- does not apply to any of the examples given; the final letter in each of the other words being silent. The latter rule is worse yet: it misrepresents the examples; for "bonnet" and "hunger" are trochees, and "art," with any stress on it, is long.
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In all late editions of L. Murray's Grammar, and many modifications of it, accent is defined thus: "Accent is the laying of a peculiar stress of the voice, on a certain letter OR syllable in a word, that it may be better heard than the rest, or distinguished from them; as, in the word presúme, the stress of the voice must be on the letter u, and [the] second syllable, sume, which takes the accent."—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 235; 12mo, 188; 18mo, 57; Alger's, 72; Bacon's, 52; Comly's, 168; Cooper's, 176; Davenport's, 121; Felton's, 134; Frost's El., 50; Fisk's, 32; Merchant's, 145; Parker and Fox's, iii, 44; Pond's, 197; Putnam's, 96; Russell's, 106; R. O. Smith's, 186. Here we see a curious jumble of the common idea of accent, as "stress laid on some particular syllable of a word," with Sheridan's doctrine of accenting always "a particular letter of a syllable,"—an idle doctrine, contrived solely for the accommodation of short quantity with long, under the accent. When this definition was adopted, Murray's scheme of quantity was also revised, and materially altered. The principles of his main text, to which his copiers all confine themselves, then took the following form:
"The quantity of a syllable, is that time which is occupied in pronouncing it. It is considered as long or short.
"A vowel or syllable is long, when the accent is on the vowel; which occasions it to be slowly joined in pronunciation with the following letters: as, 'Fāll, bāle, mōōd, hōūse, fēature.'
"A syllable is short, when the accent is on the consonant; which occasions the vowel to be quickly joined to the succeeding letter: as, 'ănt, bōnnĕt, hūngĕr.'
"A long syllable generally requires double the time of a short one in pronouncing it: thus, 'Māte' and 'Nōte' should be pronounced as slowly again as 'Măt' and 'Nŏt.'"—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 239; 12mo, 192; 18mo, 57; Alger's, 72; D. C. Allen's, 86; Bacon's, 52; Comly's, 168; Cooper's, 176; Cutler's, 165; Davenport's, 121; Felton's, 134; Frost's El., 50; Fisk's, 32; Maltby's, 115; Parker and Fox's, iii, 47; Pond's, 198; S. Putnam's, 96; R. C. Smith's, 187; Rev. T. Smith's, 68.
Here we see a revival and an abundant propagation of Sheridan's erroneous doctrine, that our accent produces both short quantity and long, according to its seat; and since none of all these grammars, but the first two of Murray's, give any other rules for the discrimination of quantities, we must infer, that these were judged sufficient. Now, of all the principles on which any have ever pretended to determine the quantity of syllables, none, so far as I know, are more defective or fallacious than these. They are liable to more objections than it is worth while to specify. Suffice it to observe, that they divide certain accented syllables into long and short, and say nothing of the unaccented; whereas it is plain, and acknowledged even by Murray and Sheridan themselves, that in "ant, bonnet, hunger" and the like, the unaccented syllables are the only short ones: the rest can be, and here are, lengthened.[1]
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The foregoing principles, differently expressed, and perchance in some instances more fitly, are found in many other grammars, and in some of the very latest; but they are everywhere a mere dead letter, a record which, if it is not always untrue, is seldom understood, and never applied in any way to practice. The following are examples:
- "In a long syllable, the vowel is accented; in a short syllable [,] the consonant; as [,] rōll, pōll; tŏp, cŭt."—Rev. W. Allen's Gram., p. 222.
- "A syllable or word is long, when the accent is on the vowel: as nō, līne, lā, mē; and short, when on the consonant: as nŏt, lĭn, Lătin, mĕt."—S. Barrett's Grammar, ("Principles of Language,") p. 112.
- "A syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel, as, Pāll, sāle, mōūse, crēature. A syllable is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as great´, let´ter, mas´ter."—Rev. D. Blair's Practical Gram., p. 117.
- "When the stress is on the vowel, the measure of quantity is long: as, Máte, fáte, complàin, pláyful, un der míne. When the stress is on a consonant, the quantity is short: as, Mat´, fat´, com pel´, prog´ress, disman´tle."—Pardon Davis's Practical Gram., p. 125.
- "The quantity of a syllable is considered as long or short. It is long when the accent is on the vowel; as, Fāll, bāle, mōod, hoūse, fēature. It is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as, Mas´ter, let´ter."—Guy's School Gram., p. 118; Picket's Analytical School Gram., 2d Ed., p. 224.
- "A syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel; and short, when the accent is on the consonant. A long syllable requires twice the time in pronouncing it that a short one does. Long syllables are marked thus ¯; as, tūbe; short syllables, thus ˘; as, măn."—Hiley's English Gram., p. 120.
- "When the accent is on a vowel, the syllable is generally long; as ālehoūse, amūsement, fēatures. But when the accent is on a consonant, the syllable is mostly short; as, hăp'py, măn-
- ↑ [497] "If the consonant be in its nature a short one, the syllable is necessarily short. If it be a long one, that is, one whose sound is capable of being lengthened, it may be long or short at the will of the speaker. By a short consonant I mean one whose sound cannot be continued after a vowel, such as c or k p t, as ac, ap, at—whilst that of long consonants can, as, el em en er ev, &c."—Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution, p. 58. Sheridan here forgets that "bor'row" is one of his examples of short quantity. Murray admits that "accent on a semi-vowel" may make the syllable long; and his semivowels are these: "f, l, m, n, r, v, s, z, x, and c and g soft." See his Octavo Gram., p. 240 and p. 8.
