Scheme of the Alphabet.

Number of fimple founds in our tongue 28.

9 Vowels,

hall hat hate here note prove bet fit cub.

19 Confonants, eb ed ef eg ek el em en ep er es et ev ez eth eth esh ezh ing.

2 Superfluous, c, which has the power of ek or es; q, that of ek before u.

2 Compound, j, which stands for edzh

1 No letter, b, merely an afpiration.

Confonants divided into Mutes and Semivowels.

6 Mutes, eb ed eg ek ep et.

3 Pure Mutes, ek ep et.

3 Impure Mutes, eb ed eg.

13 Semivowels, ef el em en er es ev ez eth eth

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Vocal Semivowels, el em en er ev ez eth ezh ing. 4 Afpirated, ef es eth efh.

4 Labial, eb ep ev ef.

8 Dental, ed et eth eth ez efs ezh efh.

4 Palatine, eg ek el er.

3 Nafal, em en rg.

Having examined all the fimple founds in our tongue, I fhall proceed to the double founds or diphthongs.

A

There is no article in which our grammarians have fhewn fuch a want of skill in founds as that of diphthongs. One of the best of them, divides them into proper and improper, in the following manner. proper diphthong, fays he, is, where both vowels are founded, as in aid, hawk. Is it not amazing that any ear could be fo mistaken as to take thefe fimple founds a and a for diphthongs? An improper diphthong is where the found of but one of the two vowels is heard, as in head, heart. Here he is right, but it is equally certain that in his inftances of proper diphthongs, there is only the found of one fimple vowel heard. Heart, aid, and hawk,

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I 2 3

contain the three fimple founds, a, a, a.

He

He then fettles the number of proper diphthongs thus, ai or ay, au or aw, ee, oo, oi or oy, ou or ow. As in the words praise, day; laud, draw; meet, cool; boy, noise; thou, now. In the four firft inftances here of proper diphthongs, the ear acknowledges nothing but fimple founds; in the words.

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praise and day, the found a; in laud and

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3

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draw, a; in meet e, in cool o; fo that in the whole number there remain only the founds oi, as in boy noife; and ow, as in thou now, that are genuine diphthongs; and indeed according to the principles laid down by all our grammarians, it would appear that these are the only two which belong to our tongue. Thus would the English, seem to be poor to the last degree, in an article, which contributes above all others, to richness of found in a language. The Greeks called the diphthongs Euphonoi, or well-founding, and their language abounded

E 3

abounded with them; but not in an equal

degree with ours, as I fhall presently fhew.

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In the first place the founds i, u, though generally marked by fingle characters, are in reality diphthongs. In order to fhew this we must firft have recourfe to the definition of a diphthong. A diphthong is the union of the founds of two vowels in fuch a way as to make but one articulation or fyllable. The found i is compofed of the

fulleft and flendereft of our vowels, a and e, the first made by the largeft, and the last by the smallest aperture of the mouth. Now if we attend to the procefs in forming this found, we shall find that the mouth is first opened to the fame degree of aperture, and is in the fame pofition, as if it were going to

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found a; but before the voice can get a paffage through the lips, the under jaw is drawn near to the upper in the fame pofi

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tion as when the vowel e is formed; and thus the full found checked by the slender one and coalefcing with it, produces a third found different from both, which is

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the diphthong i. The want of knowing the proper pofition and movement of the organs in producing this found, has been the reason that few foreigners have been able to attain it. The French have it not

in their tongue;

proaching near it,

the words vin fin.

but they have one ap

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composed of a, as in

That it is not the fame will appear by pronouncing the same words in our way, as vin vine, fin fine. Now if they were only told to open their mouths as wide at firft, as if they were going to

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pronounce a, and then to check the voice by the sudden motion of the under jaw, to

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the position in which the vowel e is formed, they must neceffarily produce our diph