Z must be pronounced as th in the English words thank, theft, thin, thorn, path, tenth, truth. N. B. Particular care must be taken to pronounce fully and distinctly the letters e, d, r, and s, at the end of the words. REMARKS ON THE PRONUNCIATION. Every well-educated person in old Spain, as well as in its former and actual possessions in America, speaks and writes correctly the Spanish or Castilian language; but as the Spanish Peninsula consists of several provinces, that once were states and kingdoms independent from each other, and (Biscay excepted) were settled and governed by various nations, there are to be observed, in the mass of the people of each of its present divisions, certain peculiarities, propensities, and even animosities, that make the inhabitants of each division appear almost a different people. Some of them have had a peculiar idiom; hence it is that the Lengua Castellana is not spoken in all its purity by every person, except in both Castiles, and particularly in the districts of Burgos, Salamanca, Toledo, &c. The most frequent faults to be observed, and which the scholar is warned to avoid, are the following: H is used in words that have it not, and is omitted in others that have it ; as, handan instead of andan, (they walk ;) él iso for él hizo, (he made ;) ollo for hoyo, (a hole.) J is sometimes used instead of h; as, él se juió for él se huyó, (he ran away.) In the terminations ado and ido they generally suppress the d, both in writing and pronouncing, and say, un bestio coloráo for un vestido colorado, (a red dress.) The first e, in the verbs of the first conjugation, that double that letter, as pasear, (to walk,) is sounded, and even written i; thus, yo me pasié tóa la tarde instead of yo me paseé toda la tarde, (I walked all the afternoon ;) diendo for yendo, (going,) &c. Vallejo, Palomares, and other Spanish authors, may be consulted on the subject. DOUBLE LETTERS. In simple words, e, i, c, r, are the only letters that may be written double. E is double in the verbs of the first conjugation, when it is the last of their radical letters, and the termination begins with e; as, pasear, (to walk.) The radical letters are pase. The termination of the first person singular of the preterit is e-paseé, (I did walk.) I is double in the superlative degree of the monosyllables ending in io; as, frío, (cold;) friísimo, (very cold.) C is double only before e or i, and is pronounced with both syllables; as, acceder, (to accede ;) accidente, (accident.) Remark.-Almost all words ending in English in ction, and their derivatives, change the t into c, and become Spanish; as, diction, (diccion ;) dictionary, (diccionario.) R is written double in the middle of words, between two vowels, to point out its harsh sound; as, carro, (a cart ;) corro, (I run,) &c., to distinguish them from caro, (dear;) coro, (choir,) &c. (See R.) In compound words all the vowels, and also n and s, are written double, whenever any of them are the last of the component and the first of the word to be compounded; as, contraabertura, (a counter-opening ;) preeminente, (pre-eminent ;) amandoos, (ye loving each other;) dannos, (they give us ;) dámosselos, (we give them to him.) DIVISION OF SYLLABLES. Vowels forming a diphthong or triphthong must not be separated; as, gra-cio-so, pre-ciais, and not gra-ci-os-o, pre-ci-ais. A single consonant between two vowels must be joined to the vowel after it; except x, that must be left with the preceding; as, bue-no, flo-res, me-lo-co-to-ne-ro, ex-á-men. LL, being considered a single letter, follows the same rule, which is also the case with ch; as, ca-ba-lle-ro, mu-cha-cho. Two consonants between two vowels are divided by placing one to each syllable; as, car-ga-men-to, en-ter-ne-ci-mien-to. Except if the first of them be an f, or any of the mute letters, followed by l or r, for then both are joined to the second syllable; as, a-flic-cion, ha-blan-chin, co-bre. When three consonants come between two vowels, the first two of them belong to the first syllable, if the second of said consonants be s, and the third to the second syllable; as, cons-ti-tu-cion, ins-pi-rar. But if the second letter be f, or any of the mute letters, followed by l or r, one belongs to the first, and the other two to the second syllable; as, con-flic-to, an-cla. Four consonants between two vowels are equally divided; as, abs-traccion. Compound words are to be divided into their component parts; as, desor-de-nar. But should the simple word in its Latin origin begin with s, followed by a consonant, the s is to be placed with the preceding syllable; as, ins-tru-ir. PUNCTUATION. The notes used in Spanish for punctuation are the same as in English. A difference, however, is to be observed in the points of exclamation and interrogation, which in long sentences are placed upside down at the beginning of them, in order that the reader may calculate, and apply the proper emphasis and tone of voice; as no! respondió Sancho. ¿Por ventura el que ¡ Como ¡Coh-moh noh! res-pon-deeoh' San-tchoh. ¿ Por ven-toor-rah ell kay ayer manteáron era otro que el hijo de mi padre ? ah-jer man-tay-ar-on er-ah oh-troh kay ell ee-hoh day me pak-dray? Siy las alforjas que hoy me faltan son de otro que de él ee lass al-for-hass kay oh-ee may fal-tan son day oh-troh kay day ell mismo? Que! ¿Te faltan las alforjas, Sancho? miss-moh? Kay! ¿ Tay faltan lass al-for-hass, San-tchoh? DON QUIJOTE, Cap. xviii., part 1. Translation.-How now! answered Sancho. Mayhap, then, they whom they tossed up in the blanket yesterday was not the son of my father? and did the saddle-bags that are lost to-day belong to some other person? How! Hast thou lost the saddle-bags, Sancho? N. B. No apostrophe is used in Spanish. It is found, however, in very old books, and particularly in poetry; at present it is entirely expunged. Formerly it was also customary to suppress the e of words beginning with that letter, when they came after the preposition de, joining both words in one; thus, dél, deste, dellos, &c., instead of de él, de este, &c. ACCENT. The Spanish vowels have always the same unvaried sound, whether they be at the beginning, in the midst, or at the end of a word. They, in all situations, must be fully and distinctly pronounced. The only difference to be observed in them, is the time requisite in their pronunciation. This time is called accent. An accent is that peculiar stress of the voice laid on a vowel of a syllable, in consequence of which it is more distinctly and forcibly pronounced than the other vowels of the same word. Hence the vowels are called long or short. A vowel is termed long when it requires a peculiar stress of the voice to bo laid upon it; dwelling, consequently, on it a longer time than on any other vowel of the same word; as e in the first syllable of reverence, which is distinguished from the other two e's by the time spent in pronouncing it. The latter are therefore called short, because the stress of the voice is not laid on them, they being pronounced rapidly. The following English words will elucidate this explanation. No. 1. An abstract, an accent, the torment, the conduct. to conduct. The words in line No. 1 have the accent on the first syllable, and those of No. 2 on the last. Consequently it is said of the former, that they have the first syllable long, and the second short; and of the latter, that their first syllable is short, and the second long. The little line, or mark set over a vowel, to point out that it must be pronounced long, is also called an accent. In the Spanish language the only accent used at present is that styled the acute ('). In old books there is found also the circumflex, to indicate that the ch preceding the vowel marked with it must be pronounced as c (k) before a, o, or u, and as qu before e or i; and that x is to be sounded as cs; as, archângel, Achîles, próximo, which at present are written arcángel, (ar-can'-hell,) Aquiles, (ah-key-less,) próximo, (prok-see-moh.) The vowels á, é, ó, ú, when used as prepositions or conjunctions, are always accented; as, ama á tu prójimo, sabios é ignorantes, grandes ó pequeños. The accent is never placed over y. But in printing (dictionaries excepted) the capitals are seldom accented; and in manuscript are almost always unaccented. Monosyllables of more than one signification are accented on that syllable in which the vowel is pronounced longer; as Nouns ending in a vowel have, for the most part, the penultimate, or last syllable but one, long, and consequently they do not require the mark or accent to point it out; as, publico, habito; but if the stress of the voice is to be laid on any other syllable, it must be indicated by placing the accent upon such syllable; thus, público, public; publico, I publish; publicó, he published; hábito, a habit; habito, I inhabit; habitó, he inhabited. But if to a person of a verb ending in an accented vowel the case of a pronoun be added, the accent must be retained, although it fall on the penultimate; as, pagó, he paid; pagóle, he paid him. Words ending in a consonant have, generally, the last syllable long, and do not require the mark of the accent; as, caridad, animal, capitan, favor, interes, lobreguez. But should the accent be on any other syllable it must be marked; as, órden, íris, mártir, carácter, caractéres, (pl.) Exception 1.-The plurals of nouns and adjectives, which, though they terminate in s, retain the accent they have in the singular; as, padres, amorosos, capitanes, from padre, amoroso, &c. Exception 2.-Family names in ez or iz that generally have their penultimate syllable long; as, Fernandez, Armendariz. Exception 3.-The persons of the verbs ending in s or n in which the penultimate is pronounced long; as, miraras, entraran. When the stress of the voice is to be laid upon any other syllable, it is accented; as, mirarás, entrarán, pasáramos. READING-LESSONS. The learner is reminded to pronounce the vowels in the following lessons as set forth in page 402, to wit: a ah, e ay, i ee, o oh, u oo: to sound the syllables al and ad as they are sounded in the English words alcana, comical, lad; and to lisp the th, as in theft, thin, path, tenth, &c. The English words in the third line are intended rather as a vocabulary than as a translation. N. B. A under a word indicates that it must not be translated. mar así lee-ber-tad, as-see liberty, loss tais-sor-oss kay lah por la libertad, tierra tea-er-rah que la can igualarse ee-gwal-ar-say be equalled contiene, ni el con-tea-ay-nay, nee ell contains, or as well como por la honra, se puede y debe aventurar coh-moh pore lah on-rah, say poo-ai-day ee day-bay ah-ven-toor-ar one may and ought to venture as for y honor, por el lah vee-dah: ee pore ell life: and on the el mayor mal que puede venir á los hombres. poo-ai-day vai-nir ah loss om-bress. fall on ell mah-jor mal kay the greatest evil that may men. dell vith-e-o an-tchoh ee of vice broad and espacioso ; mas ess-path-e-os-soh; spacious; sus mass SOOS but their 1 Pronounce the syllable vir as it sounds in the English word virulent, |