Orthography. A flat mute immediately after a sharp mute Anomalies. is perfectly unpronounceable. Assimila tion. Superfluous letters. In such words as dogs, kissed, where the sharp s follows the flat g, and the flat d follows the sharp s, the s is only sharp to the eye; i.e., it is written s but pronounced z, as dogz, and the d in kissed is pronounced t, as kist. Indeed Milton, Archdeacon Hare, and the phonetic system, write wisht, kist, etc., according to the pronunciation. In most languages the former consonants are changed in composition, etc., to meet this requirement; as in the Greek compound emmeno from en and meno; and in the word blem-ma, derived from the root blep, and the ending ma, in both of which the previous consonant is changed and assimilated to the latter. The letters c, j, q, and x, are superfluous letters. C when hard equals k; when soft it equals s; as in cat and city. In jungle, jump, etc., j equals the soft sound of g in gin. Q, which is always followed by u in English words, equals kw, or koo, pronounced quickly, as in queen; in words of French origin it is sounded as k, as conqueror, pique.* X is a double letter equivalent to ks or gz; as box = boks, exile = eksile, example = egzample, etc.; but a at the end of a word is always pronounced sharp, as *In most words the retention of these letters in the spelling of English words is justified by the help they afford in tracing their etymology. For instance, if city were spelt with an s, sity, its derivation from the Latin civitas, through the French cité, would be greatly obscured. graphy. fox-foks, paradox-paradoks, etc.; and h when Orthoalone is simply a breathing, or not pronounced Letter h. at all. The following are the only words in which the initial h is silent: hour, heir, heiress, honour ; and according to some, humble, hospital, and herb, though it would be better pronounced in these three last. Yet in the words inherit, inheritance, etc., which are compounds of the same word as heir, heiress, viz., the Latin hæres, the h is sounded. The consonants are further divided into classes, according to the different organs of speech which assist most in their pronunciation; as, Linguals, t, d, from the tongue (lingua, Linguals. Lat.); Labials, f, p, b, v, from the lips Labials. (labium, Lat.); Gutturals, k, g, from the Gutturals. throat (guttur, Lat.); z and s are called the Sibilants from their hissing sound (sibilo to Sibilants. hiss, Lat.) S can be more easily pronounced after two consonants at the end of a word, without the necessity of making another syllable, as in bonds, where the addition of any other letter but s and e mute, would create an additional syllable. Hence the frequent use of this letter in forming the plural of nouns and persons of verbs. A diphthong (di-two, and phthongé voice, Diphthongs. Greek) is the combination of two vowel sounds. The diphthongs in English are :— (1.) Those formed by a vowel and the semi vowel w; as in raw, new, row. Orthography. (2.) Those formed by a vowel and the semi Diphthongs. Vowel y; as in bay, whey, boy. Pronuncia tion of c and g. Tossed, wished, etc. Flat sound of s. Imperfec- (3.) Those formed by the combination of two vowels; as in hail, meal, foist, house. The pronunciation of c and g is determined by the nature of the vowel which immediately follows. They are hard before a broad vowel; as in cat, cot, cut; gap, got, gutter; and soft before a short vowel, as in centre, city, cygnet; gentle, gin, gymnastics. There are some exceptions, however, to this rule; as girl, beginning, giddiness, gift, gig, giggle, gild, gills (of fishes), gimlet, gimp, gingham, gird, girdle, girth, give, gizzard, geld, get, gewgaw; and some persons of education pronounce the g in gymnastics hard. The reason why the d is retained in such words as tossed, wished, where it is pronounced as t, is to be sought in the old pronunciation of such words when they formed two distinct syllables, and were pronounced toss-éd, wish-éd. Their pronunciation has been changed, but their original spelling has been retained. For the same reason s is written though it is pronounced as z, to assimilate its sound with the previous flat mute in such words as ends, etc. In Anglo-Saxon, the plural of end was endas, in which the s could be pronounced as such; but when the vowel was left out, the s still remained, though its sound was changed for euphony's sake. The following are the chief imperfections of the English alphabet: graphy. tions of the English (1.) Its deficiency in letters; so that each Orthosimple sound has not a corresponding letter to Imperfecrepresent it; as, the different sounds of a in the words father, fate, fat, fall, are all represented by the same character; and so on with all the vowel sounds.* (2.) Its redundancy in letters; such as c and j, which are represented by k or s and the soft g. (3.) The differences in the writing and pronunciation of such words as wished, tossed, etc., and viscount, medicine, hymn, chronicle, hour, impugn, contemn, sign, tomb, indict, etc., in which letters are retained for etymological reasons, though they are never sounded. This is chiefly owing to their having been introduced at different times from a foreign language. RULES FOR THE DIVISION OF SYLLABLES. Alphabet. syllables. (1.) A single consonant between two vowels Division of must be joined to the latter syllable; as, ty-rant, stu-pid, ce-dar; except the letter x; as, ex-ample, ax-iom. (2.) Two consonants, which can begin a syllable must not be separated; as, sta-ble, tri-fle, when the preceding vowel is long. But when the preceding vowel is short, they ought to be separated; as, ras-cal, fis-cal, dastard. * The confusion of the vowel sounds in English is owing to the Normans and Saxons attempting to pronounce each others' language. Ortho graphy. (3.) When two vowels meet together in a Division of word, and do not form a diphthong, they are to be separated; as, uni-on, sobri-ety, fu-el. Syllables. Rules of spelling. (4.) Grammatical terminations are to be separated from the rest of the word; as, burying, larg-er, bright-est, manni-kin; except when a double consonant occurs immediately before the termination; as, car-ries, bet-ter, begin-ning, travel-ler, hum-bled. (5.) Compound words must be divided according to their components parts; as, de-stroy, com-plete, dis-prove, se-parate, re-source. RULES FOR SPELLING ENGLISH WORDS. (1.) All monosyllables ending in f, l, or s, end in double consonants when a single vowel precedes; as, stuff, chaff, frill, bull, mass, miss, moss. Except if, as, has, was, gas, is, his, yes, this, us, thus, and bus, for omnibus. If two vowels or a diphthong precedes the f, l, or s, the last consonant remains single; as, hoof, grief, leaf, tail, toil, street, Tees (river). (2.) All monosyllables ending in any other consonant but f, l, or s, end in a single consonant, even though a single vowel precedes; as, stab, mad, rag, gum, gin, bar, rap. Except ebb, add, odd, egg, inn, err, purr, butt, and buzz. (3.) All words ending in y preceded by a consonant, change y into i, whenever they take |