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single effort of the organs of speech, or of a combination of two or more such sounds. (2) Every single sound thus uttered is called a syllable. (3) The term syllable means so much of a word as is taken together; that is, so many letters in written language, as are taken together to form one single sound, or voice-the name by which some have chosen to call human utterances to distinguish them from ordinary sounds.*

(4) A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable; a word of two syllables a dissyllable; a word of three syllables a trisyllable ; and a word of four or more syllables a polysyllable.

(5) The sounds employed in articulate language to form syllables are produced by the breath passing through the throat and mouth, and acted upon, in some cases, during its passage by the several organs of speech-especially the tongue, teeth and lips. [See Latham's Eng. Gram. p. 17.]

(6) These sounds are constituted of two kinds of elements, vocal, or vowel sounds, and consonantal modifications of sound. (7) The letters which represent these vocal sounds and consonantal modifications of sound, are called vowels and consonants.

§ 37. (1) VOWELS.-The vocal or vowel sounds are formed by the passage of the breath through the mouth kept in a particular position, without any interference of the tongue, lips, or teeth. (2) These sounds admit of being continued so long as we choose to

of the distinction between a sound and a letter. A letter is the sign or representative of a sound-often only of a part of a complete sound or utterance. Obvious as this distinction may seem, it has been sometimes overlooked in treating this part of grammar, and both confusion of thought and confusion of language, as might have been expected, have been the result.

*This employment of the term voice, is not sanctioned by the common usage of our language; though in Latin vox, from which voice is derived, is frequently employed to denote a sound emitted by the human

voice.

(2) What is the name given to a single sound? (3) Explain the meaning of the term syllable.

(4) What name is given to a word of one syllable? To a word of two syllables? &c. (5) How are the sounds employed in articulate language formed? (6) What two kinds of elements constitute these sounds? (7) What are the letters which represent these distinct elements of articulate sounds called?

§ 37. (1) Describe the manner in which vowel sounds are formed? (2) What is said of

keep the mouth in the same position, and pass the breath through it. (3) They can be uttered alone, being complete sounds, and hence may constitute a syllable or a word.

(4) The vowel sounds are represented in the written English language by the letters, a, e, i, o, u; which are hence called vowels. (5) The letter y also represents a vowel sound-the same sound as i or e-when found in the middle or end of a syllable. (6) W, also, in the middle or in the end of a syllable is generally considered a vowel. Sometimes it represents the sound of u, as in now, cow, vow, &c.

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[(7) In many cases it is, as the language is now pronounced, a mere quiescent or otiose (idle) letter in the written language, having no corresponding sound in the spoken language. This hap pens when it follows the vowel o; as, in low, blow, flow, follow, &c. Sometimes it indicates the particular sound which the preceding vowel represents. This happens when it follows a; as in law, bawl, raw, &c. And sometimes it combines with the vowel e; in which case it is sounded nearly like u. In our language it can never stand alone in a syllable. It must be supported by another vowel. In this it differs from y, as well as from all the other vowels.]

(8) W and y are commonly reckoned consonants when they begin a syllable. [(9) Semivowels-the name given to them, when they occupy this position, by some modern grammarians-is a much more appropriate appellation, if the older grammarians had not already applied it to another class of sounds, or rather-as we have ventured to consider and treat them-modifiers of sounds.

(10) The vowel sounds in the English language are much more numerous than the letters which are used to represent them. (11) The letter a represents three or four distinct sounds, as may be seen in the words late, man, far, ball. E represents the two distinct sounds found in the words, me and met; i the two found in the

our power of continuing these vowel sounds? (3) Can these be uttered alone? What follows as a consequence ?

(4) By what letters are the vowel sounds represented? (5) What is said of y? (6) What of wo?

[(7) What further is said of w ?]

(8) When are w and y reckoned consonants? [(9) What other name has been applied to them by some grammarians, and what is said of this other name?

(10) Have we a distinct letter to represent each distinct vowel sound in our language? (11) How many distinct sounds does the letter a represent? How many the letter e? &c

words pin and pine; o the three found in no, not, move, &c. (12) It is reckoned that there are from ten to twelve distinct simple vocal sounds used in the English language. (13) From these we must exclude the sound represented by i in pine, as being a compound, and not a simple sound. (14) Some others, which we have mentioned above, may be considered as distinguished only by a more or less protracted pronunciation.]

§ 38. (1) Two vowel sounds are sometimes pronounced in combination by a single impulse of the voice, or in one syllable. Such combinations are called diphthongs, that is, double sounds. (2) Examples are found in the words voice and ounce, in which two sounds represented by different letters are united in the same syllable. [(3) We have also an example in pine. Here two sounds-the sound of ɑ in man and of i in pin, or, as some think, of the semivowel y in yet-are distinguishable, though the combined sound is represented by the single character i.

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(4) On the other hand, two vowel characters, or letters, are often found united in the same syllable in the written language. when the syllable, in our modern pronunciation, contains but one simple vowel sound. We have examples in the words head, field, great, lead, &c. (5) Those combinations which represent a double sound in the spoken language are commonly called by grammarians proper diphthongs, and those which do not represent a double sound are called improper diphthongs-by some, more properly, digraphs. (6) This distinction, it will be noticed, has reference only to the written language. (7) There are no improper diphthongs in the spoken language.* (8) Sometimes in written language we find

As the term diphthong, in its proper sense, can apply only to spoken language, the expressions proper and improper diphthongs, meaning diph(12) How many distinct simple vowel sounds are reckoned in English? (13) What sound represented by a single letter must be excluded from the number of the simple vowel sounds? (14) By what alone do some of the vowel sounds above enumerated seem to be distinguished from each other?]

