What effect the compression of the larynx has in articulation may be seen by comparing these pairs of consonants:
| With compression. | Without compression. |
| B | P |
| G | K |
| D | T |
| Z | S |
| Th | Tħ |
| V | F |
| J | Sh |
These, as Mr. Tooke observes, differ, each from its partner, by a certain unnoticed and almost imperceptible motion or compression of or near the larynx. This compression, he remarks, the Welsh never use. For instead of
I vow by God, that Jenkin is a wizard;
they say,
I fow by Cot, that Shenkin iss a wisart.
The consonants have been distributed into different classes, according to the organs chiefly employed in their formation.
| The Labial are | eb, ep, ef, ev. |
| Dental | ed, et, etħ, eth. |
| Palatal | eg, ek, el, er, ess, esh, ez, ej. |
| Nasal | em, en, ing. |
The association of two vowels, whether the sound of each be heard or not, is called a diphthong, and the concurrence of three is called a triphthong.