has precisely the sound that it had before. It remains unaltered. The removal of the consonant has in nowise modified its sound or power. It is not so, however, with the vowel in the word fat. If from this I remove the consonant following, and so leave the a at the end of the syllable, instead of in the middle, I must do one of two things: I must sound it either as the a in fate, or else as the a in father. Its (so-called) short sound it cannot retain, unless it be supported by a consonant following. For this reason it is dependent. The same is the case with all the so-called short sounds, viz., the e in bed, i in fit, u in bull, o in not, u in but.
[§ 124]. It is not every vowel that is susceptible of every modification. I (ee) and u (oo) are incapable of becoming broad. The e in bed, although both broad and slender, is incapable of becoming independent. For the u in but, and for the ö of certain foreign languages, I have no satisfactory systematic position.
[§ 125]. Vowel System.
| Broad. | Slender. | |
| Independent. | Independent. | Dependent. |
| a, in father | a, in fate | a, in fat. |
| é in fermé, long | é, in fermé, short. | |
| e, in meine, Germ. | e, in bed. | |
| ee, in feet | i, pit. | |
| ü, of the German, long | the same, short. | |
| oo, in book | ou, in could. | |
| o in chiuso | the same, short. | |
| aw, in bawl | o, in note | o, in not. |
From these the semivowels w and y make a transition to the consonants v and the so-called aspirate of g, respectively.
[§ 126]. System of Consonants.
| Liquids. | Mutes. | Semivowels. | |||
| Lene. | Aspirate. | ||||
| Sharp. | Flat. | Sharp. | Flat. | ||
| m | p | v | f | v | w |
| n | t | d | þ | ð | - |
| l | k | g | κ | γ | y |
| r | s | z | σ | ζ | - |