Page images
PDF
EPUB

on the same ground? Why did they seek to know how wiTM 11Ö hear? They have duborated theories of optics—and look in the resul: Wonderful mechanical adaptations of grace principies. before undreamt of and vinci, DinerVisŁ, Would never he DEL discovered Migit nu a amlogous resuk azzend zie pulosopirical investigation of the facity of speech and aconsar and articulative primapier be developed, winch would lead z mechameal inventions no less wonderful EUČ U THEl thom in omes? A suiget so bide erjured, and stoper operans, 15, 21 least, full of promise to scent..

l the ordinary mode of seating didiren u read, the differit tive. Decessari aming our defective oranghy, we fil it in the learner'+ WET, HI DE TITLE his task one of as much arudgery as possible. What is called cirmentary instruction is IAE SUEL—DET Endoren have no really dementary instruction in speech. They are tangin the aquaber, such as it is: ban they are dan tangin an alphaben of suunda. They are therit to nond the jesters; tuet je to say, they are taught to associate with the Characters a set of word, by which they may in time become qualified to speak of the lemers, but they are not taught those single eûendentary sounds by which they might at once be enabled wu spouk the letters: so that the child has not the most distant idea of the real object of the characters be becomes familiar with. It never can enter into his mind that they stand for no more in speech than those puffs, and blows, and Lisses, and other funny muises, which the youngest in the school could make perfectly, and would make with most delightful interest; this is all darkness to lóm-and if by some accidental coincidence between the name and power of a letter, a ray of light flash upon him, and he seek to trace it to the truth which shot it forth, he soon gives up the search in despair;-the light disappears at the first step from the chick which let it in-and he can see no way out of the doubleyou, eye, ell, de, e, are, en, e, double-ess, (wilderness) by which he finds himself surrounded.

The first sad period of his education at last over-he “knows his letters." Unfortunately, however, he discovers that he is then hardly in the least advanced in the art of reading, but has a new task to learn, and a new vexation, in every new combination of letters. One thing, however, is done, beyond the mastery of the alphabetic names; he has learned to learn without under

standing-to know without knowing what;-and he is therefore prepared to apply what he knows in any way he may be told, without inquiring, or caring to learn, the how and why. A foundation is laid for a mindless after-course. The school he either dislikes, or loves only for its opportunities of social mischief; till in due course he "finishes his education," and leaves the school-with a certain amount of knowledge acquired by dint of preceptorial authority, but without having learned the pre-eminently important lesson-to teach himself to love knowledge for its own sake-to have a "constant care to increase his store"and to go on a scholar to the end of his days.

Fraught with consequences momentous as these, is, we believe, the false initiatory training of the alphabetic class.

An improved orthography would, no doubt, be a ready means of improving this state of matters, and a very excellent system of letters has recently been introduced as an experiment ;—but we fear existing prejudices will be found too strong to admit of sufficient reformation in this way. A better use must be made of present materials.

The rational mode of teaching to read would surely be, to begin with the mouth, and teach it to speak;-to present, first, to the imitative aptitude of children the simple elemental sounds of language, and get them practically mastered orally, before endeavouring to teach the eye to recognise their arbitrary symbols. The sounds should be the first object of the teacher; and their practice will be an amusement-not a task-to the children :while, in learning them, they may be led on, almost insensibly, to a knowledge of the alphabetic symbols, and so by a most agreeable method, and in a very short time, gain all, and much more than all, that is now gained after laborious and protracted effort on the part both of teacher and pupil.

Distinct and graceful habits of speech, too, would thus be formed; the mouth would be always in advance of the eye; and so there would be an end to those abortive mouthings, and to that hesitancy and stammering which, in a greater or less degree, are common to all educational tyros now, and which do sometimes strike root into the muscular and nervous systems, and produce most pitiable objects in society.

A glance at the pages of English writers of past and present times will show that innovations in orthography are not to be

dreaded as novelties without precedent, and of doubtful consequence. Our language has been, in this respect, in a state of constant change; modes of spelling, and modes of pronunciation too, have had their seasons of fashion and of desuetude and people have got on without perplexity amid their fluctuations, and have as readily adopted the novelties, and antiquated their antecedents, as they have changed the fashions of their garments. Now, there is less liability to change, and it is more difficult to effect alterations, on account of the numerous dictionaries which have given something like a standard to orthography. But even in these there have been changes, and every new lexicon registers some alterations. There is, therefore, no ground for a spirit of etymological conservatism, opposing improvements as destructive to long-instituted and time-honoured modes of spelling. Changes will take place, and the more the subject of speech is studied, the more rapid and easy will transitions become, till letters present a picture of sounds almost as simple as the sounds themselves.

An orthographic reformation is commonly deprecated by the educated, though none can deny that it would afford the readiest means of giving the blessings of education to the illiterate. The various objections urged against a change are all of them selfish considerations. They possess no weight in comparison with the great advantages which would result from the adoption of a mode of spelling correspondent to our actual utterance.

