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thousands who speak and read with passable accuracy, the study and drill upon vocal elements is not less useful. These are often ready to seize upon the leading principles, as well as the grosser facts, pertaining to the science of Orthoëpy, and they find ample compensation for their labor, in the generalizations suggested by a few weeks' practice in phonetic analysis.

SUGGESTIONS.

1. This drill, to be of real use, must be thorough. THE TEACHER MUST MASTER IT FIRST. Let him be sure of this, at least, that, before calling upon a pupil to utter a given element, he is prepared to utter it himself."

2. The teacher may need to exercise some care and patience, before each pupil is prevailed on to abandon the habit of saying "em" for the first sound in the word make, and "kay" for the last sound. The aim has been to make the Lessons explicit on this point.

3. ALLOW NO FEEBLE WORK. In recitation, the pupil should stand erect, have the lungs well supplied with air, and utter each element forcibly. Repetition is all-important; but repetition with inaccuracy is almost an unmixed evil. Before, as well as after, analyzing a word, the pupil should pronounce it with all the clearness and precision he can command. If it be a polysyllable, still more repetition is recommended; thus,-"melody; měl mel | ō melō | d ĭ dĭ | melody."

4. The manner of beginning with a class, and especially

the exercise is a novelty, must be left to the judg

of the teacher. A concert exercise may be judicious, as tending to remove the feeling of awkwardness and to beget confidence. After a lesson or two, however, there should be already established in every pupil's mind a feeling of personal accountability for the work assigned; and concert drill should thereafter occupy none of the time needful to the teacher in determining the degree of thoroughness with which each pupil has prepared his lesson.

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5. Phonic writing is a valuable aid to both teacher and pupil. When a vocal element is recognized by the ear, there are striking advantages in having a character by which uniformly to represent it: First, the pupil's progress is accelerated by his being compelled to subject each doubtful sound of every word assigned, to a discriminating study, in order properly to represent it on the paper to be passed in for the teacher's inspection; and, secondly, a class may be set to write a lesson "by sound," whether at school or at their own homes, thus enabling the teacher to get more work done, and, by means of the thoroughness of this mode of examination, to acquaint himself with the care and proficiency of each member of his class.

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6. To use the characters proposed involves a mastery of nearly the entire Pronouncing Key of Webster's Diction ary-in itself a very valuable acquisition. We use Webster's rather than Pitman's or any other strictly phonetic notation, because we suppose that fewer teachers will be repelled by whatever of novelty and uncouthness it may present to the common eye; and Webster's rather than Worcester's, because we have reason to think that more teachers are already somewhat familiar with the former than with the latter.

7. No good teacher will omit to give explicit directions in regard to the paper which is to be passed in to him. The following points are certainly worthy of attention: 1. The form and size of the paper. 2. The place for the pupil's name. 3. The arrangement of words-whether

in horizontal line or in column. 4. Neatness.

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8. While marking the errors found in a written class-
exercise, the teacher will do well to make a list of such as
are most frequent or most important, in order that to these
he
may
call the attention of the entire class. After rea-
sonable time has been allowed, every pupil will be called
on to state how each word that he finds marked by the
teacher should have been written.

Peachers Contration.::
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REMARKS UPON THE CHART.-The foregoing Chart is not strictly phonetic. In it, t, c, s, h, and z, have each at least two offices. The imperfection thus existing is fairly shown by giving, as we ought to do in phonetic writing, to each of the letters, t and h, in the word nevertheless, its appropriate value, nev-ert-he-less; or how shall it be known whether b-r-e-a-t-h-e-d is to be pronounced breathed or breat-hed. This evident ambiguity may be removed by separating every written polysyllable into its syllabic elements. To avoid this labor, as well as the writing of digraphs (double forms), single characters may be substituted.

This suggestion is acted upon in Lessons X. and XII., where substitutes are suggested for ch, sh, and zh. Substitutes for th and th can also readily be devised, thus lessening the time and space required for the phonetic writing.

Though the compound elements oi and ou are not correctly represented by the component parts of these digraphs, yet, as it is found that no ambiguity can arise from the use of these forms, when once the power of each is known, they have been suffered to stand.

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PHONIC ANALYSIS.

LESSON I.

IN pronouncing the word feet, we produce three sounds, each of which is simple,—that is, each sound is such that it can not be separated into two or more unlike sounds. Such a sound is called an elementary sound.

The first element heard in feet, called "the sound of ƒ," is formed by continuous blowing, while the lower lip is placed lightly against the edges of the upper front teeth; the second, called "long e," is produced by singing, while the tongue, slightly advanced, and curved so as to be highest in the middle, is raised nearly to the roof of the mouth; and "the sound of t" is formed by first pressing the end of the tongue against the inner gums of the upper front teeth, compressing the breath above it, and then suddenly allowing the forced breath to escape.

Pronounce each of the following words, and, after each, utter whichever of the foregoing three sounds it contains: cat, me, cuff, laugh, sheaf, sphere, tea, eat, reefed.

Of the three sounds we have been considering, which, if any, do you hear when you pronounce of? bed? beak? team? tot? thee? thank? elk? enough?

What four ways of representing "the sound of f," in the following four words,-sheaf, cuff, laugh, sphere? Name three other words to illustrate each of these four ways. In what two ways is the sound of t represented in eat and reefed?

LESSON II.

Pronounce mete, mead, meed, bier, seize, pique, key, pœan. What one sound is heard in every one of these words? How is this sound represented in mete? in mead? in each of the remaining words? Are any two of the ways alike? In the Keys to English spelling-books and dictionaries this sound is usually represented by e. [The horizontal

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