Letters as to form are either script or print.
There are many different STYLES OF LETTERS; as, Roman, Italic, Old English, and Script.
As to SIZE letters are both capital and lower case.
[Third Month.]
VOWELS.
A VOWEL sound is a free and uninterrupted sound of the voice. The vowel sounds are formed by the voice modified, but not interrupted, by the various positions of the tongue and lips.
A CONSONANT sound is an articulate sound made by the obstructed voice, and which in utterance is usually combined with a vowel sound.
There is no absolute division between vowels and consonants. Certain vowels are so open as to be only vowels, certain consonants are so close as to be only consonants; but there are yet others which have the value now of vowels and now of consonants; as, i, u, w, and y.
“Y as a vowel is a substitute for i, and i is a consonant as a substitute for y. W and y are vowels: (1) When they end words or syllables, (2) when they are not followed by a vowel in the same syllable, (3) when they are followed by a silent vowel in the same syllable. W and y are consonants when they begin words or syllables and are immediately followed by a vowel. I is a consonant when it represents the consonant y, as in alien. U is a consonant when it represents the consonant w, as in quick, language.”—Irish's Orthography.
A DIPHTHONG is produced by running together two vowel sounds in the same syllable.
A diphthong is PROPER if both the vowels are sounded; as o and i in boil.