e iv and note, which have lost
their trilled _R_: and then the 41 words from table vi on page 15; and
that would start us with some 100 words, the confusion of which is
due to our Southern English pronunciation, since the differentiation
of all these words is still preserved in other dialects. The
differentiation of these 100 words would of course liberate their
twins, so the total number of gains should be doubled.

[Footnote 20: A fair list might no doubt be made; the most amusing
item would be--_Ophelia_ = _aphelia_: then _illusion_ = _elusion_,
_paten_ = _pattern_, _seaman_ = _seamen_, _phial_ = _file_, _custody_
= _custardy_, and of course _verdure_ = _verger_ and _fissure_ =
_fisher_. It would also allow _partition_ = _petition_, _proscribe_
= _prescribe_, and _upbraid_ = _abrade_! I take these from the first
edition.]

[Sidenote: Example of one class.]

But number is not so important as the quality and frequency of the
words involved, so I will instance one class in detail, namely the
words in which _aw_ and _or_ are confused. Here are a dozen of them:

core = caw.
door = daw*.
floor = flaw*.
hoar* = haw.
lore* = law.
more = maw*.
oar, ore = awe*.
pore = paw.
roar = raw.
soar, sore = saw, saw.
tore = taw.
yore* = yaw.

Of these 12 words, 6 exhibit stages or symptoms of obsolescence. I
should think it extremely unlikely that _yore_ has been in any way
incommoded by _yaw_; and _flaw_, which is now more or less cornered
to one of its various meanings, was probably affected more by its own
ambiguities than by _floor_; but others seem to be probable examples:
_shaw_ and _lore_, and I think _maw_, are truly obsoletes, while
_hoar_ and _daw_ are heard only in combination. _Awe_ is heard only in
_awful_, and has there lost its significance. I should guess that this
accident has strengthened its severity in literature, where it asserts
its aloofness sometimes with a full spelling [_aweful_] as in speech
two pronunciations are recognized, _awful_ and _awf'l_.

Now how do these words appear in Jones' dictionary? If there is to be
any difference between the _aw_ and _ore_ sounds either the _R_ must
be trilled as it still is in the north, or some vestige of it must
be indicated, and such indication would be a lengthening of the _o_
(=_aw_) sound by the vestigial voicing of the lost trill, such as is
indicated in the word _o'er_, and might be roughly shown to the eye by
such a spelling a