Page:Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (Walker, 4th edition, London, 1806).pdf/80

76 certain, however, that at first sight the most plausible reasoning in the world seems to lie against this accentuation. When we place the accent on the first syllable, say our opponents, we give a kind of subordinate stress to the third syllable graph: by which means the word is divided into its primitives ορθὸς and γράφω, and those distinct ideas it contains, are preserved, which must necessarily be confounded by the contrary mode; and that pronunciation of compounds, say they, must certainly be the best which best preserves the import of the simples.

. Nothing can be more specious than this reasoning, till we look a little higher than language, and consider its object; we shall then discover, that in uniting two words under one accent, so as to form one compound term, we do but imitate the superior operations of the mind, which, in order to collect and convey knowledge, unite several simple ideas into one complex one. "The end of language, says Mr. Locke, "is by short sounds to signify, with ease and dispatch, general conceptions, wherein not only abundance of particulars are contained, but also a great variety of independent ideas are collected into one complex one, and that which holds these different parts together in the unity of one complex idea, is the word we annex to it." "For," as Mr. Locke continues, "men, in framing ideas, seek more the convenience of language and quick dispatch by short and comprehensive signs, than the true and precise nature of things; and therefore, he who has made a complex idea of a body with life, sense, and motion, with a faculty of reason joined to it, need but use the short monosyllable, man, to express all particulars that correspond to that complex idea." So it may be subjoined, that, in framing words for the purpose of immediate communication, the end of this communication is best answered by such a pronunciation as unites simples into one compound, and at the same time renders the compound as much a simple as possible: but it is evident that this is done by no mode of accentuation, so well as that which places the accent on the antepenultimate syllable of the words theólogy, orthógraphy; and therefore that this accentuation, without insisting on its superior harmony, must best answer the great end of language. (328)

. This tendency in our language to simplify compounds, is sufficiently evident in that numerous catalogue of words, where we find the long vowel of the simple changed into a short one in the compound, and by this means losing much of its original import to the ear: thus breakfast, shepherd, vineyard, meadow, shadow, zealous, hearken, valley, cleanse, cleanly, (neat) forehead, wilderness, bewilder, kindred, hinder, knowledge, darling, fearful, pleasant, pleasure, whitster; whitleather, seamstress, stealth, wealth, health, wisdom, wizard, parentage, lineage, children, pasty, gosling, collier, holiday, Christmas, Michaelmas, windlass, cripple, hinder, stripling, starling,housewife, husband, primer, peascod, fieldfare, birth from bear, dearth from dear, weary from wear, and many others, entirely lose the sound of the simple in their compound or derivative.

. The long i in white, when a simple, is almost universally changed into a short one in proper names, as Whitchurch, Whitefield, Whitbread, Whitlock, Whitaker, etc. for compendiousness and dispatch being next in importance to perspicuity, when there is no danger of mistake, it is no wonder that the organs should fall into the shortest and easiest sounds.

. It must, however, be observed, that this tendency to unite simples into a compound, by placing an accent exactly where the two words coalesce, is still subservient to the laws of harmony. The Greek word δοκέω, which signifies to opine, and from which the last syllables, of orthodoxy are derived, was never a general subjunctive word like λογος and γραφω; and even if it had been so, the assemblage of consonants in the letter x would have prevented the ear from admitting an accent on the syllable immediately preceding, as the x would, by this means, become difficult to pronounce. Placing the accent, therefore, on the first syllable of orthodoxy, gives the organs an opportunity of laying a secondary stress upon the third, which enables them to pronounce the whole with distinctness and fluency: thus Galaxy and Cachexy, having the accent on the first syllable, are very difficult to pronounce; but this difficulty is removed by placing the accent a syllable higher in the words apoplexy, ataraxy, and anorexy.

. But the numerous classes of words that so readily adopt this enclitical accent, sufficiently prove it to be agreeable to the genius of our pronunciation. This will more evidently appear by adducing examples. Words in the following terminations have always the accent on that syllable where the two parts unite, that is, on the antepenultimate syllable: