CHAPTER I. THE VOWELS AND THE CONSONANTS. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. THE signs, which we employ to designate the single sounds of speech, are called letters. The letters collectively constitute the alphabet, the arrangement of which is different in different languages. The letters are divided into vowels and consonants. The pure vowels are: E (as in he), A (as in hay), A' (as in ah), O (as in or), O' (as in oh), O' (as in cool). The consonants are divided into sounding and voiceless consonants. The sounding consonants are L, M, N, R, the nasal N (ng, nk in sing, sink), V, Z (in zone), Z (in azure), Y (in ye), W (in woe), Th (in then), B, D, G (in give). The voiceless consonants are K and its equivalents C (hard) and Q; F, P, T, S (in sit) and its equivalent C (soft, in cider); Th (in thin), Sh and H. Ch, F and X are compound consonants. CHAPTER II. THE VOWELS. SECTION 1 PURE VOWels. THE vowels are the fundamental sounds of all speech, and are uttered almost instinctively, for they are produced by the simple flow of the air from the lungs (which air has been formed into sound in the larynx), and the lengthening, shortening and narrowing of the resonator (¿. e., the pharynx, and the oral and nasal cavities). According to Dr. Ernst Brücke, of Vienna, the three vowel sounds of E (as in he), A' (as in ah), and O" (as in cool), are the fundamental sounds on which the system of vowels rests; the other vowels being only intermediate sounds resulting from these three. Of these three vowels A' is produced without any change in the resonator; O" by lengthening it and narrowing its exterior end; and E by shortening and narrowing it. Or, with respect to the length of the resonator, we may say it is greatest with O', and least with E, and intermediate with A'. These three fundamental vowels are, accordingly, to be formed in the following ways: Let us begin with A'. Separate the jaws so far as to admit the thumb between the teeth; keep the lips perfectly still, without pressing them against the teeth or thrusting them out, but in such a way as to leave the extremities of the front teeth slightly visible; then perform a sounding expiration. The tongue should lie perfectly flat and inactive, at the bottom of the oral cavity; or, better still, it may be made to assume a longitudinally concave position. A' is the only vowel in the production of which the hyoid-bone preserves the same position as when the organs are inactive; the larynx; however, is carried upward, somewhat, so that the sounding air-column, issuing from it, shall strike more forcibly against the roots of the upper incisors than against any other part (Fig. XXIII). The transition from A' to E is effected by the elevation of the larynx and hyoid-bone, without their relative positions being altered; from A' to O" by the larynx being drawn downward as far as pos |