assumed that in all transitions from
one position to another the shortest way is taken.
158. Although the direction of a glide is thus dependent
on the positions of the two fixed points between which it
lies, its character may be varied both by the shape of the
throat- and mouth-passages — especially the glottis- -and by
stress and quantity.
159. In the word given above the two ' off-glides ' from
the consonants are both breath -glides, the glottis being kept
open during the transition from the k to the SB, and also
during the loosening of the stop of the final consonant —
that is to say, during the transition from the t to silence.
The 'on-glide' from the vowel to the t is, on the other
hand, a voice-glide, the vibration of the chords being main-
tained till the stop is made.
160. In French and most of the languages of the South of
Europe voiceless consonants are generally followed by voice-
glides. Thus in French qul there is 110 escape of breath as
54 SYNTHESIS
in the English key. Nearly the same pronunciation may be
heard in Scotch.
161. Some of the languages of the North of Europe have
breath on-glides before voiceless stops, as if t, k, &c., were
preceded by a h.
162. If an independent strong stress is put on the breath-
glides after the consonants in such words as two, key, they
are heard almost as full consonants — as weak )> and x
respectively. Such consonants are said to be ' aspirated '.
Initial voiceless stops are regularly aspirated in Irish-
English and in Danish. Sanskrit and Old Greek kh, Hi, pli
were no doubt pronounced in the same way — as, indeed,
they still are in India.
163. The voice-glide after the voice-stops g, d, &c., may
be emphasized in the same way, giving the 'sonant aspirates'
gh, tli. &c., of Sanskrit.
164. Voice consonants between vowels in English, as in
other languages, have both their on- and off-glides voiced,
as in ago, where the chords vibrate continuously throughout
the whole word. But if a voice stop in English is not pre-
ceded by a vowel or other voiced sound, as when go ! is
uttered by itself, it is not voiced throughout, the chords
being only gradually brought together, so that full voice is
not heard till just before the transition to the vowel. So
also with buzzes (voiced hiss consonants), as in meal. When
these latter consonants come at the end of a word and are
not followed by voiced sounds, they have full vocality only
at the beginning, so that they end with something between
voice and whisper, as in case compared with easy. In French
and many other languages such consonants preserve their
full vocality in all positions.
165. Glideless combinations remain to be considered.
The principle of taking the shortest cut between sounds in
juxtaposition necessarily results in certain transitions being
effected without any glide at all. This is regularly the case
GLIDES 55
when the two sounds are consonants having the same place,
and differing only in form as in and, halt, where the point
of the tongue remains unmoved throughout the two con-
sonants, the transition from the n to the d being effected
simply by opening the passage into the nose, and that from
1 to t by opening the passages at the sides of the tongue,
and opening the glottis at the same time. In such combina-
tions as mf the slight glide between the two consonants is
in most languages got rid of by assimilating the place of the
first consonant to that of the second : thus in English
nymph the m is a lip-teeth instead of a pure lip-nasal.
166. Even when consonants are formed in quite different
places, it is often possible to join them without any glide.
In English, stop-combinations are glideless, as in active, apt,
robbed, headpiece, the second stop being formed before the
preceding one is loosened. In French and most other lan-
guages such combinations are separated by a breath or voice
glide.
167. Combinations of soft consonants with other con-
sonants, whether hard or soft, are glideless in most lan-
guages, as in English try, quite, glow, bulb. In English the
breath-glide after a stop in such a word as try unvoices the
first half of the following soft consonant, so that try might
almost be written trh-rai.
168. Vowel- glides. Vowels are begun and ended in
various ways.
In the ' gradual beginning ', which is the usual one in
French and English, the glottis is gradually narrowed while
breath is being emitted. Thus in pronouncing aa with
gradual beginning the glottis begins to close at the same
moment that the tongue begins to move from the neutral
mixed position into the mid-back one. In the 'clear'
beginning the breath is kept back till the chords are in the
position for voice and the tongue is in the position for he
56 SYNTHESIS
vowel, so that the vowel begins at once without any of
the preparatory ' breathiness ' of the gradual beginning. In
German the clear beginning is generally exaggerated into
a glottal stop.
169. In the gradual as well as the clear beginning the
stress begins on the vowel itself. If in the former the
stress begins on the breath glide, this glide is felt as an
independent element, just as in the aspiration of consonants
(§ 162), and becomes the ' aspirate ' h, which in its ordinary
English form is a glide both in the throat and in the
mouth.
170. Some languages have a * strong aspirate ', in which
the full position for the following vowel is assumed at the
moment when breath begins to be emitted, the aspirate in
this case being simply a voiceless vowel, so that, for instance,
bii with the strong aspirate sounds almost like Qii and
haa like xaa. The strong h may be heard in American
English.
171. In most languages, when an aspirate comes between
voiced sounds, it is formed with ' half -voice ' or imperfect
vocality. Thus in English behold! compared with hold!
the chords vibrate throughout the whole word, but their
vibration is so feeble during the h that the contrast of this
weak vocality with the full vocality of the other sounds is
enough to produce the effect of aspiration. In the emphatic
aha!, on the contrary, the glottis is opened enough to let
out a distinct puff of air, instead of merely relaxing its
closure, as in half-voice.
PHONETIC STKUCTUKE OF ENGLISH
172. English, like all other languages, uses only a part of
the general phonetic material. It has only a limited number
of sounds. If we compare the English of the present day
with the English of King Alfred, we shall find that many
of the sounds of Old English have been lost in the present
Standard English, some of them being still preserved in the
dialects. On the other hand, the later English has developed
many sounds of its own, some only within the last few
centuries, such as the vowels B, aa. Again, each language
and each period of a language makes, or may make, a dif-
ferent use of the synthetical distinctions of quantity, stress,
and intonation. Thus in the Middle English of Chaucer,
consonants written double were still pronounced double, as
in sonne sunna, 'sun,' distinct from sone suna, 'son,' the
nn in the former being pronounced as in our penknife. We
do not know what the intonation of Alfred and Chaucer
was, but it may have been very different from ours as well
as from that of each other.
173. Present English has therefore its own national
sound-system, differing in many respects from that of
Middle English, and still more from that of Old English ;
although, on the other hand, it has preserved more or
less faithfully many of the characteristics even of Old
English, such as the old original pronunciation of w,
lost in the other Germanic languages. Present English has
also preserved the Old English J>, (S, which, again, are lost
in the other cognate languages, except Icelandic.
174. Each national sound-system shows certain general
tendencies which control the formation of its sounds, con-
58 PHONETIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH
stituting its organic basis (basis of articulation). The
general tendencies of present English are to flatten and
lower the tongue, and draw it back from the teeth, the lips
being kept as much as possible in a neutral position. The
flattening of the tongue makes our vowels wide, and favours
the development of mixed vowels. It also gives a dull
character to our sounds, which is especially noticeable in
the 1. The retraction of the tongue gets rid of point-teeth
consonants. The neutrality of the lips has eliminated the
front-round vowels.
175. But these tendencies are not carried out uniformly.
Thus the desire of distinctness has preserved the point-teeth
consonants J>, tS.
Sound-junction.
176. The great rapidity with which sounds follow each
other in speech naturally leads to a more or less conscious
attempt to make the necessary transitions as easy as possible.
We have already seen that the principle of taking the
shortest and most direct path from one articulation to
another naturally leads to modifications of these articu-
lations (§ 165). This tendency exists in all languages, but
some carry it out more fully than others. English is one of
those languages in which the sounds are, on the whole, but
little liable to be influenced by their phonetic surroundings.
The effects of sound-junction in English are trifling com-
pared with the changes effected in French by its liaisons,
and the still more marked modifications due to the con-
sonant-mutations in Welsh, and the sandhi (putting-together)
of Sanskrit. Many of the English changes are, like the
French liaisons, only negative, involving not sound-change,
but sound-loss : certain sounds are dropped in certain posi-
tions and under certain circumstances, preserved in others.
177. Sandhi in Sanskrit is of two kinds, internal and
external ; the former deals with sound-changes within words,
SOUND-JUNCTION 59
the latter with the changes which are the result of the
junction of the final sound of one word with the initial
sound of the next. The natural tendency of language is to
carry out all these changes without regard to word-division,
which, as we have seen (§ 142), is not really a phonetic
phenomenon. Thus the English change of m before f
into a lip-teeth consonant is in natural speech carried out
uniformly whenever the two consonants are run together
without any pause, no matter whether they belong to the
same word or not. And so we have internal sandhi in
comfort, external sandhi in come forth, I saw him fall.
178. But, on the other hand, all languages show a reac-
tion against this natural development — a reaction which is
the equally natural result of the striving after clearness of
expression and distinctness, and the consequent desire
to preserve the individuality of each word by giving it one
invariable form in all its combinations with other words.
One of the reasons why English generally gets rid of sandhi
long before it produces marked changes and divergencies
in the forms of words is that its brevity makes it necessary
for the language to preserve the individuality of its words as
much as possible.
179. The extent to which any one language develops
sandhi, and the form that development takes, depends on
the phonetic structure of the language. One, for instance,
in which every consonant is separated from every other
consonant by a vowel, or in which every word begins with
a consonant and ends with a vowel, would not have the
same temptation to develop sandhi — either internal or
external, as the case might be — as one in which harsh and
difficult consonant-groups are frequent, as in English. And
yet, although in everyday speech we find it difficult not to
yield to the temptation to make fifths and sixths into fifes
n sikss, with a lengthened s instead of J>s, we cannot
regard these pronunciations as normal ; in all moderately
60 PHONETIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH
careful speech we always at least make an effort to pronounce
the}).
180. But there is a distinct tendency in English to drop
the middle one of three consecutive consonants even when
there is no special difficulty in their sequence. In fact, this
is often more an acoustic than an organic change, the middle
consonant being dropped mainly because it does not strike the
ear distinctly, through being a repetition of its neighbour,
as in the las(t) time, an ol(d) dog, or formed in the same
place, as in beas(t)ly, I don'(t) know.
181. Liability to sandhi is often the result of other
phonetic changes, such as the English tendency to shorten,
obscure, and then drop weak vowels, by which, for instance,
Old English hlafas and fiscas became in Middle English
looves and fisshes looves and fljjes, and then loovez and
fijez, whence the present louvz an fijiz loaves and fishes,
the weak vowel having been restored in the last word
because of the difficulty of pronouncing fijz. In such
a case as this the difficulty amounts practically to an
impossibility.
182. In the Modern English forms of such Middle English
plurals as cattes, sJiippes the difficulty of pronouncing final
tz, pz was got rid of by glottal assimilation. The natural
phonetic change would have been to make ksetz, Jipz into
ksedz, Jibz ; but as this would have obscured the identity
of the words, the assimilation was reversed by unvoicing
the final consonants. So also in blest compared with the
older disyllabic Uessed and disyllabic beloved compared with
the longer form beloved.
183. But the influence of sound-junction is not always in
the way of causing change : it is often conservative, change-
preventing, as in the preservation of the full vocality of
consonants between vowels (§ 164).
184. A frequent cause of sound-change in many languages
is the tendency of nasal consonants to assimilate the place
SOUND-JUNCTION 61
of their formation to that of the adjoining consonants,
especially if the consonant is a stop. In English, such pro-
nunciations as irjkBm income, irjgeidg engage, dourj kea
don't care, where dount first loses its final consonant and
then shifts the place of the preceding nasal, are only occa-
sional.
185. The change of sj into J and zj into g in such
words as sure, nation, measure began already in the second
half of the seventeenth century, the older pronunciations
sjuur, nsesesjun, mezjur being still the usual ones at the
beginning of the century. The parallel development of tj,
dj into tf, djj, as in nature, verdure, began at the same time.
Both are now fully established in natural English speech,
although some 'careful speakers' still try to pronounce
neitjua, vaadjua. The standard pronunciation neitfa
was itself originally an artificial revolt against the seven-
teenth century neetar, which now survives only as a vul-
garism. In trying to avoid this, some half-educated speakers
fall into the error of making laughter into laaftfa. We
still fluctuate between tj, dj and tf, ds; in such words as
multitude, education. Such pronunciations as tjuwta, indga
for tjuwta, indja, tutor, India, are Irish rather than
English.
186. These fluctuations are aided by the English tendency
to partially front-modify t, d before j in the way already
described with reference to nj, Ij (§ 118). When tj, dj are
approximated in this way to CKJ, j>j, it is sometimes diffi-
cult to distinguish them from tf, dg. Even tj with pure
point t is liable to be confounded with eg through the
off-glide of the t unvoicing the beginning of the j, CQ
being similar in sound to tf.
187. All these changes may be observed also in separate
words, as in don't you, would you, eight years. When sj, Jj
meet in separate words, they tend to become JJ ; zj, &j
being assimilated analogously into 55, as in this year, all
62 PHONETIC STKUCTURE OF ENGLISH
these years, las(t) year, push you, rouge you. j is often lost
after tf, dg, as in catch you, oblige you.
188. The influences hitherto considered are of consonant
on consonant. Of the influences of consonants on vowels
the most important are those exercised by r: they con-
stitute one of the most characteristic features of Modern
English.
r in English occurs only before a vowel following it
without a pause, as in hearing, here it is hiarirj, hiar it iz ;
before a consonant or a pause it disappears : he hears, he is
here Mj hiaz, hijz hia. In some pronunciations r is
always dropped at the end of a word whether a vowel
follows or not : Me it iz. This seems to be an artificial
reaction against the insertion of final hiatus-filling r after a
in such groups as India Office, the idea of it, which is frequent
even in educated speech. The insertion of r after other
vowels as in Pa isn't in, I sato it in the drawing-room
drorinrum is quite vulgar.
189. The influence of r on preceding vowels is twofold :
(1) it develops a voice-glide, as in hiariij compared with
Scotch hiirirj, Middle English heringe heerirjga, fire
faia compared with Middle English fir fiir ; (2) it broadens
and obscures the vowel, partly by direct influence, partly
through the influence of the parasitic a. The change of
e into a, as in star, dark, clerk, from Middle English
sterre, derk, clerk, goes back to the end of the Middle
English period itself, the first development of the glide-r,
to the beginning of the Modern English period (sixteenth
century).
190. It is to be observed that r has no influence on a
preceding short vowel when it is itself followed by a vowel in
the same word : compare car, care, with carry, where a has
the same sound as in manner, quart with quarrel, where it has
the same sound as in quality. So also in spirit, merry, furrow,
sorrow compared with fir, mirth, fier, turn, sore, sort.
SOUND-JUNCTION 63
191. In the sixteenth century such words as her, bird, turn
were still pronounced as they were written, with a distinct
r, u still preserving the sound it now has in full.
102. In the next century u = [u] was unrounded in all
words into [a], which was afterwards broadened into the
present sound, turn being pronounced with the same vowel
as up. The e of her, vertue was obscured into a variety of
the mixed vowel a. There was now so little distinction
between er, ir, ur when not followed by a vowel in the same
word that they were soon confounded under ar. But the
distinction between such words as serf and surf is still kept
up in some Irish dialects ; and in the older Scotch pronuncia-
tion these words were still distinguished as serf, sttrf.
193. In the eighteenth century r and a broadened pre-
ceding [e»] into [se*], as in care, fair compared with name
[ne*m], fain; and [«?] into [a], as in star, hard, earlier
st»r, hserd. The same broadening is seen in the present
pronunciation of such words as bore, boar, floor compared
with bone, boat, boon.
194. In present English they have arrested the change of
ii, uu into ij, uw, as in here, poor hia, pua compared
with Jieel, pool, besides widening these vowels, and lowering
them towards e, o. In vulgar pronunciation poor is
levelled under pore, and sometimes both of these, are further
levelled under paw. These pronunciations are now begin-
ning to find their way into educated speech as well. Weak
eia is often broadened into ea, as in bricklayer briklea,
and regularly in Sea they arc. In careless speech this
change as well as the corresponding broadening of cue
into oa is sometimes carried out in strong syllables as well,
as in a lower layer a loa lea.
