1861.] 373 [Syllabification. 



bles are jointed, and in order to detect their breaks and indentations, 

 we must pronounce them very slowly, and then notice that portion 

 of the word on which our voice naturally rests, and which it pro- 

 tracts ; this is always the last letter of the joint. So in jm-jyer, we 

 rest on the vowel a, and prolong it in' fim-id on m, and in cit-ronon 

 t; there, indeed, the voice does not continue'to sound, j^et the organs 

 of speech preserve the conJSguration of t. The combinations of a 

 continuant with an explodent we find preceded both by long and short 

 vowels. They are preceded by a long vowel in carpet, shoulder, and 

 by a short one in alpine^ sultan. In pronouncing slowly carpet, 

 slioulder, we dilate both upon the vowels and the following semi-vowels, 

 and finally, land quietly in the following mutes, while in alpine, 

 sultan, we pass speedily over the vowels and semi-vowels, and rush 

 quickly against the following mutes. So, also, in after, basket, we 

 proceed slowly towards the medial explodents, but in sisterj vespers, we 

 reach theni quickly. The effect of the preceding long vowels and 

 continuants upon the following mutes, is to render their initial ele- 

 ment perfectly inaudible, whilst it is clearly distinguished when pre- 

 ceded by a short vowel and a short continuant. Thus, phonology 

 divides car-pet, or-hlt, gar-ter, mar-ket, or-gan, sJiouI-der, mal-kin, 

 &c., but vulp-ine, alh-uni, sult-an, fahj-or, damp)-er, emh-er, tend-on, 

 clin/c-er, Jing-er. This distinction also extends to those cases where 

 the semi-vowels ?• and I furnish the vowel element of the succeeding 

 syllables; thus we divide mar-hie, star-tie, spar-hie^ gar-gle, but 

 we say amh-le, anh-le, dan-gle, pur-ple, turt-le, lust-re. Still, al- 

 though the preceding short vowels have a tendency to draw the 

 explodents, after the continuants, into the first syllable, it is doubtful 

 whether it is advisable to carry out this distinction in practical 

 syllabication, especially since this is not productive of alteration in 

 the pronunciation of these words. I therefore propose to divide 

 those words where the combination of a continuant and a mute is 

 preceded by a short vowel, in the same way as when it is preceded 

 by a long vowel, and thus to syllabize vul-plne, al-huni, sul-tan, ful- 

 gor, dam-per, em-her, ten-don, am-ble, pur-ple, tur-tle, lus-tre ; with 

 the exception of cllnh-er, fing-er, an-kle, dang-le, where for orthogra- 

 phical reasons the gutturals cannot be separated from the nasals, and 

 of st in Hastings, chasten, &c., where both letters are pronounced 

 with the last syllable. When the following syllables are likewise ac- 

 cented, they always attract the preceding mutes, e. g. har-poon, gar- 

 hoil, pa?i-f;?ec/, hel-dam, sun-burnt, man-hind, wash-tub, Glas-gow, 

 &c. The same is the case when this combination is preceded by a 

 VOL. VII [. — 2y 



