Received Pronunciation

“ X, like s, is aspirated, or takes the sound of h after it, only when the accent is before it: hence the difference been luxury and luxurious; anxious and anxiety: in the true pronunciation of which words, nothing will direct us but recurring to first principles. It was observed that s is never aspirated, or pronounced like sh, but when the accent is on the preceding syllable ”

“ There is no better way to cultivate a perfect pronunciation; apart from association with cultivated people, than by getting a small pronouncing dictionary of words in ordinary use, and reading it word by word, marking and studying any that you use frequently and mispronounce. ”

“ And how many ways do we pronounce you? yo, yau, yeu, yiu, you, yuu, yet every dialect praise their own Speech, nay in Towns near together, nay in the same Town, nay in the same House, persons born in other places, differ in pronounciation, and many delight to hear different dialects (as the Grecians did) so they did but understand one another, though some precise Females do condemn all but their own finical pronunciation.
But why should phrase be spell’d with ph and s, and not f and z? ”

“ Sometimes apostrophes are used to indicate a neutral or connecting vowel. Where the accent of a syllable indicates clearly its pronunciation, no attempt is made of respelling the word. This is true of most common English words and words which are plainly pronounced as they are spelled. ”

“ It may be first observed, that the exertion of the organs of speech necessary to produce the accent or stress, has an obvious tendency to preserve the letters in their pure and uniform sound, while the relaxation or feebleness which succeeds the accent as naturally surfers the letters to slide into a somewhat different sound a little easier to the organs of pronunciation. ”

“ These are every day also put to the proof in regard to pronunciation. At the recitation in spelling where the word has more than one syllable, they must all seek for the pronunciation and then it is soon found by the test, though they know how to spell properly, whether through mispronunciation they are unfit to be so soon put at reading. ”

“ Pulicóse. The variety of accentuation which this sketch exhibits, sufficiently shows how uncertain are our Dictionaries where usage is obscure. From the decided prevalence of the accent on the last syllable of these words, we may easily guess at the analogy of pronunciation, and, with very little hesitation, determine that the accent ought to be placed on the last syllable of them all. ”

“ The young child associates the sense with the sound of words, and has no need to think of their orthography; in the same way, the student of a foreign language should associate the sense with the orthography of words, not with their pronunciation. If, as the rational method prescribes, we always pronounce the French when following with the eye the foreign text, we protect ourselves from a false pronunciation ”

“ It can scarcely be supposed that the most experienced speaker has heard every word in the language, and the whole circle of sciences pronounced exactly as it ought to be; and if this be the case, he must sometimes have recourse to the principles of pronunciation when his ear is either uninformed or unfaithful. ”

“ But besides the long and short sounds common to all the vowels, there is a certain transient indistinct pronunciation of some of them, when they are not accented, that cannot be so easily settled: when the accent is not upon it, no vowel is more apt to run into this imperfect sound than the a ”

“ But, before we endeavour this restoration, we should consider, that contracting the sound of the simple, when it acquires an additional syllable, is an idiom of pronunciation to which our language is extremely prone; nor is it certain that crossing this tendency would produce any real advantage; at least, not sufficient to counterbalance the diversity of pronunciation which must for a long time prevail, and which must necessarily call off our attention from things to words. See Enclitical Termination. ”

“ But though resting the g in the nasal sound, without articulating the succeeding vowel, is absolutely necessary in verbal nouns derived from verbs ending in ing, as singer, bringer, slinger, etc. pronounced sing-er, bring-er, sling-er, etc. and not sing-ger, bring-ger, sling-ger, etc. yet in longer, stronger, and younger; longest, strongest, and youngest, the g ought always to articulate the e: thus younger ought always to rhyme with the termination monger, which has always the g hard, and articulating the vowel; and this pronunciation is approved by Mr. Nares. ”

“ If perchance you happen to misplace an accent, you shall see their eyebrows curl up like an interrogation mark, and they will ask you what authority you have for that pronunciation. As if, forsooth, a man could not talk without book-license! ”

“ One or two authors affect to pronounce human, and about twenty other words beginning with h, as tho they were spelt yuman. [57] This is a gross error. The only word that begins with this sound, is humor, with its derivatives. In the American pronunciation, h is silent in the following, honest, honor, hour, humor, herb, heir, with their derivatives. To these the English add hospital, hostler, humble; but an imitation of these, which some industriously affect, cannot be recommended, as every omission of the aspirate serves to mutilate and weaken the language. ”

“ It is worth remembering that the change in pronunciation of a host of words like heat, meat, eat, ease, sea, speak, cheat, dream, deceit from hate, mate, ate, ase, say and so on is not in the nature of a sound change, but is merely the abandonment of one type of pronunciation, and the adoption of another, a very common phenomenon. ”

“ It may, indeed, be observed, that there is scarcely any thing more distinguishes a person of mean and good education than the pronunciation of the unaccented vowels. (547) (558) When vowels are under the accent, the prince, and the lowest of the people in the metropolis, with very few exceptions, pronounce them in the same manner; but the unaccented vowels in the mouth of the former have a distinct, open, and specific sound, while the latter often totally sink them, or change them into some other sound. ”

“ On the contrary, we find that there are others, whose pronunciation depends on the particular application and use of every part of the mouth, as the teeth, the lips, the tongue, the palate, etc. which yet cannot make any one perfect sound but by their union with those vocal sounds ”

“ Many writers on English pronunciation are accustomed to pour undiscriminating censure on the growing practice of substituting for the traditional mode of pronouncing certain words an ‘artificial’ pronunciation which is an interpretation of the written form of the words in accordance with the general rules relating to the ‘powers’ of the letters. This practice is especially common among imperfectly educated people who are ambitious of speaking correctly, and have unfortunately no better standard of ‘correctness’ than that of conformity with the spelling. ”