195. The pronunciation of poor as paw is an extreme case
of the absorption of the a by a preceding broad or mixed
vowel, a necessarily disappears after aa, as in stir staa,
staarirj. staar it, and aa — which, as we have seen (§91), is
64 PHONETIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH
really aa— as in far, starry faa, staari. Father and farther
are both pronounced alike ; and the r which many un-
phonetic observers persist in hearing in the latter word is,
of course, only the a, which is just as distinct in father, o
also ends in a mixed vowel ; but as this vowel is rounded,
there is no difficulty in adding an a to it. Some speakers
seem to keep the a everywhere except before the r itself,
as in pouring, pour away. Many drop it before a consonant
in the same word, as in poured, pours. Others also before
a consonant in another word, as in pour down, and some
drop it before a pause as well, so that they make no more
distinction between lore and laiv than the majority of the
educated do between lord and laud.
196. r sometimes takes a voice-glide before it to facili-
tate the transition from a preceding consonant, as in um-
brella, Gibraltar, where the a after the b in both words is
too short to constitute a syllable. Such insertions are more
frequent in vulgar speech.
197. Shifting of syllabic function is in English as in
other languages an occasional result of sound-junction. In
Southern English the words milk and children are hardly
ever pronounced as they are written. In both of them the
1 has the syllabic function of a vowel, before which the
vowel of the former word becomes unsyllabic, while the
vowel of the latter word is generally dropped : mjlk, tjldran,
and even mjuk, tjuldran, tfulran, tjuran.
198. Syllabic shifting is frequent in the diphthong ia,
which is then made into jaa, a h generally disappearing
before the j. Even in the pulpit we may sometimes hear
he that hath ears to hear let him hear pronounced hij tSat hse]>
jaaz ta jaa let him jaa.
199. The influence of vowel on vowel is seen in the two
pronunciations of the and to as tSa, ta before consonants and
(Si, tu before vowels, the latter being of course the older
forms : <Sa frend, tSi enimi, ta gou tu iid5ipt.
SOUND-JUNCTION 65
200. The hiatus-filling n in an enemy compared with
a friend is also the older form — a weakened one — preserved
before a vowel. We still often write an before juw in
union, &c., through the tradition of the earlier pronuncia-
tion iu from Middle English yy. Some still keep this
pronunciation before weak juw, as in an united Europe, but
the general tendency is to use a here also.
Gradation.
201. Perhaps the most characteristic feature of English
phonology is the extreme sensitiveness of its sounds to
variations in the degree of stress, giving rise to the varied
phenomena of gradation.
202. In fully weak syllables there is a tendency in
English to modify all vowels in the direction of shortness,
lowering of high vowels, and mixed position, under which
is included the out-modification of back, and the in-modinca-
tion of front vowels. The extreme of weakening is reached
when the vowel is merged under a, which is itself liable
to become whispered, and then to be dropped altogether.
203. Vowels like a which occur only in unstressed
syllables are called 'weak'. The diphthongs ai and au
change their first elements into a in unstressed syllables,
as in ai so -it, aidia, haueva compared with the emphatic
;ai so it and the full-stressed how. The more important
of the other weak vowels may be conveniently denoted by
a superimposed v, which at the same time dispenses with
the necessity of specially marking them as unstressed. They
are the lowered 1 in piti, ivent pity, event, and the out-
back ii, du, 6 in vgelju, zuwluw, soultiu, bktouba value,
Zulu, solo, October. But all the strong vowels have weak
forms of their own. Thus the e in insect is slightly higher
than that in sect, and yet is distinct from i. So also if the two
vowels in aebstraekt abstract are isolated and lengthened,
66 PHONETIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH
the weak one will be found to be an approximation to a
both in position and sound. It is hardly necessary to mark
the distinction in these rarer cases, as it is generally implied
by the weak stress.
It must be clearly understood that 'weak ' as opposed to ' strong '
implies a definite change of articulation : if a strong vowel under-
went no change when unstressed, it would be a weak-stressed but
not a weak vowel.
204. The degree of obscuration of the English vowels
depends to some extent on the rapidity with which they are
uttered. In very rapid and careless speech I may sometimes
be lowered and retracted so much as to make it difficult to
distinguish it from a, as in the ending -able, -ible in such
words as possible. 6 is liable to be unrounded and merged
in a. Thus or is pronounced oa, o, 6, a according to the
degree of emphasis that is given to it. Most weak vowels
are liable to change into a, although such pronunciations
as ja for ju you and J6a, jd your, fela for fe!6u felloio
border on the vulgar, even if they often pass unnoticed in
rapid and indistinct speech.
The distinction between strong and weak is therefore a
relative one ; thus 6v is strong as compared with av, which
again is stronger than a (§ 207).
205. Weak stress often causes dropping of consonants as
well as vowels. Weak initial h is kept only at the begin-
ning of a sentence, as in hlj so Im Tie saw Mm. The h is
of course restored in the strong emphatic forms, as in hij
so haa, an Jij so him Tie saiv Tier, and she saw Mm. Many
educated — and many more half-educated—speakers make
a point of keeping the h everywhere. Most of them suc-
ceed only partially, forcing out the weak h with a painful
effort when speaking slowly, and dropping it as soon as they
are off their guard. The dropping of weak h is as old as
the time of King Alfred ; it by the side of Tie is simply the
GRADATION 67
Old English weak form which supplanted the strong form
hit, because the neuter pronoun seldom required to be
emphasized, and so the strong form fell out of use. Weak
h is often dropped in the second element of compounds,
as in household, Birmingham, and other names in -ham,
where, however, the h has often corrupted the pronun-
ciation, as in Leivisham luifam, Eltham elj>am.
206. The d of and is generally dropped before conso-
nants, especially hard consonants, as in noiv and (an) then,
better and letter, the vowel being often dropped as well,
especially in familiar combination such as bread and butter,
the nasal being often assimilated in place to the preceding
consonant, as in cup and (m) saucer, Jcnife and fork with
lip-teeth m.
207. Other consonant-droppings occur in careless speech.
Thus av of often becomes a before consonants, the word
being, indeed, written o in o'clock, and some other tradi-
tional phrases, showing that this, like many other weak
forms, is not a mere modern vulgarism. Weak must and
St. = Saint generally drop their final consonants before
another consonant, as in ai mas gou, sn dgonz wud.
208. The careless, almost vulgar am for $em them is
probably a weakening not of this form, but of the Middle
English Jiem ' them '.
209. The dropping of weak w in the second element of
compounds and word-groups, which was carried out consis-
tently in the seventeenth centuiy, survives only in such
verb-forms as he'd, he'll, for he had, he would, he will, and in
isolated words such as Greenwich grinidg, towards todz,
which latter is now being supplanted by the artificial
tawodz.
210. Those to whom the pronunciation of wh as a breath
consonant is natural generally make it into w wherever
weak h is liable to be dropped.
211. The substitution of J6a, j6az your, yours for the
E2
68 PHONETIC STKUCTURE OF ENGLISH
older emphatic forms jua, juaz is partly the result of the
tendency to broaden strong as well as weak u before a
and r. They are the only words which have weak vowels
in strong- as well as weak-stressed syllables. The forms joa,
jo, joz with the full low-back-narrow vowel also occur.
212. Strong forms, on the contrary, often occur unstressed.
Thus tSset may have as weak stress as Sat, as in ai nou
•fleet I know that.
213. Such pairs as Sset and Sat are examples of ' stress-
doublets '. tSar and Sea, as in 5az nouwen 5ea there is
no one there, are a further example of how doublets may
develop into distinct words whose meanings and gram-
matical functions have nothing in common.
214. The weak forms of verbs and prepositions with a
or a dropped vowel occur only when they are followed with-
out a pause by the word they modify or belong to ; if they
come at the end of a sentence, they assume the medium or
unstressed strong form ; before a parenthetic insertion they
take strong stress as well : hlj z hia, ai nou ij :iz he is
here, I know he is, ai kan duw It, at lijst ai ;J>irjk ai :ksen
I can do it, at least I think I can, whot a ju. J>irjkirj 6v
compared with ai }>ot av it I thought of it, hlj iz, :if ai
:mei bi eland ta sei sdu, misteikn he is, if I may be allowed
to say so, mistaken.
215. There is also a tendency to substitute the strong for
the weak form when the latter is followed by another weak
form, as when a preposition is followed by an unemphatic
pronoun. Thus although we say ai }>ot av it with two
consecutive weak forms, we generally avoid such a colloca-
tion as ai v ktjrn far it : we say rather ai v kern f6r It,
although of course f6r is here only a ' half-strong ' form as
compared with for. In such combinations the preposition
often takes not only the full strong form but also medium
or strong stress, as in it s a maetar av indifrans :tuw mlj
it is a matter of indifference to me.
GKADATION 69
216. Of course any weak word can assume the strong
form if it is emphasized or followed by a pause. Even such
words as and and the can thus be made into send and tSij.
Many speakers habitually use stressless, unemphatic send
in slow speech at the beginning of a sentence who would
never introduce it into such groups as here and there.
THE SOUNDS OF STANDARD ENGLISH
WE will now enumerate the sounds of standard, that is,
educated, undialectal English, without, of course, attempt-
ing to fix an absolutely rigid norm.
217. The vowels are as follows : —
B. Outer mid-back-narrow [ai-], mid-out-back-wide [CP],
both of which are also written more conveniently a
whenever there is no fear of confusion with the short of
the aa in father: up, tvorry, unjust, rough, flood. Of the
two pronunciations of this vowel, the former is the older
and the more widely spread, so that it has every claim to be
regarded as the standard one ; but the two are so alike that
it is difficult even for a trained ear always to discriminate
them with certainty. Some speakers certainly use the
two indifferently. But they always preserve strictly the
narrowness of the one and the wideness of the other. If
the former is widened, it gives a thin sound, as distinct
from aa as it is from « ; and the narrow [as] is
an equally un-English sound— using English in the sense
of Standard English. B in medium-stressed syllables, as
in the second of humbug and the first of ulterior, is not
perceptibly modified ; when fully unstressed, as in pugna-
cious and the second syllable of hubbub, it often becomes
indistinguishable from 3.
aa. Mid-back-wide + mid-mixed-wide [ae] : baa, fast, half,
bar, barred, bard, starry, clerk, lieart. The after-glide would,
of course, be suppressed in singing ; nor is it universal even
in Southern English. Weak aa is almost short in such
words as aha, sarcastic.
THE SOUNDS OF STANDARD ENGLISH 71
ai. Mid-out-back-wide + lowered high-front-wide [aat-r] :
eye, try, buy, mile, sign, sighed, height, aisle. When weak it
becomes ai with [e] as its first element: idea, graphite.
In the triphthong aia the i is often further lowered and
retracted : fire, lyre, crier, higher, wiry, fiery. In the weak
aia the second a becomes almost inaudible : irate, ironical.
au. Low -mixed-wide + mid-mixed-wide-round [ad] : now,
house, howl, doubt. Weak au: however, compound, adj.
aua : hour, flour, flower, flowery, allowance, coward.
a. Mid-mixed-wide [e] a little lowered : upon, adversity
suppose, concern, sofa, better, asylum asailam, cupboard
k/ebad, harmony, Saturday ssetadi. In rapid speech this
vowel often becomes a mere murmur or voice-glide without
any definite configuration.
aa. Low-mixed-narrow [a»] : err, sir, furry, burn, earth,
hurt, word. Shortened when weak : perverted, fertility,
adverse, proverb. In rapid speech weak aa is liable to be
shortened, raised, and widened in various degrees, till at
last it is merged into a.
i. High-front-wide [i], generally lowered more or less,
and often slightly retracted as well : ill, irritate, hymn, sieve,
busy, guilt. There is a tendency to retract i into the inner
or in position after r preceded by another consonant
(§ 103). Weak i is lowered and retracted ; those who
lower the strong i, lower i still more: efficient, deception,
invent, embody, pity, many, merit, women, village, miniature
minltja, Israel izrial. In rapid speech i is liable to be
confounded with a in certain collocations ; but a constant
substitution of a for 1 in such words as it, village is
Irish.
ii. High-front-wide + the same raised [MX], which may
be expressed by ij : see, sea, mean, grief, fatigue, people.
Although the pure monophthongic narrow [i*] pronuncia-
tion of this vowel is not the usual one in the South of
England, it does not sound dialectal, but rather refined
72 THE SOUNDS OF STANDARD ENGLISH
by contrast with the broader vulgar pronunciation which
makes lady into lydy, and see almost into say. Pretonic
weak ii is somewhat shortened in such words as equality,
precede, create, while in other words it generally becomes 1,
as in eternity, reality, siesta. In ia the first element is
always wide, and generally lowered — still more in the weak
la : here, hear, cheer, idea, weary, real, theatre, weird, museum ;
hereafter.
e. Mid-front-wide [e], also low-front-narrow [se], which
when slightly raised is very similar in sound : any, ate,
head, says, ten, bury, berry, friend. Weak e is raised
a little : insect, stipend, pestiferous. Pretonic weak e often
becomes I, and sometimes disappears almost entirely :
severity, cessation, mendacity.
ei. Mid-front-wide + lowered high-front-wide [ei-*] : eh,
say, veil, name, break, straight. The first element is narrow
in the North of England. But this pronunciation is not
felt to be dialectal : the essential feature of the sound is
that it is always diphthongic, although the rise of the tongue
is often very slight, especially in weak ei: railway, name-
sake, chaotic, eia, as in layer, gayer, players, is apt to
become ea in careless speech, especially when weak, as in
bricklayer (§ 194).
ea. Low-front-narrow + mid-mixed-wide [see] : air, fair,
fare, bear, mayor, scarce, Baird. When weak the first
element is slightly raised : therein, somewhere, bricklayer.
Low-front-wide [ce] a little retracted: add, axe, carry,
man, thresh, plait. Weak 88 is a little raised: alpaca,
abstract, adj.
u. Outer high-back-wide-round [MI-] : fuU, put, hook,
woman, could. Weak u is sometimes kept unchanged,
sometimes advanced into the out position [MO], Broad Komic
u : hurrah, influential, into (before a vowel, § 199). ii is
liable to further weakening into a, as in instrument, and to
be absorbed by an adjoining 1, as in fulfil, useful flfll, juusfl.
THE SOUNDS OF STANDARD ENGLISH 73
uu. Outer high-back-wide-round + the same vowel over-
rounded [w-wo], which is practically equivalent to uw :
two, pool, truth, group, fruit, juu is felt as a simple vowel:
yew, youth, unit, Tuesday, suit, tube. What has been said of
the monophthongic narrow pronunciation of ii applies also
to this vowel ; intermediate pronunciations with the first
element half narrow and almost imperceptible over-rounding
of the second may be heard in Southern English. The less
stress uu has, the more its first element is moved forward in
the mouth, and the less distinct the second element becomes,
as in judicious, unite, absolute, till at last nothing is left but
u, as in value, virtue, educate, or a, as in regular, the a
being dropped before another a, as in valuable veeljabl.
ua. Outer high-back-wide-round -f mid-mixed-wide [we'] :
poor, sure, tourist, gourd ; ewer, pure, during, dual. Weak
ua tends to became ua, and to drop the a as in gradual,
duration, the ii being sometimes further weakened into a,
as in penury, ua, ua lower their first element towards the
mid position in some pronunciations.
o. Low-back-wide-round [o] : honour, not, salt, quarrel,
laurel, knowledge. Weak 6 is the corresponding out vowel
[33] : October, prosperity.
o. Low-back-narrow-round + mid-mixed-wide-round [oo] :
awe, saw, all, story, pause, cough, broad ; order, court, warm.
Weak o is somewhat shortened and advanced towards
the out position : already, authentic, portentous, importation,
landau, oa : boa, bore, oar, more, door, four. Weak oa
undergoes the same changes as weak o, the a often
becoming almost inaudible : foresee, therefore.
ou. Outer mid-back-wide-round + the same with high
rounding [oi-oi-)] : oh, no, oak, soul, growth. The first
element is narrow in the pronunciation of the North of
England — a pronunciation which is not felt to be dialectal,
and, indeed, mostly passes unheeded. The close monoph-
thongal [o*] is distinctly dialectal or foreign. The weak
74 THE SOUNDS OF STANDARD ENGLISH
6u advances the first element to the out position, and
makes the second almost or quite inaudible: coincide,
poetical, heroine, heroes, solo, follow. 6u is often substituted
for strong on ; to those who have not this pronuncia-
tion it sounds affected and effeminate, erne: lower. 6ua:
follower.
oi. Outer mid-back-wide-round + lowered high-front-wide
[(MT] : ~boy, oil, coin, hoist. In some pronunciations the first
element is lowered almost to [o*]. In weak 6i the first
element is advanced to the out position : envoy, turmoil.
oia : employer, joyous.
