IT

T is evident to every one, who examines himself, that he was made not only to think, but likewife to speak, or to communicate his thoughts to others. The moft fublime exercises of the human mind afford very little pleasure, when confined to the bofom of the philofopher. He is not contented to know, he longs to communicate. And, as the Roman orator expreffes himself, it is impoffible that a man should enjoy any pleasure from the prospect of celestial glories, who has not an opportunity of communicating them to others. What he has afferted is confirmed by the facred writings. There we are told, that the firit man was uneafy in his folitary ftate, and that the divine benevolence created a female of the fame fpecies to render him happy; infinuating, that, without company or conversation, even paradife would lofe all its beauties, and be incapable to produce happinefs. The brutal creation, being by nature irrational, could not have recognized the proper objects of difcourfe. Speech may therefore be reprefented as the joint exercise of our best and nobleft faculties, as the exercife of our reason, and our focial affection; it is our peculiar ornament VOL. I.

and diftinction as men, and therefore enquiries concerning fpeech are not lefs interefting than liberal. The Grecians, convinced of the utility of fuch an enquiry, gave the title of Grammarian, as the highest compliment they could pay to perfons diftinguished in any branch of mental exercise and fcience. Nor were they to be blamed. For tho' we can communicate our thoughts to one another by articulate founds, yet fomething more than the mere ufe of articulate founds is requifite to make us understood. There is a propriety in fpeech, which is requifite to make it intelligible, without which we cannot communicate our ideas to others; and therefore, it has been found neceffary to lay down fuch rules as are fufficient to guard languages from barbarifm; and a collection of these rules has, by fome, been reduced to a fyftem, which is what we generally ftile Grammar.

Grammar is divided into general and particular. General or univerfal grammar explains the principles which are common to all languages. The grammar of any particular language applies the common principles of univerfal grammar to that particular language, and contains fuch rules as G

are

are peculiar to it, and requifite to the speaking or writing it properly. Every language confiits of fentences; fentences of words; words of fyllables; and fyllables of one or more letters. Letters, therefore, fyllables, words, and fentences, conititute the whole fubject of grammar.

Sound articulate is the matter of language, and letters, which being invented to convey the articulate founds of every language to the reader, fhould have been expreffive of every articulate found made ufe of by perfons who fpeak the fame lan

guage.

But this has hardly been the cafe in any language that we know of. To inftance in the English, we have fix-and-twenty letters; but every vowel in our language has two or more founds annexed to it; we should therefore have twice the number of letters to exprefs even our vocal founds, exclufive of fuch letters, which are called confonants, fome of which have different founds likewife. Our alphabet confifts of twentyfix letters, which are, A, a; B, b; C,c; D, d; E, e; F, f; G, g; H, h; I, i; Jj; K, k; L, 1; M, m; N, n; O, o; P, p; Qq ; R, r; S, s; T, t; U, u; V, v; W, w; X, x; Y, y; z, z.

These letters are divided into vowels and confonants; and the confonants are fubdivided into mutes and liquids.

A vowel is a letter which may be eafily and distinctly founded by itself. The vowels are fix, namely, a, e, i, o, u,y. Of vowels are formed diphthongs, which may be called compound vowels, as they proceed from the union of two or more vowels pronounced by a fingle effort of the voice; fuch are ai, au, &c. When three vowels are united in one found they form a triphthang.

A confonant is a letter which cannot be founded of itfelf and from its

own power, but at all times in com... pany with fome auxiliary vowel.

Confonants are fubdivided into mutes and femivovels. The mutes are fuch as yield no found without the help of a vowel; thefe are b, c, d, g, k, q, t: the femivowels make an obfcure or imperfect found, they are l, m, n, r, f,s; the first four of which are likewife called liquids.

X is called a double confonant, be cause it has the compounded found of c, or k, and, thus ax founds like acks.

A has three founds, flender or flow, fhort and broad. It is long, or flender, in face, date, and in words ending with ation, as falvation. It is short in bat; it is broad, having an obfcure found mixed with a in fall, call, A forms a proper diphthong only with i, y, u, or w. As in plain, clay, audience, flaw. It is an improper diphthong, when joined with e, as in Cafar, being fcarcely pronounced at all.

B has an unvaried found. It is mute, or not founded, in debt, debtor, fubtle, doubt; and after m at the end of words, as comb, climb, dumb, lamb, limb, thumb, womb.

C is founded foft, like an s, before an e, i, or y, as in center, circle, policy. It founds hard, like k, before a, o,u ; as in care, cord, curd. When joined with h it has sometimes a soft found, like that of the Italians in cita, which they found chitta; this found it has in charm, charity; but in words derived from the Greck, it has the hard found of x, as in arch-angel, which is pronounced arc-angel. In words derived from the French it is founded like an fh, as in machine. C fhould not ever end a monyfallable in English, and therefore we write stick, block, &c.

D has the fame found in moft of the ancient and modern languages. In English it generally shortens the vowel that comes before it, as in bad,

fed,

fed, lid, rod, mud. Our natives used formerly to pronounce the dd as it is now founded by the Welch, thus bladder is in fome counties founded blather, and ladder, lather; like the th in father.

E is founded long, or fhort, in different words; it is long in fcene; it is fhort in men ; and always before a double confonant, as in cellar; it is the fame when joined with two confonants, as in medlar. It is filent, mute, or not pronounced at the end of words, monofyllables excepted, as in fate; but in this cafe it gene rally ferves to lengthen the fyllable, thus pin, when the e final is joined to it, makes pine. We faid, that e final generally ferves to lengthen fyllables, and we expreffed ourfelves properly, for in live, it does not lengthen the fyllable. Before 1, in the end of words, it is fcarcely pronounced, as in open; and when it follows r and 1, at the end of words, in imitation of the French, it is pronounced with an obfcure found before them, as in commendable, lucre.

