FOOTNOTES:

[1]——"a fungous growth of Novels and pamphlets, the meaner productions of the French and English presses, in which it is to be feared (the reader) rarely finds any rational pleasure, and more rarely still, any solid improvement."—Harris. Hermes, 434.

[CONTENTS.]

DISSERTATION I.
Page.
Introduction,[17]
Advantages of national uniformity in language,[19]
The English language the parent of the American,[21]
Absurdity of copying the changes of language in Great Britain,[24]
The only good principles on which any permanent uniformity can be established,[27]
English writers who are the best models of stile,[31]
Writers who have corrupted stile,[32]
History of the English Language,[40]
Of the ancient Celtic,[41]
Of the Armoric,[48]
Of the old Irish,[49]
Of the Teutonic or Gothic,[53]
Of the Norman French,[56]
Of the language in Chaucer's time,[59]
Remarks,[61]
Of the Saxon origin of the English tongue,[61]
Of the poverty and copiousness of languages,[63]-[64]
Of the difference in the French and English manner of speaking,[67]
Of the irregular orthography of the English language,[70]
DISSERTATION II.
Elements of the language unfolded,[81]
Rules of pronunciation,[91]
Of accent,[95]
Differences of pronunciation and controverted points examined,[103]
How the manner of speaking may be affected by the laws of property, &c.[106]
DISSERTATION III.
Examination of controverted points, continued,[131]
Of modern corruptions in the English pronunciation,[146]
DISSERTATION IV.
Remarks on the formation of language,[181]
A sketch of Mr. Horne Tooke's new and ingenious explanation of the particles,[186]
Examination of particular phrases,[201]
Noun,[201]
Verb,[222]
Mode,[231]
Number and person,[232]
Auxiliaries,[234]
Criticisms on the use of what is called the future tense,[236]
————— On the use of what is called the Subjunctive Mode,[240]
Of the participial noun,[279]
Particles,[284]
State of the language in America,[287]
DISSERTATION V.
Of the construction of English verse,[291]
Pauses,[299]
Expression,[305]
Of reading verse,[310]
NOTES, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL.
Etymological reasons for supposing the European languages to be descended from one common stock,[313]-[350]
Other arguments,[350]-[353]
The affinity between the ancient Irish language and the Punic,[353]
Reasons for supposing the Irish to be derived from the Phenician or Hebrew,[354]
Specimen and state of the English Language in the reign of Richard II,[357]
Strictures on the stile of Sir William Temple,[364]
————— of Dr. Robertson,[365]
————— of Mr. Gibbon,[367]
APPENDIX.
An Essay on the necessity, advantages and practicability of reforming the mode of spelling,[391]
Dr. Franklin's arguments on the subject,[408]

DIRECTIONS.

The sounds of the vowels, marked or referred to in the second and third Dissertations, are according to the Key in the First Part of the Institute. Thus:

aeiouy
First sound,late,feet,night,note,tune,sky,
Second,hat,let,tin,tun,glory,
Third,law,fraud,
Fourth,ask,father,
Fifth,not,what,
Sixth,prove,room,

The capitals, included in brackets [] in the text, are references to the Notes at the end.

[DISSERTATIONS]
ON THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE, &c.

[DISSERTATION I.]

I. Introduction.—II. History of the English Language.—III. Remarks.