The Roman and the Italian alphabetic characters are used to express the phonetic elements of the English language. By comparing this alphabet, consisting of twenty-six letters, presented to the eye, with the forty sounds, simple and compound, in the table (§ 118), presented to the ear, it is evident that it does not include the first condition mentioned above of a perfect system of notation. Neither does it include the second, third, or fourth. See § 179.

CLASSIFICATION

OF THE ELEMENTARY SIGNS.

§ 182. LETTERS, from the Latin litera, a mark, through the French lettre, are the signs or representatives of the phonetic elements or the elementary sounds. They are classified by the same names as the sounds themselves, viz., Vowels and Consonants. They are the first elements of the written language, as the simple sounds are of the spoken language.

It should be constantly borne in mind that the names of the letters are not the same as the elementary sounds which they represent. Thus the name of the letter m does not enter as an element into the word man when pronounced, but another sound which it represents does. It is true that some of the name sounds of the vowel letters are the same as the elementary sounds which they represent. Thus the name sound of the letter a is the same as the sound which it represents in the word fate; but it is not the same as that which it represents in all, father, fat, as may be shown by isolating the sound.

The VOWELS, that is, the vowel letters, are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. A, o, u, and w represent the broad vowel sounds; e, i, and y the small vowel sounds.

The CONSONANTS, that is, the consonant letters, are p b, ƒ v, td, kg, sz; h; l, m, n, r ; j, c, q, x, and sometimes w and y. Here we have, first, the representatives of the Cognate sounds; then the Aspirate h; thirdly, the Liquids, l, m, n, r; finally, the Double letter j, with the Redundant signs c, q, and x.

The Consonants, likewise, have been classified according to the organs by which they are produced, whether chiefly by the lips, the teeth, or the palate. B, p, f, v, and m have been called Labials. D, t, s, z, j, g when equivalent to j, and c when equivalent to s, Dentals. K, g, r, l, q, and c when equivalent to k, Palatals. They are also called Gutturals.

S and are also called Sibilants, from the hissing noise attending their production. M and n are also called Nasals, from their relation to the nose. L and r are sometimes called Linguals. T, d, and n are sometimes called Cerebrals.

A DIPHTHONG is two vowel letters joined in one syllable, as ea in eagle, oi in voice.

1. A Proper Diphthong is a diphthong in which both of the vowels are sounded, as oi in voice.

2. An Improper Diphthong, or Digraph, is a diphthong in which only one of the vowels is sounded, as ea in beat.

A TRIPHTHONG, or Trigraph, is three vowel letters joined in one syllable, as eau in beau, uoy in buoy.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER I.

1. What is the meaning and derivation of the term orthography? 2. What are orthographical forms?

3. Which, in the order of nature and time, comes first, orthoepy or orthography?

4. What is the end aimed at by orthography in the early stages of a language?

5. In the later stages of a language, what is the influence of orthography? 6. What are the chief conditions of a perfect system of literal notation? 7. What is the end aimed at by a literal notation?

8. What is said of the alphabetic system of the Sanscrit language?

9. What is the number of letters in the English alphabet?

10. What is the number of sounds in the table of elementary and compound sounds?

11. Does the English alphabet meet the conditions of a perfect system of literal notation mentioned in section 179?

12. What are letters, and what is the derivation of the term?

13. Into what classes are letters divided?

14. Are the names of letters, and the elementary sounds which they represent, the same?

15. Illustrate the difference between the names of the letters and the sounds.

16. Name and classify the vowel letters.

17. Name and classify the consonant letters.

18. What is a diphthong? a proper diphthong? an improper diphthong? a triphthong?

19. Which letters are the sibilants? which the nasals? which the linguals? which the cerebrals?

CHAPTER II.

THE RELATIONS OF THE LETTERS TO THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS.

VOWEL LETTER S.

A.

§ 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 1, as wall, call. When the liquid 7 is followed by another consonant, the 7 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

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. 1. The Long sound, as in mete. 2. The Short 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;