Part 18 (1/2)

-- 156 _Unsteadiness_--Here we have (ast many other examples), 1 The consonant c with the double power of s and k; 2 g with its sound in _gun_ and also with its sound in _gin_; 3 x with its sounds in _Alexander_, _apoplexy_, _Xenophon_

In the foregoing exan has a double power; in the words _Philip_ and _filip_, &c; a single sound has a double sign

In respect to the degree wherein the English orthography is y, it is sufficient to repeat the statement that as many as three letters c, ae, and are retained in the alphabet for _etyical purposes only_

-- 157 The defects noticed in the preceding sections are _absolute_ defects, and would exist, as they do at present, were there no language in the world except the English This is not the case with those that are now about to be noticed; for the a term They may more properly be teres of the rest of the world the use of ular_ The letter i (when long or independent) is, with the exception of England, generally sounded as ee

With Englishal power The inconvenience of this is the necessity that it i the sound which we give it in our own, and of learning the sound which it bears in the language studied So it is (alish this has the sound of _dzh_, in French of zh, and in Gerularity in the use of letters arises inconvenience in the study of foreign tongues

In using j as dzh there is a second objection It is not only inconvenient, but it is theoretically incorrect The letter j was originally a modification of the vowel i The Germans, who used it as the seinal power less than the English have done, who sound it dzh

With these viee raphy--

_Its convenience or inconvenience in respect to learning foreign tongues_--The sound given to the a in _fate_ is singular Other nations sound it as a in _father_

The sound given to the e, long (or independent), is singular Other nations sound it either as a in _fate_, or as _e ferular Other nations sound it as ee in _feet_

The sound given to the oo in _fool_ is singular Other nations sound it as the o in _note_, or as the _o chiuso_

The sound given to the u in _duck_ is singular Other nations sound it as the u in _bull_

The sound given to the ou in _house_ is singular Other nations, iven to the w in _wet_ is soular, but is also correct and convenient With many nations it is not found at all, whilst with those where it occurs it has the sound (there or thereabouts) of v

The sound given to y is soular In Danish it has a vowel power

In Geriven to z is not the sound which it has in Gerlish is convenient and correct

The sound given to ch in _chest_ is singular In other languages it has generally a guttural sound; in French that of sh The English usage is more correct than the French, but less correct than the Gerular

-- 158 _The historical propriety or ial power is not only singular and inconvenient, but also _historically incorrect_ The Greek _iota_, froinates, has the sound of i and ee, as in _pit_ and _feet_

The y, sounded as in _yet_, is historically incorrect It grew out of the Greek ?, a vowel, and no semivowel The Danes still use it as such, that is, with the power of the German u

The use of j for dzh is historically incorrect

The use of c for k in words derived from the Greek as _mechanical_, _ascetic_, &c, is historically incorrect The form c is the representative of ? and s and not of the Greek _kappa_

-- 159 _On certain conventional e the sounds of o in _not_ and of o in _note_ (although allied) are expressed by the unlike signs (or letters) ? and ?, respectively In es the difference between the sounds is considered too slight to require for its expression signs so distinct and dissiether In many, however, it is expressed, and that by son () denote that the vowel over which it stands is long, or independent, whilst the sign (?) indicates shortness, or dependence In such a case, instead of writing _not_ and _n?t_, like the Greeks, wefor a fresh letter Herein the expression of the nature of the sound is natural, because the natural use of () and (?) is to express length or shortness, dependence or independence Now, supposing the broad sound of o to be already represented, it is very evident that, of the other two sounds of o, the one(independent), and the other short (dependent); and as it is only necessary to express one of these conditions, we n () alone; its presence denoting length, and its absence shortness (independence or dependence)

As signs of this kind, one ood as another; and instead of () we may, if we chose, substitute such a mark as (') and write _not_ = _not_ = _n?t_ = _note_; provided only that the sign (') expresses no other condition or affection of a sound This use of the n that the vowel over which it is placed is long (independent), is coes But is this use of (') natural? For a reason that the reader has anticipated, it is not natural, but conventional Neither is it convenient

It is used elsewhere not as the sign of _quantity_, but as the sign of _accent_; consequently, being placed over a letter, and being interpreted according to its natural , but that it is en of quantity then, would be an orthographical expedient, or an inconvenient conventional raphical expedients; theparticularly nuin with these:--

The reduplication of a vohere there is but one syllable (as in _feet_, _cool_), is an orthographical expedient It(or independent)