pronounced plezhure, etc. but when preceded by a liquid, or another s, it is sounded sh, as sensual, censure, tonsure, pressure, pronounced senshual, censhure, etc.
453. From the clearness of this analogy, we may perceive the impropriety of pronouncing Asia with the sharp aspiration, as if written Ashia; when, by the foregoing rule, it ought, undoubtedly to be pronounced Azhia, rhyming with Arpasia, euthanasia, etc. with the flat aspiration of z. This is the Scotch pronunciation of this word, and, unquestionably, the true one: but if I mistake not, Persia is pronounced in Scotland with the same aspiration of s, and as if written Perzhia; which is as contrary to analogy as the other is agreeable to it.
454. The tendency of the s to aspiration before a diphthongal sound, has produced several anomalies in the language, which can only be detected by recurring to first principles: for which purpose it may be necessary to observe, that the accent or stress naturally preserves the letters in their true sound; and as feebleness naturally succeeds force, so the letters, immediately after the stress, have a tendency to slide into different sounds, which require less exertion of the organs. Hence the omission of one of the vowels in the pronunciation of the last syllable of fountain, mountain, captain, etc. (208) hence the short sound of i in respite, servile, etc. hence the s pronounced like z in disable, where the accent is on the second syllable; and like s sharp and hissing in disability, where there is a secondary stress on the first syllable; and hence the difference between the x in exercise, and that in exert; the former having the accent on it, being pronounced eks, as if the word were written ecksercise: and the latter without the accent, pronounced gz, as if the word were written egzert. This analogy leads us immediately to discover the irregularity of sure, sugar, and their compounds, which are pronounced shure and shugar, though the accent is on the first syllable, and ought to preserve the s without aspiration; and a want of attending to this analogy has betrayed Mr. Sheridan into a series of mistakes in the sound of s in the words suicide, presume, resume, etc. as if written shoo-icide, pre-zhoom, re-zhoom, etc. but if this is the true pronunciation of these words, it may be asked, why is not suit, suitable, pursue, etc. to be pronounced shoot, shoot-able, pur-shoo? etc. If it be answered, Custom; I own this decides the question at once. Let us only be assured, that the best speakers pronounce a like o, and that is the true pronunciation: but those who see analogy so openly violated, ought to be assured of the certainty of the custom before they break through all the laws of language to conform to it. (69) (71) See Superable.
455. We have seen, in a great variety of instances, the versatility of s, how frequently it slides into the sound of z: but my observation greatly fails me if it ever takes the aspiration, unless it immediately follows the accent, except in the words sure, sugar, and their compounds; and these irregularities are sufficient, without adding to the numerous catalogue we have already seen under this letter.
456. The analogy we have just been observing, directs us in the pronunciation of usury, usurer, and usurious. The first two have the accent on the first syllable, which permits the s to go into aspiration, as if the words were written uzbury and uzhurer: but the accent being on the second u in the last word, the s is prevented from going into aspiration, and is pronounced uzurious. (479) (480)
457. Though the ss in passion, mission, etc. belong to separate syllables, as if spelt pas-sion, mis-sion, etc. yet the accent presses the first into the same aspiration as the last, and they are both pronounced with the sharp aspirated hiss, as if they were but one s. See Exaggerate.
458. S is silent in isle, island, aisle, demesne, puisne, viscount, and at the end of some words from the French, as pas, sous, vis-à-vis; and in corps the two last letters are silent, and the word pronounced core. (412)
T.
459. T is the sharp sound of D; (41) but though the latter is often changed into the former, the former never goes into the latter. The sound to which this letter is extremely prone, is that of s. This sound of t has greatly multiplied the hissing in our own language, and has not a little promoted it in most modern tongues. That p and b, t and d, k and g hard, s and z, should slide into each other, is not surprising, as they are distinguished only by a nice shade of sound; but that t should alter to s, seems a most violent transition, till we consider the organic formation of these letters, and of those vowels which always occasion it. If we attend to the formation of t, we shall find that it is a stoppage of the breath by the application of the upper part of the tongue, near the end, to the correspondent part of the palate; and that if we just detach the tongue from the palate, sufficiently to let the breath pass, a hiss is produced which forms the letter s. Now the vowel that occasions this transition of t to s, is the squeezed sound of e, as heard in y consonant: (8) which squeezed sound is a species of hiss; and this hiss, from the absence of accent, easily slides into the s, and s as easily into sh: thus mechanically is generated that hissing termination tion, which forms but one syllable, as if written shun. (195)
460. But it must be carefully remarked, that this hisssing sound, contracted by the t before certain diphthongs, is never heard but after the accent: when the accent falls on the vowel immediately after the t, this letter, like s or c in the same situation, preserves its simple sound: thus the c in social, goes into sh, because the accent is on the preceding vowel; but it preserves the simple sound of s in society, because the accent is on the succeeding vowel.
