Division of Words | Page 5

sound, such as
ai as in rain eo as in people ou as in soup ou as in soul ph as in phalanx ch as in chorus or chair C has two sounds, hard before a, o, and u, as in cat, cot, and cut, and soft before e, i, and y, as in cell, city, and cycle.
G has two sounds, hard before a, o, and u, as in gate, gone, and gun, soft before e, i, and y, as in gem, gin, and gyve, although it is sometimes hard before i as in girl.
Ch is sometimes soft as in chair and arch, and sometimes hard as in choir.
Th has two sounds, soft, or surd, as in thin and death, and hard, or sonant, as in then and smooth.
S has two sounds, soft, or surd, as in soft and this, and hard, or sonant, as in has and wise.
We have, therefore, twenty-six letters with which to express fifty or more sounds, not counting the digraphs and diphthongs.
Correct pronunciation depends upon three things, correct sounding of the letters, correct division into syllables, and correct placing of the accent.
A syllable is the smallest separately articulated, or pronounced, element in speech, or one of the parts into which speech is broken. It consists of a vowel alone or accompanied by one or more consonants and separated by them, or by a pause, from a preceding or following vowel. This division of words into syllables is indicated in dictionaries by the use of the hyphen thus: _sub-trac-tion_, _co-or-din-ate_. It will be observed that in the first of these examples the vowels are all separated by consonants, while in the second two of them are separated by a pause only.
The English language has the further peculiarity of using l and n as vowels in syllabication, as in middle (_mid-dl_) and _reck-on_ (_reck-n_).
The division of words into syllables for pronunciation is generally, but not always, the same as that which should be followed in case the word has to be divided typographically. As these text-books are intended to help the apprentice as a speaker and writer of English as well as a printer, it is worth while to give some attention to syllabication for pronunciation before proceeding to discuss typographical division.[The illustrations from this point to the end of this section on page 16 are not typographic divisions. They concern pronunciation only.]
Two letters forming a diphthong or digraph are not to be separated. _Coin-age_ (oi diphthong) but _co-in-ci-dence_ (oi not a diphthong). Excess (ss digraph, pronounced practically like a single s) gives _ex-cess-es_, _ex-cess-ive_, etc. Whether or not the letters thus occurring together form a diphthong or digraph will depend on the derivation of the word, thus in _cat-head_ (verb), a nautical term, th is not a digraph but in _ca-the-dral_ th is a digraph, as is usually the case with these two letters. You would not say _cat-hed-ral_.
Two vowels, or a vowel and a diphthong, coming together but sounded separately belong to separate syllables.
_A-or-ta_, _co-op-er-ate_, but _coop-er-age_, _moi-e-ty_.
Do not end a syllable with
(_a_) c or g when soft, _en-ti-cing_, but _dic-tion_, _wa-ges_ but _wag-on_.
(_b_) t, s, z, c, sc, g, and d, when followed by i or e giving the sound of _sh_; _ra-tion-al_, _o-cean_, _re-gion_, _as-cen-sion_.
(_c_) d, s, t, and z when followed by u giving the sound of ch, sh, zh, or j, _cen-sure_, _sei-zure_, _na-ture_, _ver-dure_.
Do not begin a syllable with
(_a_) x with the sound of ks or gs, _anx-ious_, _ex-act-ly_.
(_b_) r preceded by a or _e_; _par-ent_, _av-er-age_, but by exception, _pa-rent-al_.
(_c_) Single l, n, or v, followed by i with the sound of y consonant; _fol-io_ (_fol-yo_), _gen-ius_ (_gen-yus_), _sav-ior_ (_sav-yor_).
Prefixes and suffixes are generally separated, _yel-low-ish_, _eat-able_, _pre-lude_. This last word is sometimes pronounced _prel-ude_ and this pronunciation has some dictionary support, but it is objectionable.
A consonant or digraph between two sounded vowels usually joins the following vowel, _rea-son_, _no-ti-fy_, _mo-ther_.
When two or three consonants capable of beginning a syllable come between two sounded vowels they may all be joined to the following vowel.
(_a_) When the preceding vowel is long and accented; _en-a-bling_, _He-brew_, _i-dler_.
(_b_) When the following vowel is an accented syllable; _o-blige_, _re-dress_.
When two or three consonants capable of beginning a syllable come between two sounded vowels one may be joined to the preceding vowel.
(_a_) When the vowel is short; _tab-let_, _res-cue_, _mus-ket_.
(_b_) When the consonants are st, str, or sp, if either the preceding or following vowel is accented; _mis-tress_, _aus-tere_, _oys-ter_, _sus-pect_.
When a consonant is doubled (not forming a digraph) the two are generally separated; _beg-gar_, _bril-liant_, _cun-ning_.
The old-fashioned method of oral spelling by syllables _m-a-s-mas-t-e-r-ter-master_ will be found extremely useful in teaching correct syllabication. It is recommended that constant use be made of it in spelling drill.

ACCENT
When a word consists of two syllables one of