2. With the Romans, who regularly employed only capitals, I served both as vowel and consonant; so also V. For us, however, it is more convenient to distinguish the vowel and consonant sounds, and to write i and u for the former, j and v for the latter. Yet some scholars prefer to employ i and u in the function of consonants as well as vowels.
CLASSIFICATION OF SOUNDS.
[2]. 1. The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y. The other letters are Consonants. The Diphthongs are ae, oe, ei, au, eu, ui.
2. Consonants are further subdivided into Mutes, Liquids, Nasals, and Spirants.
3. The Mutes are p, t, c, k, q; b, d, g; ph, th, ch. Of these,—
a) p, t, c, k, q are voiceless,[[4]] i.e. sounded without voice or vibration of the vocal cords.
b) b, d, g are voiced,[[5]] i.e. sounded with vibration of the vocal cords.
c) ph, th, ch are aspirates. These are confined almost exclusively to words derived from the Greek, and were equivalent to p + h, t + h, c + h, i.e. to the corresponding voiceless mutes with a following breath, as in Eng. loop-hole, hot-house, block-house.
4. The Mutes admit of classification also as
| Labials, | p, b, ph. |
| Dentals (or Linguals), | t, d, th. |
| Gutturals (or Palatals), | c, k, q, g, ch. |
5. The Liquids are l, r. These sounds were voiced.
6. The Nasals are m, n. These were voiced. Besides its ordinary sound, n, when followed by a guttural mute also had another sound,—that of ng in sing,—the so-called n adulterīnum; as,—