# A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (4th edition)/Advertisement

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to the fourth edition.
The rapid sale of the Third Edition of this Dictionary called upon me for a Fourth, at a time of life, and in a state of health, little compatible with the drudgery and attention necessary for the execution of it: but as I expected such a call, was not unmindful of whatever might tend to render it still more worthy of the acceptance of the Public, and therefore collected many words, which, though not found in Dictionaries, were constantly to be met with in polite and literary conversation, and which were well deserving of a place in the language, as soon as written authorities could be produced for them. Some of these authorities I have produced, and have left others to the attention of those who have more leisure and better health. In the midst of the impression of the present work, I met with Mason's Supplement to Johnson, and found several words worthy of insertion, but have carefully acknowledged the obligation; and take this opportunity of thanking that gentleman for the benefit I have derived from his Supplement, which I think, if continued, admirably calculated for the improvement and stability of the language.
But as the great object of the present Dictionary was pronunciation, I was very solicitous to be as accurate as possible on this point, and therefore neglected no opportunity of informing myself where I was in the least doubtful, and of correcting myself where there was the least shadow of an error. These occasions, however, were not very numerous. To a man born, as I was, within a few miles of the Capital, living in the Capital almost my whole life, and exercising myself there in publick speaking for many years; to such a person, if to any one, the true pronunciation of the language must be very familiar: and to this familiarity I am indebted for the security I have felt in deciding upon the sounds of several syllables, which nothing but an infantine pronunciation could determine. If I may borrow an allusion from music, I might observe, that there is a certain tune in every language to which the ear of a native is set, and which often decides on the preferable pronunciation, though entirely ignorant of the reasons for it.
But this vernacular instinct, as it may be called, has been seconded by a careful investigation of the analogies of the language. Accent and Quantity, the great efficients of pronunciation, are seldom mistaken by people of education in the Capital; but the great bulk of the nation, and those who form the most important part in it, are without these advantages, and therefore want such a guide to direct them as is here offered. Even polite and literary people, who speak only from the ear, will find that this organ will, in a thousand instances, prove but a very uncertain guide, without a knowledge of those principles by which the ear itself is insensibly directed, and which, having their origin in the nature of language, operate with steadiness and regularity in the midst of the ficklest affectation and caprice. It can scarcely be supposed that the most experienced speaker has heard every word in the language, and the whole circle of sciences pronounced exactly as it ought to be; and if this be the case, he must sometimes have recourse to the principles of pronunciation when his ear is either uninformed or unfaithful. These principles are those general laws of articulation which determine the character, and fix the boundaries of every language; as in every system of speaking, however irregular, the organs must necessarily fall into some common mode of enunciation, or the purpose of Providence in the gift of speech would be absolutely defeated. These laws, like every other object of philosophical inquiry, are only to be traced by an attentive observation and enumeration of particulars; and when these particulars are sufficiently numerous to form a general rule, an axiom in pronunciation is acquired. By an accumulation of these axioms, and an analogical comparison of them with each other, we discover the deviations of language where custom has varied, arid the only clew to guide us where custom is either indeterminate or obscure.
Thus, by a view of the words ending in ity or ety, I find the accent invariably placed on the preceding syllable, as in diver′sity, congru′ity, etc. On a closer inspection, I find every vowel in this antepenultimate syllable, when no consonant intervenes, pronounced long, as pe′ity, pi′ety, etc. a nearer observation shows me, that if a consonant intervene, every vowel in this syllable but u contracts itself, and is pronounced short, as sever′ity, curios′ity, ​impu′nity, etc. and therefore that chastity and obsenity ought to be pronounced with the penultimate vowel short, and not as in chaste and obsene, as we frequently here them. I find too, that even u contracts itself before two consonants, as cur′vity, tacitur′nity, etc. and that scarcity and rarity (for whose irregularity good reasons may be given) are the only exceptions to this rule throughout the language. And thus we have a series of near seven hundred words, the accentuation of which, as well as the quantity of the accented vowel, are reduced to two or three simple rules.
The same uniformity of accentuation and quantity may be observed in the first syllable of those words which have the accent on the third, as dem-on-stra′tion, dim-i-nu′tion, lu-cu-bra′tion, etc. where we evidently perceive a stress on the first syllable shortening every vowel but u, and this in every word throughout the language, except where two consonants follow the u, as in cur-vi-lin′e-ar; or where two vowels follow the consonant that succeeds any other vowel in the first syllable, as de-vi-a′tion; or, lastly, where the word is evidently of our own composition, as re-con-vey′: but as u in the first syllable of a word, having the accent on the third, has the same tendency to length and openness as was observable when it preceded the termination ity, I find it necessary to separate it from the consonant in bu-ty-ra′ceous, which I have never heard pronounced, as well as in lu-cu-bra′tion, which I have; and this from no pretended agreement with the quantity of the Latin words these are derived from; for, in the former word, the u is doubtful: but, from the general system of quantity I see adopted in English pronunciation; this only will direct an English ear with certainty: for, though we may sometimes place the accent on words we borrow from the Greek or Latin on the same syllable as in those languages, as acu′men, elegi′ac, etc. nay, though we sometimes adopt the accent of the original with every word of the same termination we derive from it, as assidu′ity, vi-du′ity, etc. yet the quantity of the accented vowel is so often contrary to that of the Latin and Greek, that not a shadow of a rule can be drawn, in this point, from these languages to ours. Thus, in the letter in question, in the Latin accumulo, dubious, tumor, etc. the first u is every where short; but in the English words accumulate, dubious, tumour, every where long. Nuptialis, murmur, turbulentus, etc. where the u in the first syllable in Latin is long, we as constantly pronounce it short in nuptial, murmur, turbulent, etc. Nor indeed can we wonder that a different oeconomy of quantity is observable in the ancient and modern languages, as in the former, two consonants almost always lengthen the preceding vowel, and in the latter as constantly shorten it. Thus, without arguing in a vicious circle, we find, that as a division of the generality of words, as they are actually pronounced, gives us the general laws of syllabication, so these laws, once understood, direct us in the division of such words as we have never heard actually pronounced, and consequently to the true pronunciation of them. For these operations, like cause and effect, reflect mutually a light on each other, and prove, that by nicely observing the path which custom in language has once taken, we can more than guess at the line she must keep in a similar case, where her footsteps are not quite so discernible. So true is the observation of Scaliger: Ita omnibus in rebus certissima ratione sibi ipsa respondet natura. De causis Ling. Lat.
* ↑ See Principles, No. 524, 527, 530.
* ↑ See Principles, No. 544, 545.