VOWEL SOUNDS. The single vowel sounds of the English language may be illustrated by the following list of words : The English or long a as in fate | The close or short i as in tin French or short a 99 fat far " open or long o 99 not Remark. The long sound of i as in mine, and the long sound of u as in mute, are generally believed to be compound sounds, and are therefore omitted in the preceding list of single vowel sounds. The blending together of two vowel sounds in the same syllable is called a diphthong. When both vowels are sounded, they are called a proper diphthong, but when only one of the vowels is sounded, they are sometimes called an improper diphthong, but more properly a digraph.' There are only four diphthongal sounds in the English language, and two of them may be represented by a single letter. They are the following: oi in toil, represented also by oy, as in toy. ou in ounce, represented also by ow, as in now. u in tube, represented also by eu or ew, as in feud, few. i in time, which is composed of two simple sounds rapidly pronounced. The vowel sound of w is considered to be the same as that of u— thus, cow=cou; and the vowel sound of y is considered to be the same as that of i or e- - thus, by=bi, lovely-love-le. They are therefore included in the preceding sounds. The consonantal sounds of w and y approach very nearly to the vowel sounds of o in move, and e in me, and are therefore called semivowel sounds. NOTES, ETC. Diphthong from the Greek di or dis, double, and phthongos, a sound, =a double sound. Digraph from the Greek di or dis, double, and grapho, I write, a double writing. To call that a diphthong whose sound is monophthongal, is an abuse of language, and creates confusion.'-Crombie's Grammar. 'Two or more letters that stand for a single sound, or that which passes on the ear as a single sound, are properly called a digraph, a trigraph.'-Smart's Grammar. A proper diphthong, if each vowel is sounded, an improper diphthong, or rather a digraph, if only one vowel is sounded."-Hunter's Grammar. There are many combinations of vowels in English words, in which one vowel only is sounded, as, ai, ea, ie, &c. These may be called digraphs.'-Webster. As the diphthong derives its name and nature from its sound, and not from its letters, and properly denotes a double sound, no union of two vowels, where one is silent, can, in strictness, be entitled to that appellation.'—Murray's Grammar. The principal digraphs, or combinations of vowels, having only the appearance of diphthongs, are the following: The blending together of three vowel sounds in the same syllable is called a triphthong; as, uoy in buoy. But when only one or two of the vowels are sounded, the combination is properly called a trigraph. There are but few triphthongs and trigraphs in the English language. The following are the principal: геш iou Besides a few words which are wholly composed of vowels; as, awe, aye, ewe, eye, owe. The vowels are sometimes divided into broad and slender the broad vowels are a, o, u; the slender vowels are e and i. They are also sometimes divided into such as are simple and pure, and into such as are compound and impure. The simple or pure vowels are a, e, o; the compound or impure vowels are i and u. The vowels i and u are never doubled in English words, nor a except in some proper nouns from the Hebrew; as, Isaac, Baal, Aaron, Canaan. The vowel e occurs more frequently than any other letter in the English language; both e and o are very frequently doubled. NOTES. Triphthong from treis or tri, three; and phthongos, a sound. Most of our triphthongs are found in words adopted from the French, and retain the sound which they had in their original language. ON CONSONANTS. Consonants admit of three different classifications, depending upon the following principles : 1. The nature of articulate sounds. 2. The organs employed in their formation. 3. The effect produced by their sounds on the ear. FIRST CLASSIFICATION. The classification arising from the nature of articulate sounds, is the division into MUTES, or such consonants as cannot be sounded at all without a vowel; as, b, p, t, d, k, c and g hard. SEMIVOWELS, or such consonants as can be imperfectly sounded without a vowel; as, f, h, j, l, m, n, r, s, v, x, z, c and g soft, ng. LIQUIDS, or the semivowels 1, m, n, r, so called from their readily uniting with other consonants, and flowing as it were into their sounds. Subdivisions. The mutes are of two kinds; namely, pure and impure:— Pure mutes are those whose sounds cannot be at all prolonged; as, p, t, k, and c hard. Impure mutes