CHAPTER II.

THE RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS TO THE ELE
MENTARY SOUNDS.

§ 183. A, normally or regularly, represents four tabular elementary sounds, namely, the first, second, third, and fourth. See Table of Elementary Sounds, § 118.

1. The ancient or Italian sound, as in father, which is slightly modified in certain combinations, as in pass, dance.

2. The Short sound, as in mat. This is sometimes described as the short sound of the Italian a.

3. The Long or slender sound, as in fate, which is modified when in combination with the liquid r, as in care. This use of a is peculiar to the English.

4. The Broad sound, as in fall, which is shortened in what.

In the words any, many, and says, a, abnormally or irregularly, represents the short sound usually represented by e. The short sound of a in late is represented by e, as in let. In unaccented syllables, the sounds represented by a are often not distinguishable from the sounds represented by some other vowel letters. A final, unaccented, has the sound of a in father, as in the word America. The deficiency of the English alphabet is seen in the fact that one letter represents at least four different sounds. There should be as many letters as sounds. See § 179.

As in other languages, so in the English, the sound of a interchanges with o. In Old English, the forms hond and strond occur instead of hand and strand. In Anglo-Saxon, brad, stan, correspond to the English forms broad, stone. The a in salt was pronounced like a in fat before it was pronounced, as at present, like o in not. The change from the sound of a to that of o takes place more especially before the letter l, as wall, call. When the liquid is followed by another consonant, the I is generally sunk in the pronunciation, as falcon, salmon, pronounced faucon, sammon.

The inconvenience of having so many sounds represented by a single letter is partly removed by the use of marks, as in Webster's and Worcester's Dictionaries. Each mark serves the purpose of an

T

original letter. It can not, however, be expected that these marks will generally be adopted in printing. It is not advisable to increase the variety of sounds represented by a single letter, as some are inclined to do.

Æ, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in Cæsar, and sometimes to short e, as in cætera.

Ai, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long a, as in sail, and sometimes to short e, as in said, and to i in aisle. These vowels are sometimes separated, as in mosaic.

Ao, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long a in gaol, and to short o in extraordinary. In aorta these vowels do not coalesce. All, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to broad a, as in cause, and sometimes to the Italian a, as in aunt, and to long a in gauge. Aw, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to broad a, as in maw. Ay, a Proper Diphthong in the word ay, is elsewhere an Improper Diphthong, and is equivalent to long a, as in day.

E.

184. E represents normally two elementary sounds, the fifth and the sixth. 2. The Short 1. The Long sound, as in mete. sound, as in met.

It sometimes is equivalent to long a, as in there; and to short e, as in her; and to short i, as in England.

Before 7, in the final unaccented syllable, it is sometimes mute, as in shekel, pronounced shek'l, and sometimes sounded, as in chapel. Before n, in the final unaccented syllable, it is sometimes mute, as in heaven, pronounced heav'n, and sometimes sounded, as in kitchen. In unaccented syllables, e has sometimes the sound of u, as in suffer, and sometimes the sound of e is suppressed, as in words like cherries, married, pronounced cherris, marrid.

The long sound of e is strictly the long sound of i in pit, and the short sound of e is strictly the short sound of a in late.

The e mute, in words like cone, robe, serves to denote the length of the preceding vowel. For this purpose it is retained, but it was not for this purpose that it was invented. Originally it expressed a sound; and it is only by a change of language that it has come, as it were by accident, to be an orthographical expedient. E is always mute at the end of words, except monosyllables which have no other vowels, as the, me; and proper names, as Phebe. It does not always lengthen the foregoing vowel, as in live, give.

E mute, at the end of words, serves to give c the sound of s, which would otherwise have the sound of k, as in dance; and also to give g the sound of j, as in singe, which would otherwise be sing

and also to preserve to s its own sound, which would otherwise have that of z, as in dispense; and also to give to th a sonant sound instead of a surd, as in breathe. It is mute when l is coupled with a consonant at the end of words, as in fickle.

The use of the letter e with its long sound is peculiar to the English. In other languages it has the sound of a in fate, or that of ê fermê.

Ea, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in tea; to short e, as in head; to long a, as in break; to the Italian a, as in heart. Ee, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in eel. Ei, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long a, as in veil; to long e, as in deceit; to long i, as in height; and to short e, as in heifer.

Eo, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long e, as in people; to short e, as in leopard; to long o in yeoman; and to short o in George. Eu and ew have the diphthongal sound of u, as in feud, dew. In sew, shew, and strew, ew sounds like long o.

Ey is equivalent to long a, as in prey; to long e in key; and to long i in ley. Eye is equivalent to i.

Eau has the sound of long o, as in beau; in beauty, and its compounds, it has the sound of long u.

I.

