A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (4th edition)/Rules to Be Observed by the Natives of Ireland
RULES to be observed by the NATIVES of IRELAND in order to obtain a just Pronunciation of English.
As Mr. Sheridan was a native of Ireland, and had the best opportunities of understanding those peculiarities of pronunciation which obtain there, I shall extract his observations on that subject as the best general direction, and add a few of my own, by way of supplement, which I hope will render this article of instruction still more complete.
The reader will be pleased to take notice, that as I have made a different arrangement of the vowels, and I have adopted a notation different from Mr. Sheridan, I am obliged to make use of different figures to mark the vowels, but still such as perfectly correspond to his.
"The chief mistakes made by the Irish in pronouncing English, lie for the most part in the sounds of the two first vowels, a and e; the former being generally sounded by the Irish, as in the word br, in most words where it is pronounced , as in day, by the English. Thus the Irish say, ptron, mtron, the vowel having the same sound as in the word fther; while the English pronounce them as if written paytron, maytron. The following rule, strictly attended to, will rectify this mistake through the whole language.
When the vowel a finishes a syllable, and has the accent on it, it is invariably pronounced [day] by the English. To this rule there are but three exceptions in the whole language to be found in the words fther, pap, mam. The Irish may think also the word rather an exception, as well father; and so it would appear to be in their manner of pronouncing it r-ther, laying the accent on the vowel a; but in the English pronunciation the consonant th is taken into the first syllable, rath′er, which makes the difference.
Whenever a consonant follows the vowel a in the same syllable, and the accent is on the consonant, the vowel a has always its fourth sound, as ht, mn; as also the same sound lengthened when it precedes the letter r, as fr, br, though the accent be on the vowel; as likewise when it precedes lm, blm, pslm. The Irish, ignorant of this latter exception, pronounce all words of that structure, as if they were written bawm, psawm, quawm, cawm, etc. In the third sound of a, marked by different combinations of vowels, or consonants, such as au, in Paul; aw, in law; all, in call; ald, in bald; alk, in talk, etc. the Irish make no mistake, except in that of lm, as before mentioned.
The second vowel, e, is for the most part sounded ee by the English, when the accent is upon it; whilst the Irish in most words give it the sound of slender , as in hate. This sound of [ee] is marked by different combinations of vowels, such as ea, ei, e final mute, ee, and ie. In the two last combinations of ee and ie, the Irish never mistake; such as in meet, seem, field, believe, etc. but in all the others, they almost universally change the sound of into . Thus in the combination ea, they pronounce the words tea, sea, please, as if they were spelt tay, say, plays; instead of tee, see, pleese. The English constantly give this sound to ea whenever the accent is on the vowel e, except in the following words, great, a pear, a bear, to bear, to forbear, to swear, to tear, to wear. In all which the e has the sound of in hte. For want of knowing these exceptions, the gentlemen of Ireland, after some time of residence in London, are apt to fall into the general rule, and pronounce these words as if spelt greet, beer, sweer, etc.
Ei is also sounded ee by the English, and as by the Irish; thus the words deceit, receive, are pronounced by them as if written desate, resave. Ei is always sounded ee, except when a g follows it, as in the words reign, feign, deign, etc. as also in the words rein, (of a bridle) rein-deer, vein, drein, veil, heir, which are pronounced like rain, vain, drain, vail, air.
The final mute e makes the preceding e in the same syllable, when accented, have the sound of ee, as in the words suprme, sincre, replte. This rule is almost universally broken through by the Irish, who pronounce all such words as if written suprme, sincre, replte, etc. There are but two exceptions to this rule in the English pronunciation, which are the words there, where.
In the way of marking this sounds, by a double e, as thus ee, as the Irish never make any mistakes, the best method for all who want to acquire the right pronunciation of these several combinations is, to suppose that ea, ei, and e, attended by a final mute e, are all spelt with a double e, or ee.
Ey is always sounded like by the English, when the accent is upon it; as in the words prey, convey, pronounced pray, convay. To this there are but two exceptions, in the words ky and ly, sounded kee, lee. The Irish in attempting to pronounce like the English, often give the same sound to ey, as usually belongs to ei; thus for prey, convey, they say, pree, convee.
A strict observation of these few rules, with a due attention to the very few exceptions enumerated above, will 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:[1] 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.[2]
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:
| Irish pron. | English pron. |
| ch′arful | chr′ful |
| f′arful | fr′ful |
| dr | dre |
| flr | flre |
| gpe | gpe |
| gth′er (gather) | gth′er |
| bard | brd |
| bll | bll |
| bsh | bsh |
| psh | psh |
| pll | pll |
| pl′pit | pl′pit |
| clf | clf |
| ktch (catch) | ctch |
| carse (coarse) | carse |
| curse (course) | corse |
| curt | curt |
| mal′cious | malsh′us |
| pdding | pdding |
| qush (quash) | qush |
| lzh′ur (leisure) | l′zhur |
| cl′mour | clm′mur |
| M′kil (Michael) | M′kel |
| drth (drought) | drout |
| srch (search) | srch |
| surce (source) | srce |
| cshion | cshion |
| strngth (strength) | strnkth |
| lnth (length) | lnkth |
| strv (strove) | strve |
| drv (drove) | drove |
| tn′ure | t′nure |
| tn′able | t′nable |
| wrth | wrth |
| wrth (wroth) | wrth |
| f′rewell | fr′wel |
| rde | rd |
| strde | strd |
| shne | shn |
| shsm (schism) | szm |
| wh′refore | whr′fore |
| th′refore | thr′fore |
| brth (breadth) | brdth |
| cowld (cold) | cld |
| bowld (bold) | bld |
| cf′fer | c′fer |
| end′avour | endv′ur |
| ft (foot) | ft |
| misch′evous | ms′chivous |
| n′ion (onion) | n′nyun |
| pt | pt |
| rtsh (reach) | rach |
| squ′dron | squd′run |
| za′lous | zl′lus |
| za′lot | zl′lut |
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 to, 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.
- ↑ "Vide page 11, where the true manner of pronouncing the diphthong i is pointed out; the Irish pronouncing it much in the same manner as the French."
- ↑ "The letter d has always the same sound by those who pronounce English well; but the Provincials, particularly the Irish, Scotch, and Welsh, in many words thicken the sound by a mixture of breath. Thus, though they sound the d right in the positive loud and broad, in the comparative degree they thicken it by an aspiration, and sound it as if it were written loudher, broadher. This viscious pronunciation is produced by pushing the tongue forward so as to touch the teeth in forming that sound: and the way to cure it is easy; for as they can pronounce the d properly in the word loud, let them rest a little upon that syllable, keeping the tongue in the position of forming d, and then let them separate it from the upper gum without pushing it forward, and the sound der will be produced of course: for the organ being left in the position of sounding d at the end of the syllable loud, is necessarily in the position of forming the same d in uttering the last syllable, unless it makes a new movement, as in the case of protruding it so as to touch the teeth. This letter is sometimes, though not often, quiescent, as in the words handkerchief, handsome, handsel.
In pronouncing the letter t the Irish and other Provincials thicken the sound, as was before mentioned with regard to the d; for better, they say betther; for utter, utther; and so on in all words of that structure. This faulty manner arises from the same cause that was mentioned as affecting the sound of d; I mean the protuding of the tongue so as to touch the teeth, and is curable only in the same way."