ers are better known and more easily exhibited than their written names, former are often substituted for the latter, and are read as the words for ch they are assumed. Hence the orthography of these words has hitherto n left too much to mere fancy or caprice; no certain method of writing m has been generally inculcated; so that many who think themselves 1 educated, would be puzzled to name on paper these simple elements of earning.

Bs. 5. In many, if not in all languages, the five vowels, A, E, I, O, U,
ne themselves; but they name themselves differently to the ear, accord-
to the different ways of uttering them in different languages. And as
name of a consonant necessarily requires one or more vowels, that also
7 be affected in the same manner. But, in every language, there should
known way both of writing and of speaking every name in the series;
that, if there is nothing to hinder, should be made conformable to the
ius of the language. For the names of the letters, in any language, are,
eality, words of that language, and not likely to be very suitable for the
le purpose in any other.

BS. 6. The letters, once learned, may be used unnamed; and so are they
d, always, except in oral spelling, or when some of their own number are
De particularized. The chief use of the written names is, to preserve and
ch those which are spoken; to record current practice, in the hope of
reby preventing or lessening diversity: for, as Walker observes, "The
ves of the letters ought to have no diversity." -Principles, No. 483.
BS. 7. The occasions, however, for naming the letters are so frequent,
lists of their names are given in so many books, that one cannot but
vel at the absence of these words from the columns of our dictionaries,
at the errors found elsewhere concerning them. So discrepant and er-
eous are the modes of writing them adopted by authors of spelling-books,
even by our best authorities-Walker, Webster, Murray, Churchill, W.
en, and others that any common school-boy would guess their forms
te as well. Even John Walker, in his "Principles of English Pronun-
ion," spells five or six of them wrong; commences all of them with small
e, as reckoning them common nouns only; fixes a gratuitous and silly
iversity" in five of them with his own hand; and contradicts himself by
ferring zed to izzard at first, and izzard to zed at last!

OBS. 8. In every nation that is not totally illiterate, custom must have
ablished for the letters a certain set of names, which are the only true ones,
which are of course to be preferred to such as are local, or obsolete, or
authorized. Sundry examples of these objectionable sorts of names may
eed be cited from our school literature; for, in the lapse of ages, usage
changed in a few instances, and, in their rash ignorance, some authors
A-Bee-Cee books have taught, in lieu of the right names, both archaisms
innovations at the same time; while many others, thinking the naming
letters a matter not worth their attention, have omitted it altogether. I
e recorded above the true English names of all the letters, as they are
used, and as they have been most fitly, and perhaps most generally,
d thus far in the nineteenth century, and, if there could be in human
ks any thing unchangeable, I should wish, (with due deference to all
emers and fault-finders,) that these names might remain the same and
good use forever.

II. CLASSES OF THE LETTERS.

the o

The letters are divided into two general classes, vowels d consonants.

A vowel is a letter which forms a perfect sound when tered alone; as, a, e, o.

be

the brea

A consonant is a letter which cannot be perfectly utred till joined to a vowel; as, b, c, d.

he vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. the other letters are consonants.

Vor y is called a consonant when it precedes a vowel d in the same syllable; as in wine, twine, whine; ye, youth: in all other cases, these letters are vowels; as ewly, dewy, eye-brow; Yssel, Ystadt, yttria.

CLASSES OF CONSONANTS.

ne consonants are divided into semivowels and mutes. semivowel is a consonant which can be imperfectly sounded out a vowel, so that at the end of a syllable its sound be protracted; as, l, n, z, in al, an, az.

mute is a consonant which cannot be sounded at all witha vowel, and which at the end of a syllable suddenly stops breath; as, k, p, t, in ak, ap, at.

ne semivowels are f, h, j, l, m, n, r, s, v, w, x, y, z, and c soft: but wor y at the end of a syllable, is a vowel; the sound of c, f, g, h, j, s, or x, can be protracted only as spirate, or strong breath.

Dur of the semivowels, -l, m, n, and r, -are termed liquids, ccount of the fluency of their sounds; and four others,y, and z, are likewise more vocal than the aspirates. ne mutes are eight; b, d, k, p, q, t, and cand g hard: three nese,-k, q, and c hard, -sound exactly alike: b, d, and g stop the voice less suddenly than the rest.

OBSERVATIONS.

. 1.-The foregoing division of the letters is of very great antiquity, in respect to its principal features, sanctioned by almost universal rity. Aristotle, three hundred and thirty years before Christ, divided reek letters into vowels, semivowels, and mutes, and declared that no ble could be formed without a vowel. Some modern writers, however, ell satisfied with this ancient distribution of the elements of learning, contradicted the Stagirite, and divided both sounds and letters into classes, with various new names. But, so far as I can see, they have by effected no important improvement; and, since mere innovation is itself desirable in such cases, the old scheme is here still preferred. 3. 2.-Dr. Rush, author of "the Philosophy of the Human Voice," rethe letters into " tonics, subtonics, and otonics," and avers that " ts alone may form syllables." S. Kirkham too, though his Grammar es the old doctrine as given by Murray, prefers in his Elocution the actions of Rush; disparages "the hoary division of the letters of our bet into vowels and consonants;" affirms that, "A consonant is not only le of being perfectly sounded without the help of a vowel, but, moreof forming, like a vowel, a separate syllable;" (p. 32;) commends 's new "division and classification of the elementary characters of our Lage, in accordance with their use in intonation; puts an obsolete k each of the Doctor's new names, giving to novelties the garb of an; tells of "the Tonicks, the Subtonicks, and the Atonicks;" and, under 2. "The Subtonicks, fourteen: B-oat, d-are, g-ilt, v-ice, z-one, y-e, го-о, at, a-z-ure, so-ng, l-ate, m-ate, n-ot, r-oe.

