410. Hitherto we have considered these letters as they are heard under the accent; but when they are unaccented in the participial termination ing, they are frequently a cause of embarrassment to speakers who desire to pronounce correctly. We are told, even by teachers of English, that ing, in the words singing, bringing, and swinging, must be pronounced with the ringing sound, which is heard when the accent is on these letters, in king, sing, and wing, and not as if written without the g, as singin, bringin, swingin. No one can be a greater advocate than I am for the strictest adherence to orthography, as long as the public pronunciation pays the least attention to it; but when I find letters given up by the Public, with respect to sound, I then consider them as cyphers; and, if my observation does not greatly fail me, I can assert, that our best speakers do not invariably pronounce the participial ing, so as to rhyme with sing, king, and ring. Indeed, a very obvious exception seems to offer itself in those verbs that end in these letters, as a repetition of the ringing sound in successive syllables would produce a Tautophony, (see the word) and have a very bad effect on the ear; and therefore, instead of singing, bringing, and flinging, our best speakers are heard to pronounce sing-in, bring-in, and fling-in; and for the very same reason that we exclude the ringing sound in these words, we ought to admit it when the verb ends with in; for if, instead of sinning, pinning, and beginning, we should pronounce sin-nin, pin-nin, and begin-nin, we should fall into the same disgusting repetition as in the former case. The participial ing, therefore, ought always to have its ringing sound, except in those words formed from verbs in this termination; for writing, reading, and speaking, are certainly preferable to writin, readin, and speakin, wherever the pronunciation has the least degree of precision or solemnity.
411. N is mute when it ends a syllable, and is preceded by l or m, as kiln, hymn, limn, solemn, column, autumn, condemn, contemn. In hym-ning, and lim-ning, the n is generally pronounced, and sometimes, in very solemn speaking, in condem-ning and contem-ning; but, in both cases, contrary to analogy, which forbids any sound in the participle that was not in the verb. (381)
P.
412. This letter is mute before s and t at the beginning of words, psalm, psalmist, psalmody, psalmography, psalter, psaltry; the prefix pseudo, signifying false, as pseudography, pseudology, and the interjection pshaw! To these we may add ptisan, ptyalism, ptysmagogue. It is mute in the middle of words between m and t, in empty, sempstress, peremptory, sumptuous, presumptuous, redemption, exemption, and raspberry. In cupboard it coalesces with and falls into its flat sound b, as if written cubboard. It is mute in a final syllable between the same letters, as tempt, attempt, contempt, exempt, prompt, accompt. In receipt it is mute between i and t, and in the military corps (a body of troops) both p and s are mute, as custom has acquiesced in the French pronunciation of most military terms.
PH.
413. Ph is generally pronounced like f, as in philosophy, phantom, etc. In nephew and Stephen it has the sound of v. In diphthong and triphthong the sound of p only is heard; and the h is mute likewise in naphtha, ophtbalmick, etc. In apophthegm both letters are dropped. The same may be observed of phthisis, phthisic, and phthisical. In sapphire the first p slides into ph, by an accentual coalition of similar letters, very agreeable to analogy. See Exaggerate.
Q.
414. Q has always the sound of k: it is constantly followed by u, pronounced like w: and its general sound is heard in quack, quill, queen, etc. pronounced kwack, kwill, kween, etc. That the u subjoined to this letter has really the power of w, may be observed in the generality of words where a succeeds; for we find the vowel go into the broad sound in quart, quarrel, quantity, etc. as much as in war, warrant, want, etc. (85) But it must be carefully noted, that this broad sound is only heard under the accent; when the a preceded by qu, is not accented, it has the sound of every other accented a in the language. (92) Thus the a in quarter, quarrel, quadrant, etc. because it has the accent, is broad: the same may be observed when the accent is secondary only, (522) (527) as in quadragesimal, quadrisyllable, etc. but when the accent is on the succeeding syllable, as in qua-dratick, qua-drangular, etc. the a goes into the obscure sound approaching to the Italian a. (92)
415. As a great number of words, derived from the French, have these letters in them, according to our usual complaisance for that language, we adopt the French pronunciation: thus in coquet, doquet, etiquette, masquerade, harlequin, oblique, antique, opaque, pique, piquant, piquet, burlesque, grotesque, casque, mosque, quadrille, quatercousin, the qu is pronounced like k. Quoif and quoit ought to be written and pronounced coif, coit. Paquet, laquey, chequer, and risque, have been very properly spelled by Johnson as they are pronounced packet, lackey, checker, and risk. Quoth ought to be pronounced with the u, as if written kwuth, and therefore is not irregular. Liquor and harlequin always lose the u, and conquer, conquerable, and conqueror, sometimes, particularly on the Stage. This deviation, however, seems not to have gone beyond recovery; and conquest is still regularly pronounced conkwest. Quote and quotation are perfectly regular, and ought never to be pronounced as some do, cote and cotation. Cirque, contracted from circus, and cinque, cinquefoil, cinque-ports, cinque-spotted, are pronounced sirk and sink; and critique, when we mean a
