65. But whatever propriety there may be in the use of these terms in other languages, it is certain they must be used with caution in English, for fear of confounding them with long and short. Dr. Johnson and other grammarians call the a in father the open a: which may, indeed, distinguish it from the slender a in paper; but not from the broad a in water, which is still more open. Each of these letters has a short sound, which may be called a shut sound; but the long sound cannot be so properly denominated open, as more or less broad; that is, the a in paper, the slender sound; the a in father, the broadish or middle sound; and the a in water, the broad sound. The same may be observed of the o. This letter has three long sounds, heard in move, note, nor; which graduate from slender to broadish, and broad, like the a. The i also in mine, may be called the broad i, and that in machine the slender i; though each of them is equally long; and though these vowels that are long may be said to be more or less open, according to the different apertures of the mouth in forming them, yet the short vowels cannot be said to be more or less shut: for as short always implies shut, (except in verse) though long does not always imply open, we must be careful not to confound long and open, and close and shut, when we speak of the quantity and quality of the vowels. The truth of it is, all vowels either terminate a syllable, or are united with a consonant. In the first case, if the accent be on the syllable, the vowel is long, though it may not be open: in the second case, where a syllable is terminated by a consonant, except that consonant be r, whether the accent be on the syllable or not, the vowel has its short sound, which, compared with its long one, may be called shut: but as no vowel can be said to be shut that is not joined to a consonant, all vowels that end syllables may be said to be open, whether the accent be on them or not. (550) (551)
66. But though the terms long and short, as applied to vowels, are pretty generally understood, an accurate ear will easily perceive that these terms do not always mean the long and short sounds of the respective vowels to which they are applied; for if we choose to be directed by the ear in denominating vowels, long or short, we must certainly give these appellations to those sounds only which have exactly the same radical tone, and differ only in the long or short emission of that tone. Thus measuring the sounds of the vowels by this scale, we shall find that the long i and y have properly no short sounds but such as seem essentially distinct from their long ones; and that the short sound of these vowels is no other than the short sound of e, which is the latter letter in the composition of the diphthongs. (37)
67. The same want of correspondence in classing the long and short vowels we find in a, e, o, and u; for as the e in theme does not find its short sound in the same letter in them, but in the i in him; so the e in them must descend a step lower into the province of a for its long sound in tame. The a in carry is not the short sound of the a in care, but of that in car, father, etc. as the short broad sound of the a in want, is the true abbreviation of that in wall. The sound of o in don, gone, etc. is exactly correspondent to the a in swan, and finds its long sound in the a in wall, or the diphthong aw in dawn, lawn, etc. while the short sound of the o in tone, is nearly that of the same letter in ton, (a weight) and corresponding with what is generally called the short sound of u in tun, gun, etc. as the long sound of u in pule, must find its short sound in the u in pull, bull, etc. for this vowel, like the i and y, being a diphthong, its short sound is formed from the latter part of the letter equivalent to double o; as the word pule, if spelled according to the sound, might be written peoole.
68. Another observation preparatory to a consideration of the various sounds of the vowels and consonants seems to be the influence of the accent; as the accent or stress which is laid upon certain syllables has so obvious an effect upon the sounds of the letters, that unless we take accent into the account, it will be impossible to reason rightly upon the proper pronunciation of the Elements of Speech.
Of the Influence of Accent on the sounds of the Letters.
69. It may be first observed, that the exertion of the organs of speech necessary to produce the accent or stress, has an obvious tendency to preserve the letters in their pure and uniform sound, while the relaxation or feebleness which succeeds the accent as naturally surfers the letters to slide into a somewhat different sound a little easier to the organs of pronunciation. Thus the first a in cabbage is pronounced distinctly with the true sound of that letter, while the second a goes into an obscure sound bordering on the i short, the slenderest of all sounds; so that cabbage and village have the a in the last syllable scarcely distinguishable from the e and i in the last syllables of college and vestige.
70. In the same manner the a, e, i, o, and y coming before r, in a final unaccented syllable, go into an obscure sound so nearly approaching to the short u, that if the accent were carefully kept upon the first syllables of liar, lier, elixir, mayor, martyr, etc. these words, without any perceptible change in the sound of their last syllables, might all be written and pronounced lieur, lieur, elixur, mayur, martur, etc.
71. The consonants also are no less altered in their sound by the position of the accent than the vowels. The k and s in the composition of x, when the accent is on them, in exercise, execute, etc. preserve their strong pure sound; but when the accent is on the second syllable, in exact, exonerate, etc. these letters slide into the duller and weaker sounds of g and z, which are easier to the organs of
