6 «

SYLLABICATION

of the words re-create and rcc-reate , reforma-tion and ref-ormation.

632. That this is perfectly agreeable to the na-ture of the language appears from the short pro-nunciation of the vowel in the first syllable ofpreface, prelate, prelude, prologue, &c. as if di-vided into pref-ace, prel-ate, prel-ude, prologue,See. It is niucli to be regretted, however, thatthis short sound of the penultimate vowel has somuch obtained in our language, which aboundstoo much in these sounds ; nor can etymology bealways pleaded for this pronunciation ; for in theforegoing words the first vowel is long in theLatin prafdtio, prtrlatus, pralndium, though shortin prdlogns: for though in words from the Greekthe prejH»sition irfo was short, in Latin it was ge-nerally Jong; and why we should shorten it inprogress, project, See. where it is long in Latin ,can only be accounted for by the superficial ap-plication of a general rule, to the prejudice ofthe sound of our language, 543.

533. It will be necessary, however, to observe,that, ut forming a judgement of the propriety of (these observations, the nicest care must be taken •not to confound those prepositions which are un-der the primary and secondary accent with thosewhich immediately precede the stress; for pre-clude, pretend, &c. are under a very differentpredicament from prologue, preposition, &c.; andthe very same law that obliges us to pronouncethe vowel short in the first syllable of prov-ideuce, prov-o-cation, and jtrof-a-nation, obliges usto pronounce the vowel open, unebwith some degree of length, in pro-vide, pro-voke, and profane.The same may be observed of the e in re-pairand rep-a-ration, re-ply and rep-li-cation , repeatand repe-tition, the accent making the whole difference between the quantity of the vowel in oneword and the other.

534. The only exception to the shortening powerof the secondary accent is the same as that whichp> events the shortening power of the primaryaccent, 50s, namely, the vowel u, as in lucubra-tion, or when any other of the vowels are suc-ceeded by a semi-consonant diphthong, 196: thusmediator and mediatorial have the e in the firstsyllable as long as in mediate ; deviation has thee in the first syllable as long as in deviate, not-withstanding the secondary accent is on it, andwhich would infallibly have shortened it, if ithad not been for the succeeding diphthong ia;and even this diphthong in gladiator has not thepower of preserving the first syllable long,though Mr. Sheridan, by his marking it, hasmade it so.

535. From what has been seen of accent andquantity, it is easy to perceive how prone ourlanguage is to an antepenultimate accent, andhow naturally this accent shortens the vowel itfalls upon : nay, so great a propensity havevowels to shrink under this accent, that the diph-thong itself, in some words, and analogy in others,are not sufficient to prevent it, as valiant, reta-liate. Thus, by the subjoining only of al to na-tion, with the a long, it becomes national , withthe a short, though contrary to its relation withoccasion ami congregation, which do not shortenthe a upon being made occasional and congrega-tional : in like manner the acquisition of theSame termination to the word nature makes itnat-u-ral ; but this, it may be presumed, is de-rived from the Latin naturalis, and not fromadding al to the English word, as in the forego-mg instances ; and thus it comes under the short-ening power of the antepenultimate accent, not-withstanding the semi-consonant diphthong u.

536. The same shortening power in the ante-

penultimate accent may

be observed in rational

and ratiocinate, where the first a in the firstword, and the o in the second, are short. Thefirst a in the second word is short also by thepowerof the secondary accent; though Mr. She-ridan has, in my opinion, very erroneously di-vided ratiocination into ru-sho-sy-na-shttn ; that is,into a syllable le*s than it ought to have, withthe o long instead of short.

537. The accent on the Latin antepenultimateseemed to have something of a similar tendency:for though the great difference in the nature ofthe Latin and English accent will allow us toargue from one to the other but in very few cir-cumstances, 505, yet we may peiceive m that ac-

cent, so different from ours in general, a grtf*coincidence i» this particular; namely, its tend-ency to shorten ail antepenultimate syllable.Bishop Hare tells us, that “ Qure acuuntur interlia ah extrema, ioterdum acuta corripiunt, siposition? sola longa sunt, ut uptime, s6rvitus, pir-velim, PdmphUus, et pauca alia, quo Cretici mn-tantur, in Anapestos. Idem factum est in neuti-quam, licet incipiat diphthongo .”—De Utetr.Comic , pag. G2. Those words which have theacute accent on the antepenultimate syllablehave sometimes that syllable shortened, if it wasonly long by position, as 6ptime, s6rvitus , p£rv*-lim, PdmphUus, and a few others, which by thismeans are changed from Cretic to Ahapesticfeet: na‘y, nhitiquam undergoes the same fate,though it begins with a diphthong.

SYLLABICATION.

538. Dividing words into syllables is a verydifferent operation, according to the differentends proposed by it. The object of syllabicationmay be, either to enable children to discoverthe sound of words they are unacquainted with,or to show the etymology of a word, or to exhi-bit the exact pronunciation of it.

539. When a child has made certain advancesin rending, but is ignorant ot the sound of manyof the longer words, it may not be improper tolay down the common gencrul rule to him, thata consonant between two vowels must go to thelatter ; and that two consonants coming togethermust be divided. Farther than this it would beabsurd to go with a child ; for telling him thatcompounds must be divided into their simples,and that such consonants as may begin a wordmay begin a syllable, requires a previous know-ledge of words, which children ennnot be sup-posed to have ; and which, if they have, makesthe division of words into syllables unnecessary.Children, therefore, may he very usefully taughtthe general rule above mentioned, as, in manycases, it will lead them to the exact sound of theword, as in pro-vi-ded: and in others it willenable them to give a good guess at it, as in dc-ii-cate ; ami this is all that can be expected : forwhen we arc to form an unknown compoundsound out of several known simple sounds (whit his the case with children, when we wish them tofind out the sound of n word by spelling it), this,I say, is the only method that can be taken.

540. But an etymological division of words U adifferent operation j it is the division of a pen,onacquainted with the whole woid,un<i who wishesto convey, by this division, a knowledge of itsconstituent parts, as ortho-graphy, thco-togy, &c.

541. In the same manner a person who is pre-acquainted with the whole compound sqnnd of aword, and wants to convey the somqj of eachpart to one unacquainted with it, must divide itinto such partial sounds as, when put togetheragain, will exactly form the whole, as or-thog-ra-phy, the-ol-o-gy, &c. This is the method adoptedby those who would convey the whole sound, bygiving distinctly every part; and, when this isthe object of syllabication, I)r. Lmvth’s rule iscertainly to be followed. “ The best and easiestrule,” says the learned bishop, “ for dividing thesyllables in spelling, is, to divide them as theyarc naturally divided in a right pronunciation,without regard to the derivation of words, or thepossible combination of consonants at the begin-ning of a syllable .”—-Introduction to Eng. Gram.page 7.

542. In this view of syllabication we considerit only as the picture of actual pronunciation;but may we not consider it as directed likewiseby some laws of its own 1 I/aws, which arise outof the very nature of enunciation, and the spe-cific qualities of the letters ? These laws cer-tainly direct us to separate double consonants,and such as are uncombinable from the incoales-cence of their sounds : and if such a separationwill not paint the true sound of the word, wemay be certain that such sound is unnatural, andhas arisen from caprice : thus ihe words Cham-ber, Cambridge, and CamOrick, must be divided