632
GRAMMAR.
immicate, but they afford a rich variety in language, as it is evi-dent that by means of them the same ideas may be in many casesdesignated various ways; which advantage is further increased bythe inflections which most languages give to some parts of speech.Of the different ways of expressing our ideas it is the business of theorator to choose the best. It will be unnecessary here to enter intoa particular account of each part of speech ; the limits of our workwill not properly allow it, and sufficient information on this headIs generally at hand. We shall therefore only add a few generalremarks on some of the principal variations which have been adopt-ed in some of this class of words. Nouns in most languages arechanged in their terminations. 1. To express the singular or plu-ral number. 2. To express the difference of sex or gender. 3. Toexpress when the noun is used as a subject or an object: some lan-guages denote this by its place in the sentence. 4. Tocxprrssthose relations, which are otherwise denoted by' prepositions.Similar variations are made in adjectives and pronouns, for thesame purpose and to make them agree with the varying nouns.Adjectives are also changed in their endings to indicate differentdegrees of the qualities of nouns. Also the verbs in some languagesundergo a great variety of changes to particularize the speaker, andthat which is spoken to or of, and the different numbers of each;also to denote the several times and modes of action and of being.The reader, who wishes to enter into a critical examination of thederivations of words, and in wlvat manner the words of one clas;have been transformed in order to constitute those of another, werefer to the “ Diversions of Purlev” written by our great philo-sophical etymologist Mr. Horne '1 ooke. A judicious enquiry in-to the etymologies, or derivations, of words, is thought by some ofconsiderable use; because nations, who value themselves upontheir antiquity, have always looked on the antiquity of their lan-guage as one of the best titles they could plead; and the etymolo-gist, by seeking the true and original reason of the notions and ideasaffixed to each word and expression, may often furnish an argu-ment of antiquity, from the traces remaining thereof, comparedwith the ancient uses. Then that etymologies are necessary for thethorough understanding of a language. It is objected, how ever,that the art is arbitrary, and built altogether on conjectures andappearances; and the etymologists are charged with deriving theirwords from where they plehse; and it must certainly he owned,that etymologies are frequently so farfetched, that one can scarcesee any resemblance or correspondence therein. Quintilian hasshewn, that the ancient etymologists, notwithstanding all theirlearning, fell into very ridiculous derivations.
This part of grammar belongs properly to tbe elements of words,which are letters, and hence treats of, 1. The number and divi-sion of letters. 2. Their accidents. 3. The just manner of writ-ing letters, which, properly speaking, is orthography. 4. Thedisposition of letters into syllables. And 5. The pronunciation ofletters. As to tbe right letters used in the spelling of words, itmust be learned from the best authors in each language. How-ever, it ought to be observed, that orthography has appointed oneway of spelling a word in common language, and another in thelearned and polite diction: thus, in ordinary, we say, and write,Janet/, fantom,frenzy, Ac . for phantasy , phantom, phrenzy, Sfc.according to the original etymology of these words: and in suchcases, as vulgarisms ought to be carefully avoided, so as not towrite obstropnlous for obstreperous, and the like ; so, on the otherhand, we must not alter the received orthography, in imitation ofany one man, be his authority or learning ever so great; the ge-neral us’ge being, in this respect, the only rule that ought to befollowed, since innovations rather confound than help the learner.We shall therefore only add one observation more, with respect tothe orthography of words, viz. that it ought, as much as possible,1o be agreeable to the original etymology, sense, and pronuncia-tion, of words: thus it is better to write phrenzy than frenzy, onaccount of its being derived from the greek ippw; m the same man-ner, the participle of the verb singe should be w ritten singeing,on account of the sense, to distinguish it from singing : and, last-ly, when letters are neither necessary on account of the etymolo-gy, sense, or sound, they ought to be rejected, as public forpublick, the k being wholly superfluous. The rules for the pro-p«r disposition of words into syllables must be such as are derived
