The long sound of a in late, when shortened, coincides nearly with that of e in let.

The long e when shortened, coincides with the short i in pit, as in feet, fit. This short sound of i is that of y unaccented, at the end of words, as in glory.

The short sound of broad a in hall, is that of short o in holly, and of a in what.

The short sound of oo in pool, is that of u in pull, and oo in wool.

The short sound of o in not, is somewhat lengthened before r, s, th and ng, as in nor, cross, broth, belong.

The articulations represented by the consonants are best understood by placing a vowel before them in pronunciation; thus, eb, ed, ef, eg, ek, el, em, en, ep, er, es, et, ev, ez.

Those articulations which wholly interrupt the voice, are called close, or mute, as eb, ed, eg, ek, ep, et. Those which do not entirely interrupt the voice, are called semivowels, as ef, el, em, en, er, es, ev, ez, eth.

Those articulations which are formed by the lips, are called labials, as eb, ef, em, ep, ev.

Those which are formed by the tip of the tongue and the teeth, are called dentals, as ed, et, eth,

Those which are formed by the tongue and palate, are called palatals, as eg, ek, eng.

The letters s and z, are called also sibilants or hissing letters.

The sounds of ch in church, sh in shine, and th in think and thou, are simple sounds for which the language has no single characters.

B has one sound only, as in bite; and after m is mute, as in dumb.

C has the sound of k before a, o, and u, as in cat, cot, cup; and of s before e, i, and y, as in cell, cit, cycle. It may be considered as mute before k, as in sick, thick.

D has one sound only, as in day, bid.

F has one sound only, as in life, fever, except in of, in which it has the sound of v.

G before a, o and u, is a close palatal articulation, as in gave, go, gun; but before e, i, and y, it is sometimes a close articulation, and sometimes it has a compound sound, like j, as in gem, gin, gyves.

H is a mark of breathing or aspiration.

I in certain words has the use of y consonant, as in million, pronounced mill-yun.

represents a compound sound, that may be expressed by dzh, as in joy.

K has one sound only as in king.

L has one sound only as in lame, mill. It is sometimes silent before k as in walk, before m as in calm, and before ƒ as in calf.

M has one sound only as in man, flamc.

N has one sound only as in not, sun. It is silent after m as in hymn, solemn.

P has one sound only as in pit, lap.

Qhas precisely the power of k, but it is always followed by u, as in question.

S has its proper sound, as in send, less, or the sound of z as in rise.

T has its proper sound, as in turn, at the beginning of words and end of syllables.

V has one sound only as in voice, live, and is never silent. X represents ks, as in wax; but is someumes pronounced as gz as in exact. At the beginning of words it is pronounced like z as in Xenophon.

Z has its proper sound, which is that of the vocals, or a hissing with sound, as in maze.

C when followed by e or i before another vowel unites with e or i to form the sound of sh. Thus, cetaceous, gracious, appreciate, social, conscience, are pronounced cetashus, grashus, appreshate, soshal, conshense.

In like manner t before i, followed by another vowel, unites with i and forms the sound of sh, as in nation, partial, patience, pronounced nashon, parshul, pashense. A few exceptions are, when s or x precedes t, as in bastion, christian, mixtion, pronounced baschun, chrischen, mixchan.

S followed by i preceding a vowel, unites with the vowel in forming the sound of sh as in mission, pronounced mishon; or of zh as in osier, pronounced ozher.

U in certain words has the sound of yu as in use, union, pronounced yuse, yurion.

Ch have the sound nearly of tsh as in church, or the sound of k as in character, or of sh as in machine.

Gh are mute in every English word, both in the middle and at the end of words, except in the following, cough, chough, clough, enough, hough, laugh, rough, slough, tough, trough. These words close with the sound of f, so that gh may be said not to have their proper sound in any English word.

Ph have the sound of ƒ as in philosophy, except in Stephen, pronounced Steven.

The combination ng, has two sounds, an open or less close sound, as in sing, singer; and a close sound, as in finger, conger.

Sh have one sound only as in shall.

Th have two sounds; aspirate, as in think, both; and vocal, as in thou, this.

Sc have the sound of sk, before a, o, u, and r, as in scale, scoff, sculpture, scroll; and the sound of s only before e, Y, and y, as in scene, scepter, science, Scythian.

P before s is mute as in psalm.

G and K before n are silent, as in gnaw,
H after r has no sound, as in rhetoric..

know.

