215. Laugh and draught, which are very properly classed by Mr. Nares among these words which have the long Italian a in father, are marked by Mr. Sheridan with his first sound of a in hat, lengthened into the sound of a in father, by placing the accent on it. Staunch is spelled without the u by Johnson, and therefore improperly classed by Mr. Nares in the above list.
216. Vaunt and avaunt seem to be the only real exceptions to this sound of a in the whole list; and as these words are chiefly confined to tragedy, they may be allowed to "fret and strut their hour upon the stage" in the old traditionary sound of awe.
217. This diphthong is pronounced like long o, in hautboy, as if written ho-boy; and like o short in cauliflower, laurel, nnd laudanum; as if written colliflower, lorrel, and loddanum. In guage, au has the sound of slender a, and rhymes with page.
218. There is a corrupt pronunciation of this diphthong among the vulgar, which is, giving the au in daughter, sauce, saucer, and saucy, the sound of the Italian a, and nearly as if written darter, sarce, sarcer, and sarcy; but this pronunciation cannot be too carefully avoided. Au in sausage also, is sounded by the vulgar with short a, as if written sassage; but in this, as in the other words, au ought to sound awe. See the words in the Dictionary.
AW
219. Has the long broad sound of a in ball, with which the word bawl is perfectly identical. It is always regular.
AY.
220. This diphthong, like its near relation ai, has the sound of slender a in pay, day, etc. and is pronounced like long e in the word quay, which is now sometimes seen written key; for if we cannot bring the pronunciation to the spelling, it is looked upon as some improvement to bring the spelling to the pronunciation: a most pernicious practice in language. See Bowl.
221. To flay, to strip off the skin, also, is corruptly pronounced flea; but the diphthong in this word seems to be recovering its rights.
222. There is a wanton departure from analogy in orthography, by changing the y in this diphthong to i in the words paid, said, laid, for payed, sayed, and layed. Why these words should be written with i and thus contracted, and played, prayed, and delayed, remain at large, let our wise correctors of orthography determine. Stayed also, a participial adjective, signifying steady, is almost always written staid.
223. When aye comes immediately after the accent in a final syllable, like ai, it drops the former vowel, in the colloquial pronunciation of the days of the week. Thus is we pronounce captain, curtain, etc. as if written captin, curtin, etc. so we hear Sunday, Monday, etc. as if written Sundy, Mundy, etc. A more distinct pronunciation of day, in these words, is a mark of the northern dialect. (208)
224. The familiar assent ay for yes, is a combinations of the long Italian a in the last syllable of papa, and the first sound of e. If we give the a the sound of that letter in ball, the word degenerates into a coarse rustic pronunciation. Though in the House of Commons, where this word is made a noun, we frequently, but not correctly, hear it so pronounced, in the phrase the Ayes have it.
AYE.
225. This triphthong is a combination of the slender sound of a, heard in pa-per, and the e in me-tre. The word which it composes, signifying ever, is almost obsolete.
EA.
226. The regular sound of this diphthong is that of the first sound of e in here; but its irregular sound of short e is so frequent, as to make a catalogue of both necessary; especially for those who are unsettled in the pronunciation of the capital, and wish to practise in order to form a habit.
227. The first sound of ea is like open e, and is heard in the following words: Afeard, affear, anneal, appeal, appear, appease, aread, arrear, beacon, beadle, beadroll, beads, beadsman, beagle, beak, beaker, beam, bean, beard, bearded, beast, beat, beaten, beaver, beleaguer, beneath, bequeath, bereave, besmear, bespeak, bleach, bleak, blear, bleat, bohea, breach, bream, to breathe, cease, cheap, cheat, clean, cleanly, (adverb) clear, clearance, cleave, cochineal, colleague, conceal, congeal, cream, creak, crease, creature, deacon, deal, dean, deanery, dear, decease, defeasance, defeasible, defeat, demean, demeanor, decrease, dream, drear, dreary, each, eager, eagle, eagre, ear, east, easter, easy, to eat, eaten, eaves, entreat, endear, escheat, fear, fearful, feasible, feasibility, feast, feat, feature, flea, fleam, freak, gear, gleam, glean, to grease, grease, greaves, heal, heap, hear, heat, heath, heathen, heave, impeach, increase, inseam, interleave, knead, lea, to lead, leaf, league, leak, lean, lease, leash, leasing, least, leave, leaves, mead, meagre, meal, mean, meat, measles, meathe, neat, neap, near, neat, pea, peace, peak, peal, pease, peat, plea, plead, please, reach, to read, ream, reap, rear, rearward, reason, recheat, redstreak, release, repeal, repeat, retreat, reveal, screak, scream, seal, sea, seam, seamy, sear, searcloth, season, seat, shear, shears, sheath, sheathe, sheaf, sleazy, sneak, sneaker, sneakup, speak, spear, steal, steam, streak, streamer, streamy, surcease, tea, teach, tead, teague, teal, team, tear, tease, teat, treacle, treason, treat, treatise, treatment, treaty, tweag, tweak, tweague, veal, underneath, uneasy, unreave, uprear, weak, weaken, weal, weald, wean, weanling, weariness, wearisome, weary, weasand, weasel, weave, wheal, wheat, wheaten, wreak, wreath, wreathe, wreathy, yea, year, yeanling, yearling, yearly, zeal.
228. In this catalogue we find beard and bearded sometimes pronounced as if written berd and berded: but this corruption of the diphthong, which Mr. Sheridan has adopted, seems confined to the Stage. See the word.
