NOTE 1.—­When the words learned, blessed, loved, &c. are used as participial adjectives, the termination ed should generally be pronounced as a separate syllable; as, “A learn-ed man; The bless-ed Redeemer;” but when they are employed as verbs, the ed is contracted in pronunciation; as, “He learn’d his lesson; They are lov’d; I have walk’d.”

2.  The accent of the following words falls on those syllables expressed in the italic characters:  Eu ro pe an, hy me ne al, Ce sa re a, co ad ju tor, ep i cu re an, in ter est ed, in ter est ing, rep a ra ble, rec og nise, leg is la ture, ob li ga to ry, in com pa ra ble, ir rep a ra ble, in ex o ra ble.  In a large class of words, the vowels a, e, and ai, should be pronounced like long a in late; such as, fare, rare, there, their, where, air, chair, compare, declare, &c.  In the words person, perfect, mercy, interpret, determine, and the like, the vowel e before r, is often erroneously sounded like short u.  Its proper sound is that of e in met, pet, imperative.

3.  With respect to the pronunciation of the words sky, kind,
guide, &c. it appears that a mistake extensively prevails.  It is
believed that their common pronunciation by the vulgar, is the
correct one, and agreeable to the pronunciation intended by Mr.
John Walker.  The proper diphthongal sounds
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in skei, kyind, gyide, are adopted by the common mass, and
perverted by those who, in their unnatural and affected
pronunciation of these words, say,
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ske-i; ke-inde, ge-ide.  This latter mode of pronouncing them in two
syllables, is as incorrect and ridiculous as to pronounce the words
boil, toil, in two
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syllables; thus, bo-il, to-il.

4. My, wind.  When my is contrasted with thy, his, her, your,
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&c, it is pronounced, mi:  in all other situations, it is pronounced, me; as, “My [me] son, give ear to my [me] counsel.”  When wind ends a line in poetry, and is made to rhyme with mind, bind, kind_, &c. it is
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pronounced, wind; but, in other situations, it is pronounced, wind.

“Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.”

PROVINCIALISMS.

CONTRACTIONS, VULGARISMS, AND OTHER IMPROPRIETIES.