Page:Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (Walker, 4th edition, London, 1806).pdf/20

Rh enable the well-educated natives of Ireland to pronounce their words exactly in the same way as the more polished part of the inhabitants of England do, so far as the vowels are concerned. The diphthongs they commit no fault in, except in the sound of, which has been already taken notice of in the Grammar: where, likewise, the only difference in pronouncing any of the consonants has been pointed out; which is, the thickening the sound of d and t, in certain situations; and an easy method proposed of correcting this habit.

In order to complete the whole, I shall now give a list of such detached words, that do not come under any of the above rules, as are pronounced differently in Ireland from what they are in England:

These, after the closest attention, are all the words, not included in the rules before laid down, that I have been able to collect, in which the well-educated natives of Ireland differ from those of England."

I shall make no observations on the accuracy of this list, but desire my reader to observe, that the strongest characteristics of the pronunciation of Ireland is the rough jarring pronunciation of the letter R, and the aspiration or rough breathing before all the accented vowels. (For the true sound of R, see that letter in the Principles, No. 419.) And for the rough breathing or aspiration of the vowels, the pupil should be told not to bring the voice, suddenly from the breast, but to speak, as it were, from the mouth only.

It may be observed totoo [sic], that the natives of Ireland pronounce rm at the end of a word so distinctly as to form two separate syllables. Thus storm and farm seem sounded by them as if written staw-rum, fa-rum; while the English sound the r so soft and so close to the m, that it seems pronounced nearly as if written stawm, faam.

Nearly the same observations are applicable to lm. When these letters end a word, they are, in Ireland, pronounced at such a distance, that helm and realm sound as if written hel-um and rel-um; but in England the l and m are pronounced as close as possible, and so as to form but one syllable. To remedy this, it will be necessary for the pupil to make a collection of words terminating with these consonants, and to practise them over till a true pronunciation is acquired.