185. I represents normally two sounds. 1. The Diphthongal, sometimes called the Long sound, as in fine. See § 118. 2. The seventh elementary sound, called the Short sound, as in pit. The latter is strictly the short sound of long e.

Before r it is equivalent to short u, as in first. It sometimes is equivalent to long e, as in machine.

I, unaccented, readily blends with the succeeding vowel, as ia in physician; io in concession.

In other languages, long i is pronounced like ee.

Ie, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long i, as in die; to long e, as in grief; and to short e, as in friend. In terminations, like twentieth, in fiery, in Orient, the vowels should be separated in pronunciation; also in variegate.

Ieu and iew, Triphthongs, have the sound of long u, as in lieu, review.

0.

186. O represents normally two elementary sounds, namely, the eighth and the ninth. 1. The Long, as in note. 2. The Short,

as in not.

It sometimes is equivalent to oo, as in prove; and to u short, as in

2

love; and to broad a, as in lord; and to short in women; and to the u in full, as in wolf.

Oa, an Improper Diphthong, is sometimes equivalent to long o, as in coal, or to broad a, as in broad.

Oe, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent sometimes to long o, as in foe, or to oo, as in canoe, or to long e, as in fœtus.

Oi is a Proper Diphthong. See § 118.

Ou is a Proper Diphthong.

See § 118. It is also equivalent to

short u, as in enough; to oo, as in soup; to long o, as in though; to short o, as in cough; to broad a, as in ought; to u in bull, as in could; to long u, as in through.

The sound given to ou is peculiar to the English. In other languages the sound is represented by au or ow.

Ow is sounded like ou, and oy like oi.

U.

187. U represents normally three sounds: 1. The Long or diphthongal, as in mule. 2. The tenth elementary sound, as in bull. 3. The twelfth elementary sound, as in but. This last sound of u is peculiar to the English.

It is also equivalent to short i in busy, and to short e in bury. Ua, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to the Italian a, as in guard; to short a, as in guarantee; to long a, or wa, in persuade. Ue is equivalent to long u, as in blue; to short e, as in guest; is silent, as in league.

Ui, an Improper Diphthong, has the sound of long i, as in guide; of short i, as in conduit; of long u, as in juice.

Uy, an Improper Diphthong, is equivalent to long i, as in buy.

W.

188. W, from being partly a vowel and partly a consonant in its use, may be called a Semi-vowel. It has nearly the sound of 00, and represents the thirteenth elementary sound, as in wet. W before h is pronounced as if it were after the h; as, what, hwat. It takes its written form from the union of two v's, this being the form of the Roman capital letter which we call V. With o and e it forms diphthongs, as in now, new. It has often the same sound as u, as in drew. It is sometimes silent, as in write, whole. W is often joined to o at the end of a syllable without affecting the sound, as in grow. In Welsh it is sometimes used in a syllable without another vowel, as ful fool. In some languages it has the sound of v.

Y.

189. Y, from being partly a vowel and partly a consonant, may be called a Semi-vowel. It represents the fourteenth elementary sound, as in yet. It is equivalent to u, as in youth; to i, as in my and crystal; and to short u, as myrrh. It often has replaced the Anglo-Saxon g, as in year for gear. It originally grew out of the Greek v, a vowel.

CONSONANT LETTERS.

B.

190. B represents the twenty-second elementary sound, as in bag. The b in debtor, subtle, agrees with the b in lamb, dumb, thumb, in being mute. It differs, however, in another respect, that, while the words debtor, subtle, are of Classical, the words lamb, dumb, &c., are of Saxon origin. In debtor, &c., the b was undoubtedly at one time pronounced, debitor, subtilis, being the original forms. It is not probable that with the other words, lamb, &c., this was the case. The probability is, that b in speech never made a part of the word at all; that it belongs now, and that it always belonged, to the written language only; and that it was inserted in the spelling upon what may be called the Principle of Imitation, as in the case of in could. See Could, § 360.

C.

§ 191. C is equivalent, 1. To k when before a, o, u, l, r, t, as in can, come, cub, clap, crop, act, and where it ends a syllable, as public. 2. To s before c, i, and y, as centre, city, cymbal. Ce and ci, followed by another vowel, often blend into the sound of sh, as in ocean, social. C is mute in Czar, victuals, indict. When c stands between s and e and i, its sound is not perceived, as in scene, scion; but it is necessary, in order to distinguish the words from seen, Sion. C, in some words, takes the sound of z, as in suffice. C might be omitted in the language without loss, since one of its sounds might be supplied by k, and the other by s; but that it preserves to the eye the etymology of such words as face from facies, captive from captivus. When c comes after the accent, and is followed by ca, ia, ie, io, or ious, it takes the sound of sh, as in ocean, &c.

Ch represents, 1. The compound sound of tsh, as in church. 2. The sound of k in chorus. 3. The sound of sh, as in machine. It is sometimes silent, as in drachm.