but one arch instead of two.* When he can retain the organs in this position at will, let him commence his practice to acquire the new articulation, by very slowly raising the point of the tongue during the prolonged utterance of the open vowels ah and aw, till it comes upon the palate obstructively, and so forms the letter D. If the under jaw be kept down, it will be almost impossible to do this without sounding an R during the progress of the tongue to the palate. Then endeavour to stop the tongue at various intermediate elevations, continuing the voice at each, and keeping the teeth and lips perfectly motionless. When some power of action in the tongue has been thus acquired, strike it upwards quickly and repeatedly during the flow of voice; and, probably, a very tolerable R will be at once produced. Further improvement will then be gained by the following exercise. Sound Z with the thickness of an ivory paper-cutter between the teeth; and, during the continuance of the sound, gradually open the teeth till they admit the breadth of the paper-cutter between them. The effort to continue something like the buzzing sound of Z, while the teeth come apart, will draw the point of the tongue backwards and upwards almost to the position for R initial; and the sound thus produced may therefore be used as initial R in practising words beginning with that letter. At first it may be necessary to give the subsequent vowel a separate commencement, by a momentary occlusion of the glottis after the R,—thus, r-each, r-ide, &c. to prevent the possibility of habit foisting in a little of the old guttural vibration between the new R and the vowel. Fluency of connexion will very soon be gained, and the roughest Burr may be, by these means, perfectly cured!

There is not the slightest diffi-
There is a difficulty, however,
or vibrated R. Many persons

R is a harsh letter in the mouth of a Scotchman. It is one of the points by which a Northern utterance is most readily detected in England; for few Scotchmen get over their vernacular habits in forming this letter. Yet, there is no reason why they should not. If the true formation of the English R be understood, and the difference between it and the Scottish R clearly apprehended, any one may soften a rough R almost at the first effort. culty when the principle of formation is known. to unaccustomed organs, in producing a rolling cannot, from want of lingual power, attain it. If the tongue is too much tied to the bed of the jaw, burring will arise from the effort to make the rough R ; and a labial modification of sound, something like w, will be produced by the attempt at the smoother sound. This latter peculiarity would almost seem to be cultivated among affected English speakers :—it is too common to be accidental. "The wuffness of the auwdinawy ahw," say these sonorous reformers, “wendews its ewadication fwom wefined uttewance desiwable and weally necessawy.'

An easy method of developing vibratory power on the point of the tongue, is to repeat, with open mouth, and with the utmost softness and rapidity, articulations of the letter D. Thus, de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de, &c.; or, dididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididididid, &c.

R is difficult-often peculiarly so-to the Stammerer. The breath pours out from the open and valveless channel with destructive impetuosity, and the waste of the material of speech induces a series of efforts in head, and chest, and limbs, to supply the place of the ungovernable agents of utterance. When the Stammerer has brought his valve-the glottis-under due control, he will have but little difficulty in restraining the pressure of the chest, and completely obviating all the distressing distortion of the impediment. He must carefully study the mechanism of the R, and enounce it, if necessary, separately at first, to break the association between it and the stammering paroxysm. A little practice will render this expedient unnecessary, and enable him to effect its combination with fluency.

R final is, we have said, so purely vocal, that we do not reckon it an articulation. The student, desirous of acquiring the smooth pronunciation of this English element, should practise the lists of words terminating in R, (pages 107-8) giving to the R and re the vowel-sound of i in sir. Let him at first sit before a glass, and, while he sounds this vowel, observe his tongue rise very gently; but not so much as to create a hissing of the breath, or vibration of the tongue. If ah be sounded for R-final, with an observed elevation of the point of the tongue, the English element will be very speedily perfected. Uneducated Cockneys sound ah, without this lingual elevation,—sah for sir, heah for here, &c.

An English peculiarity, not confined to Cockneys, or to the uneducated, is the insertion of an R between vowels. Thus, when one word ends with a vowel, and the next begins with one, the tongue strikes glibly up on the palate, and gracelessly obviates hiatus, by interposing an r. "Is papa r at home ?" "I saw r aunt." "What an idea r it is!" This obtrusion is only heard after the open vowels 6, 7, and 10; the formative apertures of which are but little different from the aperture of the English r(8). Thus we never hear "Gor away," "I see r it now," because the R in English is never sounded without its vowel effect in connexion with long close vowels. This is one of the most inveterate of all habits of speech. The only cure is to finish the first vowel by a smart momentary occlusion of the glottis; and give the subsequent one thus a separate commencement. Children may easily be prevented from falling into this habit, and it is surely worth the little attention and care it requires.

