"N is sometimes mute after m, as damn, condemn, hymn."—Johnson. In all these words the n originally belonged to a succeeding syllable, dam-no, condem-no, hym-nus.
Q, accurately speaking, is neither a letter, nor an abbreviation. It is always followed by u, as queen, quilt, and the two letters qu must be looked upon as a single sign, equivalent to (but scarcely an abbreviation) of kw. Q is not=k alone. The combination qu, is never sounded koo. Neither is kw. If it were so, there would be in the word queen (currently speaking) three sounds of u, viz., two belonging to q (=kw), and one belonging to u itself. W being considered as=2 u: q=k + ½ w. This view of q bears upon the theory of words like prorogue, &c.
The reader is referred to p. 152. There he is told that, when a word ends in a flat consonant, b, v, d, g, the plural termination is not the sound of s, but that of z (stagz, dogz); although s be the letter written. Such also is the case with words ending in the vowels or the liquids (peaz, beanz, hillz, not peace, beance, hillce). This fact influences our orthography. The majority of words ending in s are found to be plural numbers, or else (what is the same thing in respect to form) either genitive cases, or verbs of the third person singular; whilst in the majority of these the s is sounded as z. Hence, the inference from analogy that s single, at the end of words, is sounded as z. Now this fact hampers the orthography of those words wherein s final retains its natural sound, as since, once, mass, mace; for let these be
written sins, ons, mas, the chances are that they will be pronounced sinz, onz, maz. To remedy this, the s may be doubled, as in mass. This, however, can be done in a few cases only. It cannot be done conveniently where the vowel is long, the effect of a double consonant being to denote that the preceding vowel is short. Neither can it be done conveniently after a consonant, such combinations as sinss, &c., being unsightly. This throws the grammarian upon the use of c, which, as stated above, has, in certain situations, the power of s. To write, however, simply sinc, or onc, would induce the risk of the words being sounded sink, onk. To obviate this, e is added, which has the double effect of not requiring to be sounded (being mute), and of showing that the c has the sound of s (being small).
"It is the peculiar quality of s that it may be sounded before all consonants, except x and z, in which s is comprised, x being only ks, and z only a hard [flat] or gross s. This s is therefore termed by grammarians suæ potestatis litera, the reason of which the learned Dr. Clarke erroneously supposed to be, that in some words it might be doubled at pleasure."—Johnson. A reference to the current Greek Grammars will indicate another reason for σ being called suæ potestatis litera. It will there be seen that, whilst π, β, φ—κ, γ, χ—τ, δ, θ—are grouped together, as tenues, mediæ, and aspiratæ, and as inter se cognatæ, σ stands by itself; ζ its media (flat sound) being treated as a double letter, and sh, its so-called aspirate, being non-existent in the Greek language.
The sound of ti before a vowel, as in salvation, is explained in p. [153].
"Th has two sounds; the one soft [flat], as thus, whether; the other hard [sharp], as thing, think. The sound is soft [flat] in all words between two vowels, as father, whether; and between r and a vowel, as burthen."—Johnson. The reason of the latter statement lies in the fact of both the vowels and r being flat (see p. [152]), and so exerting a flattening influence upon the sounds in contact with them.
In the substantives breath and cloth, the th is sharp (i.e., as th in thin); in the verbs breathe and clothe, the th is flat (i.e.,
as th in thine).—A great number of substantives may be made verbs by changing the sound of their final consonant. However, with the words breathe and clothe, a second change has taken place, viz., the vowel has been lengthened. Now of these two changes, viz., the lengthening of the vowel, and the flattening of the consonant, which is the one represented by the e mute, in clothe and breathe, as compared with cloth and breath? I imagine the former. Hence an exception is taken to the following statement of Dr. Johnson:—"When it (th) is softened [flattened] at the end of a word, an e silent must be added, as breath, breathe, cloth, clothe."
The sounds of the s in sure, of the t in picture (when pronounced pictshure), and of the z in azure and glazier, are explained in p. [153].