15. un, um, fifteenth simple sound, something like un in

being all the words in use that have the sound of un.

OF THE LETTER y.

This letter is used instead of ii, as in moyen, means; rayons, rays; pronounced moi-ien, rai-ion; and though envoyer, to send, and joyeux, joyful, are spelt with a y, because ii are pronounced, we must, nevertheless, write their derivatives with one i only, because only one i is pronounced, as j'envoie, I send; joie, joy; as in words derived from the Greek, the y is purely etymological, it is pronounced as one i, as syllable, type, zéphyr, pronounced sillable, tipe, zéphir; y, there, is pro

nounced i.

OF THE FRENCH VOWEL E.

1st. e mute, absolute.

1st.-E without an accent is absolutely mute in words of one or more syllables when it is not the principal vowel or is preceded by another vowel, as haie, edge; vie, life; écurie, stable; blessée, wounded; pronounced è— vi,-écuri,-blessé.

2d. It is also mute when coming before a, o, u, or when in a nasal vowel it forms but one vowel; when it serves to point out etymology, or is used to soften a letter for euphony, as gateau, cake; seoir, to suit; geolier, jailer; dévouement, devotedness; peintre, painter. Euphony, page 17.

2d. e faint, or sheva.

See notes on

1st. E without an accent, is faintly heard in the middle or end of words after a consonant, and serves to give to that consonant a sound called sheva, which is the first step of this vowel towards its expiration or sound,

as dangereux, pronounced dang-reux, soft g in dangerous-constant, constante; in the first the t is not felt, in the second it is felt strong as in English constant-also in words ending in a consonant, and e without an accent, as élève, pupil; poëte, poet; pronounced é-lè-ve,―po-è-te, with final e faint.

2d. In all words where the final consonant is sounded, the faint e or sheva being heard, is understood, as in cap, cape; ours, bear; pronounced ca-pe, our-se; final e faint.

3d. e guttural.

E without an accent, in syllables where it is the principal vowel, is more sounded than e faint, and is called guttural, like e in her, as le, the; me, me; redevenir, to become; and if ever this sound is passed over it is in conformity to the law of euphony, or in familiar conversation, for though, Je ne vous le donne pas, I do not give it to you, is pronounced Jen vous l'donne pas, the same words in different positions would be pronounced in full, as NE lui donne pas, do not give it to him; il le lui donne, he gives to him; this is the second stage of this vowel, in its progress towards perfect sound.

4th. é close.*

E with the close accent is pronounced wherever it is found like ay in day as été, summer, and is the third gradation of the sound of this letter.

5th. è open.

1st. E with the open accent is pronounced wherever it is found like e in press or e in met, and is the fourth gradation of the sound of this letter, which, if observed, has made a gradual and progressive ascent from its mute to its most open state.

2d, ê open, with a circumflex accent, is the same sound as è open, but fuller and more open. See page 19.

3d. The sound of è open, under its varied forms, though always the same, is more or less open according to the words in which it is found; for the sound in fait, fact; and in fête, feast, are the same; but the latter is prolonged as if written fè-ète; the same may be observed of the other vowels where the sound is extended by the circumflex accent, but not

*We prefer the names close and open, to grave and acute, as the latter are terms not easily defined.

changed, so the second vowel in a, â;—e, ê;—i, î;—o, ô;—u, û; is the same sound as the first, but extended.

NOTES ON THE VOWEL E.

1. The final e not accented is either mute or faint, élève.

2. No word can begin with e mute or faint, élève.

3. The penult e at the end of a word must not be faint, in order to avoid the meeting of two faint inflections, élève, therefore it cannot be divided from the final e by a single consonant; for either the consonant must be doubled, or the penult e be accented, as in élève, pupil; il apelle, he calls; from apeler, to call, the 7 being doubled, the penult e requires no accent, but if the l had not been doubled, the penult e would have required an accent; so we write either il apèle or apelle; the last is best.

4. The penult e before a consonant is never close é, but always more or less open, as il confesse, he confesses; diocèse, diocese; except in manége, college, as written by the Academie.

5. The e guttural is never followed by a double consonant, for then it becomes open by its coalition with the first of the two consonants, as cessation, pronounced cè-ssation or ces-sation; except in words beginning with ress, not followed by u, as ressaisir, pronounced re-ssaisir; but ressusciter is pronounced rè-ssusciter:-nor can it be followed by two different consonants except the second be l or r, as herbe is pronounced hèr-be, and replet, regret, are pronounced replè, regrè.

6. There followed by s final, unless the s be the sign of the plural, takes the open accent, as exprès, purposely; très, very; except mes, tes, ces, ses, les, des, tu es; which have the same sound as if accented mès, tès, cès, sès, lès, dès, tu ès; otherwise es final in the plural is never sounded, as tables, pronounced table, faint e.

OF EUPHONICAL LETTERS AND SIGNS.

