[Division of Words by Frederick W. Hamilton]@TWC D-Link bookDivision of Words PREFACE 18/45
The pronunciation of such a series would be a highly artificial and very difficult performance.
Correct pronunciation is very greatly concerned with the proper placing of the accent.
Indeed the meaning of a familiar word may be quite obscured by a misplaced accent.
For example, _he-red'-it-ary_ is a very familiar word, but when pronounced _he-red-it'-ary_, as it was habitually by a friend of the author, we have to stop and think before catching the meaning. The placing of the accent in English is subject to two general rules. I The accent clings to the syllable which gives the meaning to the word, or in technical terms, the root syllable, _re-call'_, _in-stall'_, _in-stal-la'-tion_ (accent falling on the syllable which defines the word as a noun), _in-her'-it_. II Where the root syllable is not known the accent falls on the first syllable, with secondary accents following at intervals to relieve the voice. This last tendency not infrequently supersedes the other, partly from the natural habit of the language, and partly because the average man is not an etymologist and knows very little about the derivation of the words he uses.
For example, in Shakespeare's time English people followed the first rule and said _re-ven'-ue_, but now we say _rev'-e-nue_. These two rules will serve as a good general guide to accent.
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