that it can only grow from its own action, and by its own action and free will it will certainly and necessarily grow. Every man, therefore, must educate himself. His book and teacher are but helps; the work is his.-Daniel Webster.

SYNTHESIS.

1. Compose a sentence in which there shall be surd elements and sonant elements, and in which there shall be at least one pair of cognate elements.

2. Compose a sentence in which there shall be explosive elements and continuous elements.

3. Compose a sentence in which there shall be at least one labial, one dental, one guttural, one nasal, one cerebral.

4. Compose a sentence in which there shall be at least one monosyllable, one dissyllable, one trisyllable, one polysyllable. 5. Compose a sentence in which there is at least one word with the radical, one with the terminational, and one with the distinctive accent.

6. Compose a sentence, or several sentences, in which there shall be a word having the accent on the last syllable; and a word having the accent on the penult; and a word having the accent on the antepenult; and a word having the accent on the syllable before the antepenult; and a word having a secondary accent.

7. Compose a sentence, or several sentences, in which there shall be the long sound of a and the short sound; the long sound of e and the short sound; the long sound of i and the short sound; the long sound of o and the short sound; the long sound of u and the short sound.

In this Second Part have been exhibited the Phonetic Elements of the English language, both separately and in their combinations in Words and Syllables. Words and Syllables have been exhibited under the laws of Accent, and Quantity, and Euphony. The Natural Significance of Articulate Sounds has also been distinctly set forth.

We are now, therefore, prepared to examine the Written or Orthographical Forms in which these Phonetic Elements are expressed to the eye in a literal Notation.

PART III.

ORTHOGRAPHICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER I.

THE RELATIONS OF ORTHOGRAPHY TO ORTHOEPY.

DEFINITIONS.

$177. ORTHOGRAPHY is a term derived from the Greek word ¿poóc, right, and ypaph, writing. It means the correct writ ing or spelling of words by means of letters.

ORTHOGRAPHICAL FORMS are those combinations of letters in the written language which represent to the eye the sounds which are expressed by the voice in the spoken language.

§ 178. In the order of nature and time, the spoken language must exist before the written language. In the same order, Orthoepy takes precedence of Orthography. In the early stages of a language, the end aimed at by orthography is to represent to the eye, in visible marks, what orthoepy has already represented to the ear in audible signs. In the later stages of a language, the orthography governs the orthoepy, bringing out the sounds of the letters which were once only silent or modified. The letters of the alphabet, in their original and legitimate use, are the elements of the written language, employed to express the elements of the spoken language.

A PERFECT

SYSTEM OF LITERAL NOTATION.

§ 179. In a perfect system of notation by letters, the chief conditions are as follows:

1. Every phonetic element should have its own sign or letter. 2. A sign or letter appropriated to one phonetic element should never be employed to represent another.

3. Phonetic elements resembling each other should be represented by signs or letters resembling each other. Thus the

sounds represented by the letters b and p resemble each other, and the letters themselves resemble each other.

4. Phonetic elements differing from each other should be represented by letters differing from each other. Thus the sounds. represented by i and o differ widely from each other, and the letters also differ widely in form.

The first of these conditions will prevent a deficient notation; the second, a confused one; and the four taken together will make the body of sounds and their representatives collectively commensurate with each other.

THE OBJECT OF Α LITERAL NOTATION.

§ 180. The purpose of a literal notation is to convey to the mind, by the agency of the eye, that which living speech communicates by means of the ear; it is, as it has often been expressed, to render sounds visible. As there is not any natural connection between forms and sounds, this combination must be originally the work of arbitrary assignment, and, previously to any compact for this purpose, any character may stand for any sound. Yet, even in arbitrary appointment, if we would avoid confusion, we must submit to certain rules; and, to render a system of literal notation completely perfect, the following circumstances are required: 1. That every articulate sound should have its own fixed and indisputable representative. 2. That a character appropriated to one sound should never be employed to represent another."-NARE's Orthoepy, Preface. Probably no Alphabetic System whatever answers all the conditions mentioned in the last section. The Sanscrit is often mentioned as approximating the nearest to a perfect notation of the sound system of the language. The alphabetic characters usually employed in writing Sanscrit are called Devanagari, signifying the Alphabet of "the city of the gods," from nagara, a city, and Deva (Deus), a god. The number of the letters is about fifty. The permutations to which Sanscrit is subjected in conformity with the laws of Euphony are very numerous. These extend even to Syntax, in changing the final and even the initial letters, in order that they may be adapted to the sounds. Compared with the Alphabetical Sounds of other languages, taking articulation for articulation and value for value, there are ten sounds less in Russian than in Sanscrit, twelve less in Greek, fifteen less in German, and eighteen less in Latin.

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.