218. The following are the consonants of Standard
English : —
h. Aspirate or breath-glide (§ 169) : hard, he, who, upliold,
aha', behold, abhor.
k. Back-stop : call, cart, cat, kill, quell, axe, ache.
g. Back-stop-voice : garden, gall, log, gig, egg, anger.
T). Back-nasal-voice : singing, sink, tongue, longer.
j. Front-open-voice: yes, union, hallelujah, vignette. hj,as
in hue, human, becomes q in Northern English.
t. Point-stop, nearly blade-stop, which applies also to the
three next : ten, tight, too, enter, art, hit. t> in eighth, tj in
tune.
d. Point-stop-voice : do, did, add, under, width d>, due dj.
n. Point-nasal-voice : no, knee, own, hand, ninth m-, India
*j>
1. Point-divided-voice: little, all, hill, field, wealth 1>,
value Ij.
r. Inner-point-open-voice : ray, row, rhetoric, rearing, very.
It is a defect to trill r, although this is sometimes done in
recitation.
Jj. Point-teeth : thin, thought, throw, tJnvart, ether, earth.
6. Point-teeth-voice : then, thither, with, soothe.
s. Blade-open : so, cease, scene, psalm, hiss, quartz.
z. Blade-open-voice : zeal, easy, scissors, cleanse, puzzle.
THE SOUNDS OF STANDARD ENGLISH 75
J. Blade-point-open : she, shred, mission, ocean, nation, fish.
Less retracted in tj, nf, If: church, fetch, question, culture;
branch, mention ; Welsh, convulsion.
5. Blade-point-voice : measure, seizure, rouge. Less re-
tracted in dg, lg : judge, large, soldier.
p. Lip-stop : peep, happy, stop, lamp.
b. Lip-stop-voice : bee, baby, ebb, amber.
m. Lip-nasal-voice : may, lamb, calm, timber. Lip-teeth-
nasal-voice : nymph, Banff.
wh. Lip-back-open : why, when, which.
w. Lip-back-open-voice : we, witch, one, square. Weak w
has diminished rounding (§ 114): forward, northward,
headway.
f. Lip-teeth-open : few, fife, phrase, rough, left.
v. Lip-teeth-voice : view, vivid, five, valve.
STYLES OF PRONUNCIATION:
PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION
219. Phonetics in a wider sense is something more than
the science of speech-sounds and the art of pronunciation.
It includes also voice-production ; which, again, is the
foundation of elocution and singing. These two latter sub-
jects are, however, only partially comprised under the
science of speech-sounds — even in its widest meaning : they
stand to it much in the same relation as the practical study
of languages does. And although voice-production is really
a part of the science of speech-sounds, it is most convenient
to separate it from phonetics, and make a special study of
it in conjunction with the other two, of which it is the
foundation.
220. The essential difference between phonetics in the
narrower sense of the word and voice-production is that the
former aims only at correctness of pronunciation, while the
latter is concerned mainly with the quality of the voice.
Two natives may speak their own language with an equally
correct pronunciation, but the voice-production and elocution
of the one may be better than that of the other ; and a
foreigner or provincial speaker who is unable to pronounce
correctly may be a still better elocutionist : his voice may
carry further and with less effort, its tone may be clearer,
and more resonant and harmonious.
221. These qualities of the voice — which are even more
important in song than in speech — depend mainly on the
way in which the vocal chords are made to vibrate. This
again depends on the voice-register which is employed : in
PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 77
the lower of these, the ' thick ' or chest register, there is
more vibration than in the higher, the 'thin' or head
register, which in men's voices is called 'falsetto'. The
voice-trainer, whether in speech or song, has further to take
into account the natural differences between the voices of
men on the one hand, and the higher-pitched voices of
women and children on the other, together with the classi-
fication of the different voices according to their natural
height and compass as bass (contralto), baritone (mezzo-
soprano), tenor (soprano), and the subdivisions of these.
All this does not directly concern the phonetician : to him
a given vowel remains the same whether it is uttered by
a man or a woman, whether it is produced with good or
bad tone.
222. In one respect, however, phonetics really works hand
in hand with elocution, and that is in developing distinct-
ness of articulation. It is not necessary that the teacher of
phonetics should insist specially on this point : the know-
ledge of the organic movements, and the conscious practice
of them naturally tends to give them greater strength and
decision. No practical phonetician, however bad the quality
of his voice-tones may be, ever articulates his consonants in
a slovenly and indistinct manner. Distinctness of pronuncia-
tion is thus the common property of phonetics and elocution.
223. Correctness of pronunciation, on the other hand, is,
as we have seen, a specially phonetic, not an elocutionary
question. And yet there is none on which elocutionists are
more ready to dogmatize than on this. Most of them attach
as much— or even more — importance to correcting what
they assume to be defects of pronunciation in their pupils as
to improving their voice-production.
224. They are seldom content with attacking vulgarisms
and provincialisms ; they make war on principle on all col-
loquialisms, although, of course, they find it impossible to
get rid of them in practice. They ignore gradation and the
78 STYLES OF PRONUNCIATION
obscuration of unstressed vowels ; the general result of
which is that the pupil is forced to acquire an artificial elo-
cutionary language distinct from that of everyday life. His
elocution suffers from this in many ways. The constant
effort to avoid falling back into natural habits of speech
robs his delivery of all freshness and freedom, the very
muscles of his throat partake of the general rigidity, and the
purity of his tone is impaired. Even when the artificial
habits by long practice become a second nature, the result
is always unpleasing, because it is artificial and unnatural.
225. It has often been argued that by giving an artificial
distinctness to weak sounds, as in the orthographic pronunci-
ation of our dictionaries, we make the words more distinct.
It is of course true that in themselves such words as send,
tuw, foa are more sonorous, and in so far more distinct,
than n, ta, fa, but it does not necessarily follow that the
context is made more intelligible by substituting an unex-
pected strong form for the natural weak one. In fact, the
contrary is so much the case that misunderstanding may
arise from such substitutions. Thus in the sentence I shall
be at home from one to three the substitution of tuw for ta
at once suggests a confusion between the preposition and
the numeral. So also by making stmdi into sundei we
only incur the risk of being understood to say that we will
come some day instead of on Sunday. The truth is that we
cannot make words more distinct by disguising them.
Another disadvantage of this artificial pronunciation is that
it often gives a false or exaggerated emphasis, as in bred
send bata, which seems to imply ' bring me bread, and
don't forget the butter ! '
226. Another argument sometimes adduced in favour of
artificialities of pronunciation is that they improve the lan-
guage by making it more sonorous or more harmonious.
There is no doubt something in this. Where the standard
dialect admits a variety of pronunciations, it is not only
PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 79
allowable but desirable to select that one which is prefer-
able either in itself or through its associations. Thus in
singing, no one would hesitate in preferring monophthongic
ii and uu to ij and uw, and reducing the diphthongiza-
tion of ei and ou to a minimum, and in preferring the
narrow to the wide pronunciation of their first elements ;
and the same applies also, though less stringently, in the
case of elocution. And then we can go a step further, and
restore an extinct, or introduce a dialectal pronunciation, as
when the Germans insist on the point-trill r instead of the
back sound, which is now universal in educated German
speech. The German elocutionists follow the singers in
theory, but not always in practice ; in fact, the point-r is
intolerable in any German declamation which is at all collo-
quial in subject. The difficulty with this is to know where
to stop. If the elocutionists followed the singers in substi-
tuting the Italian a for se, why not go a step further, and
get rid of the still uglier vowel in come by returning to the
older pronunciation and restoring the full u ? If this kind
of thing were carried out consistently, the result would be
a language which in many respects would be better than
the existing English — but it would no longer be English ;
it would hardly be intelligible. And even if the changes
stopped far short of this, they would still give the impression
of unreality and insincerity which always accompanies arti-
ficiality.
227. But we must not go to the other extreme of insisting
on the retention of the colloquial pronunciation in all elo-
cution without regard to differences of subject and style.
It is not only in poetry that the retention of the shortened
forms of colloquial speech is often impossible ; these forms
would often produce an equally jarring, incongruous, or
even ludicrous effect in elevated prose, free as it is from the
constraint of metre. Foreigners who begin with going to
the other extreme of saying it iz ei fain del tuwdei when
80 STYLES OF PRONUNCIATION
they have once practically mastered the principles of grada-
tion, and have learnt to obscure the weak vowels in a more
or less natural manner, often make their pronunciation still
more .uncouth than before when they stand up to deliver
a formal address — perhaps even to preach a sermon ! — full
of ain'ts and shan'ts. Some of them at least become more
colloquial than the natives, and invent weak forms of
their own.
Thus I knew one who pronounced Norwegian knapsack as
nawiidgan naepsak.
228. But nothing can shake the fundamental principle
that all elocution, however far removed it may be from
the language of ordinary life, must be based ultimately
on it.
220. It is not, strictly speaking, the business of the elo-
cutionist to teach this pronunciation, although he must
insist on his pupils possessing the natural pronunciation of
the standard dialect as the indispensable preliminary to
systematic study. It is not enough that they should be
able to speak it as a foreign language side by side with their
native dialect : it must supersede and supplant the latter
so completely that the standard form of colloquial speech
becomes habitual to them in everyday conversation, so that
they speak it without effort and without thought. The only
way to attain this is to study phonetics under a competent
teacher who himself speaks the standard dialect, to fix the
sounds permanently and accurately in the memory by
extensive reading of phonetic texts, and then to make it all
into a second nature by constant intercourse with educated
undialectal speakers.
230. Of course, as already remarked, a dialectal speaker
may be as good an elocutionist as one who speaks the stan-
dard language ; but only in his (the dialectal speaker's) own
dialect : for no one can speak two dialects with equal ease
PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 81
and naturalness ; and the more alike the two dialects are,
the more difficult it is to keep them apart. He must there-
fore choose his dialect and stick to it. The choice will
generally depend on the outward circumstances of his life.
Thus a Scotchman or Irishman settling permanently in
London as a lecturer or preacher will naturally try to get
completely rid of his native dialect, not because he thinks it
inferior in itself to the standard dialect, but simply because
it is out of place, and cannot be kept up in its original
purity if exposed constantly to the influence of another
dialect.
231. Such a one will, if he acquires a perfectly easy and
accurate command of the standard colloquial dialect, be at
an advantage compared with the native speakers of the latter
in that he necessarily speaks it in a somewhat idealized
form : a little more carefully, and with completer freedom
from local colouring and vulgarisms.
This, then, is the foundation.
232. The next principle is, not to depart from this easy,
natural pronunciation, except where there is a special reason
for so doing.
233. If we distinguish generally between a lower and
a higher style of pronunciation, the latter characterized
mainly by a more frequent use of full, strong, sounds and
forms, the question now is to determine the conditions
which make the latter necessary.
The most definite requirements are those of poetic form.
234. In the first place, we must in every case adopt
a pronunciation which will preserve the syllables intact :
even in the most colloquial verse we must occasionally sub-
stitute it iz for it s, even at the risk of marring the collo-
quial effect ; the responsibility for this falls on the poet, not
on the reciter.
235. Eime need not. and, indeed, cannot be taken so
seriously as metre. No one would think of attempting to
SWEET SE v
82 STYLES OF PKONUNCIATION
make such ' printer's rimes ' as lev, grouv, pruuv — which
are, however, for the most part really traditional rimes —
into real rimes ; while every one, on the other hand,
would as unhesitatingly substitute any pronunciation that
actually exists, however unfamiliar it may be to him, in
order to make a perfect rime, or even only a nearer
approximation to it, unless, of course, it calls forth ludicrous
or otherwise objectionable associations ; in which case he
would not hesitate to leave the rime imperfect. With
such rimes as wind — find, it is usual to employ the obsolete
pronunciation waind ; but it would be quite legitimate,
and to many ears it would have a more natural and
better effect to leave the rime imperfect by keeping
the present pronunciation. To pronounce waind every-
where in poetry and poetical prose is an unpleasant affecta-
tion, which must be condemned on the general principle
of avoiding all unnecessary alterations of colloquial pro-
nunciation. So also with hover — cover.
236. The question, how far the metre ought to be brought
out at the expense of sense and expression is a more diffi-
cult one.
The initial difficulty here is that no one knows what
English metre is. Many think they know ; but, unfortu-
nately, no one else shares that belief : there is no generally
accepted theory of English verse. It is not only that
theorists of different schools disagree. Even those who are
agreed, for instance, that English verse is quantitative and
capable of being expressed, like music, in terms of bar and
crotchet, seldom agree in the details of their analysis. And
it is not a mere question of theory : there is no agreement
as to the facts themselves.
237. This is the real difference between the metres of
English and those of the classical languages. English
metre is as much founded on stress (ictus) and quantity
(length of vowels and syllables) as that of Greek and Latin.
PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 83
But while in these the language itself supplies — with very
few exceptions — a definite and undisputable succession of
longs and shorts, this is not the case in such a language as
English, as any one may soon find out by trying to construct
verses in strict accordance with the rules of classical prosody.
Not that the natural quantities of the language are without
influence on the character of English verse ; but the ignoring
of them, although it may make the verse less harmonious
and pleasant to the ear, does not definitely destroy its struc-
ture : there are in English no words the quantity of whose
syllables makes it impossible to use them in certain metres,
as is the case in the ' quantitative ' metres par excellence of
Greek and Latin, and, up to the present day, of Arabic and
Persian. An inevitable result of the strict dependence of
verse-quantity on the natural quantities of the language in
these metres is that the natural stresses of the language
have to be sacrificed to the verse-ictus, the result being what
appears to us an intolerable monotony and want of expres-
sion. It is this which has no doubt led to the substitution
of the stress basis in all modern European metres : the
verse-ictus follows the natural stress — with consequent more
or less complete ignoring of the natural quantities — not
only in English, but also in those languages which, like
Finnish and Hungarian, would lend themselves to strictly
quantitative metres as well, or even better, than Greek and
Arabic. Again, there are metrical systems, such as that of
Old French, in which the natural language supplies to the
metre only a fixed number of syllables for each line, the
natural stresses as well as the natural quantities being
completely ignored by the poet.
238. We must begin therefore with realizing that English
verse has no definite laws of form consciously followed by
its makers. If it has laws of quantity, they are so vague
that no one has yet been able to formulate them ; even the
correspondence between ictus and stress is not always
F 2
84 STYLES OF PRONUNCIATION
observed ; the number of syllables, though more restricted
in some of our metres than in others, is never absolutely
fixed ; even our rimes are not always perfect, although to
the child and the rustic verse without rime is not verse
at all.
239. Hence the same verse may often be read in a variety
of ways — not only with marked differences of quantity, but
with shiftings of stress and varying number of syllables ;
and each of these readings may be as good as any of the
others — except from the point of view of some metrical
faddist, who may be directly contradicted by another of his
own school.
240. This vagueness of structure is not a mere accident
or defect of modern metres : it is required by the hearer
and deliberately aimed at by the poet. To both of them
the continued strict repetition of such a metrical scheme as
that of our heroic verse
would be intolerable. And the variations in quantity and
the distribution of pauses which would have contented a
Greek ear would still leave the verse too monotonous for
a modern hearer. The modern ear demands not only
variety, but irregularity — one might almost say, licence —
within certain limits ; these limits, again, being as vague
and subjective as everything else in modern metre. And yet
the ideally regular standard is always present in the back-
ground of our consciousness : the poet plays round it, departs
continually from it, but does not stray beyond a certain
distance, and every now and then he emphasizes his freedom
by momentarily submitting to the yoke of strict form.