§ 38. (1) What is said of the combination of vowel sounds, and what are such combinations of simple sounds called? What does the term diphthong mean? (2) Furnish exainples. [(3) What is said of ¿ in such words as pine?

(4) Do two vowel characters in the same syllable always represent a double sound in spoken language? Give examples. (5) What is a proper diphthong? What an improper diphthong? (6) What is said of this distinction? (7) Are there any improper diphthongs in spoken language? (8) Are three vowel characters ever united in the same syllable in thự

three vowel characters combined in one syllable; as in the words beauty, beau, lieutenant, &c. These have been called triphthongs (9), perhaps improperly, as it is more than doubtful whether, in our spoken language, such a thing as the combination of three sounds in one syllable ever occurs. (10) The eau, for example, in beau, represents but a single vocal sound in the pronunciation of the word; and eau in beauty, and ieu in lieutenant, represent certainly nothing more complex than a diphthongal sound.]

§ 39. CONSONANTS.-(1) The consonants are sounds, or, more properly, modifications of sounds, which cannot be pronounced alone, but only in connection with a vowel.* (2) And hence the name

thongs which are a combination or coalescence of two vowel sounds, and diphthongs which are not a combination of two vowel sounds (that is, which are not diphthongs at all), involve an absurdity. The grammarians have been led into this absurdity by the confusion of vowel sounds with the characters which represent them, both of which they have called by the same name-vowels. We much need a term to express a vowel character or letter distinct from the term used properly to express a vowel sound, and a term to express a written word distinctly from a spoken word. Improper diphthongs are more properly called digraphs—that is, sounds represented by two letters in the written language.

*The vowel in a syllable may be considered as the basis of the sound, and the so called consonantal sounds as modifications applied to this sound (vox) as it passes through the mouth. Every entire syllable is a single sound or utterance, either simply vocal or modified. The consonantal modifications effected by the tongue, lips, teeth, &c., produce that boundless copiousness and variety of articulations which distinguish artificial language. With the vowels alone we could form only a dozen or so, distinct syllables, and even these ill adapted for the purpose of combination to form words. But, by the combination of vowel sounds with consonantal modifications, we can form a great variety of syllables; and by the further combination of two or more of these syllables in words, we obtain the countless number of signs which are employed in the various dialects spoken by the races of mankind.

Since writing the preceding part of this note, we have found a remark in an article on Comparative Philology in the North British Review for November, 1851, which we introduce here as confirmatory of our views.

written language, and if so, what are such combinations called? (9) Are there any triph. thongs, that is, combinations of three vowel sounds, in the spoken language? (10) What is said of such combinations of vowel letters as eau in beau and in beauty, and ieu in lieutenant?]

§ 39. (1) What is said of consonants? (2) What does the term consonant mean?

consonant-sounding-with. (3) Alone, they can, of course, never form a word or syllable. All the remaining letters of the alphabet, after we have subtracted the vowel characters above enumerated, are called consonants. (4) These have been divided by the grammarians into two classes, mutes and semivowels.

MUTES AND SEMIVOWELS.*-(5) The distinction drawn between these is, that the mutes cannot be sounded at all without the aid of a vowel, whereas the semivowels have a sort of imperfect sound without the aid of a vowel.

(6) The consonantal sounds, classed under the name of mutes, are represented in our alphabet by the letters b, c hard, d, g hard, k, p, q, and t. [(7) To these may be added the two distinct sounds represented by th in the words thing and though, which are simple sounds, or simple modifications of vocal sounds, though bothawkwardly and improperly-represented in our present written language by the two characters t and h. In the Anglo-Saxon alphabet these sounds had each an appropriate representative. (8) From the mutes above enumerated we may, as regards sounds, deduct two, since the letters c hard, k, and 9, represent only a single sound, and c soft has the same sound as s.]

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(9) The semivowels are represented by the letters f, l, m, n, r, s, v, and c and g soft. (10) We have omitted x and z in enumerating the mutes and semivowels, because each of them is the representative of a combination of two consonantal sounds, x of k combined

'Alphabets are the result of analysis; syllables are really the units of sound. The Chinese and, we believe, the Mandschur, have really only syllabaries, the former significant, and the latter phonetic as well."

*This classification is of little practical use in our language, and is founded on, what seems to us, a rather doubtful distinction. Still, as it is old, and commonly adopted, it deserves some passing notice.

(3) Can a syllable be formed of consonants alone? (4) Tell the classes into which most grammarians have divided the consonants?

(5) State the distinction between mutes and semivowels.

(6) Enumerate the mute consonants. [(7) What is said of the sounds represented by th? (8) What is said of the sounds of c, k, and q?]

(9) Enumerate the semivowels. (10) What reason is assigned for omitting the sounds represented by ∞ and ≈? (11) What other letter has been excluded from the enumeration ? [(12) What is said of the propriety of excluding h? (13) What is said of the liquids?

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