Chapter I. of Pronunciation

SECTION I. OF ACCENT.

Though penetrated ourselves by the desire of imparting instruction, we are far from wishing to bore our readers; and therefore we shall: endeavor to repeat nothing here that we have said before.

Accent {104}is the marking with a peculiar stress of the voice a particular letter or syllable in a word, in such a manner as to render it more distinct or audible than the rest. Thus, in the word théatre, the stress of the voice should be on the letter e and first syllable the; and in contrary, on the first syllable con. How shocking it is to hear people say con-trary, the-atre! The friends of education will be reminded with regret, that an error in the pronunciation of the first of these words is very early impressed on the human mind.

"Mary, Mary, Quite contrary, How does your garden grow?"

How many evils, alas! arise from juvenile associations!

Words of two syllables never have more than one of them accented, except for the sake of peculiar emphasis. Gentlemen, however, whose profession it is to drive certain public vehicles called cabs, are much accustomed to disregard this rule, and to say, "po-lite" (or "pur-lite"), "gén-téel," "con-cern," "po-lice," and so on: nay, they go so far as to convert a word of one syllable into two, for the sake of indulging in this style of pronunciation; and thus the word "queer" is pronounced by them as "ke-veer."

The word "a-men," when standing alone, should be pronounced with two accents.

The accents in which it usually is pronounced are very inelegant. Clerks, now-a-days, alas! are no scholars.

Dissyllables, formed by adding a termination, usually have the former syllable accented: as, "Foolish, block-head," &c.

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The {105}accent in dissyllables, formed by prefixing a syllable to the radical word, is commonly on the latter syllable: as, "I protest, I declare, I entreat, I adore, I expire."

Protestations, declarations, entreaties, and adorations, proclaim a swain to be simply tender; but expiration (for love) proves him to be decidedly soft.

A man who turns lover becomes a protest-ant; and his conduct at the same time generally undergoes a reformation, especially if he has previously been a rake.

The zeal, however, of a reformed rake, like that of Jack in Dean Swift's "Tale of a Tub," is sometimes apt to outrun his discretion.

When the same word, being a dissyllable, is both a noun {106}and a verb, the verb has mostly the accent on the latter, and the noun on the former Syllable: as,

"Molly, let Hymen's gentle hand Cemént our hearts together, With such a cément as shall stand In spite of wind and weather.

"I do presage--and oft a fact A présage doth foretoken-- Our mutual love shall ne'er contract, Our côntract ne'er be broken."

There are many exceptions to the rule just enunciated (so that, correctly as well as familiarly speaking, it is perhaps no rule;) for though verbs seldom have an accent on the former, yet nouns frequently have it on the latter syllable: as,

"Mary Anne is my delight Both by day and eke by night; For by day her soft contrôl Soothes my heart and calms my soul; And her image while I doze Comes to sweeten my repôse; Fortune favoring my design, Please the pigs she shall be mine!"

The former syllable of most dissyllables ending in y, our, ow, le, ish, ck, ter, age, en, èt, is accented: as "Grânny, noôdle," &c.

Except allôw, avôw, endôw, bestôw, belôw.

"Sir I cannot allôw You your flame to avôw; Endôw yourself first with the rhino: My hand to bestôw On a fellow belôw Me!--I'd rather be--never mind--- I know."

"Music," {107}in the language of the Gods, is sometimes pronounced "mû-sic!"

Nouns of two syllables ending in er, have the accent on the former syllable: as, "Bûtcher, bâker."

It is, perhaps, a singular thing, that persons who pursue the callings denoted by the two words selected as examples, should always indicate their presence at an area by crying out, in direct defiance of Prosody, "But-chér, ba-kér;" the latter syllable being of the two the more strongly accented.

Dissyllabic verbs ending in a consonant and e final, as "Disclose," "repine," or having a dipthong in the last syllable, as, "Believe," "deceive," or ending in two consonants, as "Intend," are accented on the latter syllable.

"Matilda's eyes a light disclôse, Which with the star of Eve might vie; Oh! that such lovely orbs as those Should sparkle at an apple-pie! "Thy love I thought was wholly mine, Thy heart I fondly hoped to rule; Its throne I cannot but repine At sharing with a goosb'ry fool! "Thou swear'st no flatterer can decéive Thy mind,--thy breast no coxcomb rifle; Thou art no trifler, I beliéve, But why so plaguy fond of trifle? "Why, when we're wed--I don't inténd To joke, Matilda, or be funny; I really fear that you will spend The Honey Moon in eating honey!"