241. It follows from this that the more modern, the more
advanced the poet is, the freer his verse will be ; and the
same applies to its interpretation by the reader or reciter.
In the naive recitation — the ' routine scansion ' — of chil-
PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 85
dren and the uneducated everything is sacrificed to metrical
regularity, as it still is in the quantitative verse of the East,
the recitation of which is, as has been already observed,
absolutely devoid of expression. Although the metres of
our Chaucer are freer than this, they are not so free as those
of Shakespeare and Modern English generally ; for instance,
Chaucer's verse shows an unmistakable repugnance to irre-
gularity in the number of syllables — in which it no doubt
follows French verse — and that clash of strong stresses
which brings Modern English verse a step nearer to prose,
while adding greatly to its power of expression.
242. The tendencies of the modern elocutionist are in
harmony with this development. Not content with avoid-
ing routine scansion, he often goes out of his way to make
the metrical structure irrecognizable — or, at least, to dis-
guise it. This revolt against form is carried to an extreme
in the French recitation of the rimed verse of their seven-
teenth-century tragedians, in which the metre is not merely
disguised, but absolutely destroyed by the omission of the
' mute e ', even the rimes being slurred over as much as
possible.
243. This is all wrong. If we read a poet in the original
form, and not in a translation or modernization, we are
bound to carry out his intentions : if he arranges his words
with the evident object of producing certain effects of metre,
such as rime and alliteration, we are bound to read his verse
in such a way that his trouble shall not be wasted.
244. The first thing, therefore, is to form a clear idea of
the intentions of the poet. If he writes with the declared
object of producing something between verse and prose, we
must either read accordingly, or let him alone. If, like
a Greek poet, he constructs his verse in such a way as to be
unmeaning without the interpretation of routine scansion,
and a — to us intolerable — sacrifice of expression, we must
gradually train our dull ears to recognize the infinite variety
86 STYLES OF PRONUNCIATION
which underlies this seeming monotony. With our own
Chaucer we do not require this training : our ears recognize
at once the happy medium that he attains between the
smooth formality of the ancients and the licence of the
modern impressionist verse-maker.
245. With most of our modern poets we have then to
recognize that they are at least resigned to hear us sub-
ordinate form to expression, metrical to rhetorical stress in
declaiming their verse ; while, on the other hand, we may
be sure that they would be as much disappointed if they
heard us deliberately destroy any formal effects they had
taken trouble to create, as Clementi or Mozart would be if
they heard a modern virtuoso omit any of the trills and
other ornaments of which they make what may appear to
a modern ear too lavish a use.
246. The first principle from this point of view is that
form should be indicated, but, as a general rule, as unobtru-
sively as possible, except where some unexpected effect re-
quires to be prominently brought out, like a discord in music ;
which, if feebly attacked, becomes unmeaning. All force,
in particular, should be preserved as much as possible for
the expression of logical and emotional emphasis. When
the metre and general structure of the poem have been
clearly brought out by the reciter in the first few verses, it
is often allowable to cariy the repression of the form still
further — to approximate the verse still further to prose.
The extent to which this is carried depends partly on the
character of the piece, partly on the temperament and taste
of the reciter.
247. The limits of the concessions made to sense and
expression can hardly be defined more definitely than by
stating the general principle : keep the metre if you can,
and if you know what it is ; if that is impossible, keep some
metre. In other woi'ds, abstain from everything that jars
on the ear, unless it is necessary in order to make the verse
PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 87
intelligible as such. The end of the line, in particular,
should always be clearly indicated, if not by a pause, by
a more or less marked lengthening of the final syllable.
248. The nature of English verse makes hesitation and
compromise inevitable in its recitation. Even the most
experienced reader can hardly avoid an occasional stumble
with such artificial metres as those of Evangeline and Locks-
ley Hall : he simply breaks down in the middle of the line,
and has to make a fresh start, perhaps only to break down
again.
We must therefore distinguish between cacophony which
is the fault of the reciter — the result of defective inter-
pretation on his part — and that which is the fault of the
poet, and for which the reciter is not responsible. All
that the latter can do with the want of metre in such a
poem as TJie Grammarian's Funeral is to smooth it over as
much as possible.
We now have to consider the conditions, apart from
poetical form, which make it necessary to substitute a
higher for a lower style of pronunciation.
249. The most important of these is speed. Even in
ordinary conversation, slow, deliberate speech necessitates,
or at any rate allows of, a much freer use of strong forms
such as send where they would be quite out of place in
quick speech.
250. But it is not generally a mere question of speed.
We feel also that weak and clipped forms are often incom-
patible with the gravity and dignity with which slow
speech is naturally associated. Even in the most elevated
poetry we may constantly drop the weak h, in such words as
Ms and Mm, and then we may come to a passage where there
is no emphasis, ictus, or pause — perhaps not even a slacken-
ing of speed — to suggest the substitution of the strong form ;
and yet the artistic instinct may imperatively demand it.
So also even in familiar prose such forms as it's and can't
88 STYLES OF PRONUNCIATION
may jar on our ear so decidedly that we must perforce sub-
stitute the full forms, even when they sound stilted or even
positively unnatural: we deliberately prefer this extreme
to the other extreme of triviality and vulgarity.
251. Pauses, which are naturally associated with slow-
ness and solemnity, also bring with them full, strong forms.
The good elocutionist is always sparing in the use of pauses,
so as to be able to introduce them with all the more effect
when really required.
252. It is in emphasis and sentence-stress, as well as in
intonation, that the importance of basing elocutionary on
colloquial usage is most clearly evident. Whenever the
student is in doubt as to the natural expression to be given
to some high-flown passage in purely literary language, he
should paraphrase it into the nearest colloquial form, no
matter how homely and incongruous it may seem, and then
transfer the general effect to the passage in question. In
this way he will avoid exaggeration and unreality on the
one hand, monotony and mechanical repetition of types of
expression on the other.
253. But even here we cannot always afford to be
perfectly natural. There are passages both in prose and
poetry, whose length, complexity of grammatical structure,
or obscure, archaic diction — or all these together — make them
unintelligible to the ear unaided by the eye if spoken on
the basis of normal colloquial synthesis. If, then, an exag-
gerated, or even downright false emphasis or intonation —
a falling tone after a comma to detach, a rising tone after
a full stop to connect — will make the passage intelligible,
we must not hesitate to employ it ; for the fault here is not
with the interpretation, but with the text itself.
TEXTS
254. The phonetic transcriptions of Modern English
texts which follow are given only as specimens of a natural
as opposed to an artificially normalized pronunciation, and
are not intended to serve as a rigorous standard of correct
speech — a standard which in our present state of knowledge
it would be impossible to set up ; they are intended rather
to serve as examples of the facts and principles already
stated, and as material for practice in the use of a phonetic
notation.
90 TEXTS
Strong Forms.
255. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
ten, eleven, twelve. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth,
seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth. Two-
thirds, three-fourths, four-fifths, five-sixths, six -sevenths,
seven-eighths, nine-tenths, eleven-twelfths.
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter. North, south, east,
west. Years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds.
Weak Forms.
256. I intend to go to Ireland at the end of the year.
What is that? Where does it come from? It comes
from Germany. What is it made of? Is it made of
leather? No, it is made of cloth. No, it is not: it is made
of paper ! I tell you, it is not made of paper ; it is made
of cloth.
When I got there, there was no one there.
We had better go at once ; there is no time to lose. Yes,
I think we had.
Was he at church this morning? I suppose he was,
but I am not sure ; I did not see him. He was there last
Sunday.
Where is it ? It is here ; at least I think it is. Yes,
here it is.
I hope it will be fine to-morrow. I am afraid it will not :
I expect the weather will not be settled for some time yet.
Shall you be there too? I hope I shall ; but I am afraid
I shall not have time.
We have had to have the house painted. It has not been
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS 91
stroi] fomz.
255. wan, tuw, }>rij, fo(o), faiv, siks, sevn, eit, nain,
ten, ilevn, twelv. foost, sekand, j?9ad, foj?, fifj?, siksjj,
sevnj), eitf>, nain]?, ten]?, ilevn]?, twelfj>. tuw }?99dz,
]?rij fo]?s, fo fif]?s, faiv siks]?s, siks sevn]?s, sevn eitj?s, 5
nain ten]?s, ilevn twelf]?s.
dsaenjtiari, februari, maatj, eipral, mei, dsuwn, dsuwlai,
oggst, saptenib9, oktoubg, nouvembo, disembe.
sandi, mandi, tjuwzdi, we(d)nzdi, f>88zdi, fraidi,
ssetgdi. 10
sprin, sani9(r), otem, winto. no]?, sau}?, ijst, west,
jioz, nianfs, wijks, deiz, auez, mimts, sekgndz.
wijk fomz.
256. 9i intend t9 :gou tu ;aigl9nd 9t Si end 9(v) £o jig.
:whot s Saet?v :whe9 dgz it kam from?v it :kamz
frgm dsogmgni. :whot iz (or s) it meid 6v?v :iz it :meid 9v
le$9 ? nou\ it s imeid 9V ;klo}?. nou\ it s not : it s :meid 5
9V ;peipg ! 91 tel jii, it s ;not :meid 9V peipg ; it ;iz :meid
9v klo]?.
•when 9i got -tSe9, t5g W9z nouwan t5e9.
wij d betg :gou 9t ;wans: tS9z nou taim t9 luwz. jes\
9i ]?ink wij haed. 10
-woz (w9z) ij 9t t|99tj Sis :monir) ? 91 S9pouz ij :woz,
b9t 91 m not jug ; 9i :did nt sij im. hij W9z tSeg ;laast
sandi.
iwhegr iz lt?v it s hig ; 9t :lijst 9i ;]?ink it :iz. jes\
higritiz. 15
9i :houp it 1 bi(j) fain t9:moro(u). 91 m gfreid it wount :
9i ik:spekt Sg wetSgr 9! not bi setld fa sam tnim jet.
Jol juw bi Sea tuw? 91 houp 9i -JaeF ; bat 91 m gfreid
9i Jaant (or ai J9l not) -haev taim.
wij v haed t9 thaev So ;haus ipeintid. it haeznt bijn 20
92 TEXTS
done for a long time : it has been put off too long. Better
late than never.
I went to him and told him of it. He said he would
send for it at once.
Advantages of Phonetics.
257. The first and most evident advantage of phonetics is
the independence it gives us. In the first place, it makes
us independent of residence abroad. Even if the learner
intends to go to the country where the language is spoken,
it is a great advantage to him to start with a thorough
practical knowledge of the sounds in which he is to practise
himself.
Secondly, phonetics makes us independent of native
teachers. It is certain that a phonetically trained English-
man who has a clear knowledge of the relations between
French and English sounds can teach French sounds to
English people better than an unphonetic Frenchman — still
more, an unphonetic Belgian, Swiss, or Pole — who is unable
to communicate his pronunciation to his pupils, and perhaps
speaks a vulgar or dialectal form of French himself.
Again, phonetics enables an intelligent adult to get a
sound elementary knowledge of the sounds of a foreign
language without any help from outside — that is, if he has
an adequate phonetic analysis and transcription to work with.
But the gain of a phonetic grasp of a language extends
far beyond such special considerations. A secure grasp
of the sounds of a language is a great strengthening of the
mastery of its forms and meanings. A minute discrimina-
tion of similar sounds in closely allied languages is the
surest safeguard against otherwise inevitable confusions.
Hence also the literary and aesthetic use of phonetics.
Phonetics alone can breathe life into the dead mass of
letters which constitutes a written language ; it alone can
bring the rustic dialogues of our novels before every intelli-
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS 93
:dan far 9 log :taim: it s bijn put of tuw log. beta
leit San neva.
ai :went tu im an tould Im 6v it. hij :sed ij d send
far It at wans.
advaantidglz av fdunetiks
257. tSa faast an moust evident advaantlds av founetiks iz
Si indi;pendans it :givs as. in tSa faast -pleis, it :meiks
as independent av rezidans abrod. ijvn if tSa laanar
Intendz ta gou ta tSa kantri -whea Sa laeqgwids Iz spoukn, 5
it s a greit advaantids tu im ta staat witS a ]?ara
praektikl nolids av t$a saun(d)z in :whitj ij (i)z ta prsektis
im-self.
sekandli, founetiks :meiks 98 indi'pendant av neitiv
tijtjaz. it s saatn (Sat a founetikali treind ir)gli|man 10
iiw -haez a klia nolids av tSa rileijanz bi:twijn frenj and
irjglij saundz kan tijtj frenj saundz tu iqglij :pijpl beta
t5an an anfounetik frenjman — stil moa, an anfounetik
beldsan, swis, -oa poul — huw z an'eibl ta kamjuwnikeit iz
pranansi'eijan tu iz pjuwplz, an prseps spijks a valgar 5 15
daialektal fom av frenj imself.
agen\ founetiks ineiblz an Intelidsant sedalt ta :get a
saund eli'ment(a)ri nolids av tSa saundz av a forin laerjgwids
wiSaut eni help fram 'aut'saidv — t5aet iz, :if ij -(h){ez an
aedikwit founetlk anaelisis an traen'skripjan ta waak wi?5. 20
bat tSa gein av a founetik graasp av a laerjgwids iks:tendz
faa biijond -satj spejal kansida'reijanz. a sikjua graasp
av t5a saundz av a laerjgwids iz a greit strei)]:(a)nir) av tSa
maast(a)ri av its fomz an mijnir|z. a minjuwt diskrimi-neijan
av simila saundz In klousli alaid laerjgwidsiz iz <?a juarist 25
seifgaad aigenst atSawaiz inevitabl kanfjuwsanz.
hens :olsou tSa litarari and Ijsf>etik juws av founetiks.
founetiks aloun kan brijtS laif Inta t?a ded maes av
letaz whitj konstltjuwts a ritn Iaer)g\vid5 ; it aloun kan
:brirj tSa rastik daialogz av aua novlz bi-for evri Inteli- 30
94 TEXTS
gent reader as living realities, and make us realize the living
power and beauty of the ancient classical languages in prose
and verse.
Phonetics is not merely an indirect strengthener of
grammatical associations, it is an essential part of grammar
itself.
A knowledge of sentence-stress and intonation is not
only an essential part of elocution and correct pronuncia-
tion, but is also an integral part of the syntax of many
languages.
In short, there is no branch of the study of language
which can afford to dispense with phonetics.
The Pine Arts.
258. Because the soul is progressive, it never quite repeats
itself, but in every act attempts the production of a new
and fairer whole. Thus, in our Fine Arts, not imitation,
but creation is the aim. In landscape, the painter should
give the suggestion of a fairer creation than we know. The
details, the prose of Nature, he should omit, and give us
only the spirit and splendour. Valuing more the expression
of Nature than Nature herself, he will exalt in his copy the
features that please him. He will give the gloom of gloom
and the sunshine of sunshine.
Politeness.
259. As to politeness, many have attempted its definition.
I believe it is best to be known by description, definition
not being able to comprise it. I would, however, venture
to call it benevolence in trifles, or the preference of others
to ourselves in little, daily, hourly occurrences in the com-
merce of life. A better place, a more commodious seat,
priority in being helped at table — what is it but sacrificing
ourselves in such trifles to the convenience and pleasure
of others ? And this constitutes true politeness. Bowing,
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS 95
rijdor QZ livig ri(j)aelitfz, on :meik as rialaiz Sa livig
pauar on bjuwti ov Si einjont klaesikl laerjgwidsiz in prouz
on voos.
founetiks iz not :mioli on indi'rekt strer)]?(9)n8r 8V
gramsetikal osousi'eijonz, it s on isenjol paat ov graemor 35
itself.
o nolids ov sentonsstres ond intou'neijon (i)z not
:ounli on isenjol paat ov elo'kjuwjon on korekt pronansi'ei-
Jon, hot iz :olsou on intigrol paat ov So sintaeks ov meni
Iserjgwidsiz. 40
in Jot, So z nou braanj ov Sa stadi ov laerjgwids whitj
kon ofod to dispens wlS founetiks.
t5a fain aats.
