VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS.

e (without accent)=1, or sounds like French a in the combination emme. Examples: femme (pro. fam)—décemment, dé-cc-mment. (3+1 +8.)

en at the end of words=9. Examples: bi-en, well; rien, nothing. Note. In the words composed from bien, the combination en, although it may no longer be final, retains the ninth vowel sound. Examples: bi-en-tôt, soon; bi-en-fe-sant, benevolent.

en= 9, in the termination iens, when s is the mark of the plural. Examples: mien, miens; entretien, entretiens.

en= =9, in the combinations ien, iens, ient, of the verbs tenir, to hold, to keep; venir, to come, and their compounds. Examples: je vi-endrai, I shall come; je tiens, I hold; elle convient, she agrees.

en everywhere else, except in the termination ent of the third person plural, (see Rule 5 on e mute, page xiv.) always 8: entends, sentiment, en.

Remarks on the letter Y.

When the letter y in any word is preceded by a vowel, its equivalent to i, i. The first i unites with the foregoing vowel, and must be marked accordingly. The second i sounds separately, or unites with what follows. Examples: ayant, ai-i-ant; citoyen, ci-toi-i-en; pays, pai-is.

The diæresis (·) separates two letters, which otherwise would sound together. Thus, in Saul, (the apostle's name,) au= =52; but in the name of the Hebrew king Saül, with the diæresis, a and u are separated, and pronounced Sa-u-l. (1, 6, 2.)

Of the liquid sounds, AIL, EIL, IL, EUIL, ŒIL, OUIL, AILS, EILS, &c.

Note. The sound of lli in the English word brilliant is similar to the French liquid il, ill.

When il or ils final is liquid, the preceding vowel is pronounced separately with its open sound, viz: a=12, e=32, eu=22, œ= 22, and then follows the liquid sound of il or ils=17. Examples: ail, a-il; réveil, ré-ve-il; seuil, seu-il; fenouil, fe-nou-il. Note.-cil is pronounced like euil. (22, 17.)

Those vowels, a, e, i, &c., have a long sound, because the il final is supposed to be followed by e mute.

AILL, EILL, ILL, EUILL, EILL, OUILL.

When followed by a mute syllable, the preceding vowel a, e, i, &c., sounds as it does with the final il, as explained above. Examples: pa-ill-e, ve-ill-c, fi-ill-e, feu-ill-e, fou-ill-e..

When not followed by a mute syllable, the preceding vowel is close,

viz: a=1, e=3, eu=2, œ=2. Examples: ma-ill-et, ve-ill-er, pi-illa-ge, feu-ill-et, fou-ill-ant, œillet, œ-ill-et. (2, 17, 32.)

CUEIL, GUEIL, when final.

In these combinations the u serves only to make the c and the o hard: the e represents the long sound of eu marked 22, and the letters i have the liquid sound=17. Examples: re-cue-il, o-r-gue-il.

CUEILL, GUBILL, not final.

When followed by a mute syllable, the preceding vowel sounds as it does with the final cueil, gueil, as explained above. Exampla je recue-ill-e.

When not followed by a mute syllable, the preceding vowel is short or lose; that is, e sounds like eu marked 2, and the letters ill have their usual liquid sound=17. Examples: re-cue-ill-ant, o-r-gue-ill-cux.

Stress of the voice.

The stress of the voice is placed on every vowel preceding a mute syllable. The faint or mute e is the only slighted sound, all the other vowels receive a full and distinct utterance.

Entre; en, distinct; tre, faint-entreprise; en, full; tre, faint; pri, full; se, faint. In communication, every syllable is distinct, and the

stress of the voice rests on the last.

NOTE 1, (page xii.)

APPENDIX.

In this I differ totally from Mr. Charles Picot, who in his excellent system of pronunciation says (page 6): "The English words at, father, &c., are merely given as means of comparison and association, to enable the pupil to proceed from what he knows to what he is to learn, and must be dispensed with as soon as the sounds are well mastered." Far from discarding those words, I strongly recommend the scholar to retain them carefully as unerring guides. If they are useful at first, they must ever be so, and would it not be ungrateful to throw aside those that befriended us in the beginning of our career! Treasure them up, therefore.

NOTE 2, (page xv.)

In French, final consonants are not generally pronounced; for, not being followed by a vowel, they ought naturally to be silent. Hence the French words port and grand are pronounced as if written por and

gran; but the t and the d are pronounced as in English, when spelled in French with a final e, as porte, grande.

The above observation will sufficiently explain why the final consonants are silent in the following

Table, exhibiting the sixteen vowel sounds and two diphthongs, as represented at the end of words.

22. with this vowel, the next consonant sounds, as bœuf, leur, seul; but the second consonant is silent; leurs, sœurs, cœurs.

3. aie, ed, eds, ée, ées, és, er, et (conjunction), ez.

