A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers : to which are prefixed a history of the language, and an English grammar (Volume 1).

  • Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers : to which are prefixed a history of the language, and an English grammar (Volume 1). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    79/1196
    CONTENTS OF THE PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. table, by saying give me some breads lays an equal stress upon every word, though every word should be pronounced with its exact sound, we immediately perceive he is not a native. An Englishman would pronounce these four words like two, with the accent on the first syllable of the first, and on the last sylla- ble of the last, as if written giveme somebread; or rather giv- me sumbred: or more commonly, though vulgarly, gimme some- bred. Verse may sometimes induce a foreigner, as it does sometimes injudicious natives, to lay the accent on a syllable in long words which ought to have none, as in a couplet of Pope's Essay on Criticism: False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, Its gaudy colours spreads on every place. Here a foreigner would be apt to place an accent on the last syllable of eloquence as well as the first, which would certain- ly be wrong; but this fault is so trifling, when compared with that of laying the accent on the second syllable, that it almost vanishes from observation; and this misaccentuation, verse will generally guard him from. The reading of verse, therefore, will, if I am not mistaken, be found a powerful regulator, both of accent and emphasis. CONTENTS OF THE PRINCIPLES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. Alphabet, --...... ]y0. \ Definition of vowels and consonants, ----- 5 Analogical table of the vowels, 16 Diphthongs and triphthongs enumerated, - - - 17 Consonants distinguished into classes, - - - - 18 Analogical table of the consonants, ----- ^9 Organic formation of the letters, - 31 Of the quantity and quality of the vowels, ... _ 62 Of the influence of accent on the sounds of the letters, - - 69 The letter A and its different sounds, ----- 72 The letter E and its different sounds, - 93 The letter / and its different sounds, - 105 The letter O aud its different sounds, - - - - 161 The letter U and its different sounds, - - - - - 171 The vowel Y and its different sounds, ... - 180 The vowel W and its different sounds, - 189 Of the diphthongs ca'led semi-consonant, .... 196 Of the diphthongs AE, AI, AO, aud all the rest in their alpha- betical order, 199 Of the sounds of the consonants, ------ 347 B, when mute, ----.__. ibid. C, its different sounds, - 348 D, its different sounds, ---.... 358 Improperly changed into T. Dr. Lowth's opinion of this change in certain verbs, considered and corrected, - 369 F, its different sounds, ----- 377 G, its different sounds, - - - . 379 O always mute before JV* in the same syllable at the end of a word, exemplified in the words impugn, oppugn, propugn, expugn, impregn, (SfC. with the authorities of the most respectable or- thoepists, - - - - - - - 386 H, when sounded, and when mute, ... 394 J, its uniform sound, - 398 K, when sounded and when mute, - 399 L, when sounded and when mute, .... 401 Jtt, when sounded and when mute, ... 407 A*, when it has its naso-guttural sound, ... 408 When it has its ringing sound in the participial termination ing, ... . . . . 410 P, when sounded, and when mute, - 412 PH, its uniform sound, - - - - 412 Q, its different sounds when combined with «, - - 414 R, when its sound is transposed, - - - - 416 When it is to be pronounced rough and when smooth, - 419 S, its different sounds, - When it is to be pronounced like z, - . . 432 When it is to be pronounced like sh and zh, - - 430 Mr. Sheridan's error in this point detected, - - 454 T, its different sounds, - 459 How it slides into sh in the numerous termination Hon, - ibid. Why it slides into this sound before u, preceded by the ac- cent, - - - - - 461 Mr. Sheridan's error in this point detected, - - 462 TH, its different sounds, - 465 When the h is silent in this combination, - - 471 T, when silent, --.... 4-2 V, its uniform sound, ..... 473 ff, when silent, and when sounded, - - . 474 475 X, Is exactly similar to ks, and liable to the same alterations of sound, ....... 479 Mr. Sheridan's error in this point detected, - - 480 T as a consonant, and its different sounds, - - - 482 Z, improperly resolved by Dr. Johnson into * hard, Its true name Izzard, - - - - 483 Its different sounds, - 484 Of the nature of Accent. The only true definition of accent, ... - 488 The different positions of the English accent, > - 489 ! Accent on dissyllables, - - - - - 491 Dissyllable nouns and verbs differently accented, - - 492 Accent on trisyllables, - - - - - 501 Partial dependence of the English accent on that of the Greek and Latin. ...... 533 I Accent on polysyllables, - - - - - 504 Enclitical accent exemplified in the terminations logy, graphy, &c- ...... 513,518 The tendency of compounds to contract the sound of the simple, 515 Secondary accent, - 522 The shortening power of this accent, ... 527 On Quantity. 529 The shortening power of the secondary accent exemplified in the uncertainty and inconsistency of Mr. Sheridan and Dr. Kenrick in their division of wo ids into syllables, - 530 On Syllabication. Syllabication, different according to the different ends to be at- tained by it, - - - - - . 538 Syllabication exhibiting the sound of a word depending, in some measure on the nature of the letters prior to actual pro- nunciation, ---... 542 The almost total independence of the English quantity on that of the Greek and Latin, exemplified by an enumeration of most of the dissyllables in our language derived from the Latin and Greek, ----_. 544 The only possible case in which we can argue from the Latin quantity to the English, .... ibid. Dissyllables from the Saxon and French languages enumerated, i bid. Causes of the prevalence of shortening the first syllable of dissyl- lables from these languages, - - - . ibid. Of the quantity of unaccented syllables ending with a vowel, 547 Uncertainty and inconsistency of Dr. Kenrick in his notation of the quantity of these vowels, - - . . _ ibid. Uncertainty and inconsistency of Mr. Sheridan and Dr. Kenrick in marking the quantity of these vowels, - - 551 Exception to the general rule of pronouncing these syllables when e is followed by r, - . . . 553 Uncertainty of our best orthoepists in their syllabication of such words, exemplified by a list from Sheridan, Kenrick, Scott, and Perry, 554 Peculiar delicacy of the sound of these syllables, - - 555 Tendency of 0 before r to go into the same obscurity as e, exem- plified in the diversity and inconsistency of our best orthoepists in marking these syllables, - 557 Table of the simple and diphthongal vowels, referred to as a key to the figures over the letters in the dictionary,