25. The list of the Elementary Sounds in the English language ends with Number 34. There are six Compound Sounds. Of these, four are compounded by means of a vowel, and two by means "a consonant. The letters c, q and x, do not appear in the preceding Table, because, as representatives of sound, they are redundant. C expresses only what is as well expressed by either s or k; for instance, the words city and can are respectively pronounced sity and kan. Q is only kw (or cw), and x is only ks (or cs); for instance, the words queen and box, are respectively pronounced kween (or cween), and boks (or bocks, or bocs).

26. There are also Modified Vowel Sounds, not sufficiently decided to be classed as independent elementary sounds, but still exhibiting shades of difference, attention to which is essential to a pure and accurate articulation. The obscure sound of a vowel is an indistinct sound it has from the peculiarity of its position in a word, or to abridge the time of utterance. In obscuring a vowel sound, conform to the vowel's proper sound as much as is consistent with ease in utterance.

QUESTIONS.-18. What are elementary sounds, and into what are they divided? What is the derivation of the word vowel? 19. What of the word consonant? 20. Illustrate the difference between vowels and consonants. 21. Do letters have always the same sounds they have in the alphabet? 22. May one letter stand for more than one sound? 24. What is meant by cognate consonant sounds? What is meant by this sign (") in the Table of Elementary Sounds? Repeat the elementary vowel sounds. The two vowel or consonant sounds. The consonant sounds. The cognate consonant sounds. 25, 26. Name the compound vowel sounds. The compound consonant sounds. The modified vowel sounds. What is meant by the word modified? (Pupils are referred to the Explanatory Index.) What do you learn from the note (p. 9) in regard to obscuring vowel sounds?

* In regard to the sounds of short a and short o before r, see ¶ 108. On the similarity of the sounds of er, ir, ur, &c., see ¶ 107, and ¶ 109.

+ In obscuring vowel sounds, a just medium should be observed between that precision which demands a distinct conformity to one of the regular sounds of the vowel, and that looseness which gives it the positive sound of some other vowel. Thus, in the word rival, while it would impede a

LESSON III.

SOUNDS OF THE VOWELS.

27. ACCORDING to the preceding Table of the Elementary Sound the sound of a in father (called Italian a) is the leading vowel sound in the English language. In the enumeration of the sounds of a, it has generally been the practice to place the long sound of a (as in fate) at the head of the list. But later orthoëpists have preferred the order which we have adopted.

28. The Italian a is placed first, because it is the simplest and most easily enounced; because it is the first enounced by children; because it is the most common vowel sound; and because it stands at the head of most alphabets.

29. This first sound of a should be slightly modified in such words as pass, dance, waft, command, &c., in which the a should not be as broad as in father, nor as close as in flat, but a sound between the two. Some orthoëpists call the sound, thus modified, intermediate a.

30. The second sound of a is its short sound, as in mat. The third is its long sound (sometimes called its name or alphabet sound), as in tame, which is modified when in combination with the liquid r, as in care.

31. The fourth sound of a is its broad sound, as in fall, which is shortened when the a is preceded by w, and succeeded by a single consonant in the same syllable; as in wal-low, &c.; or by two consonants in the same syllable, as in want, &c.: but when l or r is one of the consonants, the a becomes long, as in walk, swarm, &c.

32. The elementary sounds of e are its long sound, as in mēte, and its short sound, as in met. It is sometimes equivalent to long a, as

proper rapidity of utterance to attempt giving to the a its regular short scund, we can still come so near to it that the sound of the vowel will not degenerate into u, thus converting the word into rivul.

Teachers are much at variance in regard to this class of vowel sounds. With Webster, Worcester and other orthoëpists," we have classed them under the head of obscure. The true sound lies in a partial and easy, but not too careless obscuration. The tendency of all changes in pronunciation and accent has been to an abridgment of the time of utterance, and any attempt to introduce a formal avoidance of obscuration cannot be long or generally adopted We may as well yield to the tendency, and regulate it as best

we may.

in there, ere (meaning before), e'er (contracted from ever), ne'er (contracted from never), &c. Sometimes e has a short and obtuse TM sound, as in brier, fuel; and sometimes it has the sound of short i as in England.

33. In many instances, when preceding / and n in final unaccented syllables, the sound of the e is dropped; as in drivel, grovel, heaven, hearken, given, open, &c., which are pronounced as if written grov'l, heav'n, &c. In the following and some other exceptions, the sound of the e (Walker says the short sound, Webster the obscure) is retained: revel, chapel, chicken, vessel, sudden, novel, travel, sloven, counsel, model, woolen, flannel, &c.: not rev'l, sudd'n, &c.

34. The e mute (or unsounded), in words like robe, hive, serves to show that the preceding vowel is long; but there are exceptions, as in give, live, where the preceding vowel is short. E is always mute at the end of words, except in monosyllables (like the, me) which have no other vowels; and sometimes in proper names and words from the Greek and Latin, as Phebë, Tempë, syncopë, ex-tempore.

35. The sound of e is generally suppressed in the preterites of verbs and in participles in ed, when the vowel is not preceded by dor t; as in feared, loved, revealed, tossed; pronounced feard, lovd, re veald, tost. When it is intended, in poetry or elsewhere, that the sound of the e should be retained, this may be signified by putting the mark of the diaresis (see ¶11) over the e, thus: feared, revealed. The adjectives agëd, wingëd and learnëd, are pronounced in two syllables.