Most {108}dissyllabic nouns, having a dipthong in the latter syllable, have the aécent also on that syllable: as,

"A Hamlet that draws Is sure of applâuse."

A Hamlet that draws? There are not many who can give even an outline of the character.

In a few words ending in ain the accent is placed on the former syllable: as, "Villain," which is pronounced as the natives of Whitechapel pronounce "willing." Those dissyllables, the vowels of which are separated in pronunciation, always have the accent on the first syllable: as, lion, scion, &c.

When is a young and tender shoot Like a fond swain? When 'tis a scion.

What's the most gentlemanly brute Like, of all flow'rs? A dandylion.'

Trisyllables, formed by adding a termination or prefixing a syllable, retain the accent of the radical word: as, "Lôveliness, shéepishness, knâvery, assûrance." The first syllable of trisyllables ending in ons, al, ion, is accented in the generality of cases: as in the words "sérious, câpital," &c.

"Dr. Johnson declared, with a sérious face, That he reckoned a punster a villain: What would he have thought of the horrible case Of a man who makes jokes that are killing?"

In his diction to speak 'tis not easy for one Who must furnish both reason and rhyme: "Sir, the rogue who has utter'd a câpital pun, Has committed a câpital crime.'

Trisyllables {109}ending in ce, ent, ate, y, re, le, and ude, commonly accent the first syllable. Many of those, however, which are derived from words having the accent on the last syllable and of those of which the middle syllable has a vowel between two consonants, are excepted.

They who would elegantly speak Should not say "impudence," but "cheek;" Should all things éatable call "prog;" Eyes "ogles," côuntenance "phisog." A coach should nôminate a "drag," And spécify as "moke," a nag: For éxcellent, use "prime" or "bang up," Or "out and out;" and "scrag," for hang up. The théâtre was wont to teach The public réctitude of speech, But we who live in modern age Consult the gallery, not the stage.

Trisyllables ending in ator have the accent placed on the middle syllable; as, "Spectâtor, narrâtor," &c. except ôrator, sénator, and a few other words.

Take care that you never pronounce the common name of the vegetable sometimes called Irish fruit, "purtator."

A dipthong in the middle syllable of a trisyllable is accented: as also, in general, is a vowel before two consonants: as, "Doméstic," "endéavor."

An endeavor to appear domesticated, or in common phraseology, to "do" the domestic, is sometimes made by young gentlemen, and generally with but an ill grace. {110}Avoid such attempts, reader, on all occasions: and in particular never adventure either to nurse babies, or (when you shall have "gone up to the ladies") to pour water into the tea-pot from the kettle. A legal or medical student sometimes thinks proper, from a desire of appearing at once gallant and facetious, to usurp the office of pouring out the tea itself, on which occasions he is very apt to betray his uncivilised habits by an unconscious but very unequivocal manipulation used in giving malt liquor what is technically termed a "head."

Many polysyllables are regulated as to accent by the words from which they are derived: as, "Inex-préssibles, Sûbstituted, Unobjéctionably, Désignated, Transatlàntic, Délicacy, Decidedly, Unquéstionable."

Words ending in ator are commonly accented on the last syllable but one, let them be as long as they may: as, respirâtor, regulator, renovâtor, indicâtor, and all the other alors that we see in the newspapers.

Many words ending in ion, ous, ty, ia, io, and cal, have their accent on the last syllable but two: as, "Con-si-de-râ-ti-on, pro-di-gi-ous, im-pe-ne-tra-bil-i-ty, en-cy-clo-pæ'-di-a, brag-ga-dô-ci-o, an-ti-mo-nârch-i-cal," all of which words we have divided into syllables, by way of a hint that they are to be pronounced (comically speaking) after the manner of Dominie Sampson.

Words that end in le usually have the accent on the first syllable: as, "Amicable, déspicable," &c.: although we have heard people say "despicable."

"I never see such a despicable fellow, not in all my born days."

Words of this class, however, the second syllable of which has a vowel before two consonants, are often differently {111}accented: as in "Respéctable, contémptible.

Having, in compliance with grammatical usage, laid down certain rules with regard to accent, we have to inform the reader that there are so many exceptions to almost all of them, that perhaps there is scarcely one which it is worth while to attend to. We hope we have some measure amused him; but as to instruction, fear that, in this part of our subject, we have given him {112}very little of that. Those who would acquire a correct accent had better attend particularly to the mode of speaking adopted in good society; avoid debating clubs; and go to church. For farther satisfaction and information we refer them, and we beg to say that we are not joking--to Walker.