258. bikoz tSo soul iz progresiv, it neva kwait ripijts
it-self, bat in evrl sekt otempts tSa pradakjan ov o njuw
on feora houl. 8as, in aua fain aats, not imi'teijon,
bot krijeijon iz tSi eini. in laensk(e)ip, tSa peinto Jod 5
:giv So sodsestjon ov o feoro krieijon Son wij nou. So
dijteilz, So ;prouz ov neitja, hij Jad oumit (or omit)\ on :giv
os ounli So spirit on splendo. veeljuii) mo(o) Si ik;sprejon
ov neitjo Son neitja hao'self, hij wil igzolt in iz kopi Sa
fijtjaz Sat plijz im. hij wil :giv Se gluwm av gluwm I0
an So sanjain ov sanjain.
palaitnis.
259. :aez to po;laitnis, meni ov o:temtid its defi'nijon.
oi bi:lijv it s best to bi noun boi di;skripjon, defi'nijon
not -bijirj eibl to kompraiz it. oi wud, (h)au:eva, :ventjo
to :kol it bi;nevolons in ;traiflzv, 60 So pref(o)rons ov aSoz 5
tu auoselvz in litl, deili, auoli okaransiz in So kom-
oos ov laif. o beto pleis, o :moa komoudjos sijt, proioriti
in -bijir) helpt at teibl — whot :iz it bat saekrifaizir)
aua-selvz in satj traiflz ta Sa kanvijnjans an plesar
av aSaz?v an ;Sis :konstitjuwts truw palaitnis. bauir), 10
96 TEXTS
ceremonies, formal compliments, stiff civilities will never be
politeness ; that must be easy, natural, unstudied, manly,
noble. And what will give this but a mind benevolent
and perpetually attentive to exert that amiable disposition
towards all you converse and live with? Benevolence in
great matters takes a higher name, and is the Queen of
Virtue.
The Burial of Sir John Moore.
260. Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corpse to the rampart we hurried ;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.
We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning ;
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light
And the lantern dimly burning.
No useless coffin enclosed his breast,
Not in sheet nor in shroud we wound him ;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest
With his martial cloak around him.
Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not a word of sorrow ;
But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.
We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed,
And smoothed down his lonely pillow,
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,
And we far away on the billow !
Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,
And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him ;
But little he'll reck if they let him sleep on
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS 97
serimanlz, foml komplimants, stif slvilltiz wil neva -bij
palaitnis ; Saet mas(t) bij ijzi, naetjaral, 'an'stadid, maenli,
noubl. an :\vhot wil -giv Sis bat a maind binevalant
an papetjuall atentiv tii igizaat -Sset eimjabl dispa'zijan
todz (or tawodz) ol jii(w) kanvaas an liv wiS?v blnevalans 15
in ;greit imaetaz :teiks a haia :neim\ and iz Sa jkwijn av
vaatju.
Sa berial av -saa dgon mua.
260. :not a ;dram waz haad, :not a fjuwnaral nout,
•aez iz kops ta ?Sa raempaat wij harid ;
:not a souldsa distjaadsd (h)iz feawel Jot
:oa tSa greiv -whear aua hiarou wij berid. 5
wij berid im daakll at ded av nait\
tSa sodz wiS aua beianits taanlq ;
bai Sa straglig muwnbijmz misti lait
en tfo Isentan dimli baanir).
:nou juwslis kofin inklouzd iz brest, 10
mot in Jijt nor in fraud wij waund im ;
bat ij lei laik a woria iteikiq iz rest
wi$ iz maajal klouk araund im.
fjuw an Jot wa tSa preaz wij sed,
an wij spouk :not a waad av isorou; 15
bat wij stedfastli geizd on ?5a feis Sat waz ded,
an wij jbitali f>ot av tSa morou.
wij )?ot, az wij holoud Iz nserou bed,
an smuwSd :daun hiz lounli pilou,
Sat Sa fou an Sa streinsa wud tred -or iz hed, 2o
and ;wij :faar awei on Sa bilou!
laitli -t5ei 1 tok av Sa spirit Sat s gon,
and :or Iz kould aejiz ap'breid Im ;
bat litl hlj 1 rek :if -Sei let Im :slijp on
In Sa greiv -whear a ;britn az leid Im. 35
98 TEXTS
But half of our heavy task was done
When the clock struck the hour for retiring ;
And we heard the distant and random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.
Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory ;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone-
But we left him alone with his glory.
She walks in beauty.
261. She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies ;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face ;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS 99
:bat ;haaf ev eue hevi taask wez dan
•when $e klok :strak Si aue £9 ritaierir) ;
ond wij heed $e distent en rsendem gan
Set Se fou woz salinli faierin.
slouli en saedli wij leid im daun, 30
frem Se fijld ev iz feim frej en gori ;
wij kaavd mot e lain, end wij reizd :not e stoun' —
bet wij left im eloun wi$ iz glori.
JXj woks In bjuwtl
261. Jlj woks in bjuwti, :laik ?5e nait
ev klaudlis klaimz en staari skaiz ;
end ol Set s best ev daak en brait
mijt :in (h)eer aespekt -send heer aiz: 5
:(Sas meloud -tuw -Sset tende lait
whitj hevn te godi dei dinaiz.
wan Jeid tfo moe, wan rei Se les
-hsed haaf impeed tSe neimlis greis
whitj weivz in evri reivn tres, 10
-oe softli laitnz :oe -hee feis ;
-whee f>ots sirijnli swijt ikspres
-hau pjue, -hau die -tSee dweliqpleis.
end :on -Saet tjijk, end :oe -tSaet brau,
•sou soft, -sou kaam, -jet eloukwent, 15
tJe smailz Set win, tfo tints Set glou,
bet tel ev deiz in gudnis spent,
o maind et pijs wiS ol bilou,
9 haat -huwz lav iz inesnt.
o 2
PHONOLOGY
262. Phonetics is the science of speech-sounds and the
art of pronunciation. From this point of view it is a purely
descriptive science.
263. But the sounds of language — like language itself —
can also be regarded from the historical point of view.
Thus, after describing and classifying the sounds of such
a language as Modern English, we may go on to study their
history. In dealing with the phonetic structure of English
from the descriptive point of view we have already had
occasion to trace back the history of some of our sounds to
the Middle English period. In § 191 foil, we have in this
way been able to find the origin — to point out the older
forms — of the vowel aa, and also to explain the phonetic
changes which gave rise to it. This is phonology : the
science of sound-changes, of the history and development of
the sounds, first of special languages, and then of language
in general. The history of the English vowels is a special
department of historical phonology.
264. If after tracing the vowels of Modern English back
to the Old English period, we then go on to compare the
Old English vowels themselves with those of the cognate
Germanic languages — Dutch, German, Icelandic, Gothic,
&c. — so as to determine the vowel-sounds of the prehistoric
Parent Germanic language from which all these were
developed, each by special changes of its own, historical
expands into comparative phonology. So also there is a
still wider comparative phonology of the Aryan languages —
Germanic, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit. &c. — by which we are able
PHONOLOGY 101
to determine with more or less certainty the vowel-system
of Parent Aryan.
266. Then at last we arrive at the conception of general
phonology, which emancipates itself from the limits of any
one language or group of languages, and deals with such
questions as : Why are the sounds of every language liable
to change from generation to generation ? Are these changes
the result of defective imitation of the speech of the parents
by the children, or of imperceptibly gradual shiftings of the
organic positions by which the sounds are produced ? What
is the influence of other, more external factors, such as
acoustic imitation, or analogy? What is the influence of
race or climate, if any? Are sound-changes the result of
economy of exertion and laziness, of striving after greater
distinctness of expression ? and so on.
266. Phonology is, therefore, a speculative science, dealing
largely with more or less probable hypotheses.
267. Nevertheless, we can often determine the pronuncia-
tion of dead languages with almost complete certainty, at
least as regards the general character of the language — so as
to be able, for instance, to give a Broad Komic transcription
of Middle English and Latin pronunciation — and often with
minute accuracy of detail.
268. In this we are guided by a variety of evidence :
sound-classifications and descriptions of sounds by contem-
poraries ; their comparisons with the sounds of other
languages; phonetic transcriptions, or transcriptions in a
foreign orthography, whose evidence is the more valuable
the more phonetic the orthography and the less the
changes that the sounds have undergone, as when we
find English come transcribed civm by a Welshman in
the sixteenth century ; the spelling itself, especially when
it changes, as when the Old English high-front-round vowel
y is expressed in Early Middle English orthography by
the French u ; metre and rime, puns, &c. ; comparison
102 PHONOLOGY
by the investigator with the sounds of cognate languages
and dialects ; general laws of sound-change. It must also be
borne in mind that individual sounds may be kept unchanged
for thousands of years : thus it is certain that the English w
had the same sound in Old English as it has now, the contrary
hypothesis being, indeed, inconceivable ; and also that this
was the sound it had not only in Parent Germanic but also
in Parent Aryan. It will easily be understood that the
cumulative force of a number of independent proofs is often
irresistible. Thus the pronunciation of Old English y is
further confirmed by the facts (1) that it already had the
same sound in Latin, which we can prove by a variety of
independent arguments, and (2) that y has the same sound to
the present day in Danish and Swedish, whose orthographies
borrowed it from Old English.
STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
269. In the preceding sections the student has been
taught how to prepare himself for the study of sounds in
general by learning to discriminate, symbolize, isolate, and
analyse those of his own language.
Even in this elementary stage we cannot ignore general
phonetics : we cannot understand the English vowels
without considering their relations to the whole scheme of
possible vowels.
But so far, general phonetics has been only a means to an
end : its principles and its details have been adduced only
in as far as they explain the phonetic structure of English.
270. And it is possible to stop short here. Those who
study phonetics solely as a preparation for English elocution
will naturally do so.
The singer, on the other hand, will in most cases aim at
acquiring a practical command of at least the Italian and
German sounds. But although his range will be a wider
one, it need not extend to the whole field of sounds.
271. The case of the language-teacher is again different.
Even if he has to deal only with one language — whether it
be his own or a foreign language — he cannot successfully
teach its pronunciation on the basis of a knowledge of the
sounds of that language only. Thus it is evident that in
teaching English to foreigners he cannot correct their mis-
pronunciations without a knowledge of the habits of speech
which give rise to them. It is also evident that he cannot
teach the foreigners to deduce English sounds from those of
their own language without being able himself to recognize
104 STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
and analyse the formation of the latter. Even if he teaches
his own countrymen a foreign language, he may still have
to reckon with the individual peculiarities, provincialisms,
and vulgarisms of his pupils. Thus in imparting a correct
pronunciation of German to a class of speakers of Southern
English he will have to employ different methods from those
which would suffice with a Scotch class.
272. The necessity of a knowledge of general phonetics
for the scientific student of language, the comparative philo-
logist, the polyglot linguist, as well as the pathological
elocutionist, who has to deal with defects of speech, and to
teach deaf-mutes to speak, is self-evident.
Practical and Theoretical Study.
273. The warning in § 35 holds good even in the study
of general phonetics : this also must at first be mainly
practical.
274. Theoretically, of course, the organic study of pho-
netics is a branch of anatomy and physiology ; while from
the opposite point of view it is based on that branch of
physical science known as acoustics, together with the
anatomy and physiology of the organs of hearing.
275. Unfortunately, this basis is still so imperfect as
regards the acoustic side of phonetics that it is not too much
to say that from the physical science point of view there is
as yet no science of phonetics at all. The principles of
acoustics are well established, and much is known about
the anatomy of the ear. But how the ear transmits to the
brain the impressions of sound is still as great a mystery
as ever. And although practical phonetics has made the
mechanism of the vowels clear enough, there is still no
generally received acoustic theory of their formation.
276. But phonetics considered as a branch of physical
science is a subject of only secondary importance. The real
function of phonetics is philological and literary : its true
PKACTICAL AND THEOKETICAL STUDY 105
raison d'etre is to serve as a basis for the study of languages.
And if we regard phonetics as essentially a linguistic science,
we shall find that the want of a rigorous scientific basis is not
such a serious defect after all.
277. And where the basis exists it is often superfluous.
This is especially the case with the anatomy and physiology
of the organs of speech. Thus even the most advanced
instrumental phonetician finds that, although he ought theo-
retically to have a thorough knowledge of the anatomy and
functions of the muscles of the tongue, he can determine —
or fail to determine— its positions quite as well without this
knowledge.
Acquisition of New Sounds.
278. The first step in the study of general phonetics is
gradually to enlarge our stock of sounds. We have already
learnt how to deduce unfamiliar foreign from familiar native
sounds. But the only sure way of fixing these new sounds
in the memory is a practical study of the languages in which
they occur. When differences of meaning hinge on such
slight distinctions as those between the vowels in men and
man, or French e and e, the learner is forced to make and
hear them, and his organic and acoustic sense are both
trained and developed to the utmost by incessant repetition.
Nor need this training be gained only from living languages.
The restoration of the original Latin and Chaucerian pro-
nunciation is a valuable preparation for and help in the
practical study of modern languages ; and mistakes in the
pronunciation of a dead language are less serious.
279. In this linguistic phonetic training the student
should by no means confine himself to French and German
and such other languages as he is obliged to study in detail
as part of his equipment for his career in life, but should
seize every opportunity of learning something of every lan-
guage that comes in his way. Even if he has only a month
106 STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
or two to give to Welsh, Russian, Arabic, as the case may
be, it is always worth his while to acquire a general know-
ledge of its structure, to read through a certain number of
texts, giving, of course, special attention to the sounds and
their synthesis.
280. Even if he does not engage in systematic study
under a native, he can at least cultivate the habit of obser-
vation ; in his own country as well as abroad he can always
keep his ears open for varieties of pronunciation.
281. As regards the choice of a teacher, the fh-st thing is to
make sure that he speaks some one definite, unmixed dialect
naturally and correctly — what the dialect is, does not matter
much from the point of view of general phonetics. The
ideal teacher for a literary language is, of course, one whose
natural dialect is the standard one, and who is competent to
teach it phonetically by means of phonetic transcriptions.
If he is not a trained phonetician, it will often be worth the
learner's while to try to interest him in phonetic methods,
and perhaps even to train him to write texts in phonetic
spelling.
282. If the teacher is unwilling to give, or incapable of
giving the natural pronunciation, it is often safest not to let
him see the phrase-book or whatever text is used, but read
the English translation to him, and ask him how he says
that in his own language. If there are no phonetic tran-
scriptions to be had, the learner can begin by marking the
pronunciation roughly by adding diacritics to the nomic
text, and then gradually form a complete system of trans-
literation.
283. The phonograph is in most respects an imperfect
substitute for a native teacher. Its reproduction of indi-
vidual sounds is always more or less indistinct, however
loud it may be, and it sometimes distorts them. It suc-
ceeds best with the more sonorous elements of speech,
especially the vowels, and in giving the general effect of
ACQUISITION OF NEW SOUNDS 107
stress and intonation. Here, indeed, the machine has a
decided advantage over the living voice : the same piece of
French, for instance, can be turned on over and over again,
bit by bit, with the certainty of always hearing the same
shade of accent reproduced with absolute correctness as well
as uniformity.
Objective Methods: Instrumental Phonetics.
284. The natural method of learning sounds is mainly
a subjective one. We listen patiently till we are familiar
with the acoustic effect of the new sound ; and then — often
only by repeated trials — we hit on the exact position of the
organs of speech by which we can reproduce it to our own
satisfaction and that of our teacher.
285. This natural method admits also of objective con-
trol by direct observation of the movements of the lips and
jaws, and, to some extent, of the tongue, soft palate, and
other parts of the mouth and throat-passage, self-observation
being carried on by means of a hand-mirror. If a mirror
small enough to go into the mouth is fitted to a handle, we
have the laryngoscope. More may be seen with the Ko'nt-
gen rays, whose use, however, is attended by some draw-
backs— such as loss of hair, and the necessity of having the
back teeth drawn — the results hitherto obtained being too
vague to be of much use.
286. There are other methods besides those of direct
observation, by which the positions may be determined and
measured. The interior of the mouth may be explored by
the fingers. A finger may be used as an artificial palate
(§ 76). Several forms of apparatus have been devised for
a more accurate determination of the positions of the organs
of speech, especially in forming the vowels, such as the
cardboard disks on wires used by Grandgent (see Biblio-
graphy, § 382). These methods are all laborious, and never
quite reliable.