3. "The Atonicks, nine: U-p, a-t, lar-k, i-f, thi-s, h-e, wh-at, th-in, blu-sh." Kirkham's Elocution, pp. 32 and 33.

OBS. 3. As a mode of classing the letters of the alphabet, (which character Claimed for it,) this arrangement has no fitness whatever. As a classifican of the sounds of the language, it is less objectionable, but still very alty. Its vowel powers are too few, and yet the list contains two which - questionable: for ou in out is a proper diphthong; and, according to alker, e in err and e in end are sounded alike. The term "i-de," which is en for a "word," is not properly such; and the term "g-ilt" is an ill ample of the hard g, because g before i is usually soft, like j. How the wer of wh differs from the sounds of hand w united, I see not, though ndry modern authors affirm that it is simple and elementary. The assern, that "consonants alone may form syllables," is a fiat absurdity; it plies that consonants are not consonants, but vowels!

BS. 4.-In Comstock's Elocution, we have the following statement: "The ments, as well as the letters by which they are represented, are usually vided into two classes, Vowels and Consonants. A more philosophical vision, however, is into three classes, Vowels, Subvowels, and Aspirates. Le vowels are pure vocal sounds; their number is fifteen: they are heard in =, arm, all, an, eve, end, ile, in, old, lose, on, tube, up, full, our. The subals have a vocality, but inferior to that of the vowels; their number is arteen: they are heard in bow, day, gay, light, mind, no, song, roll, then, e, wo, yoke, zone, azure. The aspirates are made with the whispering eath, and, consequently, have no vocality; they are nine in number; and heard in fame, hut, kite, pit, sin, shade, tin, thin, what."-Pp. 19 and 20. Овѕ. 5. This again is a classification of sounds, and not of the letters. To 1 it "a more philosophical division" of the letters, is a ridiculous absurdity. r, of the twenty-six letters, it throws out four, -c, j, q, and x,-because eir sounds may be otherwise expressed; while ten repetitions of the same ter with a different sound, and six combinations of different letters, makg sixteen unalphabetical items, are allowed to swell the number of "eleents" to thirty-eight: ou and wh being improperly reckoned among them. ne definitions, too, are each of them inconsistent with the fact that all these ements may be either whispered or spoken aloud, at pleasure. OBS. 6. The elementary sounds of the language being more numerous an the letters of the alphabet, and not very philosophically distributed nong them, no accurate classification of either species can be exactly adapted the other; and to divide the powers of the letters into one set of classes, d then divide the letters themselves, with reference to their powers, into other set, as a few late writers have done, seems to be neither free from jection, nor very necessary to the purposes of instruction. Such is the neme in Covell's "Digest," and also in Greene's "Elements of English -ammar;" where the sounds used in English, being reckoned forty by the ter author, and forty-one by the former, are divided into "Vocals, Subcals, and Aspirates," with an additional class of "Cognates," or "CorrelEves;" and then the letters are classed as "vowels and consonants;" with e suggestion that consonants are either "subvocals" or "aspirates."

OBS. 7. By way of definition, Covell says, "Vocals consist of pure voice ly. Subvocals consist of voice and breath united. Aspirates consist of pure eath only. A vowel is a letter used to represent a vocal. A consonant is a ter used to represent a subvocal or aspirate."-Pp. 11 and 16. Greene ys, "The vocals consist of pure tone only. The subvocals consist of tone mited with breath. The aspirates consist of pure breath only. Those letters hich represent vocals are called vowels. Those letters which represent subcals and aspirates are called consonants."-Pp. 2 and 5. Now, since all the ements of words, except silent letters, may be whispered, and whispering nsists in the articulation "of pure breath only," may not a little whispering Low the unfitness of all these definitions?

- 8.-Greene says, "By what rule such sounds as f, s, or e soft, which no vocality whatever, can be called semivowels, it is impossible to see." nents of E. Gram., p. 3. This remark must have originated in some notion of what vocality is. Again, it is forgotten that not "sounds," ters, are by the definition made semivowels. If there is any error in ing a hiss as half a voice, or in calling "f, s, or c soft" a semivowel, tle himself is answerable for it, as may be seen in the twentieth chaphis Poetics. But S. S. Greene contradicts the old philosopher not y denying all vocality to some of his semivowels, but also by finding ture of "subvocals" in both of his examples of a mute; namely in g nd d, or the corresponding Greek letters. See "Table of Elementary s," in Greene's Elements, edition of 1853; wherein our sibilant & is eringly stereotyped as being an element of two or three different sorts, having o for its "correlative."

