in the mouth. It is a common mistake, however, to think that the soft palate must, in order to open the nares, lie on the tongue for all nasal sounds. If the breath were thus uniformly intercepted at the posterior articulating part of the mouth for all the nasal elements, there could be no difference between M, N, and ng. The contact of the anterior organs would not influence the sound, unless the vocal current reached those organs. The formation of the English Nasals requires that the oral aperture be closed,-it matters not how,—and the breath directed against the obstructing organs; while the withdrawal from the nares of that part of the soft palate which lies opposite to them, gives the breath a passage through the nostrils; and the articulation is not finished until the organs which close the oral passage are separated. If the obstructing organs be not disjoined, the element loses its articulative quality, and is merely a nasal vowel. Great indistinctness arises from the want of this action when m, n, and ng are final. The French seldom sound the nasal articulations when final, or when before another articulation; they give, instead, a nasal quality to the preceding vowel, making the voice issue partly by the mouth and partly by the nose. There are no such sounds in English. (See French Semi-Nasal Vowels, page 36). The English nasals are all purely vocal. They are often faultily formed in this respect sometimes the voice is breathy and ill-formed in the glottis; and sometimes its sonorous quality is injured by some contraction of the nostrils. In order to remove this great blemish, let the nasal elements be practised by themselves-beginning them with the same coup de la glotte which was recommended for vowel-practice, (page 15) and continuing them with one breath as long as possible, in two ways,-namely, in one unbroken effusion of sound, and in a number of clear, sharp, and separate strokes of voice. When the vocalizing of the nasals has been perfected by this exercise, they should be practised with the requisite articulative actions, and in their various combinations.

The nasal elements, and also the letter L, are often called Semi-vowels, because they are perfectly sonorous, and are capable of separate and prolonged enunciation, like vowels. The semi-vowels may each separately form a syllable; L and N often do so in English, as in castle, fasten, &c. The letters of this class are also called Liquids, because they flow into other articulations, and seem to be absorbed by them. This peculiar quality might perhaps be better understood, were we to call it transparency; they show through them the nature of proximate articulations. When the Liquids occur before voiceless articulations, they are so short as scarcely to add any appreciable quantity to the syllable; wilt, bent, brink, lamp, &c. have thus but very little more duration than wit, bet, brick, lap, &c. The liquid or transparent letters in this situation cannot be prolonged without producing drawling, and an un-English pronunciation of the words. When these letters, however, come before Voice Articulations, they form the longest syllables in the language,—as in willed, bend, tongues, lambs, film, helm, &c. which have as long quantity as any syllables

containing the same vowels can have. The liquids before vowels have the same quantity as other Voice Articulations. They are, however, longer when final; and it is one of the greatest beauties of good speaking, to give them, then, their “fair proportion." Their liquid quality should not extend to proximate words, but only to letters in the same word.

M before fƒ, v, or w, presents a difficult combination, and one which is seldom heard with distinctness from ordinary speakers. M is especially awkward before f, which, being voiceless, shortens the liquid, and renders rapidity of action necessary. Let the following Exercise be practised, taking care that both lips meet for the m,—that, from that position, the lower lip falls down a very little for w; and that, for ƒ, the lower lip makes a quick downward and inward movement to the edges of the upper teeth, while the upper lip remains steady. At first, there will be felt a strong tendency to pout and push the lips from position to position; but a little practice will remove this deformity.

M generally presents a serious difficulty to the Stammerer. Voice feeble and ill-formed,-collapsing chest,-adhesive lips,―motion in the nostrils,-descent of the upper lip,-upward pressure of the lower jaw,-ascent of the chin, twisting and protrusion of the lips;-and the very smoothness of the letter which will not bear such rough antagonistic treatment,-all combine to render M one of the greatest difficulties, and the Liquids generally, the greatest obstacles to fluency, that the Stammerer meets with. The explosive letters will bear a good deal of harshness, but these delicate articulations are impracticable amid such violence of effort.

Careful and patient practice, with the aid of a glass, and sometimes with the temporary assistance of direct appliances to check the convulsive actions, will, however, surmount even these apparently impassable barriers to speech.

M initial combines with y, but with no other articulation in English. It is written, but silent, before N, as in mnemonics. Mw is a common French combination, as in moi, pronounced mwăh.

EXERCISES.

Initial.-Mere, mien, meal, meagre, mimic, mimetic, mythology, mystic, mistletoe, mission, mitigate, midnight, minister, militate, miracle, maple, mane, mail, member, meditate, mend, mellow, merry, map, mab, mammiferous, mammon, maffle, mathematics, mad, mandate, malleable, maritime, mackerel, maggot,

match, master, mamma, mathesis, marble, marmoset, marmalade, marvel, marl, myrmidon, mirth, mercy, mermaid, mummery, mumming, muffler, mundane, mull, murmur, maudlin, maul, morbid, morphia, morn, malkin, mop, mob, modern, monad, mollify, mope, moat, mode, moan, mole, move, moot, moose, mood, moon, moor, mine, mile, migrate, my.

My.—Mews, mewl, music, mute, mural, muleteer, muniment, muculent, mucus.

Between vowels.—Aimer, dreamy, beaming, imitate, inimical, gaming, emery, emanate, femoral, hammer, amability, amethyst, camerate, somerset, rummage, gummous, homage, vomit, commerce, momus, foamy, gnomon, roaming, coma, booming, consumer, zumic, looming, roomy, primate, climate, rhymer.

