LESSONS IN ITALIAN. 



(for o in questo, in quello) ; tra 'I ri e 'I no (trahl Me el no), 

 between yea and no, that U, hesitating (for trail ri e il no). 



I may bore remark, that the UM of the apostrophe at the 

 beginning of a word U more frequently found in poetry than in 

 proae. 



It ia necessary to bear in mind the din tine t ion between the 

 apostrophe as a sign of elision, and the abbreviation of word* 

 whom letter* are omitted without the use of this sign. I con- 

 - iilrr it necessary to state some elementary rules with respect to 

 the abbreviation of words. 



1. The final vowel of any Italian word may be, and always 

 without the use of the apostrophe, omitted, if it is immediately 

 preceded by one of these four consonants, I, m, n, and r, the so- 

 called liquid consonants or liquids, and if, at the same time, the 

 Hubsequent word should commence with a consonant, except the 

 s impure, as the Italians call it ; that is, s followed by another 

 oonsonant ; as, apirito, spirit ; sccltro, sceptre. For example : ti 

 carneval paasato (il kahrr-nai-viihl pahs-sah-to), the last carnival 

 (for il carnevale passato) ; a man destra (ah malm do-strah), on 

 the right hand (for a niano destra) ; ogni uom tacea (on-nyeo 

 oodm tah-tchai-ah), every man was silent (for ogni uomo tacea) ; 

 vuol far questo (voodl fahr kwai-sto), ho wants to do this (for 

 vuole fare questo). 



2. In words ending with llo, and having the accent of tone 

 on the syllable preceding lo, it ia customary to omit the whole 

 of the syllable lo, if the subsequent word begins with a con- 

 sonant which is not the s impure. For example : b6l for be llo, 

 beautiful ; quel for quello, that, the former ; val for valle, valley ; 

 cavdl for cavdllo, horse ; uccel for uccGllo, bird ; fratdl for frate'llo, 

 brother ; tranquil for tranquillo, tranquil ; cervtl for cerv6llo, 

 brains ; rusc&l for ruscello, brook, etc. 



3. The abbreviations or omissions of the final vowels men- 

 tioned in the two preceding rules can never take place in that 

 part of a sentence which requires a pause, that is, before a 

 comma, colon, or period. It is, therefore, not allowable to say 

 Ella ha una bella man, she has a fine hand, but mano ; not chi 

 J quel Signor ? who is that gentleman ? but Signore, etc. 



Other important rules with respect to abbreviation I shall 

 state and comment upon as examples occur in the course of the 

 grammar, and I shall now content myself with this concluding 

 remark, that all abbreviations in the Italian language, whether 

 made with or without the apostrophe, are made merely for the 

 sake of harmony and to avoid hiatus, that is, a prolonged open- 

 ing of the mouth by the recurrence of vowels. But as per- 

 spicuity is of greater importance than harmony, this general 

 rule may be safely laid down, that abbreviations should not be 

 used without absolute necessity, and that those should be 

 specially avoided which would tend to ambiguity. 



I will here give a general and concluding pronouncing table, 

 showing the most complicated combinations of vowels with con- 

 sonants of the whole of the Italian language : 



SeJU, ikee. 

 Sofa, hh. 

 Bait, hju or b*. 

 Sou), sbo or sbA. 

 tboo. 



akssalor 



In my next loMon I shall enter on UM grammar peeper at tiia 

 Italian language. In fulfilment of my promise to follow tha 

 natural method to teach, M it wen, the language M it is formed 

 in the mind, I shall first speak of BOOM, and other kind* of 

 words allied to nouna, and than proceed to explain UM verbs 

 and their various inflections. Two method* are open to ehoioe, 

 each of which has its zealous advocates in tuition. BOOM would 

 confine themselves strictly to theory in grammatical tuanhing ; 

 others as exclusively to practice in UM earlier stages of UM 

 instruction. If we adhere strictly to UM theoretical exposition, 

 the progress of the pupil is sore, bnt slow; if we are merely 

 practical, the pace may be rapid, but the attainments are super- 

 ficial. I shall endeavour to blend the two, and while I, M con- 

 cisely as I can, explain all the principles and rules of the 

 language, I shall constantly strive to impress them on the 

 minds of my pupil-readers by practical exercises on each role as 

 it occurs. I shall, in this part of my labour, endeavour to im- 

 prove on a modern invention of Germany, the country, perhaps, 

 most distinguished for scientific method in education. It should 

 be the aim of every educator ao to teach, that his pupils may 

 regard the instruction as relating to a living language to be 

 acquired by the tongue, and not merely as dead writing to be 

 comprehended only by the head. From the very outset of these 

 grammatical lessons my pupils will learn to form sentences, so 

 that as the head acquires knowledge of its principles, the tongue 

 will grow familiar in the practice of the language. In thus. 

 touting practice with theory, I shall, of course, be obliged in 

 one class of the exercises to anticipate the systematic exposition 

 of principles, but I shall only do so with strict regard to the 

 progressive knowledge of the student, and I shall specially 

 adapt the exercises to that end, and perhaps thereby succeed in 

 more firmly impressing even the rules anticipated on the mind. 

 The pupil must bear in mind that he is now about to learn to 

 speak as well as to read the language of Italy. 



With regard to the selection of exercises, I shall not scruple, 

 in addition to my own, to make a free use of examples which 

 have passed the test of years of experience in the best schools 

 of Italy and Germany. I am more anxious to serve the interests 

 of my pupils than gratify a literary vanity ; and even were I to 

 make an effort at originality, by the preparation of exclusively 

 new exercises, one man could hardly hope to excel the united 

 labours of many grammarians in this direction. 



The exercises ought to be read over frequently, and always 

 aloud ; and if committed to memory, so much the better for the 

 knowledge of the student. 



As I have so very fully explained the elementary principles of 

 pronunciation, even at a length which may have damped the 

 ardour of more impatient readers, it will not henceforth be 

 necessary to give the pronunciation of each Italian word used. 

 Should any doubt occur, the student can always refer to the 

 pronouncing lessons or to the general table which precedes these 

 remarks. As it is, however, most desirable that the reader 

 should have as much assistance as possible, I shall aid him by a 

 new, and, I believe, a most effective method, namely, by divid- 

 ing each Italian word used into syllables, for the moat part, as 

 the words are divided in Italian spelling and writing. I shall 

 not omit to mark the accent of tone with the acute sign or with 

 the circumflex sign over the e and o ; signs, be it remembered, 

 not used in Italian writing or printing, with the exception of the 

 words commented on in my remarks on the use of the accent. 

 The grave accent will, henceforth, always be placed where the 

 usage of writing requires it, and in such cases it will serve, like- 

 wise, to denote the accent of tone. I am induced, by three 

 reasons, to adopt this method of dividing words into syllables : 



First, to correct the great fault of Englishmen in pronouncing 

 Italian by slurring over words, the component sounds of which 

 are unfamiliar to the ear. By this means, the learner will be in 

 some measure compelled to do justice to each syllable. 



Secondly, it will be a practical aid to the memory. This 

 dwelling on the ingredients of the word will impress the word 

 itself better on the memory. 



Thirdly, it will be useful in the case of compound words, in 

 indicating at once the elementary constitution of the words. 



