1861.] 2Q9 [Syllabification. 



sounds composing them are enunciated. The vowels may be pro- 

 nounced in three different ways. In accented syllables, they are 

 either long or short, and in unaccented syllables they are more or less 

 reduced. The long vowels are pronounced loud in the beginning, 

 but the voice tapers off towards their close. They present, therefore, 

 quite a small front to the following consonants and semi-vowels. The 

 sJiorf vowels, on the other hand, instead of decreasing, seem rather 

 to expand during (heir short existence, and to rush with full force 

 against the following consonants. The reduced vowels, finally, which 

 are only found in unaccented syllables, are of an indifferent kind, 

 and neither increase nor decrease their small compass; still, in some 

 cases, they partake somewhat of the nature of the short vowels. The 

 long vowels, therefore, combine in a different manner with the fol- 

 lowing semi-vowels and consonants than the short ; the former esta- 

 blishing quite a slight conjunction with them, but the latter an inti- 

 mate one. The connection of the reduced vowels, also, with the suc- 

 ceeding consonants and semi-vowels, is as lax as that of the long 

 vowels. — The consonants and semi-vowels, again, are pronounced in 

 a different manner when preceded by long and reduced and when 

 by short vowels. In the former case, their initial element is very 

 weak and scarcely audible, but in the latter it is quite emphatic; 

 hence, after short vowels, the consonants and semi-vowels are said to 

 be sharpened. 



§ 40. When one joint ends in a vowel, and another begins with 

 one, their division does not present any difficulty; for, although no 

 break of the voice occurs in their pronunciation, still there is a 

 change operated in the configuration of the organs of speech, by 

 which change the former vowel is suddenly brought to a close, and 

 passes over into the following. The break in these words, therefore, 

 naturally occurs after the first vowel, e. [/., a-orta, li-ar, Mai/-o, ide-a. 



§ 41. When a consonant or semi-vowel is between the two vowels, 

 the case is more intricate. All articulated sounds, excluding the 

 vowels, may be divided into continuants and explodents. The continu- 

 ants include the fluid consonants and the semi-vowels, and the explo- 

 dents the hard and soft. When continuants are medial, there is no ac- 

 tual break in the word either; for they form a continuous passage from 

 one vowel to another. Still, there are indentations noticed which 

 point out the terminations of the joints. When the vowel, in the 

 first joint, is long, the indentation is immediately after this vowel ; 

 for the voice in its pronunciation tapers off, and the long vowel is 

 thus connected but very slightly with the following continuant. When 



