LESSON I. INTRODUCTORY. 1. Language. 1. Kinds; 1. Natural; 2. Artificial; 1. Spoken; 2. Written. 2. Sciences; 1. Grammar; 2. Rhetoric; 3. Logic. 2. Phonology. 1. Elementary Sounds; 1. Vocals; 2. Subvocals; 3. Aspirates. 2. Speech; 3. Voice; 4. Vocal Organs; 1. Lungs; 2. Vocal Chords; 3. Pharynx, Etc. 3. Orthoepy. 1. Accent; 1. Primary; 2. Secondary; 3. Common. 2. Syllabication; 3. Articulation; 4. Pronunciation. 4. Phonotypy. 1. Alphabet; 2. Diacritical Marks. 5. English Grammar. 1. Orthography; 2. Etymology; 6. Conventional Signs. 1. Hyphen; 2. Apostrophe; 3. Punctuation Marks; 1. Grammatical; 1. Comma; 2. Semicolon; 3. Colon; 4. Period. 2. Rhetorical; 1. Interrogation; 2. Exclamation; 3. Quotation; 4. Parenthesis; 5. Dash. SUPPLEMENTARY. QUESTIONS. 1. Into what three great divisions are the languages of the world divided? 2. Is the grammar of our language Latin or AngloSaxon? 3. How did the Latin words, of which there are a great many, come into our language? 4. Can you give an example showing how our language was written 500 years ago? 5. What is Rhetoric? 6. What is Logic? 7. In words derived from the Latin, where does the accent belong? 8. On which syllable are words adopted from the French accented? 9. Where is the accent placed in Saxon, or pure English, words? 10. A distinguished writer says, that no one has ever learned to read and write the English language. Can you explain what he meant? 11. What is Volapük! 12. When, and by whom, were punctuation marks first used? 13. What was the direction of ancient writing? 14. A gentleman in writing to an eminent lady, and desiring to be complimentary, made use of the following words: "Woman without her man would be a savage.' How should it be punctuated? 15. A man and his barber became involved in a quarrel over the following sign which was posted in the window of the barber's shop: What do you think I'll shave you for nothing And give you a drink How did the man read it? 16. What is Philology? How did the barber read it? 17. How many different languages are spoken? ANSWERS. 1. The first is the Monosyllabic. The Chinese is the typical language of this class. It is composed of roots in their unmodified, or naked, forms. The second is the Agglutinate. The languages of the Tartars, the Negroes, and the American Indians belong to this division. In these languages, whole sentences are expressed in single words. The third is the Inflectional. The languages of this division are, and have been, spoken by the Aryan and Semitic families through all the ages of civilization. Our language, then, belongs to the third division. 2. It is Anglo-Saxon. However, the study of Latin aids materially in the study of English, as there is great similarity of structure. 3. In the eleventh century the English were conquered by the Norman-French, and as both peoples remained in England, the languages finally coalesced. The French is a romance (Roman) language, and from this source came our Latin words. 4. The following lines from Chaucer are a good example: "Whilom, as olde stories tellen us, There was a duk that highte Theseus; Read this so that each line shall contain ten syllables, and accent every other syllable commencing with the second 5. Rhetoric is both a science and an art. As a science it treats of the laws which make language elegant and effective. As an art it teaches how to speak and write effectively. 6. Logic is the science of reasoning. It teaches the laws of thought. 7. The accent comes on the penult, or on the antepenult syllable. 8. As a rule, the accent is on the last syllable. 9. The accent generally comes on the root of the word. There are many exceptions to these rules. In many respects language does not conform to rules. 10. He meant that no one had ever been able to pronounce and spell all the words of the English language. This is not the case with many foreign languages. Their pronunciation is a key to their spelling, and vice versa. 11. Volapük means World's Speech. It was invented in 1879, by John Martin Schleyer, who cherished the hope that it might become a universal language. In this language the spelling and grammar are reduced to their simplest form. The cause was taken up by many countries, and grammars and dictionaries in twenty different languages were prepared. For a time a number of newspapers were published in this language in different lands. But the enthusiasm of its disciples abated after a time, and the world in general paid but little attention to the new plan. The name is pronounced Vŏlåpeek. 12. The marks now in use were invented by a Venetian printer, named Manutius, about 400 years ago. It is said that Aristophanes, the Alexandrian grammarian, was the first to make use of marks to help in making clear the meaning of a sentence. 13. Originally, all writing proceeded from right to left. At a later period the writing proceeded alternately from right to left, and from left to right. This mode was called bustrophedon, which means, turning like an ox in plowing. 14. Woman, without her, man would be a savage. 15. The man read it declaratively, making a pause after think. The barber read it interrogatively, making a pause after what. 16. Philology is the study of language. It treats of the laws of speech and the relation of different languages to one another. 17. There are about 80 different languages spoken at the present time, and about 4,000 dialects. 18. In regions where the people have spoken a certain language for a long time certain peculiar modifications eventually take place. The change in sound of a language often becomes so marked that people from another section speaking the same language, can scarcely understand each other. A language thus modified is called a dialect. 1. Mutes; 2. Semivowels. 3. Dentals; 4. Palatals. 4. Classification as to Sounds,- 4. Combinations of Consonants. 3. Syllables. (1. Classification; 1. Ultimate; 2. Penultimate; 3. Antepenultimate; 4. Preantepenultimate. 2. Composition; 1. Vowel; 2. Consonants. 4. Silent Letters. 5. Words. 1. Classification; 1. As to Form, 1. Simple; 2. Compound. 2. As to Origin,- 1. Primitives; 2. Derivative. 3. As to Syllables, 1. Monosyllable; 2. Dissyllable; 2. Root; 2. Affixes. 6. Spelling. 1. Orthographic; 2. Phonetic. |