An ill-represented language is a hindrance to foreign communication; and this must lead to reformations, as international intercourse increases. The inconveniences of English orthography are peculiarly great. The language itself is difficult enough to foreigners; but its irregular orthography renders its correct use almost unattainable to those who are not

"Native here, and to the manner born."

The object of the present work is not, however, to attempt a change in orthographic practice. We believe that a better acquaintance with the elementary simplicity of speech will in time work all necessary changes; and we therefore leave speculative reformations in the meantime, and confine ourselves to practical improvements in the use of present materials. We have endeavoured to frame from actual observation a complete scheme of the elements of speech-to show the true powers of our letters, and so to remedy in some degree those inconveniences which result

from ignorance superadded to the systematic absurdities which confessedly characterize our language, as it vainly struggles to preserve an etymological shadow in the Writing, when the substance has no longer an existence in the Speech.

QUANTITY.

DIFFERENT degrees of quantity may be recognised in the simple elements of speech, vowel and articulate, as well as in their syllabic and verbal combinations. Among the English VOWELS, singly uttered, we distinguish three degrees of quantity. The longest are those vowels which consist of two qualities of sound, viz.— DIPHTHONGS. They may be composed of either an open vowel tapering into a closer, as a-e, ah-e, ah-oo, aw-e, o-00,-heard in ail, isle, owl, oil, old, or of any monophthong-vowel flowing into the

31 7 1 7 13 10 1 12 13

[blocks in formation]

open and peculiar sound er,- -as e-er, eh-er, ah-er, uh-er, aw-er,

11 8 13 8

o-er, oo-er,-heard in ear, air, are, urn, drawer, ore, poor. These are all diphthongs; though only the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the first set are generally enumerated as such.*

#

The initial elements of all these diphthongs give LONG MONOPIITHONGS, which are the next in quantity to the diphthongs.-The

31 12 13 4 8 9 8 11 8

first sounds of a-e, o-00, eh-er, uh-er, o-er, do not occur separately as long sounds in English: the first two do not occur separately at all.

The next and shortest class of vowels are those abrupt utterances of voice heard in ill, ell, an, us, on, book, &c., which are SHORT MONOPHTHONGS. There is not, as seems to be generally supposed, any degree of duration essential to either of the monophthong vowels. The longest may be pronounced as shortly as the regularly short sounds; and any of the latter may be prolonged to the full quantity of the longest of the former class. Thus, if we endeavour to prolong the short monophthongs, or to stop abruptly the long ones, we shall discover that eh, aw, and oo, are essentially the same vowel formations as e(ll), o(n), (b)oo(k); and also

* In Smart's Dictionary, the last class of sounds is noticed in the scheme of vowels, under the separate head of " VOWELS WHICH TERMINATE IN GUTTURAL VIBRATION."

that u(s) is precisely the same sound as the initial element of the diphthong ur.

The monophthongs e and ah are never short in accented syllables in English; but that they can be shortened as readily as those which are sometimes long and sometimes short, will be evident from experiment. In Scotland their short sounds are often heard ; they constitute, indeed, a main feature in the Scottish dialect. The 5th vowel a(n), though always short in English, is often heard

5

long in Scotland, as in the word father-pronounced fã-ther—and in many words which have the 6th and 7th sounds in England. Even in England, we sometimes hear a long form of the 5th vowel, and regularly in Ireland, in the words aunt, chant, &c., pass, graft, laugh, bath, &c. The correct vowel for the former words is ah, though the intermediate a, heard correctly in the latter words, is perhaps as often used by good speakers.

Among the ARTICULATIONS there are various degrees of quantity. The vocal articulations are essentially longer than the non-vocal, but in each class there are varieties. 1. The Breath Obstructives are the shortest ;-2. The Dreath Continuous elements are the next longer;-3. The Shut Voice Articulations (the shortest of the vocal elements) are the next;-4. The Close, Continuous Voice Articulations are longer still; and, 5. The Open Continuous, (or Liquids) are the longest simple articulations. Thus, there are five degrees of quantity among the articulations. The following is their arrangement :—

(1.) P, T, K.

(2.) F, Th, S, Sh.

(3.) B, D, G.
(4.) V, Th, Z, Zh.

(5.) L, M, N, ng.

It will be observed, that we omit from this table W, Wh, Y, and R. The reason is, that these articulations do not occur after vowels, but only as initials in English; and all initial letters, whether voice or breath, are alike in quantity.

These differences of articulative quantity will be best observed by prefixing to each articulation the three classes of vowels. The short vowels will be found to have degrees of shortness, according to the kind of articulation they precede,—and the long monophthongs and diphthongs will also be found to be considerably affected in quantity by the succeeding articulation. The follow

« EelmineJätka »