R and L are very liable to be confounded when they occur in proximate syllables. The vocal aperture for the former is over the point of the tongue, and for the latter over the sides at the back of the tongue; and there is a difficulty in passing quickly from one to the other of these positions: thus in the sentence, "Little Richard wrote a letter; yes, a letter little Richard wrote,”—or in the quick reiteration of the Scotch nursery-rhyme, “Rob Low's lum reeks,” few persons will avoid some confusion of the R and L. A similar difficulty presents itself in such words as literally, literary, literarily, &c.

This is an organic difficulty, and on all such, highly useful exercises may be arranged. The following will be found extremely beneficial in giving power and precision of action to the tongue.

Repeat the combinations frequently, and with verbal accentuations.

R initial receives no articulation in combination with it in English. In French we find rw, as in roi, roideur, &c.

R unites with the initial articulations P, B, F, Th, Sh, T, D, K, G, as in pretty, bride, freeze, three, shrink, try, dry, crime, grief.

W seems to have been at one time sounded before R; it is still written, and in Scotland we frequently hear it pronounced by old people in such common words as wretch, wrong, write, wright, &c. It has been noticed that w is often sounded instead of R as an affectation.

EXERCISES.

Initial.-Reap, reef, wreath, wreak, ream, reave, rebus, wreathe, read, reel, rear, reason, regal, reach, regenerate, ripple, rift, rhythm, risk, rickets, writ, ribbons, rim, rivet, risen, riddance, rinse, rigour, rill, rich, ridge, ray, rapier, wraith, race, ratio, rake, rate, raiment, rave, raze, radiate, rain, rail, rage, reprimand, refluent, rest, reckless, retinue, rebel, (s.) remnant, reverie, reservoir, red, render, regular, relegate, wretch, rap, raffle, rascal, rash, rack, rat, rabble, ramble, ravage, radical, ransom, rag, ratch, raillery, rasp, rather, ruption, ruffian, rustic, rush, ruck, rub, rumble, ruddy, run, rug, raw, wrought, wrath, rostrum, rock, rotten, robber, romp, rosin, rod, rondeau, roar, roe, rope, road, robe, roam, rover, rose, rote, roan, roll, rogue, roach, rue, rufous, ruth, rookery, route, rutilant, ruby, room, roost, ruse, rouge, rude, ruin, runic, rule, rye, ripe, rifle, rice, ride, rhyme, rive, writhe, rise, write, rowel, rout, rouse, round, royal.

Between vowels.-Eyry, ear-ache, leering, peeress, mirror, miracle, spirit, lyric, Pyrrhic, herring, berry, burial, sterile, merit, airy, variable, garish, unwary, fairy, parish, arid, carriage, tarry, harrow, marrow, tarry, (ad.) starry, hurry, aurist, oracle, sorry, torrid, horrible, borrow, tomorrow, warrior, tory, soaring, borer, gory, poorer, curer, lurid, moorish, jury, alluring, irony, pirate, fiery, wiry, showery, cowering, towering, dowery.

L.

OBSERVATIONS.-This is the most clearly sonorous of all the articulations. It is formed by a uninterrupted current of pure voice, flowing over the sides of the back of the tongue-and little if it all affected by vibrations of the apertures through which it passes. The fore-part of the tongue is in contact with the rim of the palatal arch, and laterally with the teeth. This is the articulating position of L, and were there no subsequent action necessary to complete the element, L would be simply a vowel. But the oral aperture is changed by the removal of the fore-part of the tongue; and this action constitutes the letter an articulation. The nasal elements, we have noticed, (page 179) have a similar vowelvocality;-with them as with L, it is the removal of the apposed organs which constitutes them Articulations. This accounts for the syllabic function which these letters perform in such words as saddle, sadden, &c., where l and n without any vowel sounded in connexion, form distinct syllables.

