Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

already established in every pupil's mind a feeling of personal accountability for the work assigned; and concert drill should thereafter occupy none of the time needful to the teacher in determining the degree of thoroughness with which each pupil has prepared his lesson.

5. Phonic writing is a valuabie aid to both teacher and pupil. When a vocal element is recognized by the ear, there are striking advantages in having a character by which uniformly to represent it: First, the pupil's progress is accelerated by his being compelled to submit each doubtful sound of every word assigned, to a discriminating study, in order properly to represent it on the paper to be passed in for the teacher's inspection; and, secondly, a class may be set to write a lesson "by sound," whether at school or at their homes, thus enabling the teacher to get more work done, and, by means of the thoroughness of this mode of examination, to acquaint himself with the care and proficiency of each member of his class.

6. To use the characters proposed involves a mastery of nearly the entire Pronouncing Key of Webster's Dictionary —in itself a very valuable acquisition. We use Webster's rather than Pitman's or any other strictly phonetic notation, because we suppose that fewer teachers will be repelled by whatever of novelty and uncouthness it may present to the common eye; and Webster's rather than Worcester's, because we have reason to think that more teachers are already somewhat familiar with the former than with the latter.

7. No good teacher will omit to give explicit directions in regard to the paper which is to be passed in to him. The following points are certainly worthy of attention: 1. The form and size of the paper. 2. The place for the pupil's name 3. The arrangement of words-whether in horizontal line, or in column. 4. Neatness.

8. While marking the errors found in a written classexercise, the teacher will do well to make a list of such as are most frequent or most important, in order that to these he may call the attention of the entire class. After reason. able time has been allowed, every pupil will be called on to state how each word that he finds marked by the teacher should have been written.

[blocks in formation]

REMARKS UPON THE CHART.-The foregoing Chart is not strictly phonetic. T, c, s, h, and z have each at least two offices. The imperfection thus existing is fairly shown by giving, as we ought to do in phonetic writing, to each of the letters, t and h, in the word nevertheless, its appropriate value, nev-ert-he-less; or how shall it be known whether b-r-e-a-t-h-e-d is to be pronounced breathed or breat-hed. This evident. ambiguity may be removed by separating every word not a monosyllable into its syllabic elements. To avoid this labor, as well as the writing of digraphs (double forms), single characters may be substituted.

This suggestion is acted upon in Lesson X., where 8 is placed for ch. Substitutes for th, th, sh, and zh can readily be devised, thus lessening the time and space required for the phonetic writing.

Though the compound elements oi and ou are not correctly represented by the component parts of these digraphs, yet, as it is found that no ambiguity can arise from the use of these forms, when once the power of each is known, they have been suffered to stand.

ERRATUM. The principal statement made in the fourth paragraph of Lesson XXI. is not without exceptions, chiefly derivatives from words ending in r or re; thus, pouring, paring, parent, deploring, etc., haver preceded by a long Vowel.

PHONIC ANALYSIS.

LESSON I.

AN ELEMENTARY SOUND is produced, from its beginning to its close, without any change in the position of the organs of speech.

In pronouncing the word feet, we produce three elementary sounds, sounds that cannot be divided. The first, which we call "the sound of f," is formed by continuous blowing while the lower lip is placed lightly against the edges of the upper front teeth; the second, which is called " long e," is produced by singing, while the tongue, slightly advanced, and curved so as to be highest in the middle, is raised nearly to the roof of the mouth; and the "sound of t" is formed by first pressing the end of the tongue against the inner gums of the upper front teeth, compressing the breath above it, and then suddenly allowing the forced breath to escape in a slight gust.

Pronounce each of the following words, and then utter separately whichever of these three sounds it contains: cat, me, cuff, laugh, sheaf, sphere, tea, eat, reefed.

Which of the three, if any, do you hear when you pronounce of? bed? beak? team? tot? thee? thank? elk? enough?

What four ways do you observe of representing the sound of ƒ, in sheaf, cuff, laugh, sphere? Name three other words to illustrate each of these four ways. In what two ways is the sound of t represented in eat and

LESSON II.

reefed?

Pronounce mete, mead, meed, bier, seize, pique, key, pæan In each of these words is heard the sound of long e; yet no two of the modes of representing it are alike. This sound is

usually represented in the keys to English spelling-books and dictionaries by é. [The short horizontal mark over the e is called a macron.] We will use è whenever we wish to represent this sound; and these eight words will, in our mode of representing, be written thus: met, med, mēd, bēr, sez, pēk, kē, pēan. When we write one character for each sound, and for a given sound always the same character, the mode of indicating is called phonetic, phonographic, phònic, or phonotypic-all from the Greek phone, meaning sound.

Pronounce the following: bēk, mēl, rēm, wērd, sēm, stēl, grēt, sfēr, bēlēv. What silent letter is here omitted in writing each of the first four words? In what two ways is the fifth spelled? The sixth?

DIRECTION. When asked to represent a word containing a sound which at that stage of these instructions has not been mentioned, or in respect to writing which no directions have been given, use, in indicating that sound, the letter (or letters) representing it in the given word as printed, being careful to omit every silent letter.

Represent, by well-formed written characters, all the sounds in breeze, leer, sphere, bier, ream, geese, least, sweet, meat, glebe.

LESSON III.

tone, or singing Try it.

If, while the lip and teeth are placed as described, in Lesson I., for forming the sound of f, a sound, be given, the sound of v is formed. Fand v, then, represent two sounds between which there is a resemblance; these are called cognate sounds (twin-born sounds).

De

T and d are also called cognate. If, while the tongue is in place to form t, you make a singing sound (allowing no ringing within the nose), you produce the sound of d. scribe very carefully the difference you observe between speaking the word teem and the word deem. Raise the chin, and, while uttering the sound of d, let the thumb and fingers of one hand press firmly against the upper part of the throat, just beneath the roots of the tongue. Maintaining the same position, sound t; you merely impel the breath; to utter d, the breath is made to give forth a semi-musical sound. Such a sound is called resonant, sonant, intoned, or vocal; and the breath is said to be vocalized. Elements

« ForrigeFortsett »