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■defcends obliquely downwards to its flefliy Infertion a little above the Radius, in the middle externally : Its Ufe is to move the Radius and Palm inwards.
PRONOUN, Pronomen, in Grammar, a part of Speech ufed in lieu of a Noun, or Name ; whence the Denomination; from fro and nomen t q.d. For-Nwn, or -^ame. See Noun.
j\s it would have been difagreeable to have been always repeating the fame Name ; there are Words invented in all Languages, to fave the Neceffity thereof, and to per- fonate Names: as, 7, thou, he, $£c.
As Nouns are the Marks, or Signs, of Things ; 'Pronouns are of Nouns.
Father Huffier /hews, that Tronouns are real Nouns or Names; and that all the difference between what the Grammarians call Nouns, and Tronouns, is, that the for- mer are more particular, and the latter more general.
They are call'd Tronouns, becaufeufed in the place of particular Nouns : Indeed, fometimes they don't fill the place of Nouns entirely, but need other Words to affifr. them, to exprefs the ObjecT: fpoke of; Such, e.gr. are who, whoever, &c. which don't exprefs any determinate Object whereof a Thing may be affirm'd, unlefs accom- pany'd with another Word, efpecially a Verb : As, Who- ever labours, deferves a Reward.
Thefe, Father %i$zer calls Incomfdeat Pronouns, to di- ftinguifh them from thofe which exprefs an Object com- pleatly 5 as, 7, thou, he, &c.
The Grammarians ordinarily diftinguifli Tronouns into four dalles, with regard to their different Signification, Formation, £5>c viz. Pronouns Perfonal, Relative, Pof- fejfivs, and 2)emonfirative ; to which may be added, Inde- terminate Pronouns.
Perfonal Pronouns, are thofe ufed in lieu of Names of particular Perfons : Such are, 7, thou, he, we, ye, they. See Person and Personal.
Pronouns Relative, which Suffier calls Modificative, or Determinative , are thofe placed after Nouns, with which they hive fuch Affinity, that without them they fignify no- thing : Such are, qui, who, that, &C. See Relative.
Tronoims Tojjejjive, are thofe which exprefs what each poffeffes, or what belongs to him ; as, raine, thine, his, &c. See Relative.
Thefe are pure Adjedives ; and only differ from the reft, by the relation they bear to Tronouns whence they are deriv'd, and by fome particular Inflections which they have in fome Languages. See Adjective.
Tronouns i)e?nonflrative, ihofe which ferve to indicate, or point out the Subject fpoke of; as, this, thofe, &c. See Demonstrative.
Laftly, Tronouns Indefinite, are thofe which exprefs their Object indeterminately ; as whoever, any, ^c. Thefe co- incide with what F. Suffier calls Incompleat Tronouns.
Pronouns are likewife divided into Subjlantive an&Ad- jeBive.
To the firft belong, I, thou, ye : To the fecond, hs,flie, they, it, my, mine, who, what, £S;c.
Tronouns may be confider'd in two States; the firft, or foregoing State; as I, we: The fecond, or following one 5 as me, us.
PRONOUNCING, Pronunciation, in Painting, the marking, and expreffing the parts of all kinds of Bodies with that degree of Force, neceffary to make them more, or lefs diftinfr, and confpicuous. Thus the Painters, in fpeaking of a Piece, fay, thefe or
I thefe parts are well pronoun^ d h which is a metaphorical Way of fpeaking; as when we fay, that a Man who talks well, has a fine Prommciation. See Expression.
PRONUNCIATION, in Grammar, the Manner of ar- ticulating or founding the Words of a Language reprefented to the Eye by Writing and Orthography. SeeWoRD, Lan- guage, Sound, He.
From the Definition it would feem, that the Tronuncia- tion were only the Image of the Orthography. But as we pronounce before we write, and only write to exprefs what we pronounce; *tis morejuft to lay down the Tronuncia* tiono.s the Rule, and Model of Orthograghy. See Ortho- graphy.
Tronunciation makes much the mod difficult Article of a written Grammar : In effe£t, a Book only expreffing it felf to the Eyes, in a Matter that concerns the Ears ; the Cafe feems next a-kin to that of teaching the Blind to di- ftinguifh Colours. See Grammar.
Hence it is, that there is no part fo defective in the Gram- mars, as the Tronunciatioji ; forthe Writer has frequently no Term, whereby to give the Reader an Idea of the S >und he would exprefs ; for want of a proper Term, therefore, he frequentlv fubftitutes a vitious or precarious one.