The formation of L is very often faulty-sometimes from the apertures through which the voice flows, being contracted so as to cause a degree of vibration on the sides of the tongue; sometimes from the breath not being perfectly intercepted by the point of the tongue ;-sometimes from the tongue being too thickly pointed-and not sufficiently spread out in front-so that the breath escapes too far forward, and by too elongated openings ;-often from the tongue habitually taking the unfavourable position of turning its tip downwards to the bed of the jaw,-thus causing the rounded back of the tongue to rise into the palatal arch-and depriving the articulation of the clear, sharp, and percussive effect of the removal of the obstructing fore-part of the tongue ;-sometimes from rounding the lips-either with or without the lingual action-so as to modify the voice almost into oo or W; as "the wady is weh-oo,”—(the lady is well :) and, in not a few cases, from making the articulative position perfectly obstructive, and passing the sound through the nose-with the effect of ng, or a modification of nasal quality, between that of ng and n. These and other minor diversities of mal-formation of this most mellifluous element, are remarkably common. A Scotch peculiarity, is the superaddition of a vowel sound,-nearly that of u(9); the 7 being thus made to sound almost like ul in ultimate. This is not when initial, but when a vowel precedes the l as in ale, sell, &c. pronounced a-ul, seh-ŭl, &c. When L should make a separate syllable, the same sort of sound is frequently heard. There is a greater tendency to this fault when L follows the close, than when it follows the open vowels. There is indeed an organic preference for the interposition of some open vowel between e(1) and 7, arising from the difficulty of shifting the tongue rapidly from its lumpish position at ee to the very different sharp attitude of L; as in feel, field, &c. The incombinable nature of these formations is seen also in the want of fluency in the combination Ly. When these occur in one syllable—the tongue would fain pass over the y and pronounce lure, and lute, simply loor, and loot; but

polite usage forbids this, yet authorizes a compromise of the difficulty; and, instead of requiring both articulations to have their full formation by the removal of the point of the tongue between them, allows the tip to remain on the palate, while the middle of the tongue rises a little a softened effect of Y is thus produced as the succeeding vowel opens from the described position. This halfformed Y is represented in some pronouncing dictionaries by an apostrophe :thus, to represent the sound of the words lure and lute, the notation in Smart's excellent Dictionary, is l'oor, l'oot, &c. When the 7 and y are not in the same syllable—as in value, volume, &c.—both may be correctly articulated.

To perfect the articulation of L, let the student adopt the various means of practice subjoined, and, whatever the nature of his mal-articulation, it will very speedily be removed.

Adjust the mouth carefully to the position for L,-the tongue spread out, elevated to the edge of the palatal arch, and pressing firmly against it,— the lips drawn back and perfectly separated at the corners, so as to permit the sound to pass out uninfluenced by the lips. Let the arrangement of the tongue against the palate in front-(by no means touching the front teeth)— and laterally against the inside of the teeth, be perfectly obstructive. Produce as clear a vocal sound as possible,—its vowel quality will be something like the French ✩-and continue it for some time with the articulating organs perfectly steady; then, by a rapid backward action of the whole tongue, modify the sound to that of the vowel aw. The under surface of the tongue should be kept in sight throughout. Repeat this with increasing rapidity, till the syllables produced are shortened to lollollolloll, &c. In the same way, proceed with the other vowels till the formation of L with the vowels is perfected. Then take the combinations, Im, In, lr, lg, lb, lv, lz, ld, ly, and practise them with vowels before and after them,-at first prolonging the L for some seconds, to be assured of its correct formation and pure vocality, and gradually giving it the natural duration. The tongue must not leave its position for L till the instant of the formation of the succeeding element. Many persons are unable to produce L in combination with M, as in elm, helm, &c., without interposing a vowel. There is no difficulty in the combination when the mechanism is clearly understood. After these letters, followed by vowels, can be fluently articulated, practise them without a final vowel,—thus:

alm alv alb alz aln ald alg,—with ě, Ĭ, ŏ, ŭ.

L is so short before the breath articulations, that its prolongation, as in the previous exercise, would be unnatural and a useless means of practice. Let the student form L in the following combinations, by striking the tongue instantaneously to its position,-stopping the vowel and the sound of L together, but retaining the tongue silently for some seconds in its place, before proceeding to the next articulation,-which must be formed without any intervention of sound or breathing,—thus: