1861.] 2B5 ICombination?. 



long sound of u, which Walker (171) says is exactly the pronoun 

 1/ou, while Lafhani holds (Elementary English Grammar, § 36), 

 that it consists of the sound of i in pi(, followed by that of 2o in 

 icill, rapidly pronounced. The fact is, the precise line where /* 

 ceases and i/ begins, is sometimes very difficult to say, and the only 

 rule that can be laid down for the detection of the latter is, that when 

 I or e are alone by themselves, as in sit, be, wind, they are always 

 vowels, but when they precede other vowels, as in radiant, opinion, 

 copious, aqueous, ruffian, &c., they either entirely pa.ss over into 

 ij, or else have a strong tendency in that direction. When these last 

 combinations are spoken softly and slowly, we recognize i in pit, but 

 when their pronunciation is eniphasized, and they are spoken hur- 

 riedly, we hear the semi-vowel y. 



From these remarks it follows that it is impossible to establish sa- 

 tisfactorily all the combinations between the consonants and the semi- 

 vowels and,?/; inasmuch as some combinations which are admitted 

 by the one are denied by the other. The only cases where all orthoe- 

 pists agree to give to i the sound of y, are after t in Christian, after 

 d in Indian, after I in hullion, stallion, and after n in pinion, onion. 

 Some recognize it after r in clarion, and Knoides admits it after v in 

 niveous. Still, I venture to suppose that an unprejudiced ear will 

 clearly distinguish y also in the following words, viz., pure, tube, cue., 

 hue, dew, bugle, few, Jew. 



§ 30. The vowel-consonant w in some words exercises an influence 

 upon the following vowel, as in war, what, wolf, woman, where it 

 communicates to a the sound of a°, and to o that of oo, but y influ- 

 ences the preceding consonants, which it has a tendency to break up 

 and to convert into sibilants. This influence of the vowel-consonant 

 y upon the preceding consonants, which is one of the most remark- 

 able linguistic phenomena, has been discussed at full length in the 

 work of my father and myself on " Latin Pronunciation,'^* in treat- 

 ing on the pronunciation of the Greek zeta. The leading results 

 which have there been obtained, I shall here subjoin, but for further 

 particulars I refer the reader to the other work. 



The guttural and dental mutes which originally were pronounced 

 firmly and distinctly, in many languages, in the course of time be- 

 came weakened, and were pronounced less distinctly, and in order to 

 strengthen them in their weakened condition, either the following / 

 and e, when preceding other vowels, were hardened into y, or else 



* Latin Pronunciation and the Latin Alphabet, by Dr. Leonard Tafel and Prof. 

 R. L. Tafel. Mason Brothers, New York, 1860. 