Thus the French Grammarians ordinarily tell us, that the Vowels a, e, i, &c. are pronounced in French the fame as in Latin; never confiderintj, that there is not any known and determinate Tronunciation of the Latin; but each
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Nation, now, Pronounces the Roman Characters in the Matin, the fame as it pronounces thofe fame Charaftcrsin i." ° L W " La , n g u "g e - Thus the Latin atcus, is pronoune'd by the Engltfi, fehis ; and by the Italians, tchekous, efc.
Hence ir appears, that the Relation between Sounds and Characters, as well as between Things and Words, is pure- ly arbitrary and national.
Indeed, Plato feems of a contrary Sentiment, and will have a natural Relation between Words and the Things they exprefs ; as there is a natural Relation between the Signs made by Mutes, and the things they would intimate. So that according to 'Plato, to every fevcral Word there mu'ft be a feveral Motion of the Mouth relative to the Aflicn ex- prefs d by the Word.
Whether or no there might be fuch a thing in the primi- tive Language, wc dare not undertake ; but 'tis certain fuch a relation would require a Facility of Conrorfions in the Mouth, to which we are Strangers.
To give a jufl and precife Idea of the Tronunciation of a Language, it feems neceffary to fix, as nearly as poffible, all the leveral Sounds employ'd in the Pronunciation of that Language : This Mr. I.odivick has done in his At- tempt towards an univetfal Alphabet ; where he enume- rates forty-three feveral fimple Sounds; (fome of 'em, indeed, Grangers to the Englip Language) and F. Suffier, who gives thirty-three feveral Sounds in the French Tongue, twenty-nine in the Italian, thirty in the German, twenty- two in the Spaniflj, and twenty-four in the Englijb. Sje Alphabet.
TheFrench Language is clogg'd with a difficulty in Fro- mtneiation, from which moil oihers are free ; and it con- fiflsinthis, that mod of their Words have two different Pronunciations ; the one in common Profe, the other in Verio.
In Profe, e.gr. they omit the Pronunciation of the final s in the Plural of Nouns, and of the I in the third Perfon of the Plural of Verbs, and of feveral other final Confo- nants ; but in Verfe they pronounce M.
Thus, in a quoi ban rcveiller mes Mufes endormies ? the final s 01 Mufes \s pronounced; and in Milled mi He douceurs y femblent attachees ; the t of 'femtlent is to be pronounced. AAA. to this, that in Profe, they fofien the Sound ofa great many Words, pronouncing, craire for croire ; but in Poetry the genuine Pronunciation is retain'd. See Eng- lish, French, &c.
Pronunciation is alfo ufed for the fifth and laft part of Rhetoric, which confifls in regulating and varying the Voice and Gefiure agreeably to the Matter and Words'; fo, as more effectually to pcrfuade, and touch the Hearers. See Rhetoric.
The Pronunciation is of fuch Importance, that Z)emo- ftbeues call'd it the fitfi, the fecond, and the third Part of Eloquence.
^ £hiintilian defines the Pronunciation, Vocis £5? Vultus S? Corporis modcratio cum vennjlate ; a decent, agreeable manner of managing the Voice, Gefiure, and Action of the whole Body.
Cicero, fomewhere, calls it qugdam Corporis Eloqnentia, a certain Eloquence of the Body ; and in another Place Serine Corporis, the Language, or Speech of the Body.
Pronunciation is the fame with what we otherwife call Action. See Action.
Some Writers, particularly Mr. Henley, confound it with Elocution, which is a very different thing. That Author, when he llyles himfelf Refiorer of the antient Elocution, means of the antient Tronunciation. See Elocution.
There are three Things which come under the Pronun- ciation ; the Memory, Voice, and Gefiure. See each under its proper Article.
Auguflus, to avoid being balk'd by his Memory, and at the fume time fave the trouble of getting off by Heart, ufed to harangue from a Writing ; as we are told by 'Dio and Suetonius.
Pronunciation, in Painting 5 fee Pronouncing. PROf, l t , in Arithmetic, an Operation whereby the Truth and Jui ; :iefs of a Calculation is examin'd and afcertain'd. See Calculat ion.
The proper Proof is always by the contrary Rule : Thus Subtraction is the Proof of Addition, and Multiplication of Divifion j and vice verja. Sec Addition, Substrac- tion, %$c.
The Proof o{ Multiplication by 9 or by 7, are precarious. See Multiplication.
There would need no Proofs in Arithmetic, were it not that a Man is liable to make Miflakes ; for all the Rules and Operations being built on Demonilration, 'lis thence we are affured of their Truth and Cerrirude. See De- monstration.
The Proof, then, docs not confirm the Rule, but only fhews us whether or no we have apply'd it right. SeeRuLE. Proof, in Law, Logic, Z£c. the Mediums, or Arguments ufed to evince the Truth of any thing. See Truth.
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