or aspiration joined with them, which mingles with the letter, and alters its sound, as t in motion, d in soldier, s in mission, and z in azure.

There is another distinction of consonants arising either from the seat of their formation, or from those organs which are chiefly employed in forming them. The best distinction of this kind seems to be that which divides them into labials, dentals, gutturals, and nasals.

The labials are b, p, f, v. The dentals are t, d, s, z, and soft g or j. The gutturals are k, q, c hard, and g hard. The nasals are m, n, and ng.

These several properties of the consonants may be exhibited at one view in the following table, which may be called

Every vowel has a long and a short sound: thus a is long in fate, paper, &c., but short in fat and marry, &c. But, besides these, a has also a broad sound, nearly approaching to that of the long broad o, as in war, wall, water, &c., and also a long hard sound, as in far, father, master, &c.

E has a long sound, as in me, metre, &c., and a short sound, as in met, let, &c. E. at the end of a monosyllable, and often at that of a polysyllable,

and sometimes even at the end of a syllable in the middle of a word, serves only to lengthen the sound: when this is the case at the end of a word, it is commonly denominated e final. Examples: note, abate, lively. This, however, is far from being always the case; for in native, crocodile, oppressive, and innumerable other words of similar terminations, the last syllable is short, and the e has no sound. In many words derived from the Greek, the e at the end is sounded, and, either with or without the preceding consonant, forms a sylable, as in ca-tas-tro-phe, and also in proper names borrowed from the same anguage: as, Can-da-ce, Pe-nel-o-pe

The i has a long sound, as in pine, and a short sound, as in pin.

O has three long sounds, all of which are somewhat different from each other; viz. the long open o, as in notice; the long close o, as in move; and the long broad o, as in nor, for, &c.; which last is almost exactly the same sound as that of the long broad a in war, wall, &c. The short sound of the o is heard in not, got, &c.

The u has a long sound in tune, and a short one in tun.

Y, like all the other vowels, has a long and a short sound: the long sound is heard in the word try, and the short sound, resembling that of e, in duty,

Diphthongs and Triphthongs.

A diphthong is the union of two vowels in the same syllable. Diphthongs are divided into two classes, proper and improper.

Proper diphthongs are those in which both the vowels are sounded: as,

ou in found, oy in boy.

Improper diphthongs are those in which only one of the vowels is sound

ed as,

ai in aim,

éu in feud,

4

A triphthong is the union of three vowels in one syllable: as, eau in beauty, pronounced buty; ieu in adieu, pronounced adu.

N. B. Our triphthongs being for the most part derived from the French, several of them retain the sound which they have in their original language : thus, beau, pronounced bo; flambeau, pronounced flambo

Remarks on the Consonants.

The observations which might be made on the consonants, as well as on the vowels, are so numerous, that it would be quite impossible to bring them within the limits of this small treatise, the plan of which admits of making such remarks only as are absolutely necessary.

B.

This letter is mute at the end of a word or syllable, when it is preceded by m, as in bomb, coxcomb, &c.: in comb it serves as e final to lengthen the syllable.

C.

Cis sounded hard, like k, before a, o, and u: as, can, corn, cow, cup, pronounced kan, korn, kow, kup.

But c has a soft sound, like s, before e, i, and y: as, cell, cedar, cider, cymbal, pronouneed sell, sedar, sider, symbal.

tion of, it slides into its near relation v, as if written ov. But, when this prep osition is in composition at the end of a word, the f becomes pure; thus, though we sound of, singly, ov, we pronounce it as if the ƒ were double in whereof.

G.

G has the same sound as j before e and i, as in gem, gender, gelid, genius, pronounced jem, jender, jelid, jenius; but in many proper names, especially such as pertain to ancient history and geography, as Gergesenes, Gideon, &c., g is sounded hard before e and i; and also in several words purely English; as, gear, get, geese, giddy, gift, gild, gird, girl, give, &c., besides many others of a similar sound. G is not sounded in seraglio, bagnio, and intaglio, which are pronounced serallio, bannio, and intallio.

Gh.

Gh is sometimes sounded like g hard, as in ghost, ghastly, gherkin, pronounced gost, gastly, gerkin. Sometimes gh has the sound of f, or f; as in couga, laugh, laughable, laughter, pronounced cof, laf, lafable, lafter: but gh very often is mute, and, consequently, the preceding vowel or diphthong is long, like e final; as in high, nigh, fight, right, pronounced hi, ni, fite, rite. The words of this description are numerous.

Gn also serves to lengthen syllables in the same manner as gh and e final; as in sign, benign, condign, pronounced sine, benine, condine.

His not sounded in some words derived from the Latin; as, heir, hour, honest, honour, humour, with their compounds and derivatives; nor after r, as in rhyme, and catarrh, pronounced ryme, catar.

J, as already observed, has the soft sound of g, as in jelly, joint, juncture.

K has always the same hard sound, as in kark.

L is not sounded in walk, talk, calk, which are pronounced wauk, tauk, auk; and the same pronunciation is to be observed in their compounds and

derivatives. L is mute also in calm, half, and palm, and the a has the same sound as in father; but it is sounded in palmiferous, &c.

Neither the I nor the p is sounded in psalm, which is pronounced sam, the a having the same sound as in father; but the p only is mute, and the lig sounded in psalmist, psalmody, and other kindred words.

Both the o and the l are mute in could, should, and would, which are pro nounced kud, shud, and wud; as also in couldst, shouldst, and wouldst, the a aving the same sound as oo in wood.

M.

M is found before n in a few proper names of Greek origin, in which case it is not sounded; as, Mnason, Mnemosyne.

N.

N presents nothing particular in its sound or use, except what has been already observed under article gn.

P.

P is not sounded before s. See the remarks under L. But to the words here noticed may be added pseudo, signifying false or counterfeit, and which is only used as a prefix to some other word.

P is mute also before n, at the beginning of a few words borrowed from the Greek; as, pneumatick, pneumatical, and pneumatology. P has no sound before t. Ptisan, a medical beverage, is pronounced tizan; ptyalism 18 subject to the same rule; and Ptolemy, the name of the kings of Egypt from the death of Alexander the Great to the reign of Cleopatra, is pronounce Tolemy.

Q.

Q has always u after it, and is pronounced k or kw; as, antique, pronoun ed anteek; and antiquity, which is pronounced antikwety.

R.

This letter is never silent, but its sound is sometimes transposed; as centre, sceptre, mitre, spectre, pronounced center, scepter, miter, specter.

S.

on

the

cipal

S between two vowels is sometimes sounded like z; as in miser, comp), it is cruise, criticise, &c., pronounced mizer, comprize, cruize, criticize; but in m lling words it preserves its common hissing sound, even between two vowels, as d

gor