The _gh_ is of
course a powerful combination. Once it was pronounced; but it became so
difficult that we have learned to give its value by dwelling a little on
the vowel sound.
Another powerful means of lengthening a vowel is accent. When a vowel
receives the full force of the accent by coming at the end of an accented
syllable it is almost invariably made long. We see this in monosyllables
such as _he, no,_ etc. It is often necessary to strengthen by an
additional silent vowel, however, as in _tie, sue, view,_ etc., and _a_ has
a peculiarity in that when it comes at the end of a syllable alone it has
the sound of _ah,_ or _a_ Italian, rather than that of _a_ long, and we
have _pa, ma,_ etc., and for the long sound _y_ is added, as in _say, day,
ray. I_ has a great disinclination to appear at the end of a word, and so
is n usually changed to _y_ when such a position is necessary, or it takes
silent _e_ as indicated above; while this service on the part of _y_ is
reciprocated by _i_'s taking the place of _y_ inside a word, as may be
illustrated by _city_ and _cities_.
When a vowel gets the _full force_ of the accent in a word of two or
more syllables it is bound to be long, as for instance the first _a_ in
_ma'di a_.
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