The law of euphony has given rise to the use of three letters, l, t, s, which are used between words to which they do not belong, to avoid the disagreeable clash of two vowels or hiatus.

L is used before on, when it is preceded by et, si, ou, qui, or que followed by q or c hard, as si l'on vient, if they come; ce que l'on conçoit bien, what is well understood; which is more euphonic than ce qu'on conçoit bien. We also say, si l'un d'eux, if either of them, instead of si un d'eux,

but if un or on are followed by a word beginning by 1, the euphonical letter is omitted, as, si on le voyait, not si l'on le voyait.

T. In interrogative phrases where the third person singular ends with a vowel, the letter t is placed with two hiphens between the verb and the pronoun, as où va-t-il? where does he go?

T is added to ce the mas. demonstrative pronoun, before a noun or adjective beginning with a vowel, as cet enfant, that child.

S. When the second person singular of the imperative ends with a vowel, an s is added to the verb when followed by y, or en, as donne-s-en, give some; va-s-y, or vas-y, go there; except when y is followed by a verb. Instead of donnez moi en, give me some-mène moi y and menez moi y, take me there, which is grammatical but not euphonic, we write donnez m'en, mène-s-y-moi, and menez-y-moi.

Other signs are used to produce euphony, or to point out etymology.

I. In interrogative phrases, when the first person singular ends in e without an accent, the close accent is placed over the é, to avoid two mute inflections, as parlé-je? do I speak? last e faint.

II. The apostrophe, ', is used to point out the supression of a vowel, called elision, which generally takes place in monosyllables ending in a, e, i, when the next word begins with a vowel or h mute.

1st. It takes place in je, me, te, se, de, ce, ne, que, and le, la; as l'ame, for la ame, the soul; je l'estime, for je le estime, I esteem him; except when le, la, him or it, her or it, come after the imperative, and are not followed by en or y; as apportez le avec vous, bring it with you.

2d. It takes place in si coming before il or ils only, as, s'il vient, for si il vient, if he comes.

3d. E is cut off, first in jusque before à, au, aux, and ici, as jusqu'à Londres, as far as London; jusqu'ici, as far as here.

4th. In quelque, before un, une, autre, quelqu'un, quelqu'autre.

5th. In puisque, and quoique, before il, ils, elle, elles, on, un, and une; also before ainsi, as, puisqu'il l'aime, since he loves her; quoiqu'elle n'ose, although she dare not; puisqu'ainsi est, since so it is.

6. In presque, and presqu'île, peninsula.

7. In entre, before eux, elles, autres, and in reciprocal verbs, as entr'eux, entr'elles, between them; s'entrouvrir, to open one another.

No elision takes place before oui, huit, huitaine, huitième, onze, and onzième.

ELISION Sometimes takes place before consonants, as grand' peur

great fear; grand' mère, grandmother; which if writen grande mère, would mean tall mother.

III. The cedilla is an etymological sign representing the letter e placed under the letter c instead of placing it after, thus when c hard, before a, o, u, is to be pronounced soft as before e, i, to show its derivation, this mark is placed under it, thus effacons, from effacer to efface, makes effaçons, as if written effaceons, where e faint has softened the c.

IV. As the cedilla could not be used under the hard g to soften it, before a, o, u, an e is placed after it, as nageons from nager, to swim, both soft g; and when the g is to be pronounced hard before e, i, to show its derivation, the letter u is placed after it, as guérir, to cure; guider, to guide; in which the u is mute, but it is pronounced in arguer, to argue; aiguille, a needle.

V. By the same reason, eu after g and c, is transposed into ue, to harden the c and g; so orgueil, pride; and accueil, reception; are pronounced as if written orgeuil, acceuil, with hard g and c.

OF ACCENTS AND OTHER SIGNS.

There are in the French language three accents, the close or acute ( ́), open or grave (`), the broad or circumfiex (^).

The CLOSE or acute accent is placed over the letter é only, to which it imparts the sound of a in cake, as célébrité.

The OPEN or grave accent is used over the vowels à, è, ù, but only affects the sound of e, to which it imparts an open sound, as in règle, rule: -it is used over à, to; to distinguish it from il a, he has; over là, there; to distinguish it from la, the, la, her; over dès, as soon, to distinguish it from des, of the, or some; over où, where; to distinguish it from ou, or; it is also used over çà déçà, delà, déjà.

The BROAD or circumflex accent is used over all the vowels; it never changes the sounds of the vowels, but is used as a mark of the extension of the sound, as flûte, and maître, master, are pronounced flu-te, mai-tre.*

It is sometimes used to distinguish words alike in spelling but different in meaning, without extending the sound, as,

* It is worthy of remark, that when there is any resemblance between the French and English words, the French have substituted the circumflex accent for the 8, and the English have retained the s; as maistre; now maître, master; apostre, now apôtre, apostle; beste, now bete, beast; coste, now côte, coast.