The Grammar of English Grammars/Part IV

by Goold Brown

PART IV.

PROSODY.

Prosody treats of punctuation, utterance, figures, and versification.

OBSERVATIONS. {{Smaller block|1=

1. The word prosody (from the Greek πρὀς, to, and ᾠδὴ, song), is, with regard to its derivation, exactly equivalent to accent, or the Latin accentus, which is formed from ad, to, and cantus, song: both terms, perhaps, originally signifying a singing with, or sounding to, some instrument or voice. Prosodia, as a Latin word, is defined by Littleton, "Pars Grammaticæ quæ docet accentus, h. e. rationem atollendi et depremendi syllabas, tum quantitatem carundem." And in English, "The art of Accenting, or the rule of pronouncing syllables truly, long or short."—Litt. Dict., 4to. This is a little varied by Ainsworth thus: "The rule of Accenting, or pronouncing syllables truly, whether long or short."—Ains. Dict., 4to. Accent, in English, belongs as much to prose as to poetry; but some deny that in Latin it belongs to either. There is also much difficulty about the import of the word; since some prosodists identify accent with tone; some take it for the inflections of voice; some call it the pitch of vocal sounds; and some, like the authors just cited, seem to confound it with quantity,—"long or short."^[1]
2. "Prosody," says a late writer, "strictly denotes only that musical tone or melody which accompanies speech. But the usage of modern grammarians justifies an extremely general application of the term."—Frost's Practical Grammar, p. 160. This remark is a note upon the following definition: "Prosody is that part of grammar which treats of the structure of Poetical Composition."—Ibid. Agreeably to this definition, Frost's Prosody, with all the generality the author claims for it, embraces only a brief account of Versification, with a few remarks on "Poetical License." Of Pronunciation and the Figures of Speech, he takes no notice; and Punctuation, which some place with Orthography, and others distinguish as one of the chief parts of grammar, he exhibits as a portion of Syntax. Not more comprehensive is this part of grammar, as exhibited in the works of several other authors; but, by Lindley Murray, R. C. Smith, and some others, both Punctuation and Pronunciation are placed here; though no mention is made of the former in their subdivision of Prosody, which, they not very aptly say, "consists of two parts, Pronunciation and Versification." Dr. Bullions, no less deficient in method, begins with saying, "Prosody consists of two parts; Elocution and Versification;" (Principles of E. Gram., p. 163;) and then absurdly proceeds to treat of it under the following six principal heads: viz., Elocution, Versification, Figures of Speech, Poetic License, Hints for Correct and Elegant Writing, and Composition.
3. If, in regard to the subjects which may be treated under the name of Prosody, "the usage of modern grammarians justifies an extremely general application of the term," such an application is certainly not less warranted by the usage of old authors. But, by the practice of neither, can it be easily determined how many and what things ought to be embraced under this head. Of the different kinds of verse, or "the structure of Poetical Composition," some of the old prosodists took little or no notice; because they thought it their chief business, to treat of syllables, and determine the orthoëpy of words. The Prosody of Smetius, dated 1509, (my edition of which was published in Germany in 1691,) is in fact a pronouncing dictionary of the Latin language. After a brief abstract of the old rules of George Fabricius concerning quantity and accent, it exhibits, in alphabetic order, and with all their syllables marked, about twenty-eight thousand words, with a poetic line quoted against each, to prove the pronunciation just. The Prosody of John Genuensis, an other immense work, concluded by its author in 1286, improved by Badius in 1506, and printed at Lyons in 1514, is also mainly a Latin dictionary, with derivations and definitions as in other dictionaries. It is a folio volume of seven hundred and thirty closely-printed pages; six hundred of which are devoted to the vocabulary, the rest to orthography, accent, etymology, syntax, figures, points—almost everything but versification. Yet this vast sum of grammar has been entitled Prosody—"Prosodia seu Catholicon"—"Catholicon seu Universale Vocabularium ac Summa Grammatices."—See pp. 1 and 5.}}

1. PUNCTUATION
2. UTTERANCE
3. FIGURES
4. VERSIFICATION
5. QUESTIONS
6. FOR WRITING

Notes

1. [459]
   1. "Accent is the tone with which one speaks. For, in speaking, the voice of every man is sometimes more grave in the sound, and at other times more acute or shrill."—Beattie's Moral Science, p. 25. "Accent is the tone of the voice with which a syllable is pronounced."—Dr. Adam's Latin and English Gram., p. 266.
   2. "Accent in a peculiar stress of the voice on some syllable in a word to distinguish it from the others."—Gould's Adam's Lat. Gram., p. 243.
   3. "The tone by which one syllable is distinguished from another is the accent; which is a greater stress and elevation of voice on that particular syllable."—Bicknell's Eng. Gram., Part II, p. 111.
   4. "Quantity is the Length or Shortness of Syllables; and the Proportion, generally speaking, betwixt a long and [a] short Syllable, is two to one; as in Music, two Quavers to one Crotchet.—Accent is the rising and falling of the Voice, above or under its usual Tone, but an Art of which we have little Use, and know less, in the English Tongue; nor are we like to improve our Knowledge in this Particular, unless the Art of Delivery or Utterance were a little more study'd."—Brightland's Gram., p. 156.
   5. "Accent, s. m. (inflexion de la voix.) Accent, tone, pronunciation."—Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel, 4to, Tome Premier, sous le mot Accent.
      "Accent, subst. (tone or inflection of the voice.) Accent, ton ou inflexion de voix."—Same Work, Garner's New Universal Dictionary, 4to, under the word Accent.
   6. "The word accent is derived from the Latin language and signifies the tone of the voice."—Parker and Fox's English Gram., Part III, p. 32.
   7. "The unity of the word consists in the tone or accent, which binds together the two parts of the composition."—Fowler's E. Gram., §360.
   8. "The accent of the ancients is the opprobrium of modern criticism. Nothing can show more evidently the fallibility of the human faculties, than the total ignorance we are in at present of the nature of the Latin and Greek accent."—Walker's Principles, No. 486; Dict., p. 53.
   9. "It is not surprising, that the accent and quantity of the ancients should be so obscure and mysterious, when two such learned men of our own nation as Mr. Foster and Dr. Gaily, differ about the very existence of quantity in our own language."—Walker's Observations on Accent, &c.; Key, p. 311.
   10. "What these accents are has puzzled the learned so much that they seem neither to understand each other nor themselves."—Walker's Octavo Dict., w. Barytone.
   11. "The ancients designated the pitch of vocal sounds by the term accent; making three kinds of accents, the acute (é), the grave (è), and the circumflex (ê), which signified severally the rise, the fall, and the turn of the voice, or union of acute and grave on the same syllable."—Sargent's Standard Speaker, p. 18.