criticism, to distinguish it from critick, is pronounced criteek, rhyming with speak. See Quoit and Quotation.
R.
416. This letter is never silent, but its sound is sometimes transposed. In a final unaccented syllable, terminating with re the r is pronounced after the e, as acre, lucre, sabre, fibre, ochre, eagre, maugre, sepulchre, theatre, spectre, metre, petre, mitre, nitre, antre, lustre, accoutre, massacre; to which we may add, centre and sceptre; sometimes written center and scepter; but, in my opinion, very improperly, as this peculiarity is fixed, and easily understood; while reducing meagre to meager disturbs the rule, and adds another anomaly to our pronunciation, by making the g hard before e. (98)
417. The same transposition of r is always perceived in the pronunciation of apron and iron; and often in that of citron and saffron, as if written apurn, iurn, citurn, saffurn: nor do I think the two firsts can be pronounced otherwise without a disagreeable stiffness; but the two last may preserve the r before the vowel with great propriety. Children and hundred have slid into this analogy, when used colloquially, but preserve the r before the e in solemn speaking.
418. As this letter is but a jar of the tongue, sometimes against the roof of the mouth, and sometimes at the orifice of the throat, it is the most imperfect of all the consonants; and, as its formation is so indefinite, no wonder, when it is not under the accent, that the vowels which precede it, should be so indefinite in their sounds, as we may perceive in the words friar, lier, elixir, nadir, mayor, martyr, which, with respect to sound, might be written friur, liur, elixur, nadur, mayur, martyr. (98) 'These inaccuracies in pronunciation,' says an ingenious writer, 'we seem to have derived from our Saxon ancestors. Dr. Hicks observes in the first chapter of his Saxon Grammar, that "Comparativa apud eos (Anglo-saxonas) indifferenter exeunt in ar, aer, er, ir, or, ur, yr; et Superlativa in ast, aest, est, ist, ost, ust, yst; participia praesentis temporis in and, aend, end, ind, ond, und, ynd: praeteriti vero in ad, aed, id, od, ud, yd; pro vario scilicet vel aevi vel loci dialecto." Upon various other occasions also they used two or more vowels and diphthongs indifferently; and this not always from difference of age or place, because these variations are frequently found in the same page. This will account for the difference between the spelling and pronunciation of such anomalous words as busy and bury, now pronounced as if written bisy and bery, (the i and e having their common short sound) and formerly spelt indifferently with e, u, or y.' Essay on the Harmony of Language. Robson, 1774.
419. There is a distinction in the sound of this letter, scarcely ever noticed by any of our writers on the subject, which is, in my opinion, of no small importance; and that is, the rough and smooth r. Ben Jonson, in his Grammar, says it is sounded firm in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the middle and ends, as in rarer, riper; and so in the Latin. The rough r is formed by jarring the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth near the fore teeth: the smooth r is a vibration of the lower part of the tongue, near the root, against the inward region of the palate, near the entrance of the throat. This latter r is that which marks the pronunciation of England, and the former that of Ireland. In England, and particularly in London, the r in lard, bard, card, regard, etc. is pronounced so much in the throat as to be little more than the middle or Italian a, lengthened into laad, baad, caad, regaad; while in Ireland the r, in these words, is pronounced with so strong a jar of the tongue against the fore-part of the palate, and accompanied with such an aspiration, or strong breathing, at the beginning of the letter, as to produce that harshness we call the Irish accent. But if this letter is too forcibly pronounced in Ireland, it is often too feebly sounded in England, and particularly in London, where it is sometimes entirely sunk; and it may, perhaps, be worthy of observation, that, provided we avoid a too forcible pronunciation of the r, when it ends a word, or is followed by a consonant in the same syllable, we may give as much force as we please to this letter, at the beginning of a word, without producing any harshness to the ear: thus Rome, river, rage, may have the r as forcible as in Ireland; but bar, bard, card, hard, etc. must have it nearly as in London.
S.
420. As the former letter was a jar, this is a hiss; but a hiss which forms a much more definite and complete consonant than the other. This consonant, like the other mutes, has a sharp and a flat sound; the sharp sound is heard in the name of the letter, and in the words same, sin, this; the flat sound is that of z, heard in is, his, was: and these two sounds, accompanied by the aspirate, or h, form all the varieties found under this letter. (41)
421. S has always its sharp hissing sound at the beginning of words, as soon, sin, etc. and when it immediately follows any of the sharp mutes, f, k, p, t, as scoffs, blocks, hips, pits, or when it is added to the mute e after any of these letters, as strifes, flakes, pipes, mites.
422. S is sharp and hissing at the end of the monosyllables yes, this, us, thus, gas; and at the end of words of two or more syllables, if it be preceded by any of the vowels but e, and forms a distinct syllable: thus es in pipes and mites do not form a distinct syllable; and as they are preceded by a sharp mute, the s is sharp likewise: but in prices these letters form a syllable, and the s is pronounced like z, according to the general rule.