Before a breath articulation.-Lymph, nymph, lymphatic, emphatic, amphibrach, emphasis, camphor, comfort, comfortable, omphacine, triumph, pamphlet, samphor; impotent, imp, improve, empire, emperor, employ, lamp, ample, amputate, umpire, lump, thump; dreamt, tempt, exempt, contempt, prompt, sumptuous; tamper, stamp, rump, cramp, hamper, temper, champ, whimper, gimp, pomp, romp, pump, crumple, hump; sempstress.

Before a voice articulation.-Imbecile, thimble, timber, nimble, embers, embassy, November, remember, semblance, amber, ambient, namby-pamby, bramble, scramble, tambour, ramble, gamble, umber, humble, umbrage, stumble, tumbler, adumbrate, number, lumber, rumble, gumboil; triumvirate; dimmed, limned, rimmed, hymned, seemed, dreamed, beamed, aimed, blamed, maimed, tamed, famed, stemmed, contemned, condemned, shammed, jammed, lambed, rammed, armed, farmed, alarmed, harmed, summed, numbed, thumbed, gummed, warmed, formed, stormed, roamed, combed, boomed, doomed, loomed.

M final.-Seem, dream, disme; hymn, dim, grim; aim, dame, claim; them, stem, contemn; ham, sham, jam, am, drachm, slam ; arm, barm, palm, calm; firm, term; dumb, come, thumb, some, gum, hum; awm, shawm, form, warm; form, (seat); home, roam, dome, comb; boom, womb, doom, loom, room; I'm, prime, time, lime, rhyme, chime.

Ma Syllable.-Chasm, spasm, sarcasm, schism, prism, rhythm.

Wh.

OBSERVATIONS.-This element is a whispered form of W. In its formation the lips are closely approximated, and then rapidly separated: the breath is not obstructed. Sometimes a slight degree of vocality is added to the action: but there must always be a clear distinction maintained between Wh and W. If the action be confined to the lips, and the breathing be softly managed, it is better to keep Wh-analogously to P, and the other Breath Articulations--entirely without voice. The action is often not confined to the lips, but thrown back to the soft palate also; and the breath is thus modified at once into ch (German) and wh. This is a Scottish peculiarity, heard very coarsely from Highlanders, and with varying degrees of guttural force in all districts of Scotland. Avoiding this ungraceful mechanism, Wh will be found to be so unexceptionable and delicate in its articulative effect, that even the Cocknies, who, in their inconsistent horror of aspirations, confound it with W, need not reject it as uncouth. This element is not heard before o or oo. On account of the difficulty the combination would present, the vowel is simply breathed without the articulative action: this gives H instead of Wh before these vowels, as in whole, whose, &c. pronounced hole, hooze, &c.

Wh and W should be contrasted in practice till the ear and organs recognise and execute the difference satisfactorily. The following will be a useful Exercise.

These syllables should be accentuated into words-dissyllables and quadrisyllables-with the seat of the accent varied.

EXERCISES ON WH.

Whale, whally, whame, wharf, what, wheel, wheat, wheedle, wheeze, whelm, whelp, when, whence, where, wherry, whet, whether, whey, which, whiff, whiffle, whig, while, whilst, whim, whimsey, whimbrel, whimper, whimwham, whin, whine, whinny, whip, whir, whirl, whirlwind, whisk, whisper, whist, whistle, whit, white, whither, whitlow, whizz, why.

Distinguish Wh from W in the following words :

whale wheel when where which

whey way

whether

OBSERVATIONS.-This letter has been called a vowel by some orthoepists—by others a consonant, and by others both. When before a vowel, it is unquestionably an Articulation; and when in other situations, it is either a redundant letter, as in flow, or merely an auxiliary mark to make up the writing of some sound which has no fixed simple symbol. The combination aw, for instance, sounds 10; ew sounds 12, as in sew, 13 as in grew; and ow sounds 12 in flow, and 7-13 in now. The only regular sound of W is that of the initial articulation.

In forming W, the lips are very closely approximated, but not closed or projected—and an effort of voice made, which will produce the sound of oo, rather closely formed to be pure; and the articulation is finished by the smart recoil of the lips, to give egress to the succeeding vowel.

W, before oo, is rather difficult of utterance from the little scope the organs have for action, and the w is in consequence often omitted by careless speakers; wool being pronounced ool, woman, ooman, &c. A little practice will enable any person to articulate the combination distinctly. Sound the vowel ootaking care that the lips are not projected or unnecessarily contracted—and with the thumb and forefinger slightly approximate the middle of the lips during the continuance of the sound, and the word woo will be reiterated. This will clearly show what the formation of W really is, and, with a little exercise, the lips will be able to originate the necessary action, and perform it neatly and rapidly. Any habit of mal-formation which may have been acquired will readily be thrown off in this way.

Wr is a digraph retained in our orthography, but the w is not sounded. It is, however, a perfectly practicable combination, and may probably have been articulated in the earlier ages of our language. In the Scottish dialect, both letters are still often heard in such words as wretch, wright, &c.

W and wh occasion many a difficulty to the Stammerer. Sometimes the seat of the impediment lies in the production of voice in the w; sometimes in the junction of the articulation with the succeeding vowel. The Stammerer, blind to the principle that articulations are made by disjunctive actions, jerks his chin forcibly upwards to make this element: the lips meet and grasp each other, in struggle as if each strove to push the other from the face; while the head, eyes, and whole body partake of the effort, and undergo a paroxysm of distorting convulsive actions and it is not until the face is reddened with the strain