INTRUSION OF Z.

Z is a letter of late introduction. Through the influence of the Norman French it has taken the place of an older s, as in dizzy (A.S. dysig), freeze (A.S. freosan), etc. Z has intruded into citizen (Fr. citoyen).

IV. Economy of Effort.

DIFFICULT SOUNDS DISCARDED-EASIER SOUNDS ADOPTED. Some sounds are more difficult to pronounce than others. Difficult sounds, as gutturals, often pass into easier sounds, as spirants, or into mere breathings; and sometimes they disappear altogether. A most remarkable instance of this, as regards the English language, is the expulsion of the guttural sounds which were so numerous in the Anglo-Saxon language, or their change into other sounds that are either more melodious or more easily pronounceable.

NOTE. All articulate sounds are produced by effort, that is, by expenditure of muscular energy in the lungs, throat, and mouth. This effort, like every other which man makes, he has an instinctive disposition to avoid or seek relief from-we may call it laziness, or we may call it economy. It is, in fact, either the one or the other, according to the circumstances of each separate case. is laziness when it gives up more than it gains. It is economy of effort when it gains more than it abandons. This law of ease,' or 'law of laziness,' may be defined as the permanent desire to make the utterance of a word, or set of sounds, as easy as possible.

How the Guttural Sounds have been lost

or changed.

It

One of the most remarkable results of Norman French ascendency was the elimination of many of the guttural sounds of the Anglo-Saxon language, and the weakening of others. The Normans had a natural antipathy to guttural sounds, and perhaps also an incapacity for pronouncing them. They were, therefore, driven to find out methods of representing them by other sounds, and in some cases they dropped them altogether.

This is so remarkable a phenomenon that it deserves very care ful attention.

A guttural sound has disappeared from the beginning of the following words :—

:

Cyppenswich though, formerly written genah

like,

gelic

A guttural has disappeared from the end of the following:I (Pronoun), formerly written ich day, formerly written dag

barley,

berlic only,

an-lic

A guttural has disappeared from the middle of the words:icicle, formerly written is-gicel Lent, formerly written lengten or lencten

The lighter guttural h has also disappeared from a number

of words, e.g.

formerly written hlaf

loaf,

lord,

hlaford

The guttural sound has also been changed into a sibilant or j, a labial for p, and into i, y, w.

Thus chaw (the organ which chews) was once pronounced with a ch, like the ch in loch; it was then changed into a sound like tschaw, and now it is spelt and pronounced jaw. Genoh has become enough, a word in which the ƒ sound exists for the ear only.

G has become i in the following:

fair, which comes from A.S. fægr

stair, which comes from A.S. stager

bow

beyond from A.S. begeondan

G has been softened into w in the following:

from A.S. boge

eye

from A.S. eage

fly

fleoge

Cg has become dg with the sound of j,-e.g.

A.S. brycg has become bridge | A.S. secg has become sedge

hrig

"mycg

ridge
midge

wedge edge

Many words in English have a double form-one commencing with g, the other with w. The Normans, it has been mentioned, had a natural antipathy to the gutturals of the Anglo-Saxon language, and altered or dropped them. Compareguile and wile

G has become w in wafer, from the Old French gauffre. The wastel-brede mentioned by Chaucer is probably cake-breaa (Fr. gateau).

On the Expulsion of the 'gh.'

It has been computed that the gh sound has disappeared from about seventy-five of our English words, such as light, might, night, right. The guttural sound may, however, be still heard in these words in some of the country districts of Scotland.

Sometimes a guttural is lost in the root, and yet makes its appearance in the derivatives, as dry and drought, slay and slaughter, draw (drag) and draught.

A recent writer observes:-The gh is the most Protean of all the English symbols. It will disappear in the Adjective, and reappear in the Noun; it has one form in the Present Tense of a Verb, and another in the Past; it will be soft, hard, and non-existent, all in the same word. Thus, e.g., we have dry and drought, sly and sleight; then, we have buy and bought, teach and taught; and as a crowning instance of inconsistency we have seek, beseech, and besought, where it appears as (1) a hard k, (2) a soft ch, and (3) an unpronounced guttural-all in the same word (beseech is a compound of seek).

The following are some of the Verbs in which these curious metamorphoses of sound have taken place :

Another is dyke, where the

The Noun from dig is ditch. guttural has become a sharp k.

As regards the Verb fly, the y reappears as gh in flight, but as w in flew and flown. The y in may becomes gh in might. There must have been a guttural in see, inasmuch as gh appears in sight, and w in saw. Chaucer spells the Past Tense of see as seigh. The k of work and think becomes gh in their Past Tenses wrought and thought.

Occasionally certain sounds are rejected altogether, as nf, nth, ns,-e.g.

We do not say sanft, but soft.

tunthus (Gothic), but tooth.

Such sounds are now regarded by the English-speaking race with a natural repugnance. We express this fact by saying that they are contrary to the genius of the language.'

Certain other combinations of articulate sounds are incapable of being pronounced together: bt, pd, kg, gs, fd, bs. The reason why these combinations are incapable of being pronounced is that the change of position and mode of action of the organs of articulation which these sounds require are too difficult to be produced. The required change is, in fact, too sudden.

V. Of Apheresis, Apocope, and Syncope. Letters, initial, medial, and final, have been dropped or taken away.

The taking away of a letter or letters from the beginning of a word is called Apheresis, and from the end of a word, Apocope. If letters only are dropped, and not syllables, it is sometimes called Elision. When letters are omitted from the body of a word, this frequently causes two syllables to be blended into one. This is called Syncope.

Apheresis.

Each of the following words has been shortened by the omission of a syllable at the beginning. In 'bus, cobweb, and van two syllables have been left out—

Some words are still in transition, as though, although; special, especial.

In Anglo-Saxon, many words begin with the prefixes a-, be-, and ge-, a peculiarity that is at first a source of some perplexity to the student

aladan, to lead
arisan, to arise

a-settan, to set
a-springan, to spring

With a few exceptions, these prefixes are not retained in

modern English.