I shall not enter into a particular discussion of the question, whether h is a mark of sound or not. By its convertibility with k and c in the ancient languages, we have reason to conclude that it once had a guttural sound, and the pronunciation of some northern nations of Europe confirms the opinion. But it appears in modern English to have no sound by itself; it however affects, in some degree, the sound of the vowel to which it is prefixed, by previously opening the mouth wider than is necessary to articulate the vowel. Thus in hand we hear no sound but of and; yet in pronouncing hand we open the throat wider, and emit the breath with violence before we begin the sound, which makes an obvious difference in pronouncing the words and and hand; and perhaps this distinction is perceiveable as far as the words can be heard. The same may be said of th in think.
The instance of a man who lost a dinner by telling his servant to eat it, when he meant to tell him to heat it, affords a useful lesson to those who are disposed to treat the letter h with too much neglect.
That i short is the same sound as ee we have the authority of one of the first and best English grammarians. "Hunc sonum, (ee) quoties correptus est, Angli per i breve, exprimunt; quum vero producitur, scribunt ut plurimum per ee, non raro tamen per ie; vel etiam per ea; ut, sit, fit, feel, fill, fiend, near," &c.—— Wallis, Gram. Sect. 2.
Ash confirms the opinion. "Ee has one sound, as in see, thee, and coincides with the narrow i."—Gram. Diss. pref. to his Dic.
Kenrick's arrangement of the long and short vowels is exactly similar to mine.
Sheridan entertains a different opinion respecting the short i and e. He considers them as distinct vowels, incapable of prolongation. Rhet. Gram. pref. to his Dict. page 16. In this he differs from most other writers upon the subject, who have attended to the philosophical distinctions of sounds. This appears to be an inaccuracy in his distribution of the vowels; altho it cannot affect the practice of speaking.
The sound of the Roman i, it is agreed on all hands, was that of the English ee. It retains that sound still in the Italian, French and Spanish, which are immediately derived from the Latin. It had its long and short sounds in Latin; as in vidi, homini; the first pronounced veedee, and the last homini, as we now pronounce i in fill. The French preserve the long sound, and lay it down as a general rule, that i is pronounced like the English ee: Yet in discourse they actually shorten the sound, and in sentimens, ressentiment, &c. pronounce i as we do in civil. In the French motif, i is long like ee; in this and all similar terminations, we shorten the sound, motiv. Mr. Sheridan, in this particular, is evidently singular and probably wrong.
That e in let is but the short abrupt sound of a in late, is not so clear; but to me is evident. There is little or no difference in the position of the organs with which we pronounce both vowels. The Roman, Italian, Spanish and French e is considered as the representative of the English a in late, made; and yet in common discourse, it is shortened into the sound of e in let, men: Witness, legere, avec, emmené, bueno, entendido: We observe the same in English; for said, any, many, which are pronounced sed, enny, menny, exhibit the same vowel or short a; the e being the abrupt sound of ai in said. I must therefore differ from Mr. Sheridan, and still believe that e in let, and i in fit, are capable of prolongation. Children, when, instead of a comparison, they would express the superlative by an emphasis, say leetle instead of little; which is a mere prolongation of i short.