are those whose sounds can be continued, though for a very short space, as b, d, and g hard. The semivowels are of three kinds; namely, pure vocal, impure vocal, and aspirated. Pure vocal semivowels are those which are sounded entirely by the voice; as, l, m, u, r, w, y, ng. Impure vocal semivowels are those which are formed by a mixture of breath with the voice; as, v, z, th flat. Aspirated semivowels are those which are formed entirely by the breath; as, f, h, s, th sharp. NOTES, ETC. Mute from the French muet, or Latin mutus, silent. Liquid from the French liquide, or Latin liqueo, I melt. The letter c is soft when sounded like s, as in cell-sell; and hard when sounded like k, as in cankan. The letter g is soft when sounded like j, as in gin=jin; and hard when it has its other sound, as in go, got. Both c and g are generally soft before e, i, y, and hard in other positions. The character of the several letters may be seen in the following table : SECOND CLASSIFICATION. The classification arising from the organs employed in the formation of consonants, is the division into LABIALS; as, b, p, m, being formed entirely by the lips. DENTALS; as, th in thing, and th in thine, being formed by placing the tip of the tongue between the teeth. LABIO-DENTALS; as, f, v, being formed by the under lip and the upper teeth. PALATALS; as, d, t, s, z, l, n, r, being formed by an application of the tongue to different parts of the palate, from the upper gum to the roof of the mouth. NASALS; as, m, n, ng, so called from their sounds passing through the nose, and not through the lips. GUTTURALS; as, g, h, k, q, being partly formed in the throat. Those letters which are formed by the same organs are called cognate letters; thus b and p are cognates, being both formed by the lips. The letters s, z, sh, are sometimes called sibilants from the hissing sounds made in uttering them. THIRD CLASSIFICATION. The classification of consonants arising from the effect produced on the ear, is the division into sharps and flats. The letter h is, by some authors, considered to be neither vowel, consonant, nor articulate sound, but a mere breathing or mark of aspiration. This remark may be true of languages in which initial h is never sounded, but it is a manifest mistake to apply it to the English language, in which there are comparatively few words in which initial is not sounded. Probably the only English words in which initial h is silent are the following and their derivatives: And it is doubted by some authors whether hostler, hospital, and humble should be pronounced without the aspirate. In words beginning with wh, the aspiration of the h should precede the w; thusWhat is sounded as if written hwat, not wat, Whet Those producing a sharp sound on the ear are called the sharp consonants, and those producing a flat sound are called flat consonants. The sharp and flat consonants run in regularly contrasted pairs. The following is a list of the sharps and their corresponding flats. CHANGE OF SOUND IN CONSONANTS. When a sharp and a flat consonant come together in the same syllable, they cannot be pronounced without changing the sound of one. Either the sharp consonant must become flat, or the flat consonant become sharp; that is, both must be sounded sharp or flat. EXAMPLES. Drop'd is sounded either dropt, in which the d is changed in sound to its corresponding sharp, or drobd, in which the p is changed to its corresponding flat. Look'd must be sounded either lookt or loogd, &c. &c. NOTES. The principal distinction between a sharp consonant and its corresponding flat is, that the sharp is formed by the breath only, and the flat by the breath and the voice together. It should be borne in mind that though some of the consonant sounds in the preceding list are represented by two letters, yet they are all single sounds. Thus the combinations th, dh, sh, zh, ng, represent single sounds, for which there are no corresponding single letters. Sometimes the consonants are simply divided into 'Mute consonants' and 'Liquid consonants.' According to this classification both the mutes and the semivowels of the preceding list are included under the general name of 'Mute consonants.' The liquid consonants are l, m, n, r. The sharps are sometimes called whispering or surd mutes, and the flats vocal or sonant mutes. Since two mutes of different characters cannot be sounded together, it follows that when s follows a flat in the same syllable it is pronounced like x, and when d follows a sharp it is pronounced like t. Thus rods = rodz, and leap'd leapt. (See general questions at the end.) = |