Читать книгу The Grammar of English Grammars - Goold Brown - Страница 111

OBS. 4.—Such is a brief sketch of Mulkey's system of orthoëpy; a work in which "he claims to have devised what has heretofore been a desideratum—a mode by which children in our common schools may be taught the rules for the pronunciation of their mother tongue."—Preface, p. 4. The faults of the book are so exceedingly numerous, that to point them out, would be more toil, than to write an accurate volume of twice the size. And is it possible, that a system like this could find patronage in the metropolis of New England, in that proud centre of arts and sciences, and in the proudest halls of learning and of legislation? Examine the gentleman's credentials, and take your choice between the adoption of his plan, as a great improvement in the management of syllables, and the certain conclusion that great men may be greatly duped respecting them. Unless the public has been imposed upon by a worse fraud than mere literary quackery, the authorities I have mentioned did extensively patronize the scheme; and the Common Council of that learned city did order, November 14th, 1833, "That the School Committee be and they are hereby authorized to employ Mr. William Mulkey to give a course of Lectures on Orthoëpy to the several instructors of the public schools, and that the sum of five hundred dollars is hereby appropriated for that purpose, and that the same amount be withdrawn from the reserved fund."—See Mulkey's Circular.

OBS. 5.—Pronunciation is best taught to children by means of a good spelling-book; a book in which the words are arranged according to their analogies, and divided according to their proper sounds. Vocabularies, dictionaries, and glossaries, may also be serviceable to those who are sufficiently advanced to learn how to use them. With regard to the first of the abovenamed purposes of syllabication, I am almost ready to dissent even from the modest opinion of Walker himself; for ignorance can only guess at the pronunciation of words, till positive instruction comes in to give assurance; and it may be doubted whether even the simple rule or rules suggested by Walker would not about as often mislead the young reader as correct him. With regard to the second purpose, that of showing the derivation or composition of words, it is plain, that etymology, and not pronunciation, must here govern the division; and that it should go no further than to separate the constituent parts of each word; as, ortho-graphy, theo-logy. But when we divide for the third purpose, and intend to show what is the pronunciation of a word, we must, if possible, divide into such syllabic sounds as will exactly recompose the word, when put together again; as, or-thog-ra-phy, the-ol-o-gy. This being the most common purpose of syllabication, perhaps it would be well to give it a general preference; and adopt it whenever we can, not only in the composing of spelling-books and dictionaries, but also in the dividing of words at the ends of lines.

OBS. 6.—Dr. Lowth says, "The best and easiest rule, for dividing the syllables in spelling, is, to divide them as they are naturally divided in a right pronunciation; without regard to the derivation of words, or the possible combination of consonants at the beginning of a syllable."—Lowth's Gram., p. 5. And Walker approves of the principle, with respect to the third purpose mentioned above: "This," says that celebrated orthoëpist, "is the method adopted by those who would convey the whole sound, by giving distinctly every part; and, when this is the object of syllabication, Dr. Lowth's rule is certainly to be followed."—Walker's Principles—No. 541. But this rule, which no one can apply till he has found out the pronunciation, will not always be practicable where that is known, and perhaps not always expedient where it is practicable. For example: the words colonel, venison, transition, propitious, cannot be so divided as to exhibit their pronunciation; and, in such as acid, magic, pacify, legible, liquidate, it may not be best to follow the rule, because there is some reasonable objection to terminating the first syllables of these words with c, g, and q, especially at the end of a line. The rule for terminations may also interfere with this, called "Lowth's;" as in sizable, rising, dronish.

OBS. 7.—For the dividing of words into syllables, I have given six rules, which are perhaps as many as will be useful. They are to be understood as general principles; and, as to the exceptions to be made in their application, or the settling of their conflicting claims to attention, these may be left to the judgement of each writer. The old principle of dividing by the eye, and not by the ear, I have rejected; and, with it, all but one of the five rules which the old grammarians gave for the purpose. "The divisions of the letters into syllables, should, unquestionably, be the same in written, as in spoken language; otherwise the learner is misguided, and seduced by false representations into injurious errors."—Wilson's Essay on Gram., p. 37. Through the influence of books in which the words are divided according to their sounds, the pronunciation of the language is daily becoming more and more uniform; and it may perhaps be reasonably hoped, that the general adoption of this method of syllabication, and a proper exposition of the occasional errors of ignorance, will one day obviate entirely the objection arising from the instability of the principle. For the old grammarians urged, that the scholar who had learned their rules should "strictly conform to them; and that he should industriously avoid that random Method of dividing by the Ear, which is subject to mere jumble, as it must be continually fluctuating according to the various Dialects of different Countries."—British Grammar, p. 47.

OBS. 8.—The important exercise of oral spelling is often very absurdly conducted. In many of our schools, it may be observed that the teacher, in giving out the words to be spelled, is not always careful to utter them with what he knows to be their true sounds, but frequently accommodates his pronunciation to the known or supposed ignorance of the scholar; and the latter is still more frequently allowed to hurry through the process, without putting the syllables together as he proceeds; and, sometimes, without forming or distinguishing the syllables at all. Merely to pronounce a word and then name its letters, is an exceedingly imperfect mode of spelling; a mode in which far more is lost in respect to accuracy of speech, than is gained in respect to time. The syllables should not only be distinctly formed and pronounced, but pronounced as they are heard in the whole word; and each should be successively added to the preceding syllables, till the whole sound is formed by the reunion of all its parts. For example: divisibility. The scholar should say, "Dee I, de; Vee I Ess, viz, de-viz; I, de-viz-e; Bee I Ell, bil, de-viz-e-bil; I, de-viz-e-bil-e; Tee Wy, te, de-viz-e-bil-e-te." Again: chicanery. "Cee Aitch I, she; Cee A, ka, she-ka; En E Ar, nur, she-ka-nur; Wy, she-ka-nur-e." One of the chief advantages of oral spelling, is its tendency to promote accuracy of pronunciation; and this end it will reach, in proportion to the care and skill with which it is conducted. But oral spelling should not be relied on as the sole means of teaching orthography. It will not be found sufficient. The method of giving out words for practical spelling on slates or paper, or of reading something which is to be written again by the learner, is much to be commended, as a means of exercising those scholars who are so far advanced as to write legibly. This is called, in the schools, dictation.