This last sound being most incorrectly expressed by the single letter i.

The consonantal sounds are, 1. the two semivowels; 2. the four liquids; 3. fourteen out of the sixteen mutes; 4. ch in chest, and j in jest, compound sibilants; 5. ng, as in king; 6. the aspirate h. In all, twenty-four.

1. w as in wet.
2. y — yet.
3. m — man.
4. n — not.
5. l — let.
6. r — run.
7. p — pate.
8. b — ban.
9. f — fan.
10. v — van.
11. t — tin.
12. d — din.
13. th — thin.
14. th — thine.
15. g — gun.
16. k — kind.
17. s — sin.
18. z — zeal.
19. sh — shine.
20. z — azure, glazier.
21. ch — chest.
22. j — jest.
23. ng — king.
24. h — hot.

Some writers would add to these the additional sound of the é fermé of the French; believing that the vowel in words like their and vein has a different sound from the vowel in words like there and vain. For my own part I cannot detect such a difference either in my own speech or that of my neighbours; although I am far from denying that in certain dialects of our language such may have been the case. The following is an extract from the Danish grammar for Englishmen, by Professor Rask, whose eye, in the matter in question, seems to have misled his ear: "The é fermé, or close é, is very frequent in Danish, but scarcely perceptible in English; unless in such words as, their, vein, veil, which appear to sound a little different from there, vain, vale."

The vowels being twelve, the diphthongs four, and the consonantal sounds twenty-four, we have altogether as many as forty sounds, some being so closely allied to each other as to be mere modifications, and others being combinations rather than simple sounds; all, however, agreeing in requiring to be expressed by letters or by combinations of letters, and to be distinguished from each other.

Now, although every sound specifically distinct should be expressed by a distinct sign, it does not follow that mere modifications or varieties (especially if they be within certain limits) should be so expressed. In the Greek language sounds as like as the o in not and the o in note are expressed by signs as unlike as ο and ω; that is, by the letters omicron and omega respectively; and so it is with ε and η. All that can be said in this case is, that it is the character of the Greek alphabet to represent a difference which the English neglects.

With respect to the diphthongs it is incorrect, uncommon, and inconvenient to represent them by simple single signs, rather than by combinations. In the English language the sounds

of ou, ew, and oi, are properly spelt with two letters. Not so, however, of i in bite.

The compound sibilants may also be expressed not by single signs, but by the combinations tsh and dzh; although, for certain reasons, such a mode of spelling is inconvenient. With these views we may appreciate,

I. The insufficiency of the English alphabet.