first syllable of which words rhyme with go, no, so. See the words.
261. Eo in galleon, a Spanish ship, sounds as if written galloon, rhyming with moon.
EOU.
262. This assemblage of vowels, for they cannot be properly called a triphthong, is often contracted into one syllable in prose, and poets never make it go for two. In cutaneous and vitreous, two syllables are palpable; but in gorgeous and outrageous, the soft g coalescing with e, seems to drop a syllable, though polite pronunciation will always preserve it.
263. This assemblage is never found but in an unaccented syllable, and generally a final one; and when it is immediately preceded by the dentals d or t, it melts them into the sound of j and tch: thus hideous and piteous are pronounced as if written hijeous and pitcheous. The same may be observed of righteous, plenteous, bounteous, courteous, beauteous, and duteous. (293) (294)
EU.
264. This diphthong is always sounded like long u or ew, and is scarcely ever irregular: thus feud, deuce, etc. are pronounced as if written fewd, dewse, etc.
EW.
265. This diphthong is pronounced like long u, and is almost always regular. There is a corrupt pronunciation of it like oo, chiefly in London, where we sometimes hear dew and new pronounced as if written doo and noo; but when r precedes this diphthong, as in brew, crew, drew, etc. pronouncing it like oo, is scarcely improper. See 176, 339.
266. Shew and strew have almost left this class, and, by Johnson's recommendation, are become show and strow, as they are pronounced. The proper name Shrewsbury, however, still retains the e, though always pronounced Shrowsbury. Sew, with a needle, always rhymes with no; and sewer, signifying a drain, is generally pronounced shore: but sewer, an officer, rhymes with fewer. See Sewer.
267. Ew is sometimes pronounced like aw in the verb to chew; but this is gross and vulgar. To chew ought always to rhyme with new, view, etc.
EWE.
268. This triphthong exists only in the word ewe, a female sheep; which is pronounced exactly like yew, a tree, or the plural personal pronoun you. There is a vulgar pronunciation of this word, as if written yoe, rhyming with doe, which must be carefully avoided. See the word.
EY.
269. When the accent is on this diphthong, it is always pronounced like ay, or like its kindred diphthong ei, in vein, reign, etc. thus bey, dey, grey, prey, they, trey, whey, obey, convey, purvey, survey, hey, eyre, and eyrey, are always heard as if written bay, day, etc. Key and ley are the only exceptions, which alway rhyme with sea. (220)
270. Ey, when unaccented, is pronounced like ee: thus galley, valley, alley, barley, etc. are pronounced as if written gallee, vallee, etc. The noun survey, therefore, if we place the accent on the first syllable, is anomalous. See the word.
EYE.
271. This triphthong is only found in the word eye, which is always pronounced like the letter I.
IA.
272. This diphthong, in the terminations ian, ial, iard, and iate, forms but one syllable, though the i, in this situation, having the squeezed sound of ee perfectly similar to y, gives the syllable a double sound, very distinguishable in its nature from a syllable formed without the i: thus Christian, filial, poniard, conciliate, sound as if written Cristyan, fil-yal, pon-yard, concil-yate, and have in the last syllable an evident mixture of the sound of y consonant. (113)
273. In diamond, these vowels are properly no diphthong; and in prose the word ought to have three distinct syllables; but we frequently hear it so pronounced as to drop the a entirely, and as if written dimond. This, however, is a corruption that ought to be avoided.
274. In carriage, marriage, parliament, and miniature, the a is dropped, and the i has its short sound, as if written carridge, marridge, parliment, miniture. (90)
IE.
275. The regular sound of this diphthong is that of ee, as in grieve, thieve, fiend, lief, liege, chief, kerchief, handkerchief, auctioneer, grenadier, etc. as if written greeve, theeve, feend, etc.
276. It has the sound of long i, in die, hie, lie, pie, tie, vie, as if written dy, hy, etc.
277. The short sound of e is heard in friend, tierce, and the long sound of the same letter in tier, frieze.
278. In variegate the best pronunciation is to sound both vowels distinctly like e, as if written vary-e-gate.
279. In the numeral terminations in ieth, as twentieth, thirtieth, etc. the vowels ought always to be kept distinct; the first like open e, as heard in the y in twenty, thirty, etc. and the second like short e, heard in breath, death, etc.
280. In fiery too, the vowels are heard distinctly.
281. In orient and spaniel, where these letters come after a liquid, they are pronounced distinctly; and great care should be taken not to let the last word degenerate into spannel. (113)
282. When these letters meet, in consequence of forming the plurals of nouns, they retain either the long or short