F is pronounced like the , or ph, of the Greek, as in filial; which the Italians and Spaniards fubftitute for it.

G has two founds, hard and foft; before e and i its found is uncertain, in gem, gentle, generation, it is foft; but in gear, geefe, geld, get, gewgaw, it is hard, as it is likewife in derivatives from words ending in ing, as in finging. It is commonly foft before i, as in giant, gigantic, gibbet, giblet, gill, gilliflower, gin, ginger, gingle, giply; but fometimes it is hard, as in gimblet, give. It is always hard before a and u, as in gave, gum. This uncertainty of found is perplexing to foreigners; it would not be amifs to fubftitute j instead of g when it founds foft, and to retain g when founded hard; former times have adopted this rule, and we find fome old authors writing jentleman, instead of gentle

man..

47

When g is followed. by an h, at the beginning of a word, it is founded hard, as in ghoft. The Italians, who found it foft before an e ori, have, in like manner, put an h after it, to preferve the hard found in the fingular and plural numbers, as in luogo, luoghi. Gh has often the found of f in the end of words, as in laugh; and, in derivatives, preferves the fame found, as in laughter. Sometimes, indeed, the g is not pronounced, when followed by h, whether it be at the end or in the middle of words, as in though, fought, right, which are pronounced tho', rite, &c. righteous, and brightness, are likewise pronounced as if the g were omitted. H is only an afpiration and hard breathing, fhewing, that the vowel, which follows, must be pronounced with a strong emiffion of breath, as in hat, horfe; but in hour and honeft, heir, herb, hoftler, humble and humour, it is not founded at all.

I has both a long and a fhort found; in monofyllables, the long found is denoted by an e final, as pin, pine, thin, thine. The fhort found is ufed in it, bit, pit, fit. It should be obferved, that the fhort found of i is not the long found contracted, but a found wholly different; and this may be applied to the other vowels likewife. I before r founds like a short u, as in flirt, dirt; excepting when it is followed by an e final, in which cafe it is long, as in fire. It forms a diphthong only with e, in which cafe it founds as if the word were written with ee, as in field; but in friend, which is pronounced frend, it is lent. I makes a triphthong with eu; the words in which it is connected are derived from the French, as lieu, which is founded lu with an u open.

is a confonant, having the foft found of g, in jail, and is entirely different from the vowel I; it should be therefore diftinguished from it, both in its name and its fhape; and

G 2

fhould

fhould be used only in fuch words wherein it would be fubfervient to their etymology, as in ejaculation.

C

K has the found of c before came, and is ufed before e and i, where c would be foft, as in kin, kill. It formerly used to end a word, even after c, as in Baltick; but modern writers omit the k as ufelefs, for we now write Baltic without the k. It fhould always end a monofyllable, as fick, lick. It is often ufed before an n, and then has scarce any found, as in knell, knave, know, which are pronounced nhell, nhave, nhow.

L has the fame liquid found as in other languages. In monofyllables, which end with this letter, it is doubled, to give force to the preceding vowel, as in kill, will, full. When full is ufed in compofition at the end or middle of words, the moderns omit the laft, as in wonderful; but it is retained in fulfill. L is mute in calf, half, &c. Le, at the end of words, is pronounced fomething like the French, from which fuch words are derived, as in commendable.

M has always the fame found. N has always the fame found. When used after m it is almoft filent, as in damn, condemn, hymn.

O has three or four different founds. It is long in abode and bone; but this may be owing to the e filent at the end. It is fhort in block, rock; it is founded like a fhorti in women; and like a u in fon, come, ton. When it forms a diphthong with a it has the found of o leng, as in approach. Oa is fometimes founded like au, as in broad, which the North Britons not attending to, generally pronounce like ca in road, calling brode, whereas they fhould pronounce it braud. When joined with i, it unites the found of the two letters, as far as they can be united, without destroy ing the found of either. Yet it fhould be obferved, that the Londoners, in their pronunciation of poil, found

this diphthong as if the word were written pile. When joined with an

other a it has the found of the Italian u. It forms a diphthong likewife with u and w, as hour, flower. In fome words it has only the found of o long, as in foul, bowl. Thefe different founds are made use of to distinguish different fenfes, as we pronounce the diphthong in for, a female pig, to diitinguish it from the word fow, which fignifies to scatter feed on the ground, and is pronounced as if written with a long o. Ou is fometimes like foft, as in court; fometimes like o fhort, as in cough; fometimes like a close, as in could; and fometimes like u open, as in tough, rough. It is frequently ufed in the laft fyllables of words ending in r, as in labour, &c. In these words fome moderns have omitted the u, writing labor, not confidering that our, at the end, has neither the found of or nor un, but one which approaches very near to the French, by the medium of which language we have adopted those words; thus colour, homour, are not derived immediately from the Latin words color and honor, but from the French, coleur and ho

neur.

P has always the fame found; the Germans and Welch vitiously confound it with b. It is fometimes mute, when followed by an s, as in palm, generally pronounced falm; and in tempt, which is pronounced temt. When followed by h, it has the found of f, and is ufed in words derived from the Greek, as in philejophy, philanthropy.

is generally followed by a u; its found was expreffed by cw by the Saxons, which holds good in quaint, quick; but in words derived from the French it is founded, as they found it, i. e. like a k, as in conquer, liquor, rifque.

R has a rough fnarling found in all languages. It is ufed with hin

words