W before r is silent as in wring, wrong. In most words beginning with wh, the h precedes wo in utterance. Thus when is pronounced hwen.

Two vowels in a syllable, when one only is pronounced, are called a digraph.

The pronunciation of the diphthongs oi and oy, is the same and uniform; as in join, joy.

The pronunciation of the diphthongs ou and ow, is the same and uniform; as in sound, now. But in the termination ous, ou is not a diphthong, and the pronunciation is us ; 'as in pious, glorious.

The digraphs ai and ay, in words of one syllable, and in accented syllables, have the sound of a long. In the unaccented syllables of a few words, the sound of a is nearly or quite lost; as in certain, curtain. The digraphs au, aw, have the sound of broad a in fall; ew, that of u long, as in new ; and ey in unaccented syllables, hat of y short, as in valley. When one vowel of a digraph is pointed or marked, the other has no sound; as in court, road, slow.

The digraphs ea, ce, ei, ie, when not pointed, have, in this work, the sound of e long, as in near, meet, seize, grieve. The vowels in Section 143 are exceptions.

The digraph oa unless pointed has the sound of o long.

In a few instances, words of disputable pronunciation are distinguished by this mark t.

Vowels, in words of one syllable, followed by a single consonant and e final, are long, as in fate, mete, mite, note, mute, unless pointed, as in dove, give. Hence it is deemed unnecessary to place a figure over such vowels.

The vowels of monosyllables ending with one or more consonants, have their second or short sound, unless pointed, as in ban, mat, camp, blank. Hence it is deemed unnecessary to place a figure over them, in the following tables.

KEY.

Points and marks to designate sounds.
Long Vowels.

Ā, ā—Ē, ē——Ï, î—Ō, ō—Ū, ū—Ỹ, y.
Ä, ä, as in bär, fäther. [Italian a.]
A, a, as in fall. [broad a, aw or au.]
A, a, as in was, watch. [short sound of au.]
E, e, as in prey, vein. [a long.]

Ï, ï, as in marïne.
İ, i, as in Inch, pin. [i and y short.]

[French i; Eng. e long.]

I, I, as in bird. [u short.]

Ö, ö, as in möve. [French ou; Eng. oo.]

Ŏ, ŏ, as in dove, love.

Ọ, ọ, as in bọọk, took.

[oo short.]

[u short.] [short sound of oo.]

U, u, as in full, pull.
U, u, as in use, union. [yu.]

€, e, as in cap, cope, eup. [k or ke.]
Ch, čh, as in chaise, machine. [sh.]

Ġ, ġ, as in gem, ġin.

S, s, as in muse, his.

[j.]

[ez, as z.]

th, aspirate as in thin; vocal, as in thou.

Directions for pronouncing words.

The accented syllable of words is determined by this mark' or by a pointed vowel.

When the mark of accent immediately follows a vowel, that vowel is long; as in faʼtal. e'qual, i'dol, po'et, hu'man, defy'.

The same sound is designated by this mark over the letter, face, meet, ice, cold, rūde, cry,

When the mark of accent follows a consonant, the preceding vowel, if single and not pointed, is short; as in ab'sence, defend', predict', construct', alledge, convuls'e.

When the mark of accent occurs after a syllable that contains a pointed vowel or a diphthong, that vowel or diphthong has its proper sound; as in debär', remöv'e, adjoin', annoy', avow', abound', rejoic'e.

The vowel e at the end of words forms no syllable in any word of English origin; but when it follows a consonant with a single vowel preceding, that vowel except the dotted i, is long as in fate, mete, rīte, note, tune, gyve. When it follows two or more consonants, the vowel of that syllable is usually short as in abridg'e, lodge.

A double accent before ci or ti, indicates that! these letters are pronounced like sh and close the syllable, as vicious, facti'tious, which are pronounced vish'ous, factish'ous.

A figure or mark of accent placed over the first word in a column or any division of it, designates the accent and vowel sound of the accented syllable in all the words which follow, till it is contradicted by another; but pointed vowels, wherever they occur, are to have their proper sound.

Letters form syllables, syllables form words, and words form sentences.

A syllable is a letter, or a union of letters which can be uttered by one impulse of the voice. A monosyllable is a word of one syllable. A dissyllable is a word of two syllables. A trissyllable is a word of three syllables. A polysyllable is a word of many syllables or more than three.