108 STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
287. There are other methods whose results are obtained
only indirectly, such as the palatographic, by which ' palato-
grams ' are made, recording the contact of the tongue with
an artificial palate. This method is limited in its applica-
tion, and its results are often doubtful and ambiguous.
288. There are more elaborate methods — with which
the name of ' experimental phonetics ' is more specially
associated — which involve special training in physics and
mathematics and in handling complicated apparatus. The
investigation of the speech-curves of phonograph and gramo-
phone records are an example. Although these methods
have yielded results of some value, the results must always
be received with caution, the sources of error being so
numerous.
289. Even when a mass of reliable observations has
been collected, they are often exceedingly difficult to handle.
Thus in Ziind-Burguet's Recherches experimentales sur le timbre
des voyelles nasales franfaises we have twelve photographs of lip-
positions — which, we are warned, have lost much of their clearness
in the process of reproduction — together with a variety of palato-
grauis and other diagrams, with the help of which the investi-
gator claims to be able to classify the vowels in question in the
order of the height of the tongue. But as there is nothing to tell
us whether the height of the tongue in any one vowel as compared
with any other is the result of raising the whole body of the
tongue, or only of altering its shape (as in making it narrow), this
information is of little use by itself ; and a linguistic phonetician
who took it on trust might find himself landed in serious errors.
Again, if we examine the photographs, we find that they show
a different position for each vowel ; in fact, the contemplation of
these photographs might very well lead an ordinary observer to
deny the reality of the distinction between round and un-round
vowels. And if we had other photographs of the lip-positions of
other French speakers, fresh differences would probably appear.
The results of the more elaborate and indirect methods often
appear in the form of voluminous tabulations from which none but
a skilled arithmetician can draw any certain and definite conclu-
INSTRUMENTAL PHONETICS 109
sions — conclusions which, again, may be materially qualified, or
even directly contradicted by a fresh set of observations on
another, or even the same subject, if he is not inured to speaking
into a funnel with his mouth full of apparatus.
290. It must be remembered, however, that instrumental
phonetics is still in its infancy. Its methods are being con-
tinually improved and simplified, and it is impossible to
say as yet what they may result in.
291. At present there is a natural — and indeed, unavoid-
able— antagonism between the practical linguistic phone-
tician and the physico -mathematical instrumental phone-
tician. The qualifications and training required on both
sides are so opposed to each other, and each of these branches
of research makes such imperious demands on the time and
energy of its votaries, that it is difficult to see how any one
investigator can combine them.
292. Although the conservative phoneticians of the older
school may go too far in ignoring the results of instrumental
phonetics, it is possible to go too far the other way also.
Some of the younger generation seem to think that the
instrumental methods have superseded the natural ones so
completely that attending a course of 'phonetique experi-
mentale ' at some holiday course in France makes the
laborious training of the linguistic phonetician superfluous.
293. This assumption has had disastrous effects. It
cannot be too often repeated that instrumental phonetics
is, strictly speaking, not phonetics at all. It only supplies
materials which are useless till they have been tested and
accepted from the linguistic phonetician's point of view.
The final arbiter in all phonetic questions is the trained
ear of a practical phonetician. Differences which cannot be
perceived by the ear — and many of the results of instru-
mental phonetics are of this character — must be ignored ;
and what contradicts a trained ear cannot be accepted.
294. And it must not be forgotten that the utility of
110 STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
instrumental phonetics as a means of research does not
necessarily imply a corresponding utility as a help in acquir-
ing a practical mastery of sounds — which, as we have seen,
is the only sound foundation of the science. As yet, instru-
mental phonetics, so far from being a help in the practical
study of sounds, has been rather a hindrance, by diverting
the learner's attention from that patient cultivation of the
organic and acoustic sense which is the indispensable basis.
Study of the Literature.
295. The same may be said, to some extent, of the study
of the literature of phonetics. Phonetics can no more be
acquired by reading alone than music can. It must also
be remembered that phonetics is a comparatively new
science, whose results are still unsettled, whose authorities
differ widely in their views.
296. But this, of course, makes it all the more necessary
that the serious student shall make himself acquainted
with the literature at first hand, so as to be able to form an
independent judgement of his own.
297. But he must at the same time avoid confusing
and stupefying his mind by attempting to assimilate an
indigestible mass of conflicting views and statements before
he is able to sift it critically. Whatever school or method
he begins with, he should thoroughly master that before
proceeding to another. The student who has worked through
this little book will find the necessary information to guide
his further reading in the bibliography at the end of it.
298. The student cannot confine himself to any one
authority or even to any one school ; if for no other reason,
because each has its own special merits and the defects of
its qualities. However wide a phonetician's range of
knowledge may be, he must know some sounds and some
sound-systems better than others : he must know the sounds
of his own language best ; a Romance philologist ought
STUDY OF THE LITERATURE 111
to be a better authority for the sounds of French and Italian
or Spanish than a Germanist, and so on ; and the general
scheme and classification of sounds may be affected both
favourably and unfavourably by the national speech and
linguistic habits of its author.
299. Hence some have gone so far as to deny the possi-
bility of general phonetics. According to them, each
speech-nationality must have its own special systematization :
the English vowel-system is all very well for the English-
speakers, but is no good for Frenchmen and Germans.
300. But without going to such an extreme as this, we
cannot ignore the fact that phonetics may be approached
from two opposite points of view. The generalizing tendency
is shown in its extreme form in the English vowel-square,
which provides — or attempts to provide — an a priori pigeon-
hole for each vowel-sound. The opposite tendency is to
subordinate classification and general construction to detail,
so that the vowel -system tends to resolve itself into an
endless line or series of isolated details.
301. The truth is that we cannot dispense with either
of these. Bell's Visible Speech vowel-square was a great
advance on the older triangular arrangement, and so far
it has been a help to the detailed study of isolated sounds.
But where it gave false or misleading key-words, set
up an artificial elocutionary pronunciation of English, mis-
represented the formation of sounds to make them fit into
the system, or failed to provide pigeon-holes for sounds
which the author had not yet come across, it was a hindrance
and a stumbling-block. In the revised and supplemented
form given in this book — which is, to a great extent, the
result of detailed independent investigations carried out
without regard to preconceived theories — it has again become
an instrument of progress.
302. The great defect of the detail-method is that it
supplies no corrective to the limitations, one-sidedness, and
112 STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
caprice of the investigator. A keen observer who had not
been trained to distinguish narrow and wide vowels would
nevertheless hardly fail to make the distinction in some
vowels, but he might easily ignore it in others. Thus Ellis
distinguished [i] and [i] long before the appearance of Visible
Speech, but ignored the distinction in the case of y, where
it is disguised by the rounding.
303. The young student must bear in mind that what is
new is not always the best, or even the most advanced :
there is retrogression as well as advance in the history of
phonetics as in other branches of knowledge.
304. As a subject becomes more and more complicated,
the want of a popular as well as a severely scientific treat-
ment of it becomes more and more felt. There is, of course,
no more harm in popular phonetics than there is in popular
astronomy — the demand for both is a natural, healthy, and
legitimate one — but it is necessaiy that the two should be
kept strictly apart: that the dilettante phonetician should
not pose as a scientific investigator merely on the strength
of a notation in which half the letters of the alphabet are
turned upside down.
Phonetic Notation.
305. One of the greatest difficulties in the study of
general phonetics is the diversity of notations employed
not only by different writers, but often also by one and
the same. This diversity is not solely the result of caprice
and the striving after cheap originality, but is to some
extent the inevitable result of certain fundamental diver-
gencies in the objects and uses of sound-notations, of which
there are three kinds : —
(1) Arbitrary alphabetic, in which there is no consistent
association between sound and symbol : the Roman alphabet
is a familiar example.
PHONETIC NOTATION 113
(2) Symbolic alphabetic, in which there are definite
relations between sound and symbol, which relations may
be either organic or acoustic, or a mixture of both of these,
it being now generally admitted that a scientific symbolic
alphabet must be organic, while a popular one must be
partly acoustic: the best example of a scientific symbolic
alphabet is Visible Speech, of which the Organic Alphabet
is the revised and supplemented form.
(3) Analphabetic, in which each sound is represented by
a group of symbols resembling a chemical formula, these
symbols being generally either numbers or Roman letters,
or a combination of both with, perhaps, other characters as
well. Jespersen's Analphabetic Notation is the best known
and most fully worked out of these.
306. It is evident that the notations which fall under (3)
are of such limited application that they may be ignored
from the point of view of practical phonetics, useful as they
undoubtedly are from a theoretical point of view, even if
we regard them only as temporary substitutes for an ideal
scientific alphabetic system.
307. When we say ' alphabetic ', we mean only alphabetic
basis. The maxim 'one single symbol for each sound' is
all very well in theory, but impossible to carry out in
practice. The number of possible distinctions is so great
that no notation can do more than provide symbols for
groups of sounds, each of which sounds must be further
differentiated when necessary by modifiers such as ' inner '
and ' outer ', and marks of rounding, &c. No system of
writing can dispense with digraphs and even trigraphs ; in
fact, the more scientifically minute a notation is. the more
it approximates to the analphabetic principle.
308. Whatever alphabet is adopted — whether an arbitrary
or a symbolic one — it must be capable of modification so as
to supply the want of (1) an international scientific 'narrow'
notation, in which all possible shades of sound can be
SWEET SK
114 STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
expressed with minute accuracy by symbols of fixed values,
and (2) an indefinite number of national ' wide ' notations,
each of which selects the minimum number of simplest
letters required to express the practically necessary sound-
distinctions of the language in question, ignoring those that
are superfluous, so that all the national systems appear as
modifications of a common basis, each diverging from it
only as far as is made necessary by considerations of sim-
plicity and ease of printing and writing both in long and
short hand.
309. As regards the distinction between the last three, it
is to be observed that in printing the complexity of the
letters does not necessarily affect speed or ease ; so that
the number of possible forms is infinitely greater than in
writing, which has a comparatively very limited number of
simple, joinable forms to choose from. Hence the printed
forms are generally more distinct than the written ones,
as we see by comparing, for instance, the capital and lower-
case Roman A, a with the italic a. As it is desirable to
have as few types as possible, most phonetic systems
founded on the Roman alphabet discard altogether the use
of capitals as such, using small capitals, if at all, only to
supplement the lower-case alphabet, the capitals acting thus
as new letters. As the capitals have not convenient
script forms, this use of them is confined to scientific nota-
tions.
310. Some transcriptions consist entirely of italics, the
idea being to make the printed and the written characters
the same as far as possible, and also to make the phonetic
symbols stand out distinctly on a page of Roman type.
But as italics are required for a variety of other purposes as
well, it is better to make the more legible lower-case letters
the basis, and use italics for supplementary purposes— of
course, only in scientific notations.
311. The Roman alphabet is in itself unscientific and
PHONETIC NOTATION 115
imperfect, but it has the great advantage of being the result
of a long series of experiments, besides being in universal
use. Its foundation ought to be left untouched, for any
attempts at radical reform would simply result in the
substitution of a totally different alphabet — which will no
doubt come to pass sooner or later.
312. In adapting the Koman alphabet to phonetic pur-
poses the first thing is to utilize all the available existing
symbols : to give phonetic values to c, q, x, settle what is to
be done with the italic and capital letters, and so on. The
next step is to supplement it. There are many supple-
mentary devices — such as the use of italics and capitals —
which, as we have seen, are admissible only in a scientific
notation where speed and ease are not indispensable quali-
fications of a working alphabet. In a practical broad system,
on the other hand, the first thing to be considered in a new
letter is whether it can be written and joined easily. The
best new letters are those which are the result of utilizing
duplicate script forms, as in the use of the otherwise super-
fluous long forms of s and z — J, 5. Such new letters as
a, o, rj are also unexceptionable in every way. But to make
italic a, g, v into Roman letters distinct from a, g, v, by
printing them upright instead of sloping, as is done in the
alphabet of the Association Phon6tique, is an illegitimate
extension of the principle. The inevitable result is that
new script forms have to be invented to take the place of
the old a, #, v, which latter are perfect for the purpose. The
natural further result is that most of these new script forms
are not used at all, their place being taken by laborious
detached facsimiles of the printed forms.
313. The most objectionable class of letters in a broad
alphabet are diacritical ones. In their printed forms they
are practically new letters ; and in writing they involve not
only a break, but a further waste of time and effort in the
movements of the pen from the line of writing to the
u 2
116 STUDY OF GENERAL PHONETICS
diacritic and back again, as we see in the letter i Of
course, when diacritic letters already exist, they may be
utilized, especially in a scientific notation.
314. But every modification of such a basis as the
Roman alphabet must necessarily be an unsatisfactory
makeshift — repulsive to every one but the inventor, who
is generally not an inventor at all, but simply a reviver of
devices which have been tried and rejected over and over
again. To the general public all systems of writing which
clash with the associations of the traditional printed and
written nomic orthography are ugly and ridiculous — what-
ever their intrinsic merits may be.
315. But in spite of all diversity there is also much
agreement : there is already a rudimentary public opinion,
sometimes in the principles, but oftener in the details of
phonetic notation. It is therefore better to leave disputed
and doubtful points to be settled by experience, to trust to
the survival of the fittest, rather than make the vain attempt
to enforce one uniform system of notation while the very
foundations of phonetics are still under discussion.
316. The adoption of a uniform phonetic notation for
exclusively scientific purposes will, of course, be highly desir-
able when our knowledge of sounds is fairly complete, and
there is agreement among experts on the principles of pho-
netics. But such rigid uniformity is not desirable, or indeed
possible with a practical alphabet, which, as we have seen,
must necessarily differ in its details with each language to
which it is applied.
317. It must be observed that the distinction between
' narrow ' and ' broad ' is not an absolutely definite one.
There are degrees of broadness. The extreme of simplicity
with which an easily accessible modern European language
can and should be written would be out of place in the
representation of the necessarily more or less conjectural
restoration of the pronunciation of Chaucer or Shakespeare :
PHONETIC NOTATION 117
here we naturally expect a more minute notation — a com-
promise between narrow and broad.
318. Such a compromise must not be confounded with
a dilettante notation. The former adopts the minuter
distinctions of the scientific alphabet only when they are
practically useful from its special point of view ; the latter
is a compromise in a more literal sense : it is not accurate
enough to be really scientific, and yet too complicated and
cumbrous for ordinary practical use. Not that it is to be
condemned on these grounds ; on the contrary, a dilettante
phonetic notation has the same justification as the dilettante
conception of phonetics of which it is the expression. It is
better that people should frankly acknowledge that the dis-
tinction of narrow and wide vowels or the discrimination of
five degrees of stress is too much for them and ignore them
accordingly in their transcription than attempt to use a
notation involving distinctions which they are unable to
make.
319. The great disadvantage of the use of the Eoman
alphabet in phonetic notation is the inevitable confusion
between the associations of phonetic and nomic spelling,
not to speak of the endless confusions which arise in passing
from one phonetic notation to another.
For this reason some will perhaps find it desirable to
avoid the cross-associations between the broad and narrow
Eomic notations by discarding the latter in favour of the
Organic alphabet — especially in dealing with the vowels.
The confusion is much less with the consonants. On the
other hand, it is necessary to have a narrow Eomic notation
for convenience of use by those who have not access to the
Organic symbols ; and also because to many a totally new
notation like Visible Speech or the Organic Alphabet is — or
seems to be — a more formidable obstacle than the cross-
associations of a Eomic system.
THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
320. The general principles of the teaching of phonetics
have been either implicitly stated or implied in the earlier
sections of this book ; it remains now to discuss details,
and consider the various applications of general principles
to special needs and requirements.
Phonetics in language-teaching.
321. The teaching of phonetics in the most rudimentary
form of that teaching implies at the very least the attempt
to impart information on the classification of sounds in
general, together with an explanation of the requisite ter-
minology, and of the sound-notation of at least one language
— in most cases the native language of the pupil or class.
