ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY. 325 
310. The word ‘oceanic’ (with s) is older than ‘ocean’ (in two syllables,) and is not de- 
rived from it; and when both are pronounced with sh, this sound is represented by ‘e’ 
in ‘ocean’ and by ‘ce’ in ‘oceanic,’ where ‘e’ does double duty as a consonant and a vowel. 
The word is more correct when pronounced o-se-an-ic; so is pro-nun-si-a-tion, because 
making sh out of si, elides the vowel power of ‘2’ and reduces the word one syllable. 
311. Ff, by the conversion of 4 into English y or zh, o-be-di-ent becomes o-be-dyent (the 
writer’s mode of speaking,) or o-be-dzhent, no speaker of real English can preserve both. 
dzh and i; yet Walker has coined a jargon with such forms as o-be-je-ent, and cris-tshe- 
an-e-te. Similarly, if ‘omniscient’ has an s, it has four syllables, if sh, it has but three. 
Compare the dissyllables Russia, Asia, conscience, and the trissyllables militia, malicious. 
METALLAXIS (§ 273) OF CONSONANTS. 
312. Sh being made posterior to the s position, and anterior to that of cay, it may 
happen, that in the attempt to pronounce the combinations s-ch (o-,) sk, sy, ty, the tongue, 
instead of taking both elements in rapid succession, may fall between them upon sh. In 
this manner English sh has arisen from Anglish sc (Swed. Dan. sk) and Belgian s-ch, as 
in ship, shaft, shape, shovel, shed, fish, &¢. Latin Miisca, (a fly) Fr. mouche; masStiCaré 
(to chew) Fr. macher. 
313. English w being yoo, su (when not the soo of uncorrupt speakers,) either drops the 
y, or falls into shoo, &c., as in sugar, sure, treasure, pleasure, where it is not the s so much 
as the y of u (yoo) that has the power of sh. It is the s which may be said to draw up the 
euttural through sy to the sh position. When sh, zh, tsh, dzh, occur before a vowel written 
with ‘u,’ this may not be read yoo, as in sure, azure, chuse, jury. The forms ‘ishyoo’ for 
issue (ishoo, in legitimate, as compared with pedantic Hnglish,) and ‘mezhyoor’ for 
measure (mézhr,) seem to have been manufactured from the old spellings, under the 
impression that ss in issue represent sh. In ‘ishyoo,* ‘u’ is a triplet, composed partly 
of sh, and entirely of y-oo. If the ‘u’ of unit oceurs in sue, suit, these words must become 
shoe, shoot ; but if the s is preserved pure, the vowel must be that in oot. There is no 
other alternative. Whatever mistakes foreigners may fall into, or elocutionists manu- 
facture, this is the law—the genius—the philosophy of Hnglish speech. 
ANALLAXIS OF CONSONANTS. 
314. As the Greeks could not pronounce the oriental sh, they either transmuted it into s, 
or (by anallaxis) used their & ks for it, as in Artawerwes, in (modern) Persian ardeshir-shah 
(great king, or lion.) French ‘charniére’ (a hinge,) Belgian scharnier, with o-y from sh. 
* This is often said in England, according to Mr. Ellis’ ms., ‘to avoid the pedantic effect of cs-yoo on the one 
hand, and ish-oo on the other, which is thought flat, broad, vulgar, inelegant, and comparable to noo (Franklin’s 
pronunciation) for nyoo. . . . I grant you that either ¢sh-oo or is-oo would be in accordance with the genius of 
our pronunciation; but fashion dislikes soo, soot, for sue, suit, and laughs at shoo, shoot, as Trishisms.” 
