The word _na'tion_ (with
a long a) becomes _na'tional_ (short _a_) when the addition of a syllable
throws the accent on to the antepenult. The vowel _u_ is never shortened
in this way, however, and we have _lu'bricate,_ not _lub'ricate_.
We also find such words as _no'tional_ (long _o_). While accented
syllables which are followed by two or more syllables seldom if ever double
the single consonant, in pronunciation we often find the vowel long if the
two syllables following contain short and weak vowels. Thus we have
_pe'riod_ (long _e_), _ma'niac_ (long _a_), and _o'rient'al_ (long _o_).
In words of two syllables and other words in which the accent comes on
the next to the last syllable, a short vowel in an accented syllable
should logically always be followed by more than one consonant or a
double consonant. We find the double consonant in such words as
_summer, pretty, mammal,_ etc. Unfortunately, our second law, which
requires all derived words to preserve the form of the original root,
interferes with this principle very seriously in a large number
of English words. The roots are often derived from languages in
which this principle did not apply, or else these roots originally
had very different sound values from those they have with us.
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