The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-15
rME pRoNUNcII11oX or THE U.
Another Elaborate Argument on the Snh-
lrct.

spondent, y. f., has brought. IL 10 n focus, with
out, however. doing much To settle IL. Ihat
writer gives us nm opportunity TO see now I'M
portant It is to the community, and thus justl-
fes TIE SUN. which has already given so much
precious space to this and kindred matters.
1t Is alleged that the majority OF American
speakers among the most educated say moo In
stead Of ncip, substituting the simple sound of u
for its double sound BOO: further. that the same
people uniformly employ the shorter and easier
OF the two sounds In all words which, through
being in an unsettled state, encourage us TO
choose as we please. True, that form of u 10
correctly admitted in certain classes of words;
whether nciC belongs TO the list Is open to dc.
bate. /. for one, cannot agree with N. f. My
experience, endorsed and amplitied by study.
shows the direct contrary.
Besides. only n few days ago, THE Sun cx-
pressed an opinion to the same general effect.
Somebody in Boston had written asking why
Southerners invariably give tho full sound in
such words. while those OF the East do the other
thing. The SuN replied that such might DO the
case in Boston, but was not SO In New York.
That We may see how varied opinion is and with
what yigor puhiic-spirited people espouse oppo-
at second hand. y. H.. says: I'm the courts.
cited once. those OF Moo York are cited ten
times. In the banks. | venture to say the words
ayoo and matyoority are not often heard. or
the students that throng our schools of medi-
cine. law. science, art. how many would call
Compare that with these words uttered within
my hearing lately by q superintendent or IN
York who always said moosic for music IAN
Englishman. too. | hear q man who Is erudite
aside the question OF vogue, to ask what ground
there is for either side, those who drop the D
clement at every chance, and those who do not:
will be found TINT the citations above represent
two extremes. the word ntlr, In which believe
Ia n AhnIlI .hA nh In1 hahn nm m
side, erudite. in which It should not, being. on
the other, my object being to justifyn middle
course.
The free use made Of, whitney's Oriental
and Linguistic studies" has opened the way. for
though. that the work was written years ago.
Besides. the learned professor expressed In that
full and Suggestive. had not the mandatory
force of laws OF language as in anthology. The
ton is mndeilcd may be Stated in these words:
Ease aud celebrity Of utterance without verGirg
on mn. s'' EsY" tIi: b ANY r as nn Iori hica 5hs p Psof
Whitney's have. The particulars may now be
taken II. beginning with the cxtractin THE SUN
tn my usage the general rule is that the v
sound IL, pretixed. and the exceptional cases in
which the y sound is omitted and the u left
purc are those in which the Il Is so preceded
that the insertion of a semi-vowel between y
and its predecessor is phonettcally. difficult"
Here, we find that the general rule is to be fol-
Lea "Xcept in the face OF something phonetic
serve how much depends on the last words OF
the citation. rhe Inference is that utterance
action is unhampered by Undue friction or mus.
cular tension. Accordingly. to settle the dis
pnte. we must find out what really is a phonetic
difficulty, and how much muscular tension ~
s~alutary. Coming nearer the gist OF the matter
tbs extract Is in place; The y is a palatal
consonaut combined) produced by an APP
proximation OF the HAT of the tongue to the
after is Significantly 1t is only then those con-
sonants in forming which the tongue is called
ltnguai consonants.which present an obstacle
to the insertion of H." Suit, lutte. assume,
]iinguals referred 10. stated in other words, it
would be 10 this effect that the tongue is 81 com-
not MAKE . when that element comes next 20
such a consonant. The present writer agrees
Win an this. but points ont that all linsual, are
and further that some so-called linguals, of
which n IN ntlc Is one. are not more linguh! than
paintni or dental. For illustration. u is classed
llnGoal when in truth it is linGual- nasal. with II
deal more of the, latter than the former: The
letter : is q good llnGuai. as is. yet how different
in amount are their claims on the chief oral
organ; I takes only the tip OF the tongue, and.
what is of still greater moment in helping peo-
pie to know the right mode of utterance. it is SO
abrupt that when made the tongue is as free TO
%readjust itself for the next letter AS II IL were
beginning. not continuing, n vocal movement.
Again. both and , demand so much as to
BILE. This lead. lis to deprecate as foolish. not to
demean the word peiantic SO often used. the
erudite. and OF those on the other size of the
ChasIn who eschew IicLr and Tuesday, giving moo
and Toosday IN their stead. Prof. Whitney,
like many other able investigators Ofthe science
OF phuuics. while successful in tracing many in
tricacles of speech, overlooked this one. After
classifying phonic elements pretty much rs
others do; he. stopped at tho point where sub
dividing begins. Whoever will try for himself.
using h!spwn mouth and ear regardless. for the
time. Of what others have written. will ind
many words containing the vowel in question
and conversely many hard that are said TO be
easy. In duty the Boo sound. though forbidden
moro agreeable TO the tongue and adjacent
parts than when 1t occurs in hgnre. though
it. In regard to words of several ,~yllables | may
as well quote II few more words in order to
round, of my ,conclusion; Neither is the u
provided the syllable in which it occurs is ac-
cented. Examples: Multitmdinors, endure. pur-
pl!catic" ~ the same rule. Accented. or unac-
cented. q syllable standing between Others. and
action goes, a m'onosyl!ab!e. The pause before
ana after are the starting points for the articu-
tainly Il, but 1t is of the kind already spoken Of.
Altogether. II is IA question of how much the
In the light Of what has now been said several
OF The words. thr right pronouncing or which Is
involved: The best utterance implies ease and
s ssn e c or " H fs,nI : "I msE; whether in tho tongue ne
amount and kind OF service bestowed by
II on contiguous letters; II so-called lingual may
~ wa 'T'' - '''t "N'A'li ~ ~ h'hbH' u'INa
other agents; an abrupt lingual when mnde
leaves the tongue rs free for first placing
as it is AT the beginning of a word. Linguals,
after which poo need not be made. arranged In
the order of their persistence. are r, 81. Z. tn
doth kinds. ch, sh, j. zh. suit should be pro-
nounced, SCOT; ride. rood. and the simple sound
should also be given in these: LunRtic. obtrudc,
erudite, convolution, Zurich. fssure. July,
June. enthusiasm. Lingpals allowing 200 are d,
I. n. Thus, doOty should not take the place OF
duty. nor dock that of duke. similarly 90
should be kept out OF these words: Endure,
tulip, Tuesday. institute, student. statute. ma
turlty, news, newspaper. avenue. multitude.
nous.
offer these remarks expecting that your
readers Will find them in accord with the speech
of the greatest number OF the educated people
in this country, adding that the correspondent,
n. f.. cannot properly call the preface to the
Century Dictionary IN support of his revolu-
tionary proposal. Prof. Whitney, In tho pref
ace, WAS almost non-cOnmittal on Orthoepic
differences. He seemed TO be so much i'm pressed
by the preponderanCr OF n usnge, ut one timo
repugnant TO him. that he does not enjOin the
use OF % instead OF poo in Lutte. though, as he
even In England advocate It.