Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... THE SPOKEN AND THE WRITTEN WORD HE varied interests that came to be associated with the work of ascertaining and setting forth English pronounciation and the increasingly scientific aspect that the aim itself assumed may be best illustrated by a brief survey of the publications of Benjamin Humphrey Smart, from 1815 to 1861, a teacher of elocution in London. In 1836 he put out "Walker Remodelled: a New English Dictionary, Adapted to the Present State of Literature and Science," and in 1849, a new edition of it under the name of a " Critical and Pronouncing English Dictionary." In 1850 appeared his "Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language Epitomized." Mr. Ellis refers to Smart as having enjoyed "some reputation" and as having bestowed great attention upon the final vowel "a" and its diphthongal action on the preceding vowel. Professor Lounsbury treats of Smart as the most successful of the remodelers of Walker. But these cursory estimates hardly do justice to his significance in the history of English expression or to his influence over dictionary makers. First of all, Smart was a highly systematic and self-conscious person. He was interested in the relations among all possible aspects of his favorite subjects of inquiry, and made a definite effort to keep these relations always in view and always in due subordination. The list of his published works begins with "Rudiments of English Grammar Elucidated," 1811. There followed "Grammar of English Sounds," 1813; "First Step in Elocution," 1818; "Theory of Elocution," 1819; " Practice of Elocution or Course of Exercises for Acquiring the Several Requisits of a Good Delivery," 1822; "Practical Logic, or Hints to Theme Writers," 1823; "Guide to Parsing," 1825, and "Shakspearian Readings, ...
