THE DIPHTHONG "AI."
Speaking of the diphthong ai, Walker, in the "Principles of English Pronunciation" prefixed to his Dictionary, says (Art. 202.):
"The sound of this diphthong is exactly like the long slender sound of a; thus, pail a vessel, and pale a colour, are perfectly the same sound."
This sound is analysed (Art. 225.) as follows:
"This triphthong (aye) is a combination of the slender sound of a, heard in pa-per; and the e in metre."
The sound, therefore, is a combination of two simple sounds. But in a previous article (8.) a, e, o are called simple vowels; or (according to his definition):
"Those which are formed by one conformation of the organs only; that is, the organs remain exactly in the same position at the end as at the beginning of the letter; whereas, in the compound vowels i and u, the organs alter their position before the letter is completely sounded."
Walker, therefore, makes the sound to be "combination of two simple sounds," although he had already declared it to be a simple sound. Now, strange to say, Dr. Richardson, in his very valuable contribution to our literature, viz. his 8vo. Dictionary (a veritable Richardson, very long ago foretold by Joe Miller), is guilty of the same inconsistency. In the "Grammatical and Etymological Examination adapted to the Dictionary," he reckons thirteen simple vowels in our language. The tenth is the "long slender sound of a," as Walker would call it; and the sound is given us (according to Richardson) in these words: "Lame, Tame, Crane, Faint, and Layman." My Query is, ought not this sound to be transferred from the simple vowels under the true diphthongs? And ought we not to distinguish between the pronunciation of pail and pale, just as we do between neigh, and né (French); bait and bête (French); or between pay and pe (Welsh); tay and te (Welsh)? It is worthy of remark, that the Welsh language has only the simple sound, not the diphthongal?
R. Price.