from the analogy of language in general, or from the establishedcustom of speaking; which, for the English language, are re-duced to the following rules : I. A consonant between two vowelsmust be joined with the latter in spelling, as na-ture, ve-ri-ly, gc-ne-rous: except, however, the letter x, which is joined to theffr^t, as in flax-cn, ox-en, Sfc. and compound words, as in up-on,un-used, Ac. 2. A double consonant must be divided, as in let-ter, man-ncr, Sfc. 3. Those consonants which can begin a word,must not be parted in spelling, as in de-fraud, rc-prove, distinct;however, this tide is found sometimes to fail; for though gn be-gins a word, as gnaw, gnat, Ac . yet it must be divided in spelling,as in cog-ni-zance, ma-tig-ui-ty, 4 c. 4. Those consonants whichcannot begin a word must bp divided, as Id in sel-dom, It in milI-ti-tude, nip in tem-per, rd in ur-dent; but, in final syllables, thereare exceptions, as tl in ti-tlr, dl in han-dle, Ac. 5. When twovowels come together, and are both of them distinctly sounded,they must be separated in spelling, as in co-c-val, mu-tu-al, Ac.6. The grammatical terminations, or endings, must be separatedin spelling, as ed in uiing-ed, edst in de-li-vcr-edst, ingin hear-ing,.mice in de-li-ver-ancr, Ac. 7. Compound words must be resolvedinto their simple or component words, as up-on, in-to, never-the-less, not-zeith-stand-ing, Sf-c. Pronunciation makes much themost difficult part of a written grammar ; since a book expressingitself to the eyc«, in a matter that wholly concerns the ears, seemsnext akin to that of teaching the blind to distinguish colours; henceit is that there is no part so defective in grammar as that of the pro-nunciation, as the writer has frequently no term whereby to givethe reader an idea of the sound he would express; for want of aproper term, therefore, he substitutes a vicious and precariousone. Togiveajust idea of the pronunciation of a language, itseems necessary to fix as nearly as possible all tbe several soundsemployed in the pronunciation of that language. Cicero tells us,that the pronunciation underwent several changes among theRomans ; and indeed it is more precarious in the living languages,being, as Du lios tells us, subservient to fashion in these. TheFrench language is clogged with a difficulty in pronunciation fromwhich most others are free; and it consists in this, that most oftheir words have two different pronunciations, the one in commonprose, the other in verse. As to the pronunciation of the English language, the late Mr. II. Martin, in his Spelling Rook of Arts andSciences, lays down the following rules: 1. The final (e) lengthensthe sound of the foregoing vowel; as in can, cane; rob, robe ;tun, tune, See. 2. The final (c) in words ending in re, is soundedbefore the r like u; as nitre, nitur; lucre, lu-cur, See.3.The Ealin diphthongs er, or, are sounded likec; as Aetna,Etna;(economy, economy, Sec. but at the end of words oc sounds like o;as in toe, foe, Sec. 4. Also the English improper diphthongs,ea, eo, eu, uc, sound only the c anil u ; as tea or te, feoffee or J’cjjee,duedu, true tru, Sec. though sometimes eo and ea are pronouncedlike ee, as in people, fear, near, Sec. 5. Sometimes the diphthong(ie) is pronounced like e in deling, like ee in field, and, at theend of words, always like y ; as in lie, Sec. and ci is pronouncedeither like e or tti ; as in deceit, reign. Sec. 6. The triphthongatu is pronounced like <>, in beau and jet d’eau ; and ieu soundslike u in lieu, adieu, See. 7. The sound of c is hard before thevowels a, o, u ; as in call, cold, cup, Sec. also sometimes before It,as in chart, chord, Sec. and before l and r; as in clear, creep, Sec.It is otherwise generally soft, as in city, cell, cyder, child, Sec■fi. In French words rh is sounded like sir, as in chtigrcen, machine ;and sometimes like qu, as in choir, i). The sound of g is hardbefore a, o, u, i, r ; as in gall, go, gum, glean, grope ; also beforeui, as in guilt, guild, Sec. and before h, as in ghost ; sometimesbefore i, as in gibbous, gibberish. It is also generally hard be-fore e, as in get, geld, Sec. but soft in many words derived fromthe Greek and Latin , as in geometry, genealogy, genus, See. Twogg are always hard, as in dagger, See. The sound of g, when soft,is like that ofj. JO. In any part of a word, ph sounds Wkcf, asin philosophy, Sec. 11. The sound of tju, at the end of French words, is like k, as in risque, Sec. 12. The syllables ti and ci, «followed by a vowel, sound like si or shi ; as i njiction, logician,Sec. 13. *Vlien cc occur before i, the first is hard and the latteris soft; as in flaccid, Sec. 14. The letter p is not pronounced atthe beginning of syllables, before v and t ; as in psalm, ptarmies,Sec, As to other peculiarities, regarding single letters, and theirpronunciation, many of them have been taken notice of at the be-trinninc of each, in the course of this work.
B b SYNTAX.