322. But the pronunciation of a given language can be
taught fairly well without even this minimum of phonetics
— especially if the pupils have not been already spoilt by
bad teaching. Thus with a class of young children begin-
ning French or German, good results may be obtained by
simply letting them imitate the carefully isolated sounds of
the teacher. The teacher may repeat such a word as the
French ennui a hundred times without eliciting anything
better than orjwij ; but if he lets the pupils hear en, nu,
and i separately, each pronounced many times in succession,
slowly and distinctly, and then lets them imitate, a com-
paratively satisfactory result will be obtained without much
difficulty. When the pronunciation of the first few words
in the text has been mastered, these words should be joined
together and practised till the whole group runs smoothly
PHONETICS IN LANGUAGE-TEACHING 119
and without hesitation ; then the last word should be run
on to a succeeding group, and the last — or last but two or
three — of this group to the next, and so on ; this over-
lapping process ensures the continuity of the whole sentence.
323. If the pupils come quite fresh to the language, con-
fusion with the nomic spelling may be avoided by not
letting them see the printed page till they have learnt the
pronunciation by ear. Or the lesson may begin with
writing the numerals 1, 2, 3 ... on the blackboard, and
associating each with its name in the foreign language. Or
pictures may be used.
324. But a far quicker and more efficient method is to
begin with a phonetic transcription, and keep to it for at
least a year, the nomic spelling being kept entirely in the
background till the pronunciation has been thoroughly
acquired. However often the learner may have the pho-
netic elements of a word repeated to him, it is always a
help to have the impressions of the ear confirmed by the
written symbol, and still more to have it thereby corrected
or supplemented.
325. Although the difficulty of passing without confusion
from the phonetic to the nomic spelling is much less than
is generally assumed, its existence cannot be denied. Hence
it is perhaps better not to have a special transcription for
such a language as German : all that is wanted here is
to supplement the nomic spelling with stress-marks and
diacritics or other marks to show vowel-length before conso-
nant-groups, and so on.
326. The difficulties attending phonetic transcription
would be much lessened if there were a uniform inter-
national Broad Romic transcription for each language
instead of a variety of special ones for learners of different
nationalities. Modifying the transcription of a language
does not make its sounds any easier to pronounce. And
some confusion with the learner's nomic orthography is
120 THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
inevitable with every transcription in Roman letters ; but
with a little practice they soon disappear.
327. Even the use of a phonetic transcription does not
necessarily imply any express teaching of phonetics. It
merely means that the learner substitutes definite and
regular associations between sound and symbol for the
vague and conflicting associations involved in the use of
the nomic spelling. He learns the values of the phonetic
symbols empirically and by imitation, just as he learnt to
read the nomic spelling of his own language.
328. The methods hitherto discussed consist in utilizing
phonetic principles without introducing phonetics itself.
A further development consists in the teacher bringing in
phonetic analysis whenever imitation fails, or is made easier
by so doing — or, in short, whenever it is worth while.
This implies, of course, that the teacher, although he does
not teach phonetics systematically, must have a competent
practical knowledge of it.
Phonetics is from this point of view only an occasional
commentary on the learner's simultaneous acquisition of
a foreign language.
329. But there is still another and a better method :
begin, not with a foreign language, but with the systematic
teaching of elementary phonetics and elocution in connexion
with the study of the native language. In this way the
learner approaches the study of foreign languages with a
thorough practical linguistic training which will greatly
facilitate his task.
Qualifications of the Teacher.
330. There are many branches of linguistic study in which
a general theoretical knowledge of phonetics is sufficient —
or, at least, in which good work may be done without much
practical command of sounds. But something more than
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHEE 121
this is required of the elementary teacher of the native as
well as a foreign language. He has no more right to set up
as a language-teacher without having a certain aptitude for
phonetics than he would have to undertake to teach drawing
without having an eye for form. Eational elementary lan-
guage-teaching without phonetics is impossible. The three
main qualifications of such a teacher from the phonetic
point of view are : —
(1) He must have a thorough practical knowledge of the
language which he teaches as well as of his own language ;
he must be bi-lingual, one of the two languages being his
own ; no foreigner should be allowed to teach another
foreign language in England any more than in any other
country.
(2) He must have if not a quick, at least an accurate ear
for sounds.
(3) His organs of speech must be free from congenital
defects, and he must have them under such control as will
enable him to reproduce accurately all sounds with which
he has to deal.
There is a fourth qualification of a teacher of phonetics
— a qualification of a phonetic nature — which he must
possess in common with all teachers : such an elocutionary
training as will enable him to make himself heard distinctly
without strain — without having to ' shout at his class '.
331. The systematic training of teachers of phonetics
implies the establishment of professorships and lectureships
of phonetics at our universities, training-colleges, and similar
institutions. The professorships would, of course, have
attached to them special libraries and seminaries for prac-
tical work and research. Every professor must be first and
foremost a linguistic phonetician (§ 291). If he is also a
good elocutionist, so much the better. Experience alone
will show whether the teaching of elocution should as a
rule be detached from that of phonetics : that is, detached
122 THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
as far as it is possible ; for elocution except on a phonetic
basis is mere charlatanry.
332. As regards instrumental phonetics, we can have no
hesitation in saying that although eveiy higher teacher of
phonetics ought not to ignore its results, it would be un-
reasonable to expect him to handle the instruments himself
and to have a specialist's knowledge of the subject. We
should all welcome the phoenix who was at once a perfect
linguistic and instrumental phonetician as well as an elocu-
tionist, besides being an authority on the methods of lan-
guage-teaching, but to exact such a combination would only
be an encouragement to superficiality and imposture.
333. Linguistic phonetics is, indeed, more naturally asso-
ciated with the practical study of languages— the investiga-
tion of the general principles on which languages ought to
be taught and learnt. It stands to this study much in the
same relation as it does to elocution : both are based on
phonetics, although they both extend considerably beyond
it in their higher developments.
334. When it is found desirable to establish special
teacherships of instrumental phonetics, they would natu-
rally be attached to the physical science laboratories.
It is further evident that a detailed study of instrumental
phonetics would be a speciality of advanced students, not of
elementary teachers.
335. At present we have to manage as best we can with
more or less incompetent teachers. The greatest mistake
that can be made with these is to try to force them to use
methods which are beyond their capacity. A short course
of dilettante linguistic or instrumental phonetics abroad
does not qualify to teach the English vowel-system. Under
these circumstances it is better for such teachers to leave it
alone.
123
Qualifications of the Learner.
336. The percentage of pupils who have really quick ears —
who are able to reproduce sounds accurately after hearing
them only a few times — is a very small one. Such pupils
are often conceited, and often averse to methodical study
and impatient of training.
337. Those, on the other hand, who have exceptionally
obtuse ears, so that they cannot even hear the finer shades
of difference in unfamiliar sounds even after repeated hearing
under the most favourable conditions, ought to be dissuaded
from the study of phonetics if after a short trial they show
no signs of improvement.
338. It must, however, be borne in mind that what is
popularly called ' a bad ear for sounds ' may proceed from
a variety of causes — not necessarily of an acoustic nature —
some of which may be curable. It may be the result of
temporary deafness ; and this may be cured by ceasing to
act on the maxim that ' only fools fear draughts '. Or the
inability to reproduce new sounds may be solely the result
of want of training of the organs of speech.
339. Such students, if they persevere, generally drift into
instrumental and theoretical phonetics, in which they may
do valuable work ; although, of course, they are unfit to act
as practical teachers.
One of the drawbacks of a bad ear is that it leads the pupil not
only to mishear, but also to hear differences where none exist.
Even those who have good ears often fluctuate in their apprecia-
tion of sounds which are still unfamiliar and difficult to them.
They hear the sound vary from word to word, and pride them-
selves on what they imagine to be their superior powers of dis-
crimination ; but when the sound has become really familiar, this
apparent fluctuation ceases.
340. On the whole, those who have a moderately good
ear are the best : those who take some time to acquire a
124 THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
thorough and easy command of a new sound, but who
always get it in the end, and do not forget it again in a few
days, which is often the weak side of the abnormally
quick ear.
341. The question is often debated, whether a musical ear
is a help in phonetics, apart from its self-evident use in the
study of intonation and the pitch of resonance-cavities.
There can be little doubt that those who have a good
musical ear — especially, perhaps, those rare ones who have
an ear for absolute pitch — are generally good at discrimi-
nating speech -sounds. A musical training — especially in
singing — also develops the appreciation of good tone in
voice-production. A knowledge of music is, in short, a
great help to the phonetician as well as the elocutionist —
and in many ways besides those already indicated. Those
who take it up with this in view will do well to confine
themselves definitely to singing and the piano, which sup-
plement each other perfectly, care being taken always to
subordinate the latter to the former.
Ear-training : Phonetic Dictation.
342. The best training in the recognition of sounds by
ear — apart from the still better but less systematic training
afforded by language-study — is phonetic dictation. Phonetic
dictation should, of course, always begin with the sounds of
the native language, first in series of isolated strong-stressed
words, such as the numerals or the days of the week, and
then in short colloquial sentences. The phonetic symbols
with which the pupils write down what is dictated to them
must at first be the simplest possible Broad Romic notation
of the language that is used.
343. The normal method of correcting the dictations and
returning them to their writers at the beginning of the next
lesson with the necessary corrections and comments should,
EAR-TEAINING : PHONETIC DICTATION 125
especially in dealing with slow or diffident pupils, be pre-
ceded by a course of what may be called ' unseen dictation '
— that is, unseen by the teacher. He dictates a word or
group of words, slowly and distinctly several times over,
pauses a little, and then himself writes the correct phonetic
transcription on the blackboard, waits till the pupils have
verified or corrected what they have written, and then
dictates a further instalment of his text.
344. Phonetic dictation is stimulating to the pupils, and
affords the teacher a ready and sure method of testing not
only their ear, but also their general intelligence, as well as
their knowledge of phonetics, and their power of handling
symbols and notation, which is almost as important for the
phonetician as for the mathematician.
345. The hopeless blundering of otherwise intelligent and
educated pupils in their first attempts at phonetic dictation
is a continual source of unwelcome surprise not only to
themselves but sometimes even to their teacher — accustomed
as he is to the total want of the power of observation which
is the result of the current method of learning languages
by eye instead of by ear. But it must, in justice to the
pupils, be observed that many of their earlier mistakes are
the result of the inevitable intruding associations of the nomic
forms.
346. With those who have prepared themselves by an
extensive reading of texts in Broad Eomic, phonetic dictation
becomes mainly a matter of memory and visual association,
till at last it becomes almost as mechanical a process as
writing from dictation in nomic spelling — although by that
time the pupil will certainly have acquired a very respectable
knowledge of the phonetics of the language.
347. A more advanced stage may then be entered on :
that of adding stress- and intonation-marks, the former
being most conveniently written above the symbols of the
sounds on which the stress begins instead of before them,
126 THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
for which there is often not room. The point may be
written as a vertical stroke.
348. The most effectual check on the mechanical re-
production of visualized phonetic spellings is 'nonsense
dictation '. The nonsense-words required are easily obtained
by writing ordinary words backwards, with such further
alterations as may be required to smooth over impossible
or otherwise objectionable sound-combinations and sound-
positions. The following is an easy nonsense poem made
up of English sounds, together with x : —
a maas va fail.
let iim tonni luf nom zrabmen,
failzi tebna itmi mied ;
ofotS lous zided teS zubmals,
daen zrjij? tonaa tof eiS miis.
fail zilie, failzi tsina,
daenetS veiag ziton stiloug;
tsudautS taa ot tsrad tsinaetie,
zovton nrakoups uuteS lous.
telsa neSib p^ne irjuud,
tSiv etaax ref ini teif ;
lits rjiviijta, lits qijuusep,
rebeil daanet teiv.
349. When the phonetic transcription of the native
language has been thoroughly mastered, phonetic dictation
may be given in French and German, beginning with the
latter, if already familiar to the pupils, as being much
the easier. Here the patience of the teacher will be sorely
tried by the mechanical way in which many of them will
transfer transcriptions of English sounds to foreign sounds
which they do not fit. Thus, if he has taught them to
EAR-TRAINING: PHONETIC DICTATION 127
reproduce faithfully his own diphthongic pronunciation of
ii and uu, he must be prepared to find them transcrib-
ing sie sind gut with zij zint guwt, even after he has
indirectly warned them against it.
350. Phonetic dictation in a foreign language unknown
to the pupils is risky, even if the teacher's command of it
is as perfect as he assumes it to be, and it is one with a
comparatively simple sound-system, such as Finnish or
one of the Polynesian languages.
351. The difficulty of writing phonetically from dictation
in a language whose sound-system is not already familiar
to the writer depends, however, mainly on the degree of
' narrowness ' of the notation employed. The difficulty
may be reduced to a minimum by allowing the pupils to
extemporize a compromise between Narrow and Broad
Romic, or to employ such a transliteration as that of the
Association Phonetique. To write from such dictation
with a minutely accurate scientific notation would be
beyond the powers of any but an exceptionally gifted
and long-trained student. The only reasonable ear-test of
advanced pupils is the recognition and correct naming of
isolated sounds or short and simple combinations of sounds
pronounced to them several times over by the teacher or
examiner.
Helps.
352. Of all external helps in teaching phonetics, diagrams
of the organs of speech and their positions are the most
important. It is desirable that the teacher should be able
to supplement the ready-made ones with those which he
draws himself on the blackboard. Some learn less easily
from diagrams than others. To such pupils models appeal
more than diagrams ; but they are of little use in teaching
the actual positions.
As regards apparatus, the phonograph is often useful
128 THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
in dealing with points of synthesis, especially intonation
(§ 283) and organic basis.
353. When instrumental phonetics is introduced into
elementary teaching it generally degenerates into what may
be called ' toy phonetics ', which, however, has its uses : the
bell of the indicateur often serves to stimulate the flagging
energies of a dull or inattentive class.
But, after all, the use of such external stimuli means
only so much time and energy taken from the real business
of the class ; which is, to learn to isolate, analyse organic-
ally, and distinguish by ear as many sounds as possible. In
most cases the gain is not enough to compensate the loss.
Necessity of individual attention.
354. Practical phonetics, like music, cannot be taught
successfully without special attention to the needs of each
pupil. Lectures to classes of a hundred or more serve,
from this point of view, mainly to stimulate interest and to
indicate lines of study, and, to some extent, lay a founda-
tion by describing sounds with which the hearers are
already familiar. Even a class of not more than thirty is
too large for thorough practical work, unless it is com-
posed of naturally gifted and earnest students speaking the
same language. The best results are obtained with a class
of not more than twelve. Some learn better in such a class
than by private tuition, partly because it is more stimu-
lating, partly because hearing the sounds uttered by a variety
of voices gives a wider and firmer grasp of them, and makes
them more easy of recognition. From this point of view
a mixed-language class — one composed partly of natives,
partly of speakers of various foreign languages or dialects —
is preferable to a one-language (one-dialect) class ; although,
on the other hand, more rapid progress will be made in the
latter.
129
Time.
355. The time required for a complete elementary train-
ing in phonetics suitable for language-teachers and elocu-
tionists, and others to whom it is only a preparatory subject,
is a year at the very least.
356. The first term would be devoted mainly to the
isolation, analysis, and notation first of the native sounds of
the pupils, and then of those unfamiliar sounds which they
would be able easily to deduce from their native ones. The
explanation of general principles and the classification of
sounds would be strictly subordinated to this preliminary
training.
In the second term the whole body of sounds would be
studied more or less in individual detail according to their
relative importance from the pupils' special point of view.
In the third term the study of synthesis would be com-
pleted ; much of it would necessarily have been given in
the two preceding terms. Then the phonetic structure of
different languages would be studied in detail. Continual
revision of the sounds would go on during the whole course,
for sounds cannot be practically acquired without incessant
repetition.
357. A three years' course would be the minimum for
those who take phonetics as a preparation for the science of
language generally, or its applications to historical and
comparative philology and other special branches of lin-
guistic investigation, practical as well as theoretical ; as also
for those who make a speciality of the teaching of phonetics
itself, elementary as well as advanced.