36. The long or alphabetical sound of i (as in mind) being regarded as a diphthongal, compound sound, is not included in our Table of Elementary Sounds, but will be found among the Compound Vowel Sounds. This sound, according to Walker, is composed of the sounds of a in father and e in he, pronounced as closely together as possible. According to others, the real elements of the sound are the a in fat followed by the y in yet, rapidly pronounced. The nature of this compound sound (i long) is disguised by the spelling. It is erroneously supposed by many to be the sound of i in pit, lengthened in the pronunciation.

37. The short sound of (as in pin) represents the seventh elementary sound. Before r it is equivalent, in some words, to short u, as in first. In a class of words derived mostly from the French and Italian, i has the sound of long e, as in antique, magazine, caprice, pique, fatigue, quarantine. But i has its short sound in măsculine, feminine, juvenile, &c.

38. Two elementary sounds are represented by o, namely, the eighth and ninth; the long as in nōte, the short as in not. It sometimes has the sound of oo (the eleventh elementary sound), as in prove; of u short, as in love, done, son, Monday, combat, nothing, come, &c.; of i short, as in women; of the u in full, as in wolf woman, &c.

39. In word, work, &c., o has the sound of u in hurt. In some words ending in on, as pardon, weapon, reason, cotton, &c., the sound of o is almost suppressed. The sound of o in nor, form, &c., is called broad o; but, being the same as broad a (in fall, warm), it cannot be set down as an independent elementary sound.

40. The long sound of u is its alphabetical sound (as in mule, cube), and is a compound sound, which, like long i, is disguised in the spelling. Consequently it is not placed among the elementary sounds. It consists of the sound of long e prefixed to long oo; or, as some say, of the sound of i in pit, followed by that of the w in will, rapidly pronounced. When represented by means of the single letter u, the spelling gives the erroneous notion of its being a single, simple, elementary sound. The sound of ew in few is its equivalent.FI

41. Besides this compound long sound, the letter u represents the tenth elementary sound, as in bull; and the twelfth elementary sound as in but. The long sound (as in mule, &c.) should generally be given to u, -1, when u ends a syllable, as in tu-lip, fu-tu-rity; 2, when followed by a single consonant and final e, as in impute, tube.

42. It should be remembered, however, that this long sound of u does not come naturally after r, owing to the trilled quality of this last letter. We should pronounce the u in rude, ruler, ruminate, &c., nearly like oo in moon; giving to it little, if any, of its diphthongal long sound. After d, t, n and s, this long sound of u should be preserved, but not so decidedly after 7. U sometimes takes the sound of short i, as in lettuce.

43. Y represents the fourteenth elementary sound. At the beginning of a word it is a consonant, and has always the same sound. When it is a vowel, at the end of a word or syllable with the accent upon it, it is sounded exactly like long i, as in ty-rant, re-ply. At the end of a word it is sometimes pronounced like indistinct e, as in policy, lately; and sometimes like long i, as in by, fortify, ally. It is equivalent to u, as in youth; to short i, as in synod, crypt; and to short u, as in myrrh.

44. W has nearly the sound of oo, and represents the thirteenth

elementary sound, as in wet. With o and e it forms diphthongs, as

in now: new. It is always mute before r, as in write. It is often

joined to o at the end of a syllable without affecting the sound; as

in grow.

QUESTIONS. -27. What is the leading vowel sound in our language? 28. Why is it placed first? 29. What is the sound of intermediate a ? 30. The second sound of a? The third? 31. The fourth? When is this sound shortened? 32. What are the sounds of e? 33 When is the sound of e dropped? Is it dropped in open, &c. In chapel, &c. 34. What is said of e mute? 35. In what other instances is the sound of e suppressed? 36. Why is not long i included among the elementary vowel sounds? 37. What of short i 38. What does o represent? 39. When is its sound almost suppressed? 40, 41. Is the long, alphabetical sound of u a simple or compound sound? When should it be used? What elementary sounds does u represent? 42. Should the long sound of u be used after r, as in rule, &c.? Mention a word in which u has the sound of i. 43 When is y a consonant? How is it sounded when a vowel? 44. What is said of w?

LESSON IV.

DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS.

45. A DIPHTHONG (see ¶75) is two vowel letters joined in one syllable; as, ou in south. The word is derived from the Greek words dis (double) and phthongë (a voice). A diphthong is called proper when the vowels blend and form one sound, as au in caught; improper, when one of the sounds only is sounded, as ea in beat, in which word we hear only the sound of long e.

46. Æ, an improper diphthong, is borrowed from the Latin, in which language it has the sound of long e, as in Cæsar. Ai has the sound of long a, as in pail; of short a, as in plaid, raillery; of short e in said, again, against; of short i (or, as some say, obscure i) in curtain, fountain, captain, &c.; and of long i in aisle.

47. Au has the sound of broad a in cause; of the Italian a (as in father) in the following words: aunt, craunch, daunt, draught, flaunt, gaunt, gauntlet, haunch, haunt, laugh, jaunt, jaundice, laundry, saunter, staunch, &c. In gauge, au has the sound of long a (as in page); in hautboy (pronounced ho-boy), of long o.

48. Aw has always the sound of broad a, as in crawl. Ay has the sound of alphabetical a long, as in day; except in quay, pro

*It was proposed by Sheridan, and urged by Webster, that the terms proper and improper diphthongs should be discarded, and diphthong and digraph substituted; and that an improper triphthong should be called a trigraph.