A critical pronouncing dictionary. With a suppl., by E. Smith

Front Cover
 

Selected pages

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 2 - For pronunciation the best general rule is, to consider those as the most elegant speakers who deviate least from the written words.
Page 5 - Grammar, says it is sounded firm in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the middle and ends, as in rarer, riper ; and so in the Latin.
Page 5 - The definition of a vowel, as little liable to exception as any, seems to be the following : A vowel is a simple sound formed by a continued effusion of the breath, and a certain conformation of the mouth, without any alteration...
Page 175 - A great circle, whose poles are the poles of the •world. It divides the globe into two equal parts, the northern and southern hemispheres.
Page 5 - The rough r is formed by jarring the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth near the fore teeth: the smooth r is a vibration of the lower part of the tongue, near the root, against the inward region of the palate, near the entrance of the throat. This latter r is that which marks the pronunciation of England, and the former that of Ireland.
Page 274 - Insects, which in their several changes belong to several of the before-mentioned divisions, may be considered together as one great tribe of animals. They are called insects, from a separation in the middle of their bodies, whereby they are, as it were, cut into two parts, which are joined together by a small ligature; as we see in wasps, common flies, and the like.
Page 5 - Ireland the r,in these words, is pronounced with so strong a jar of the tongue against the fore-part of the palate, and accompanied with such an aspiration or strong breathing at the beginning of the letter, as to produce that harshness we call the Irish accent. But if this letter is too forcibly pronounced in Ireland, it is often too feebly sounded in England, and particularly in London, where it is sometimes entirely sunk...

Bibliographic information