1861.] 309 [Vowels 



class of words ending in/,/?, ss, sf, and sk, in which o is marked 

 with the short sound in most pronouncing dictionaries, though some 

 orthoepists give it the sound of the broad a, as in fall. Mr. Xares 

 gives the sound of broad a to o in the following words : off, often, 

 offer, coffee, scoff, aloft, loft, soft, cross, loss, toss, cost, frost, lost, tost, 

 hrotli, cloth, froth, cough, and trough. To these others might with 

 equal propriety, be added, as offspring, dross, gloss, moss, moth, v:roth. 

 Mr. Smart remarks, 'that before ss, st, and th, the letter o is fre- 

 quently sounded aio ; as in moss, gloss, kQ., lost, cost, &c., hi^oth, cloth, 

 &c. This practice is analogous to the broad utterance whicli the 

 letter a in fcist is liable to receive before certain consonants ; and the 

 same remarks will apply in the present case, as to the one referred 

 to, namely, that though the broad sound is vulgar [?], there is an 

 affectation in a palpable effort to avoid it in words where its use 

 seems at one time to have been general. In such cases, a medium 

 between the extremes is the practice of the best speakers.' The 

 sound of is also somewhat prolonged in gone and begone, and in 

 some words ending in ng ; as long, prong, song, strong, thong, throng, 

 wrong J' 



From these remarks it may be seen 1, that the existence of the 

 long sound of o in off, &c., is admitted by the orthoepists ; 2, that 

 they regard it as identical with the sound of a in all, but think it 

 different from o in not, just as they think a m fast different from a 

 in fat. I hold that these two sounds, viz., o in not, and in off] are 

 the same in quality, but differ in quantity; and in order to convince 

 the reader of this fact, I propose to him our old expedient, viz., to j^ro- 

 nounce not half-way, and then to conclude the words with off] viz., 

 no-off'. By this means it is rendered evident, that the only difference 

 between o in 7iot, and in off, moss, &c., lies in the quantity.] 



§ 7. Before passing to another subject, I must direct the attention 

 of the reader to a peculiarity of the vowel-system, viz., that the 

 vowels 1 in machine and w in flute, in the pronunciation of which 

 the middle of the tongue approaches nearest to the palate, are two 

 points by which there is a transition from the vowels into the conso_ 

 nants. This becomes evident when we pronounce them in the whisper, 

 ing language (vox clandestina); for, if we whisper them and gradu- 

 ally emphasize their pronunciation, we will find that there is a transition 

 from the sound of u in flute into that of / or a mute v, and of the 

 sound of i in machine into that of a sibilant; while the sounds of 

 a in father, o in note, and a in age, retain their characters as 

 vowels, no matter how much stress may be laid upon their pronuncia- 



VOL. VIII. — 2q 



