Ay, an improper diphthong, like ai, has usually the sound of open or long a; as in day, pay, delay: in sayst and says, it has the sound of close or short e.
TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH A.
Awe is sounded au, like broad a. Aye, an adverb signifying always, has the sound of open or long a only; being different, both in sound and in spelling, from the adverb ay, yes, with which it is often carelessly confounded. The distinction is maintained by Johnson, Walker, Todd, Chalmers, Jones, Cobb, Maunder, Bolles, and others; but Webster and Worcester give it up, and write "ay, or aye," each sounded ah-ee, for the affirmation, and "aye," sounded =a, for the adverb of time: Ainsworth on the contrary has ay only, for either sense, and does not note the pronunciation.
II. OF THE LETTER B.
The consonant B has but one sound; as in boy, robber, cub. B is silent before t or after m in the same syllable; as in debt, debtor, doubt, dumb, lamb, climb, tomb. It is heard in subtile, fine; but not in subtle, cunning.
III. OF THE LETTER C.
The consonant C has two sounds, neither of them peculiar to this letter; the one hard, like that of k, and the other soft, or rather hissing, like that of s. C before a, o, u, l, r, t, or when it ends a syllable, is generally hard, like k; as in can, come curb, clay, crab, act, action, accent, flaccid. C before e, i, or y, is always soft, like s; as in cent, civil, decency, acid.
In a few words, c takes the flat sound of s, like that of z; as in discern, suffice, sacrifice, sice. C before ea, ia, ie, io, or eou, when the accent precedes, sounds like sh; as in ocean, special, species, gracious, cetaceous. C is silent in czar, czarina, victuals, indict, muscle, corpuscle, and the second syllable of Connecticut.
Ch is generally sounded like tch, or tsh, which is the same to the ear; as in church, chance, child. But in words derived from the learned languages, it has the sound of k; as in character, scheme, catechise, chorus, choir, chyle, patriarch, drachma, magna charta: except in chart, charter, charity. Ch, in words derived from the French, takes the sound of sh; as in chaise, machine. In Hebrew words or names, in general, ch sounds like k; as in Chebar, Sirach, Enoch: but in Rachel, cherub, and cherubim, we have Anglicized the sound by uttering it as tch. Loch, a Scottish word, sometimes also a medical term, is heard as lok.
"Arch, before a vowel, is pronounced ark; as in archives, archangel, archipelago: except in arched, archer, archery, archenemy. Before a consonant it is pronounced artch; as in archbishop, archduke, archfiend."—See W. Allen's Gram., p. 10. Ch is silent in schism, yacht, and drachm. In schedule, some utter it as k; others, as sh; and many make it mute: I like the first practice.