Letters an Emharrassment to Literature. 53 



language, though we can generally be sure that our words are not 

 pronounced as spelled. 



7<- vf * * vs- -K- * •Jv- * * 



One of the chief elements of elocution is orthoepy. A careful 

 and correct articulation marks refinement and scholarship every- 

 where. Nothing is better established in philology than the uni- 

 versal indolence of the organs of speech. This is attested by all 

 forms of assimilation, as well as by the dropped syllables of all 

 the uncultivated Teutonic and other dialects. It is not for eu- 

 phony that we say collateral for con-lateral, but for economy of ar- 

 ticulation. The n contact, of the whole tongue with the hard 

 palate, completely obstructing the passage of the breath by the 

 mouth, is unlike that of I by only a part of the contact, the sides 

 of the tongue being withdrawn from the palate or teeth, while the 

 lips remain as before. To save the effort of this slight variation 

 of the position of the tongue, we assimilate the n to the I. This 

 disintegrating tendency is a force that operates perpetually against 

 the correctness of our pronunciation. Some of the corruptions of 

 utterance are attended with corresponding changes of orthography ; 

 but these changes have been capricious, and spelling and pronun- 

 ciation have become so completely divorced that no rules can 

 longer account for all the disagreements between orthography and 

 orthoep}^ 



If the symbols of our writing were exact, all the tendency of 

 reading would be toward purifying, instead of corrupting, our 

 utterances. A distinct symbol for every sound in our speech, 

 with its power fully described and thoroughly practiced in con- 

 nection with learning the forms of the letters, would correct every 

 error of pronunciation Every written or printed word would then 

 suggest and impress its proper sounds, and reading and elocution 

 could not fail to make the most rapid advance. The orthoepy of 

 our language is demoralized by its barbarous alphabet, and, till 

 that is reformed, it cannot expect to recover any fair standing. 



One of our literary disabilities which we charge, with some as- 

 perity of feeling, to our orthography, is the difficulty of rapidly 

 reading, or skimming, books to gain their leading thoughts, or to 

 discover their views upon some special subject. Even under its 



