Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/847

 of the preceding positions are very faulty. And so, indeed, is the remaining one; for where is the sense of saying, that "when the accent falls on a mute, the syllable cannot be lengthened by dwelling upon the semi-vowel"? This is an apparent truism, and yet not true. For a semivowel in the middle or at the beginning of a syllable, may lengthen it as much as if it stood at the end. "Cur" and "can," here given as protracted syllables, are certainly no longer by usage, and no more susceptible of protraction, than "mat" and "not," "art" and "ant," which are among the author's examples of short quantity. And if a semivowel accented will make the syllable long, was it not both an error and a self-contradiction, to give "bŏnnet" and "hŭnger" as examples of quantity shortened by the accent? The syllable man has two semivowels; and the letter l, as in "ful fil´," is the most sonorous of consonants; yet, as we see above, among their false examples of short syllables accented, different authors have given the words "man" and "man´ner," "disman´tle" and "compel´," "mas´ter" and "let´ter," with sundry other sounds which may easily be lengthened. Sanborn says, "The breve distinguishes a short syllable; as, mănner."&mdash;Analytical Gram., p. 273. Parker and Fox say, "The Breve (thus ˘) is placed over a vowel to indicate its short sound; as, St. Hĕlena."&mdash;English Gram., Part iii, p. 31. Both explanations of this sign are defective; and neither has a suitable example. The name "St. Hĕlē´nă," as pronounced by Worcester, and as commonly heard, is two trochees; but "Hel´ena," for Helen, having the penult short, takes the accent on the first syllable, which is thereby made long, though the vowel sound is called short. Even Dr. Webster, who expressly notes the difference between "long and short vowels" and "long and short syllables," allows himself, on the very same page, to confound them: so that, of his three examples of a short syllable,&mdash;"thăt, not, mĕlon,"&mdash;all are erroneous; two being monosyllables, which any emphasis must lengthen; and the third,&mdash;the word "mĕl´on,"&mdash;with the first syllable marked short, and not the last! See Webster's Improved Gram., p. 157. Among the latest of our English Grammars, is Chandler's new one of 1847. The Prosody of this work is fresh from the mint; the author's old grammar of 1821, which is the nucleus of this, being "confined to Etymology and Syantax." [sic&mdash;KTH] If from anybody the public have a right to expect correctness in the details of grammar, it is from one who has had the subject so long and so habitually before him. "Accent" says this author, "is the stress on a syllable, or letter."&mdash;Chandler's Common School Gram., p. 188. Now, if our less prominent words and syllables require any force at all, a definition so loose as this, may give accent to some words, or to all; to some syllables, or to all; to some letters, or to all&mdash;except those which are silent! And, indeed, whether the stress which distinguishes some monosyllables from others, is supposed by the writer to be accent, or emphasis, or both, it is scarcely possible to ascertain from his elucidations. "The term emphasis," says he, "is used to denote a fuller sound of voice after certain words that come in antithesis; that is, contrast. 'He can write, but he cannot read.' Here, read and write are antithetical (that is, in contrast), and are accented, or emphasized."&mdash;P. 189. The word "after" here may be a misprint for the word upon; but no preposition really suits the connexion: the participle impressing or affecting would be better. Of quantity, this work gives the following account: "The quantity of a syllable is that time which is required to pronounce it. A syllable may be long or short. Hate is long, as the vowel a is elongated by the final e; hat is short, and requires about half the time for pronunciation which is used for pronouncing hate. So of ate, at; bate, bat; cure, cur. Though unaccented syllables are usually short, yet many of those which are accented are short also. The following are short: ádvent, sin´ner, sup´per. In the following, the unaccented syllables are long: álso, éxile, gángrene, úmpire. It maybe remarked, that the quantity of a syllable is short when the accent is on a consonant ; as, art´, bon´net, hun´ger. The hyphen (&macr;), placed over a syllable, denotes that it is long : nā´ture. The breve (˘) over a syllable, denotes that it is short ; as, dĕtrāct."&mdash;Chandler's Common School Gram., p. 189. This scheme of quantity is truly remarkable for its absurdity and confusion. What becomes of the elongating power of e, without accent or emphasis, as in jun´cate, pal´ate, prel´ate? Who does not know that such syllables as "at, bat, and cur" are often long in poetry? What more absurd, than to suppose both syllables short in such words as, "ădvent, sin´ner, sup´per," and then give "sermŏn, fīltĕr, spīrĭt, gāthĕr," and the like, for regular trochees, with "the first syllable long, and the second short," as does this author? What more contradictory and confused, than to pretend that the primal sound of a vowel lengthens an unaccented syllable, and accent on the consonant shortens an accented one, as if in "âl´so" the first syllable must be short and the second long, and then be compelled, by the evidence of one's senses to mark "echŏ" as a trochee, and "détract" as an iambus? What less pardonable misnomer, than for a great critic to call the sign of long quantity a "hyphen"? The following suggestions found in two of Dr. Webster's grammars, are not far from the truth: "Most prosodians who have treated particularly of this subject, have been guilty of a fundamental error, in considering the movement of English verse as depending on long and short syllables, formed by long and short vowels. This hypothesis has led them into capital mistakes. The truth is, many of those syllables which are considered as long in verse, are formed by the shortest vowels in the language; as, strength, health, grand. The doctrine that long vowels are necessary to form long syllables in poetry is at length exploded, and the principles which regulate the movement of our verse, are explained; viz. accent and emphasis. Every emphatical word, and every accented syllable, will form what is called in verse, a long syllable. The unaccented syllables, and unemphatical monosyllabic words, are considered as short syllables."&mdash;Webster's Philosophical Gram., p. 222; Improved Gram., 158. Is it not remarkable, that, on the same page