The first year would cover the same ground as the course
already described.
In the second year everything would be revised more in
detail wherever necessary or advisable. At the same time
the history and literature of phonetics would be critically
studied, together with the principles of historical and com-
130 THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
parative phonology ; and the phonetic structure of a variety
of languages would be investigated by the more advanced
students in the seminary.
In the third year the students would begin to specialize,
some devoting themselves mainly to the applications of
phonetics to dialectology, language-teaching, &c., others to
elocution and the applications of phonetics to literature,
others again to instrumental phonetics, others to phonology
and the other applications of phonetics to the historical
study of language. Others again would concentrate them-
selves on special lines of research dealing with the pronun-
ciation and phonology of some one language or dialect or
group of languages or dialects.
358. It must always be borne in mind that phonetics can
only be acquired gradually, by a slow process of graduated
systematic training. Phonetics cannot be crammed up
from textbooks : learning definitions by heart is not learning
phonetics.
359. In fact, when we consider that the old Italian
singers often spent six or more years in qualifying them-
selves to appear in public, we can hardly — making eveiy
allowance for the time saved by improved methods and
apparatus — assign less to an ideal scheme of voice-training
in the widest sense of the word : one which aims at giving
the student a complete and absolute control of all the
resources of his voice not only phonetically, but also as
regards voice -production and elocution.
Examining in Phonetics.
360. Examinations are generally admitted to be evils —
necessary, perhaps, but still evils. And all the objections
to them apply with tenfold force in the case of a subject like
phonetics, in which written examinations can never take
the place of oral, in which glib theory cannot be accepted
as an equivalent for practical thoroughness and viva voce
EXAMINING IN PHONETICS 131
readiness. The general unsettledness of phonetics, the wide
divergencies in terminology and notation as well as in
classification and theory are further obstacles. The dearth
of competent and impartial examiners is another. The
low standard of efficiency in teachers as well as pupils
brings further embarrassment and doubt to the conscientious
examiner.
361. This raises the question whether in the face of all
these difficulties the best advice with regard to examining
in phonetics would not be — don't ! As regards modern
languages and elocution it certainly seems safest — at present,
at least — simply to go by results : in modern languages,
not to examine in phonetics, even if it is made an in-
tegral and definite part of the teaching, but to insist all
the more rigorously on a certain standard of correctness
and ease in the colloquial pronunciation of the language.
There are other considerations which point in the same
direction. It cannot be denied that some methods of
phonetic instruction — especially those carried on by means
of apparatus — so far from improving a pronunciation
acquired by imitation and direct phonetic methods, often
cause positive deterioration. In short, the best teacher is
not the most fanatical adherent of this or that method or
notation, but the one who elicits the best pronunciation from
his pupils.
362. Although viva voce must always predominate in all
phonetic examinations that lay claim to any thoroughness,
this does not mean that paper work is to be entirely excluded.
It is evident, for one thing, that phonetic dictation ought to
form part of every examination in phonetics — even the most
elementary. But there may be conditions which exclude
the living voice. Under these circumstances the place of
phonetic dictation must be taken by the setting of a passage
to be transcribed from nomic into phonetic spelling.
363. In setting papers — whether oral or written — for an
i 2
132 THE TEACHING OF PHONETICS
examination in phonetics, the first thing is to be sure that
the questions are intelligible : especially that the terminology
and notation used by the examiner are familiar to the
candidates. Examinations in phonetics must not be tyran-
nically used as a means of cramming one particular school of
phonetics or one special notation down unwilling throats.
This does not apply to a teacher examining his own pupils,
or other conditions of a similar kind. But even in these
cases it is better to leave everything open as far as possible :
'Transliterate the following passage into any consistent
phonetic notation,' &c.
364. The opposite extreme of setting leading questions
must as carefully be avoided. The self- interpreting ter-
minology of the English school lends itself to this with
peculiar and dangerous facility, as in ' define and give
examples of stopped consonants — front vowels'. There
would be no objection to such questions if the answers
always embodied a complete list of the sounds required.
But what is the lenient, soft-hearted examiner to do with
such evasions as these : ' A stopped consonant is a consonant
formed with stoppage — with closure of the mouth — with
partial stoppage — with imperfect closure followed by an
explosion — with closure of the glottis,' the only examples
given, perhaps, being c and m, without any hint whether the
former is to be taken phonetically or nomically? Or it
may happen that the candidate gives a certain number of
approximately correct examples, and then adds one more
to show that he has not realized the meaning of his definition,
and that all that precedes is pure mechanical cram.
365. All this may be avoided by putting the questions in
an indirect form, thus : —
(1) How many consonants are there — are pronounced —
are sounded in the following words : sing, quit, wretch . . . ?
(2) Classify the above consonants, and describe their
formation.
EXAMINING IN PHONETICS 133
Candidates who do quite respectably in a paper of leading
questions and vague generalities often break down utterly
with questions of this kind, even when they are so elemen-
tary that the young examiner is half ashamed to set them ;
it may perhaps turn out that while the majority of the
class are familiar with the distinction of narrow and wide
vowels, know what the glottis is, and can define organic
basis, they are still so completely the slaves of the written
symbol that they regard the i in time as a non-diphthongal
long vowel, and give ae in Caesar as an example of an
English diphthong in the phonetic sense.
BIBLIOGKAPHY
366. The following bibliography is intended as a guide
to further study, not as an exhaustive list for reference : it
aims only at bringing before the student those books which
will be directly useful to him at the outset. Full biblio-
graphies will be found in many of the works mentioned
below.
367. When the beginner has thoroughly assimilated the
contents of this little book, he should go on to my Primer
of Phonetics (Oxford, 1906 3), which differs from the present
work in dealing with the subject from a more general point
of view and with a greater range of sounds and also more
concisely and schematically, the phonetic information being
given mainly in the form of an explanation of the classifica-
tion and notation embodied in the Organic (Revised Visible
Speech) alphabet, which is employed throughout, with
occasional Narrow Eomic transcriptions, the Broad Eomic
notations being employed only in the texts at the end of
the book.
368. At the same time — or perhaps before — he should
thoroughly familiarize himself with the phonetic structure
and phonetic notation of English by reading the texts in
my Primer of Spoken English (Oxford, 18952), paying special
attention to the laws of gradation and sentence-stress. In
my Elementarbuch des gesprochenen Englisch (Oxford, 1891 3)
he will find the same grammatical introduction, but different
texts, more elementary and colloquial on the whole than
those in the other book, and better suited for foreigners ; in
the Elementarbuch division into 'stress-groups' takes the
place of the traditional word -division, which is retained in
the Primer; stress-division, though less convenient and
BIBLIOGRAPHY 135
practical in itself than word-division, has advantages of its
own : it is instructive, and often useful in curing foreigners
and illiterate readers of the habit of pausing at the end of
words or in the middle of a group of closely connected
words.
369. The contrasting phonetic system of 0. Jespersen
should then be studied, his books being taken in the
following order : Lelirbuch der Phonetik (Leipzig, 1904) ;
Plionetisclie Grundfragen (Leipzig, 1904) ; Fonetik (Copen-
hagen, 1897). The second deals with the following
subjects: Laut und Schrift, Lautschrift, Die beste Aus-
sprache, Akustisch oder genetisch?, Systematisierung der
Sprachlaute, Untersuchungsinethoden, Zur Lautgesetzfrage.
The third is the original Danish work, of which the two
first are condensed extracts, in which much is omitted that
is of special interest only to Scandinavian readers. The
most characteristic feature of Jespersen 's books is their
impartial criticism of current views and methods. There
is a certain aloofness in his attitude towards his pre-
decessors and contemporaries, the weak side of which
appears in his often unnecessary and highly confusing
deviations from traditional terminology and arrangement,
as if he were determined to be original at all costs. Thus
he reverses the English arrangement
throat — back — front — poi n t — lip
in which the stream of breath with which sounds are
formed is assumed to move in the same direction as that
in which we write, that is, from left to right, so that in all
diagrams and tables the back of the mouth is put on the left
side, it being further assumed that this arrangement is
only to be reversed when there is special reason for doing
so — as may sometimes be the case, for instance, in drawing
a section of the mouth on the blackboard. It is highly
desirable to adopt one uniform standard order, for experi-
ence shows that those who have accustomed themselves
136 BIBLIOGEAPHY
to the one find it difficult to think in the other. Jespersen
carries his reversal to such an extent that he does not get to
the fundamental distinction of breath and voice till long
after he has given a tediously and superfluously minute
analysis and an elaborate notation of the positions of the
lips. There are other innovations in his books which are of
a less superficial and petty character, some of which cannot
fail to stimulate thought and criticism of hitherto accepted
views even if they are not generally accepted. One great
drawback to the use of his works is the analphabetic
notation (§ 305) employed in them : it is ingenious, but
cumbrous and unpractical, and impossible to remember
by those who have accustomed themselves to a different
arrangement. Jespersen's works, like those of most Conti-
nental writers, deal more fully with the consonants than
the vowels : his treatment of the latter is the least satis-
factory part of his system.
370. E. Sievers in his Grundzuge der Lautphysiologie
(Leipzig, 1901 5) approaches the subject from the special
point of view of the comparative Aryan philologist ; and,
accordingly, devotes a special section to a discussion of the
laws of sound-change. The treatment of phonetics itself
is less concrete and definite than in the works already
considered, especially as regards the classification of sounds ;
the author is one of those who regard with distrust any
attempt to construct a general scheme for all languages.
In this way Sievers' book will serve as a corrective to
the schematic tendencies of the English school and of
Jespersen. The abstract point of view from which Sievers
regards phonetics often makes his arguments difficult to
follow. A characteristic feature of this book is the fullness
with which the phenomena of synthesis are treated, especially
as regards force and stress, intonation being less adequately
treated. The whole book is full of acute observations of
details of pronunciation in various languages.
BIBLIOGKAPHY 137
371. Sievers' antagonism to general systematization natu-
rally leads him to eclecticism, especially when he comes to
discuss the classification of the vowels. This tendency is
still more marked in the works of W. Vietor, especially in
his Elemente der PJwnetik des Deutschen, Englischen und
Franzosisclien (Leipzig, 19045). Vietor's point of view is
mainly that of the modern language teacher of the extreme
type. He is an uncompromising antagonist of the English
vowel-system, which he condemns as a whole without having
any practical knowledge of it on such insufficient grounds as
Bell's carelessness in the choice of key- words, and my modi-
fication of my earlier views through wider knowledge and
more mature thought ; another of his arguments is that it
is impossible to unround vowels. A peculiar feature of his
treatment of his own language is the extreme artificiality of
his standard of pronunciation. But his book has some
practical advantages over those already mentioned : it gives
good diagrams of the organs of speech, a comparative table
of the different systems of phonetic transcription, and full
accounts of the different phonetic systems. One result of
his point of view is that he gives long lists of words to show
the correspondence between sound and nomic symbol in the
orthographies of English, French, and German.
372. One of the most distinguished of the older generation
of practical phoneticians is the Norwegian, J. Storm, whose
knowledge of the phonetic structure of the chief European
languages is probably unrivalled. Unfortunately he has not
published any complete system of his own ; but the advanced
student will find his Englische Philologie (Leipzig, 1892-6 2)
a mine of wealth in the sections dealing either directly or
indirectly with phonetics. Storm's specialities are the accu-
rate comparison of sounds in different languages, and the
fineness of his ear for distinctions of synthesis, especially
intonation.
373. The most convenient introduction to the phonetic
138 BIBLIOGEAPHY
system and alphabet of the Association Phoneiique is
P. Passy's Les Sons du Franqais (Paris, 1899s), of which
an English translation has lately been published by the
Clarendon Press, Oxford. This little book is deservedly
popular on account of the clear way in which it states the
general principles of phonetics ; the author's point of view
borders, indeed, somewhat on that of the dilettante. Thus
in his anxiety to make his vowel-system as easy as possible
he practically ignores the distinction of narrow and wide,
although he accepts it in theory, and simplifies his scheme
in other ways as well so much that at last it becomes almost
a reversion to that of the sixteenth-century Wallis. For
the alphabet of the Association Phonetique see §§ 10 a, 312.
374. For phonetic French texts the learner may be referred
to Beyer-Passy, Elementarbuch des gesprochenen Franzosisch
(Cothen, 1905 2), and P. Passy, Le Frangais Parle (Leipzig,
1897). Neither of these books gives the colloquial language
except in texts dealing exclusively with child life and the
school-room ; the latter book is composed entirely of literary
texts. The student of adult conversational French must
still painfully scrape his knowledge together from unpho-
netic dialogue-books, plays, and novels. Another serious
obstacle is the want of any adequate and practically useful
statement of the laws of French intonation. The only col-
lection of texts in which the intonation is marked throughout
is the one last mentioned.
375. The student of German is not nearly so well off for
phonetic texts. Vietor's Deutsches Lcscbuch in Lautschrift
(Leipzig, 1899) gives childish and often extravagantly short
and disconnected texts in an artificial pronunciation.
376. The learner will find a constant supply of phonetic
texts in the chief European languages — and others besides —
in the Mattre Phonetique, the organ of the Association Pho-
netique Internationale, edited by Dr. P. Passy (address :
Fonetik, Bour-la-Reine, France).
BIBLIOGKAPHY 139
377. For phonetic shorthand see my Manual of Current
Shorthand (Oxford, 1892). This system can be applied to the
writing of all languages both phonetically, with any degree
of accuracy, and in an exact reproduction of its nomic
orthography.
378. For the principles of the application of phonetics to
the learning and teaching of languages the student may con-
sult my Practical Study of Languages (London, 1899), and for
a different and in some respects less conservative point of
view, 0. Jespersen, Hoiv to learn a foreign language (London,
1904).
379. For phonology and the laws of sound-change the
student may be referred to the already-mentioned book of
Sievers, to my History of English Sounds (Oxford, 1888 2),
and P. Passy, Les Changements Phone'tiques (Paris, 1890).
380. For the history of English sounds and pronuncia-
tion the student may use sections of my Primer of Historical
English Grammar (Oxford, 1893) as an introduction to the
above-mentioned History of English Sounds.
381. For the pronunciation of Chaucer and phonetic tran-
scriptions of Middle English texts see my Second Middle
English Primer (Oxford, 1905 2). The same for Shakespeare
will be found in W. Vietor, Shakespere Pronunciation
(London, 1906).
382. Phonetic methods are also applied to the study of
Old English in my First Steps in Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1897)
and other books.
383. A convenient summary of the methods and litera-
ture of instrumental phonetics will be found in E. W. Scrip-
ture, Elements of Experimental Phonetics (New York, 1902),
although this work is from the linguistic phonetician's point
of view inadequate. Scripture reproduces the diagrams of
vowel-positions given by Grandgent and Atkinson.
NOTES ON THE TEXTS
255. 3. sekand or sekijd. 9. wenzdl is the older
pronunciation.
256. 2. intend = in -tend. 3. t$8et=-tfoet. 21. put of
tuw lorj with equal strong stress on all four words in slow
speech ; in quick speech more stress is put on the second
word. It must, of course, be understood that there are
infinite gradations between the two extremes put of and
:put of, depending partly on speed, partly on shades of
meaning and emphasis.
257. 2. mdust might also be written -moust, which would
imply weak stress — but not quite so weak as in mdust—
with preservation of the back formation of the o. Here,
again, various gradations of stress and tongue-shifting are
possible. 3. indl;pendans has medium stress on the
first syllable ; it is the emphatic form of indi'pendans.
5. spoukn : the n is n -f rj, with simultaneous back and
point stoppage ; a l careful speaker ' would, of course, make
it into spoukan, with pure point n. 8. Im-self with
weak stress on the second syllable ; compare Imself = 1m 'self
1. 16. below. 13. anfdunetlk=*anf6u:netlk : the medium
stress is the result of the word being used attributively ;
the normal form is "anfdu-netlk. 23. strerjjm-lrj is the
most accurate notation if the a is omitted, § 149.
258. 9. hij wll : the colloquial form hij 1 would sound in-
congruous here, § 250. This applies also to wil for 1, 259. 1 1.
259. 15. todz is the older pronunciation.
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