independently of any vowel as it is possible to do. We must try to give a sound to such single consonants as p', t', &c. In attempting this, we shall succeed in making an imperfect sound.

Now, if the mute consonant so taken and uttered be one of the following, p, f, t, th (as in thin), k, s, or sh, the sound will be that of a whisper. The sound of p', t' (such as it is), is that of a man speaking under the natural pitch of his voice.

But if the mute consonant so taken and uttered be b, v, d, th (as in thine), g, z, or zh, the sound will be that of a man speaking at the natural pitch of his voice.

Those that are sounded like p' and ƒ', &c., are called the sharp or surd mutes.

Those that are sounded like b' and v', &c., are called the flat or sonant mutes.

f
th'

sh

§ 30. Rule. When two mutes of different degrees of sharpness or flatness come together in the same syllable, they form a sound that is incapable of being pronounced.

This rule may be verified by practising a few combinations according to the following table. The sharp mutes are arranged on the left, the flat ones on the right side of the line.

Now, taking whatever letter we may from the one side of the line, and joining it immediately, in the same syllable, with any letter whatever from the other side of the line, we find the combination unpronounceable.

Of course, combinations of this sort can be written, and they can be spelt; they cannot, however, be pronounced, each sound remaining unchanged.

In order to become pronounced, a change must occur; one of the sounds must change its character, and so accommodate itself to the other. This change takes place in one of two ways; either the first of the two sounds takes the degree of sharpness or flatness of the second, or else the second takes the degree of sharpness or flatness of the first. Thus, abt becomes pronounceable either by b becoming p, or by t passing into d; in other words, it changes either into apt or into abd. So on with the rest.

avt becomes either aft, or avd.

This change is necessary and universal. It holds good not for the English alone, but for all languages. The only difference is that different languages change different letters; that is, one language accommodates the first letter to the second, and so turns agt into akt; whilst another

accommodates the second letter to the first, changing agt into agd.

§ 31. There is no fact that requires to be more familiarly known than this; since there are, at least, three formations in the English language where its influence is most important. These are the Possessive forms in -s, the Plurals in -s, the Preterites in -d and -t.

The s in the word stags is sharp; the g in the word stags is flat. Notwithstanding this, the combination ags exists. It exists, however, in the spelling only. In speaking, the s is sounded as z, and the word stags is pronounced stage. Again, in words like tossed, plucked, looked, the e is omitted in pronunciation. Hence the words become tossd, pluckd, lookd; that is, the flat d comes in contact with the sharp k and s. Now, this combination exists in the spelling only; since the preterites of pluck, look, and toss, are, in speech, pronounced pluckt, lookt, tosst.

§ 32. For the sake of fixing the attention of the reader on the point, I will indicate in this place the reason for the difference between the spelling and the pronunciation, which has just been alluded to. This is as follows:

For the possessive case singular, for the nominative plural, and for the preterite tense of verbs, the forms in Anglo-Saxon were fuller than they are in the present English. The possessive singular ended not in -s only, but in -es; and the nominative plural in -as. Similarly the preterite of the verbs ended either in -od, or -eed, not in -d only. E. g. wordes of a word (word's), flodes=of a flood (flood's), landes of a land (land's), thinges of a thing (thing's), endas ends, and so on throughout the language. In this case the vowel separated the two consonants, and kept them from coming together. As long as this vowel kept its place, the consonants remained unchanged, their different degrees of sharpness and flatness being a matter of indifference. When, however, the

endas=ends,

vowel was dropped, the consonants came in contact. This reduced a change on one side or the other to a matter of necessity.

§ 33. Next to knowing that two mutes of different degrees of sharpness or flatness cannot come together in the same syllable, it is important to know that two identical letters cannot come together in the same syllable.

In illustration of this, we may take a word ending in p, t, or s, such as tap, bat or mis. To add a second p, a second t, or a second s, is impracticable. At the first glance this statement seems untrue. Nothing, apparently, is commoner than words like tapp, batt, miss. However, like the combinations indicated above, these are, in reality, combinations in spelling only; they have no existence in pronunciation. We have only to attempt to pronounce bat't, sap'p, &c., to prove this.

§ 34. Hitherto we have been concerned with the elementary sounds of the English language, and with certain peculiarities of certain combinations. In considering these matters, it may have been observed by the reader that the pronunciation and the spelling do not always coincide. Such is the case with (amongst others) the word stags, which is pronounced as if the last letter was z (stagz). This fact of the difference between the pronunciation and spelling must be borne in mind; since many words that are sounded alike are spelt differently, and many words that are sounded differently are spelt alike. This leads us to the consideration of the letters and the alphabet. It is necessary to bear in mind that a letter is not a sound itself, but only the sign of a sound.

As exhibited in § 27, the number of the simple elementary sounds in English is thirty-four. Of these, however, some may be considered, not as original and separate sounds, but as mere varieties of some other; e. g.

The three sounds of a, as in father, fate, and fat, may be considered as varieties of one and the same sound.

The sounds of i in pit, and of ee in feet, may be considered as varieties of one and the same sound.

The sound of u in bull, and oo in cool, may be considered as varieties of one and the same sound.

The sounds of the aw in bawl, and of the o in note and not, may be considered as varieties of one and the same sound.

These views would reduce the number of elementary sounds in English from thirty-four to twenty-eight.

To express these twenty-eight sounds in writing, there are, in English, the following twenty-six letters: a ei o u wy pbfvtd kg s z h l m n r j c q x. It is, therefore, easy to see that there are in English more sounds to be expressed in writing than there are letters to express them by.

From these twenty-six letters, however, we must subtract the following

1. The letter j, as in jest: since it is not one of the twenty-eight simple elementary sounds that this letter is the sign of. The subtraction of the letter j reduces the number of letters expressive of the simple sounds to twentyfive.

2. The letter c; since it expresses only what is as well expressed by either s or k. The words city and can are pronounced sity and kan respectively. The subtraction of the letter c reduces the number of letters expressive of the simple sounds to twenty-four.

3, 4. The letters q, and x; since q is only kw, and x is only ks. The words queen and box are pronounced kween, and boks, respectively. The subtraction of the letters q and x reduces the number of letters to twenty-two.

х

We have now seen that for twenty-eight simple elementary sounds there are only twenty-two simple elementary