“ Nevertheless, we hear constantly the pronunciation dompter, promptitude, because the school masters who teach French to children, not having the Academy dictionary always at hand, are naturally inclined to pronounce words as they are written. ”

“ Our pronunciation and accent, peculiar in themselves, varying, moreover, to distraction over the English-speaking world, are just as serious stumbling-blocks to others, as, say, French and German accent and pronunciation are to us. ”

“ As a nation we do not talk so much too fast, as too loud. Tens of thousands twang and slur and shout and burr! Many of us drawl and many others of us race tongues and breath at full speed, but, as already said, the speed of our speech does not matter so much. Pitch of voice matters very much and so does pronunciation—enunciation is not so essential—except to one who speaks in public.
Enunciation means the articulation of whatever you have to say distinctly and clearly. Pronunciation is the proper sounding of consonants, vowels and the accentuation of each syllable. ”

“ If I may borrow an allusion from music, I might observe, that there is a certain tune in every language to which the ear of a native is set, and which often decides on the preferable pronunciation, though entirely ignorant of the reasons for it. ”

“ Wherever a foreign name has become so familiar to the English world as to have obtained an established English pronunciation, in speaking English we give it that pronunciation, without any regard to the usage of the people who live on the spot. ”

“ The familiar assent ay for yes, is a combinations of the long Italian a in the last syllable of papa, and the first sound of e. If we give the a the sound of that letter in ball, the word degenerates into a coarse rustic pronunciation. Though in the House of Commons, where this word is made a noun, we frequently, but not correctly, hear it so pronounced, in the phrase the Ayes have it.
AYE.
225. This triphthong is a combination of the slender sound of a, heard in pa-per, and the e in me-tre. The word which it composes, signifying ever, is almost obsolete. ”

“ Only then can he pronounce an unfamiliar English word with any assurance of propriety.
Notwithstanding the fact that every educated man has his favorite dictionary, it is probably true that no man’s pronunciation is in entire accord with the dictionary he habitually follows. ”

“ But when, on the contrary, the orthoepists themselves differ, one may reasonably infer that no statement of any one of them about the proper pronunciation of a word, however positive it may be, ought to be recognized as a binding authority. For no pronouncing dictionary is an absolutely final authority. Nor can it ever justly claim to be, since the pronouncing dictionary purports to record only such pronunciations as are sanctioned by good usage, and good usage ever varies with the living speech, which, like all living things, is always slowly changing from century to century. ”

“ Correct pronunciation is also of great importance. Usage has the same authority here as in the collocation of words, and has assigned to each one its proper sound, which no speaker can mistake without being exposed to misconception and damaging criticism. A deficient knowledge of pronunciation is apt to produce another and extremely hurtful effect. ”

“ In the course of a critical investigation of the powers of the letters in the foregoing principles, there is scarcely a word of any difficulty or diversity of sound which has not been noticed, and the true pronunciation, with the reasons and authorities for it, pointed out; so that if the inspector should not meet with sufficient information in the Dictionary under the word, let him consult the Principles under the vowel, diphthong, or consonant, he wishes to be explained, and it is highly probable he will meet with the satisfaction he requires. ”

“ C, p, and t are always voiced (i.e., are pronounced g, b, d) after s, except when they are final. The student may convince himself of this by placing the forefinger on the pharynx while pronouncing such words as:—scéal, stól, sparán, &c, or the words school (sgúl) , speak (sbíc) , &c. ”

“ When we place the accent on the first syllable, say our opponents, we give a kind of subordinate stress to the third syllable graph: by which means the word is divided into its primitives ορθὸς and γράφω, and those distinct ideas it contains, are preserved, which must necessarily be confounded by the contrary mode; and that pronunciation of compounds, say they, must certainly be the best which best preserves the import of the simples. ”

“ With the spread of education there go along those habits of speech which are generally recognized to be in accord with best usage and which therefore have most to commend them to popular favor. But till men cease to exercise the right of choice in the mode of utterance, till men prefer, for the sake of uniformity, to say exclusively “hóstǐle” and not “hostĩle,” “sérvǐle” and not “servle,” “rise” and not “rice,” to mention an example of variant usage, so long will there probably be a diversity of pronunciation and the consequent need for the pronouncing [Pg 55] dictionary. ”

“ In those cases where a character enters "seated" or "asleep," I have substituted the verb "appear" for the verb "enter"; yet I am not sure that this concession to realism is wise.
The system of transliteration which I have adopted is intended to render the pronunciation of proper names as simple as may be to the English reader. The consonants are to be pronounced as in English, [3] the vowels as in Italian. ”

“ This arises from two causes: (1) the direct influence of the English language being spoken so generally throughout the country; (2) from slovenly pronunciation; just as we hear the words “tune” “dew” &c, pronounced by mutterers chune, jew, &c. ”

“ It may be observed too, that when the verb ends in a liquid, or a liquid and mute e, the participle d always preserves its pure sound; as blamed, joined, filled, barred, pronounced blam'd, join'd, fill'd, barr'd. This contraction of the participial ed, and the verbal en, (103) is so fixed an idiom of our pronunciation, that to alter it, would be to alter the sound of the whole language. ”

“ And this, as we have seen, we always do in speaking; for it is to the more important words that we naturally desire to draw the special attention of the person or persons whom we address, and not to the ancillary or subordinate words.
“It may also be observed that Pronouns, though important parts of speech, should be classed, with regard to their pronunciation in a sentence, with the less important words, as Articles, Prepositions, and Conjunctions. ”