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and vocal is based the theory of the production of articulate sounds.

3. Organs of Speech. The breath, modified or unmodified, thus emitted through the larynx, is in its further passage through the mouth and nose further affected by the organs of speech. These are the tongue, teeth, gums, palate, and lips; and their office is to complete the work begun by the lungs, windpipe, and larynx.

4. Articulation.-The use of the organs of speech in modifying the breath into the several elementary sounds is termed articulation.

5. The Alphabet.—The alphabet of a language ought to be a tabulated list of the signs of the elementary sounds employed in that language, and would assign but one sign for each sound; but the twenty-six signs forming the English alphabet are both redundant and defective.

6. Defect of Vowel Signs.-The five vowel signsa, e, i, o, u-represent in English as many as eighteen distinct sounds. A alone indicates the five sounds in

ale, ah, all, at, rare.

7. Redundancy of Vowel Signs.-On the other hand, the sound of a as heard in ale is represented by as many as ten different signs, as in the words ale, aid, gaol, gauge, say, aye, break, veil, weigh, they. And what is said of a may be said of the other vowel signs.

8. Redundancy and deficiency of Consonants.—In the case of the consonants, too, there are both redundancy and deficiency: c in cent, s in sent, and sc in scent are three forms for one sound; while the dissimilar initial sounds heard in thigh and thy are represented by the same symbol th; a is a compound, in some words of k

and s (exercise being equivalent to eK-sercise), in others of g and z (exist being equivalent to eG-zist), and in others of k and sh (anxious being equivalent to angk SHus; ch and j are also compounds, the former of t and sh (church being sounded as if written tsh-ur-tsh), the latter of d and zh (gem being sounded as if written dzh-em); while the indivisible sounds sh (shame), ng (sing), are represented by two letters.

It is necessary then to distinguish at the outset between the written sign and the spoken sound, and to obtain a full and definite enumeration of the elementary sounds. These may be divided primarily into vowel and consonant.

Vowel Sounds.

9. A Vowel Sound is produced in the larynx, and emitted through a free opening of the month; that is, without being obstructed or modified in its egress by any contact of the articulative organs with one another.

10. The following is a complete enumeration of the vowel sounds heard in the pronunciation of the English language at the present day :

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The numbers attached to vowel sounds throughout the book correspond to those used in the above table.

The First Appendix contains a list of all the signs of the vowel sounds, and at the same time furnishes abundant materials for a pupil's practice on the sounds in which he is inaccurate.

11. The Specific Differences in Vowel Sounds arise for the most part from alterations in the shape of the inside of the mouth. In pronouncing awe, for instance, the tongue is depressed deeply in the bed of the mouth, and the oral opening is at its largest; while in uttering ee-1, the tongue is raised close to the palate, and the passage of the voice is reduced to a minimum.

But between these extremes of elevation and depression, the tongue is capable of an infinite number of positions; and it may be readily understood that the shades of vowel sound the mouth is capable of producing cannot be delineated. No mere diagram can make these nice distinctions of vowel sound obvious. In the absence, therefore, of the illustration of a master, the student should carefully observe the pronunciation of the best speakers, in order to attune his ear to the precise recognition of the eighteen definite vowel sounds, and to guard himself, in his own utterance, against foreign and provincial deviations from their purity.

12. The Vowel Sounds are divided into

1. Monophthongal, and

2. Diphthongal.

13. The Monophthongal vowel sounds have one unaltered sound from their outset to their termination.

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14. The Diphthongal vowel sounds are composed of two vowel sounds quickly blended into one. Each of the following six vowels opens in one sound, but quickly, and almost imperceptibly, closes in another.

Table of the Six Diphthongal Vowel Sounds.

1. a-le begins with its own peculiar sound, and ends in ee-l.

9. i-sle begins with ah, and ends in ee-l.

11. o-ld begins with its own peculiar sound, and ends in oo-ze.

18. ou-r begins with a-h, and ends in oo-ze.

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15. Open and Shut Vowels.—A still more useful aid to the precise recognition of vowel sounds is afforded by their division into 'open' and 'shut.' Thus the sound of a in all is almost identical with that of o in odd, the two sounds being apparently formed by the same position of the organs, the slight difference between them

consisting in the fuller character of the former sound. But if, in alternately uttering the vowel sounds a-ll and o-dd, the position of the tongue is watched in a mirror, an open position of the mouth being meanwhile kept, the tongue will be found to yield under the fuller pronunciation of a-ll, thus producing a larger cavity for the emission of the voice. And a similar difference will be found on comparing the related vowel sounds in the following table :—

Table of Open and Shut Vowel Sounds.

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The confusion of these related vowel sounds is one of the causes of foreign, provincial, or vulgar pronunciation. The uneducated cockney says 'Charing Crawss,' for Charing Cross,' and 'awfficer' for 'officer;' and a Frenchman'feet to be done' for 'fit to be done;' while between such obvious differences as these there are among different speakers almost innumerable shades.

A vowel sound depends therefore for its character on a definite position of the organs of speech. And this

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