A Handbook of the English Language Part 15

2. Let an ejection of the intervening letters bring these two syllables into immediate contact, _numrus_. The m and r form an unstable combination.

To remedy this there is a tendency to insert an intervening sound.

In English, the form which the Latin word _numerus_ takes is _number_; in Spanish, _nombre_. The b makes no part of the original word, but has been inserted for the sake of _euphony_; or, to speak more properly, by a euphonic process. The word euphony is derived from e? (_well_), and f???

(_fonae_, a voice).

-- 134. In the words _give_ and _gave_ we have a change of tense expressed by a change of vowel. In the words _price_ and _prize_ a change of meaning is expressed by a change of consonant. In _clothe_ and _clad_ there is a change both of a vowel and of a consonant. In the words _to use_ and _a use_ there is a similar change, although it is not expressed by the spelling. To the ear the verb _to use_ ends in z, although not to the eye.

All these are instances of the _permutation_ of letters.

_Permutation of Vowels._

a to e, as _man_, _men_.

a to oo, as _stand_, _stood_.

a to u, as _dare_, _durst_.

a to e, as _was_, _were_.

ea to o, as _speak_, _spoken_.

ea = e to ea = e, as _breath_, _breathe_.

ee to e, as _deep_, _depth_.

ea to o, as _bear_, _bore_.

i to a, as _spin_, _span_.

i to u, as _spin_, _spun_.

i = ei to o, as _smite_, _smote_.

i = ei to i, as _smite_, _smitten_.

i to a, as _give_, _gave_.

i = ei to a, as _rise_, _raise_.

i to e, as _sit_, _set_.

ow to ew, as _blow_, _blew_.

o to e, as _strong_, _strength_.

oo to ee, as _tooth_, _teeth_.

o to i, as _top_, _tip_.

o to e, as _old_, _elder_; _tell_, _told_.

o to e, as _brother_, _brethren_.

o = oo to i, as _do_, _did_.

o = oo to o = u, as _do_, _done_.

oo to o, as _choose_, _chose_.

_Permutation of Consonants._

f to v, _life_, _live_; _calf_, _calves_.

to , _breath_, _to breathe_.

to d, _seethe_, _sod_; _clothe_, _clad_.

d to t, _build_, _built_.

s to z, _use_, _to use_.

s to r, _was_, _were_; _lose_, _forlorn_.

In _have_ and _had_ we have the _ejection_ of a sound; in _work_ and _wrought_, the _transposition_ of one.

_Permutation of Combinations._

ie = i to ow, as _grind_, _ground_.

ow to i = ei, as _mouse_, _mice_; _cow_, _kine_.

ink to augh, as _drink_, _draught_.

ing to ough, as _bring_, _brought_.

y (formerly g), to ough, as _buy_, _bought_.

igh = ei to ough, as _fight_, _fought_.

eek to ough, as _seek_, _sought_.

It must be noticed that the list above is far from being an exhaustive one.

The expression too of the changes undergone has been rendered difficult on account of the imperfection of our orthography. The whole section has been written in ill.u.s.tration of the meaning of the word _permutation_, rather than for any specific object in grammar.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE FORMATION OF SYLLABLES.

-- 135. In respect to the formation of syllables, I am aware of no more than one point that requires any especial consideration.

In certain words, of more than one syllable, it is difficult to say to which syllable an intervening consonant belongs. For instance, does the v in _river_, and the e in _fever_, belong to the first or the second syllable? Are the words to be divided thus, _ri-ver_, _fe-ver_? or thus, _riv-er_, _feve-r_?

The solution of the question lies by no means on the surface.

In the first place, the case is capable of being viewed in two points of view--an etymological and a phonetic one.

That the c and r in _become_, _berhymed_, &c., belong to the second syllable, we determine at once by taking the words to pieces; whereby we get the words _come_ and _rhymed_ in an isolated independent form. But this fact, although it settles the point in etymology, leaves it as it was in phonetics; since it in nowise follows, that, because the c in the _simple_ word _come_ is exclusively attached to the letter that succeeds, it is, in the _compound_ word _become_, exclusively attached to it also.

To the following point of structure in the consonantal sounds the reader's attention is particularly directed.

1. Let the vowel a (as in _fate_) be sounded.--2. Let it be followed by the consonant p, so as to form the syllable _ap_. To form the sound of p, it will be found that the lips close on the sound of a, and arrest it. Now, if the lips be left to themselves they will not _remain_ closed on the sound, but will open again; in a slight degree indeed, but in a degree sufficient to cause a kind of vibration, or, at any rate, to allow an escape of the remainder of the current of breath by which the sound was originally formed. To re-open in a slight degree is the natural tendency of the lips in the case exhibited above.

Now, by an effort, let this tendency to re-open be counteracted. Let the remaining current of breath be cut short. We have, then, only this, viz., so much of the syllable _ap_ as can be formed by the _closure_ of the lips.

All that portion of it that is caused by their re-opening is deficient. The resulting sound seems truncated, cut short, or incomplete. It is the sound of p, _minus_ the remnant of breath. All of the sound p that is now left is formed, not by the _escape_ of the breath, but by the _arrest_ of it.

The p in ap is a _final_ sound. With initial sounds the case is different.

Let the lips be _closed_, and let an attempt be made to form the syllable pa by suddenly opening them. The sound appears incomplete; but its incompleteness is at the _beginning_ of the sound, and not at the end of it. In the natural course of things there would have been a current of breath _preceding_, and this current would have given a vibration, now wanting. All the sound that is formed here is formed, not by the _arrest_ of breath, but by the _escape_ of it.

I feel that this account of the mechanism of the apparently simple sound p, labours under all the difficulties that attend the _description_ of a sound; and for this reason I again request the reader to satisfy himself either of its truth or of its inaccuracy, before he proceeds to the conclusions that will be drawn from it.

The account, however, being recognized, we have in the sound of p, two elements:--

1. That formed by the current of air and the closure of the lips, as in ap.

This may be called the sound of breath _arrested_.

2. That formed by the current of air, and the opening of the lips, as in pa. This may be called the sound of breath _escaping_.

Now what may be said of p may be said of all the other consonants, the words _tongue_, _teeth_, &c., being used instead of _lips_, according to the case.

Let the sound of breath _arrested_ be expressed by p, and that of breath _escaping_ be expressed by ?, the two together form p (p + ? = p).