Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-01-10
QUERIES & ANSWERS.


70 Ae Editor Of Ae Q(spdocN
heard two GOOD schoIsrs prcnounce =
follove: One sad se-pubchrAl, end also
-. pul- chre the other, ep-uLohral, sep-ul-
chfe. One ssid I-tAi-ios, Italy. I-telians
the other, Italy. Italics, Italian. ! exs
amined Webster. having no Worceste5, a1o
and Mi i'tsl.jcs. and Ltsl-y. authorized. Now.
IN tina ffst. one must 30 arbitrary. when
4 bow. son,sthing LEES than century ego,
I was taught By one then considered hign
Authority that. Glmost generally. when .
coneousut falls between two voweis. y
shonld Be ioined 70 the last vowel. ana
shat when two occurred to2ether. they
should be separated in syl-ls- bi- h.ca-tion:
This rule have followed, IN denAnce OF
the ." b<st speakers" OF arbitrary sutnoi-
v{sdom 81 solomon to Determine ~ to
"the best speakers" Now, want the
opinion Of your solomon of the DrsPA7cH
on the shove.
Another instance In the pronun station
of A propef n6me--Se-ward--youf en-
ouirerS followed the above rule, and Tor an
other reason, IL IN 10 no way derived prims-
lively from sew, sewer. sewering, but 1rom
Q Danish OF Saxon term Anglicissd IroI
se. abbreviated from sea, literally war
An Of ne sea nsarshes," hence Seward 10
correct. and not the euphonic "grdndac-
0uiHsu1 Seward. Yet Twas taken to task
and nv authority demanded BY one wise
in his own concoit-one Of our euphonlc
" ordndilouusnts." Under all these, press
ing causes of doubt, must seek the Wis
dom lack. A BEDARKExEp SuBscRIDEs'
Central Plains, Flsrannd county, va.
Worcester divides IS follows; Se-pul-
chral: sep-ul-chre Italics pronounced.
however. it-tsl'-iks) Italian pronounced
it-tap-yan). The Century Dictionary. the
latest and best authority, leaves the mat
ter of syllabication open. with the follow
ing remarks: "The division OF WORD OF
more than one syllable into SEPARATE svi-
tables, 10 in great measure an artificial pro-
cess. since q consonant intervening be-
tween two novels il usually to be reckoned
as belonging to either one of them Lot
less properly than to the other. This
is especially true of the continuable
consonants. the semi-vowels, and the
fricatives (thus JnIio,c, drro,c. erer.
lesser, ashes, etc.,; mute. particularly q
surd mute (p, ak,) has more claim to 60
with the following vowel, because Q mute
is much moro distinctly audible upon
following than after preceding vowel Tin
tea than in dte). We tend also to reckon
such q consonant to the vowel OF whose
force and pitch it seems most to partake;
and, long vowel being regularly di-
minuendo utterance, the strength OF I'M
pulse falling off before it is ended, fol-
lowing consonant seems naturally to be-
long to the vowel that succeeds ESQ daily,
either, easy. etc.,; on the other hand. q
oonsonant Of any kind after a short accent
cd vowel 30 shares the Iatter's mode OF tut
terance as to be naturally and properly
combined with it: thus, bitter Otter. taxi
(tdckIe), honest. etc. When two or more actu-
ally pronunced consonants come between
novels, 1t makes difference whether they
are or are not such as readily in our prac-
tics combine as initials before vowel !;
thus. as we say ply, we divide supply into
SUPPL. not sup-li; but sutjec! only into
su5-jeb. As for syllabication in printing
(when O word has to be broken at the end
OF llne), that is different and more difi-
cult matter. partly because many silent con-
sonants Especially in the case OF doubled
consonants) have to be dealt with; 1t also
pays much regard to the history OF word,
dividing this generally, so far as possible,
into the parts of which it is etymoloeicslly
composed, and it has some arbitrary
and indetensible ussges. such ss the
invarisble separation of ing, by which we
get such offences against true pronuncia-
ton. as raging. facing. instead of raging,
facing; and even mixture, junc'-''re, instead
of mixture. junc-ture, owing to the notion
that -urs instead of hre 10 the ending"
For tho sake of clearness we would add
that surd in pbonetics is consonantal
sound uttered with breath and not with
voice; non-sonant consonant; non.
vocal alphabetio uttersnce, as p, j. $. 1, X,
a. opposed to b. .. Z, d, g. which are sonants
or vocals. A mute Is "a consonant, the
sound of which is almost comp letely inter.
rupted by amutual contact of the vocal
organs" The mutes are b, hard, d, 8
hard K D. a. L