9.-By an improper recognition of sounds for letters, and of combifor simples, some authors absurdly reckon the consonants alone to be numerous than are all the alphabetic characters together. Thus the Dr. Mandeville: "A consonant is a letter which, as the name implies, -be sounded without the aid of a vowel. The consonants are b, c, d, , i, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z; to which must be added th, zh, wh, ng: being plainly elementary sounds, and as such belonging to habet, though not formally included in it."--Course of Reading, p. 13. 10. The distinction between vowels and consonants is generally s and easy enough; and yet, in reference to certain sounds or letters, not pure, but combined, it is often very difficult and arbitrary. Some our grammarians have long taught that wand y, as well as a, e, i, o, always vowels. The most common doctrine is, that w and y are somevowels and sometimes consonants, and that a, e, i, o, and u, are always . But, the sound of initial w being thought to be sometimes heard in wise in o, and the sound of initial y sometimes in e, or i, or u, some have recognized one; some, two; some, three; and a few, all four, se letters, as well as w and y, as being sometimes consonants; thus ga vast diversity of teaching concerning the classification of the sixsity which also extends itself equally into each of the new schemes nents remarked upon above.

11.-Dr. Lowth, and his improver, Churchill, also Sheridan, and his Jones, represent a, e, i, o, u, w, and y as being invariably vowels, and Ing no sounds peculiar to consonants. This opinion makes easy and the division of the letters, but it greatly swells the number of diph, shows not why the initial w or y follows a vowel without hiatus, and ts not for the use of a, in preference to an, before nouns beginning ory: as, a wall, a yard; not an wall, an yard.

a

12.-Dr. Webster, in his great American Dictionary, says, “Y is mes used as a consonant."-Introd., p. lxxviii. Concerning a, e, i, o, u, he appears to agree with Lowth, and the others above named. London grammarian of the last century, treated w as being always nant, and y as being sometimes such. Brightland, Johnson, Murray, , Ward Wells, Worcester, and others, -a majority of those who treat etters, maintain the division which I have adopted above. 13.-Dr. Mandeville says, " I, y, and w, are sometimes consonants." se of Reading, p. 9. Dr. Pinneo, uttering a strange solecism, and amof construction, says, "All the letters of the alphabet, except the and sometimes i, u, w, and y, are consonants."-Analytical consonants. Gram., pe Edition of 1853, p. 7. L. T. Covell says, "All, except a, may be ants." Digest of E. Gram., p. 16.

14. Sheridan and Jones divide the consonants into mutes and semithen subdivide the mutes into "pure and impure," and the semiinto " vocal and aspirated." In lieu of this, some, among whom are and Bicknell, divide the consonants into three sorts, "half vowels, es, and mutes." Many divide them into labials, dentals, linguals, pala d' nasals; classes which refer to the lips, teeth, tongue, palate, and

■ other sharp: as, o and p; a andi; g nara and k; J and on; vandj; th and th sharp; zand sharp 8; zh and sh. These, with reference to each Ler, are sometimes termed correlatives or cognates.

III. POWERS OF THE LETTERS.

The powers of the letters are properly those elementy sounds which their figures are used to represent; at letters formed into words, are capable of communiting thought independently of sound.

The vowel sounds which form the basis of the English nguage, and which ought therefore to be perfectly miliar to every one who speaks it, are those which are eard at the beginning of the words, ate, at, ah, all, eel,

isle, ill, old, on, ooze, use, us, and that of u in bull. In the formation of words or syllables, some of these urteen primary sounds may be joined together, as in , oil, out, owl; and all of them may be preceded or llowed by certain motions and positions of the lips d tongue, which will severally convert them into her terms in speech. Thus the same essential sounds ay be changed into a new series of words by an f; as, te, fat, far, fall, feel, fell, file, fill, fold, fond, fool, fuse, uss, full. Again, into as many more with a p; as, pate, at, par, pall, peel, pell, pile, pill, pole, pond, pool, pule, url, pull.

The simple consonant sounds in English are twentyto: they are marked by b, d, f, g hard, h, k, l, m, n, ng, r, s, sh, t, th sharp, th flat, v, w, y, z, and zh. But zh written only to show the sound of other letters; as of n pleasure, or z in azure.

All these sounds are heard distinctly in the following ords: buy, die, fie, guy, high, kie, lie, my, nigh, eying, ie, rye, sigh, shy, tie, thigh, thy, vie, we, ye, zebra, seizure. gain: most of them may be repeated in the same ord, if not in the same syllable; as in bibber, diddle, fty, giggle, high-hung, cackle, lily, mimic, ninny, singing, ippin, mirror, hissest, flesh-brush, tittle, thinketh, thither, vid, witwal, union, dizzies, vision.

The possible combinations and mutations of the enty-six letters of our alphabet, are many millions of illions. But those clusters which are unpronounce

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