32. ais, ait, et, ès, ect, ets (and es in monosyllables), aient,* oient,† 4. id, ie, is, it, ies, ys.

5. aud, aut, aux, op, os, ot, ots, auds, auts, eaux.

ient.*

52. with this vowel, the consonant which immediately follows sounds. Examples: fol, Jacob, soc, cor; but the second consonant is silent: socs, cors, mort, port.

6.

ue, ues, ût, ùts, ud (and in the verb avoir, eus, eut, eue, eues),

uent.*

7.

8.

oue, oues, oud, ouds, oup, oups, ous, out, outs, oux. ouent.* amp, amps, ant, ants, ems, emps, ent, ents, ans, ens.

9. ins, int, ingt, ingts, ains, aint, ainc, aincs, eins, eint, eints,

(en, ens.)‡

10. ons, ont, ond, onds, amb, ombs, ompt, onc, oncs. 11. uns, ums.

12

oie, oies, ois, oit, oid, oids, oix,

oient.*

13. oing, oins, oint, oints, oings.

NOTE 3, (Page xvi.)

The reason why es is marked 2 and pronounced like the faint e, may be stated as follows.

In English, THE book, THE friend, мY pen, &c., are expressions used in the singular number. Now, as THE and MY undergo no change in the plural number, should book, friend, and pen, be spelt and pronounced as before, there could be no distinction between the singular and the plural. To render that distinction sensible, an s is added to the end of each noun, (for the eye,) and is articulated to apprise the ear that the idea of plurality is intended. In French, on the contrary, the articles in the singular, le, la, being changed into les for the plural, mon, ma,

* Third person plural of verbs.

†oient, old orthography, third person plural of imperfect and conditional. ↑ (en and ens) final, and in the verbs tenir, venir, and their compounds.

into mes, &c., when those words les, mes, &c., are heard, they at once intimate to the ear that the plural is meant, hence the alteration of the noun becomes useless; and although the s is added, (for the eye,) it is not pronounced, and of course final es is marked little 2.

NOTE 4, (page xvi.)

The e mute or faint, marked little 2, after a consonant, has the effect of lengthening and altering the sound of the preceding vowel or syllable, in English, as may be seen below.

hat, on account of the faint e that follows, becomes hate;

met decomes mete;

hop becomes hope;

bit becomes bite;

tub becomes tube.

In French the e mute aiways lengthens the preceding syllable, but it alters the vowel sound, when it is after a consonant, only in four instances, instead of doing it in every case, as in English.

mal (marked 1) becomes mâle (marked 12.

heureux (2, 2), heureuse (2, 22); cédé (3, 3, cède (32,2; haut (5), haute (52, 2). Hence the following rule:

Silent E lengthens the preceding syllable, and when the vowel has two sounds, that vowel takes the sound marked with double figures; 22, 32, 52, and likewise 12 when there is a circumflex on the â; not otherwise.

When the faint e comes immediately after a vowel, no consonant intervening, as ie, ue, ée, eue, &c., it lengthens that vowel without altering its sound.

NOTE 5, (pages xvii and xviii.)

The ris sounded only in a few words of two or more syllables Amer (1, 32, 2), bitter; cuiller, cu-i-ll-e-r (6, 4, 17, 32 2), spoon; enfer, hell; fier, proud; hier, yesterday; hiver, winter; magister, country school-master; oncer, ether, frater, Alger, Jupiter, Lucifer, Stathouder.

DIRECTIONS HOW TO USE THIS METHOD

As there is now a System of Pronunciation with this Method, let the first ten or twelve lessons be devoted to acquiring a complete knowledge of that important branch of a modern language. If that is thoroughly done, the teacher will have no further trouble with the pronunciation, for the pupils will be able to read correctly by themselves.

Each lesson now consists of one, two, three, &c., separate vocabularies, each followed by exercises, English at first, but French and English at the Twelfth Lesson; that is, when the student's ear begins to become a little familiar with French sounds.

The first vocabulary must be read by the pupils, each taking a line and pronouncing aloud both the English and French, the latter being divided into syllables, and distinctly uttered under the direction of the teacher, who ought, as they proceed, to ask questions respecting the pronunciation. This done, the students are directed:-1st, to learn for the next recitation, the English and French vocabularies, so as to be able to give the French when the English is mentioned, or the English when the French is given out; and, 2dly, to write down the translation of the first exercise, to be handed to the teacher, who, directing them to close their books, will, while correcting the errors, give out the English of every question and answer, to be put in French by the students.

The correction and translation ended, let the next vocabulary be read, or rather syllabled, slowly and distinctly, and explained by the teacher, if need be, and so on, the vocabularies being learned and the exercises translated.

As this method is simple and gradual enough for every capacity, should there be pupils too young to write the translations, let them prepare the exercises and recite them to the teacher, who will do well to make them spell out a number of words at each recitation.