Our modern fashionable speakers accent European on the last syllable but one. This innovation has happened within a few years: I say innovation; for it is a violation of an established principle of the language, that words ending in ean have the accent on the last syllable but two: Witness Mediterra'nean, Pyre'nean, Hercu'lean, subterra'nean. I do not advert to an exception,[55] and why European should be made one, it is difficult to determine. The reason given by some, that e in the penultima represents the Latin dipthong æ, which was long, is of little weight, opposed to the general practice of a nation, and to an established principle. The standard authors, in this instance, as in all others, where practice is not uniform, very absurdly give both pronunciations, that we may take our choice. As this is a very easy method of getting over difficulties, and passing along without giving offence, so it is a certain way to perpetuate differences in opinion and practice, and to prevent the establishment of any standard. Analogy requires Euro'pean, and this is supported by as good authorities as the other.
Rome is very frequently pronounced Room, and that by people of every class. The authors I have consulted give no light upon this word, except Perry, who directs to that pronunciation. The practice however, is by no means general in America: There are many good speakers who give o its first sound. It seems very absurd to give o its first sound in Romish, Romans, and pronounce it oo in Rome, the radical word. I know of no language in Europe, in which o has not one uniform sound, viz. the sound we give it in rose. It is perhaps the only vowel, in the sound of which all nations agree. In English it has other sounds; but the first is its proper one. A great proportion of people in America have restored the analogy of pronunciation in giving o its first found in Rome; and a desire of uniformity would lead us to extend the practice.[56]
In the pronunciation of arch in many compound words, people are not uniform. The disputed words are archangel, archetype, architecture, architrave, archives. There seems to be no settled principle of analogy, by which the question can be determined. Etymology would require ch, in Greek and Hebrew derivatives, to have uniformly the sound of k; but before most consonants, such a pronunciation is harsh; for which reason it is generally softened into the English ch, as archbishop. But before vowels, as in the words just enumerated, the best practice has decided for the sound of k; and euphony, as well as derivation, favors the decision.[N]
The sound of ch in chart is likewise disputed; and the standard authors are directly opposed to each other. There is as good foreign authority on one side as the other; but in America, ch has generally its soft or English sound. This must perhaps be preferred, contrary to etymology; for we uniformly give ch that sound in charter, which is from the same original; and this also distinguishes the word from cart; a reason which is not without its weight.
There are many people who omit the aspirate in most words which begin with wh; as white, whip, &c. which they pronounce wite, wip. To such it is necessary only to observe, that in the pure English pronunciation, both in Great Britain and New England, for it is exactly the same in both, h is not silent in a single word beginning with wh. In this point our standard authors differ; two of them aspirating the whole of these words, and three, marking h in most of them as mute. But the omission of h seems to be a foreign corruption; for in America, it is not known among the unmixed descendants of the English. Sheridan has here given the true English pronunciation. In this class of words, w is silent in four only, with their derivatives; viz. who, whole, whoop, whore.
One or two authors affect to pronounce human, and about twenty other words beginning with h, as tho they were spelt yuman.[57] This is a gross error. The only word that begins with this sound, is humor, with its derivatives. In the American pronunciation, h is silent in the following, honest, honor, hour, humor, herb, heir, with their derivatives. To these the English add hospital, hostler, humble; but an imitation of these, which some industriously affect, cannot be recommended, as every omission of the aspirate serves to mutilate and weaken the language.
The word yelk is sometimes written yolk and pronounced yoke. But yelk is the most correct orthography, from the Saxon gealkwe; and in this country, it is the general pronunciation.
Ewe is, by the English, often pronounced yo; which is sometimes heard in America. But analogy and the general corresponding practice in this country, with the authority of some of the most accurate writers, decide for yew.