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54 sounds; the one like tch, in child, chair, rich, which, etc. pronounced as if written tchild, tchair, ritch, whitch, etc. the other like sh, after l or n, as in belch, bench, filch, etc. pronounced belsh, bensh, filsh, etc. This latter sound is generally given to words from the French, as chaise, chagrin, chamade, champagne, champignon, chandelier, chaperon, charlatan, chevalier, chevron, chicane, capuchin, cartouch, machine, machinist, chancre, marchioness.

. Ch in words from the learned languages, are generally pronounced like k, as chalcography, chalybeate, chamaeleon, chamomile, chaos, character, chart, chasm, chely, chemist, (if derived from the Arabic, and chymist, if from the Greek) chersonese, chimera, chirography, chiromancy, chlorosis, choler, chorus, chord, chorography, chyle and its compounds; anchor, anchoret, cachexy, catechism, catechise, catechetical, catechumen, echo, echinus, epoch, epocha, ichor, machination, machinal, mechanic, mechanical, orchestra, orchestre, technical, anarch, anarchy, conch, cochleary, distich, hemistich, monostich, eunuch, monarch, monarchical, hierarch, heresiarch, pentateuch, stomach, stomachic, scheme, school, scholar, schesis, mastich, seneschal, and in all words where it is followed by r, as Christ, Christian, chronology, chronicle, etc. To these may be added the Celtic word loch (a lake). The exceptions are, charity, archer, and archery.

. When arch, signifying chief, begins a word from the Greek language, and is followed by a vowel, it is always pronounced ark, as in archangel, archipelago, architect, archives, archetype, archaism, archiepiscopal, archidiaconal, architrave, archaiology. But when we prefix arch to a word of our own, and this word begins with a consonant, we pronounce it so as to rhyme with march, as archduke, archdeacon, archbishop; and sometimes, when the following word begins with a vowel, if it is a composition of our own, and the word does not come to us compounded from the the Greek or Latin, as arch-enemy.

. The word ache, (a pain) pronounced ake, comes from the Greek, and was by Shakespeare extended to two syllables, aches with ch, as in watches; but this is obsolete. It is now almost universally written ake and akes, except where it is compounded with another word, as head-ach, heart-ach, etc. and by thus absurdly retaining the ch in the compound, we are puzzled how to form the plural, without pronouncing aches in two syllables.

. In choir and chorister, the ch is almost universally pronounced like qu: (300) in ostrich, like dge, as if spelled ostridge. It is silent in schedule, schism, and yacht; pronounced seddule, sizm, and yot. It is sunk in drachm, but heard in drachma; pronounced dram and drackma.

. When c comes after the accent, either primary or secondary, and is followed by ea, ia, io, or eous, it takes the sound of sh: thus ocean, social, Phocion, saponaceous, are pronounced as if written oshean, soshial, Phoshian, saponasheous, fasciation, negociation, etc. (196) Financier has the accent after the c, which on that account does not go into sh.

. In order to have a just idea of the alterations of sound this letter undergoes, it will be necessary to consider its near relation to T. (41) These consonants, like p, and b, f, and v, k, and hard g, and s, and z, are letters of the same organ; they differ by the nicest shades of sound, and are easily convertible into each other; t, p, f, k, and s, may, for the sake of distinction, be called sharp, and d, b, v, g, and z, may be called flat. For this reason, when a singular ends in a sharp consonant, the s, which forms the plural, preserves its sharp sound, as in cuffs, packs, lips, hats, deaths; and when the singular ends with a flat consonant, the plural s, has the sound of z, as drabs, bags, beads, lives, etc. are pronounced drabz, bagz, etc.

. In the same manner, when a verb ends with a sharp consonant, the d, in the termination ed, assumed by the preterit and participle, becomes sharp, and is sounded like t; thus stuffed, tripped, cracked, passed, vouched, faced, (where the e is suppressed, as it always ought to be, except when we are pronouncing the language of Scripture) (104) change the d into t, as if written stuft, tript, crackt, past, voucht, faste. So when the verb ends in a flat consonant, the d preserves its true flat sound, as drubbed, pegged, lived, buzzed, where the e is suppressed, and the words pronounced in one syllable, as if written drubb'd, pegg'd, liv'd, buzz'd. It may be observed too, that when the verb ends in a liquid, or a liquid and mute e, the participle d always preserves its pure sound; as blamed, joined, filled, barred, pronounced blam'd, join'd, fill'd, barr'd. This contraction of the participial ed, and the verbal en, (103) is so fixed an idiom of our pronunciation, that to alter it, would be to alter the sound of the whole language. It must, however, be regretted, that it subjects our tongue to some of the most hissing, snapping, clashing, grinding sounds, that ever grated the ears of a Vandal: thus rasped, scratched, wrenched, bridled, fangled, birchen, hardened, strengthened, quickened, etc. almost frighten us when written as they are actually pronounced, as raspt, scracht, wrencht, bridl'd, fangl'd, birch'n, strength'n'd, quick'n'd, etc. they become still more formidable when used contractedly in the solemn style, which never ought to be the case; for here, instead of thou strength'n'st or strength'n'd'st, thou quick'n'st or quick'n'd'st, we ought to pronounce, thou strength'nest or strength'nedst, thou quick'nest or quick'nedst, which are sufficiently harsh of all conscience. (See No. 405) But to compensate for these Gothic sounds, which, however, are not without their use, our language is full of the smoothest and most sonorous terminations of the Greeks and Romans.

. By the foregoing rule of contraction, arising from the very nature of the letters, we see the absurdity of sub-