§ 180. The purpose of a lit mind, by the agency of the eye, * cates by means of the ear; it irender sounds visible. As ther tween forms and sounds, this e work of arbitrary assignment, ai purpose, any character may st bitrary appointment, if we wo to certain rules; and, to ren pletely perfect, the following every articulate sound should i resentative. 2. That a char never be employed to represe Probably no Alphabetic ditions mentioned in the last. tioned as approximating the sound system of the language ally employed in writing Sause nifying the Alphabet of "the e a city, and Deva (Deus), a god about fifty. The permutations conformity with the laws of E extend even to Syntax, in chang. letters, in order that they may b pared with the Alphabetical Sour articulation for articulation and sounds less in Russian than in fifteen less in German, and eight

ป

hthong is a diphthong in which both of the
as oi in voice.

Diphthong, or Digraph, is a diphthong in
vowels is sounded, as ea in beat.
Trigraph, is three vowel letters joined in
in beau, uoy in buoy.

TIONS UNDER CHAPTER I.

ng and derivation of the term orthography? raphical forms?

der of nature and time, comes first, orthoepy or orthog

aimed at by orthography in the early stages of a lan

ges of a language, what is the influence of orthography?
chief conditions of a perfect system of literal notation?
nd aimed at by a literal notation?

of the alphabetic system of the Sanscrit language?
number of letters in the English alphabet?

number of sounds in the table of elementary and compound

English alphabet meet the conditions of a perfect system of
entioned in section 179?

⚫ letters, and what is the derivation of the term?
it classes are letters divided?

Iames of letters, and the elementary sounds which they repre

the difference between the names of the letters and the

classify the vowel letters.

classify the consonant letters.

a diphthong? a proper diphthong? an improper diphthong? a

ters are the sibilants? which the nasals? which the lin-
cerebrals?

Call

taking

are fe

Greek

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, fv, t d, k g, s z; 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 z are also called Sibilants, from the hissing noise attending their production. Mand 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 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 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 l 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