A.—A has four sounds; the long; as in name, basin; the broad; as in ball, wall; the short; as in fagot, glass; and the flat, Italian sound; as in bar, farther. The improper diphthong, aa, has the short sound of a in Balaam, Canaan, Isaac; and the long sound of a in Baal, Gaal, Aaron.
The Latin diphthong, ae, has the long sound of e in aenigma, Caesar, and some other words. But many authors reject this useless excrescence of antiquity, and write, enigma, Cesar.
The diphthong, ai, has the long sound of a; as in pail, sail; except in plaid, said, again, raillery, fountain, Britain, and some others.
Au is sounded like broad a in taught, like flat a in aunt, like long o in hautboy, and like short o in laurel.
Aw has always the sound of broad a; as in bawl, crawl.
Ay has the long sound of a; as in pay, delay.
B.—B has only one sound; as in baker, number, chub.
B is silent when it follows m in the same syllable; as in lamb, &c. except in accumb, rhomb, and succumb. It is also silent before t in the same syllable; as in doubt, debtor, subtle, &c.
C.—C sounds like k before a, o, u, r, l, t, and at the end of syllables; as in cart, cottage, curious, craft, tract, cloth; victim, flaccid. It has the sound of s before e, i, and y; as in centre, cigar, mercy. C has the sound of sh when followed by a diphthong, and is preceded by the accent, either primary or secondary; as in social, pronunciation, &c.; and of z in discern, sacrifice, sice, suffice. It is mute in arbuscle, czar, czarina, endict, victuals, muscle.
Ch is commonly sounded like tsh; as in church, chin; but in words derived from the ancient languages, it has the sound of k; as in chemist, chorus; and likewise in foreign names; as in Achish, Enoch. In words from the French, ch sounds like sh; as in chaise, chevalier; and also like sh when preceded by l or n; as in milch, bench, clinch, &c.
Ch in arch, before a vowel, sounds like k; as in arch-angel, except in arched, archery, archer; archenemy; but before a consonant, it sounds like tsh; as in archbishop. Ch is silent in schedule, schism, yacht, drachm.
D.—D has one uniform sound; as in death, bandage. It sounds like dj or j when followed by long u preceded by the accent; as in educate, verdure. It also sounds like j in grandeur, soldier.
The termination, ed, in adjectives and participial adjectives, retains its distinct sound; as, a wick-ed man, a learn-ed man, bless-ed are the meek; but in verbs the e is generally dropped; as, passed, walked, flashed, aimed, rolled, &c. which are pronounced, past, walkt, flasht, aimd, rold.
E.—E has a long sound; as in scheme, severe; a short sound; as in men, tent; and sometimes the sound of flat a; as in sergeant; and of short i; as in yes, pretty, England, and generally in the unaccented terminations, es, et, en.
F.—F has one unvaried sound; as in fancy, muffin; except in of, which, when uncompounded, is pronounced ov. A wive's portion, a calve's head, are improper. They should be, wife's portion, calf's head.
G.—G has two sounds. It is hard before a, o, u, l, and r, and at the end of a word; as in gay, go, gun, glory; bag, snug. It is soft before e, i, and y; as in genius, ginger, Egypt. Exceptions; get, gewgaw, gimlet, and some others. G is silent before n, as in gnash.
H.—H has an articulate sound; as in hat, horse, hull. It is silent after r; as in rhetoric, rhubarb.
I.—I has a long sound; as in fine; and a short one; as in fin. Before r it is often sounded like u short; as in first, third; and in other words, like short e; as in birth, virtue. In some words it has the sound of long e; as in machine, profile.
J.—J has the sound of soft g; except in hallelujah, in which it is pronounced like y.
K.—K has the sound of c hard, and is used before e, i, and y, where c would be soft; as kept, skirt, murky. It is silent before n; as in knife, knell, knocker.
L.—L has always a soft liquid sound; as in love, billow. It is often silent; as in half, talk, almond.
M.—M has always the same sound; as in murmur, monumental; except in comptroller, which is pronounced controller.
N.—N has two sounds; the one pure; as in man, net, noble; the other a compound sound; as in ankle, banquet, distinct, &c., pronounced angkl, bangkwet. N final is silent when preceded by m; as in hymn, autumn.
O.—O has a long sound; as in note, over; and a short one; as in not, got. It has the sound of u short; as in son, attorney, doth, does; and generally in the terminations, op, ot, or, on, om, ol, od, &c.
P.—P has but one uniform sound; as in pin, slipper; except in cupboard, clapboard, where it has the sound of b. It is mute in psalm, Ptolemy, tempt, empty, corps, raspberry, and receipt.
Ph has the sound of f in philosophy, Philip; and of v in nephew, Stephen.
Q.—Q is sounded like k, and is always followed by u pronounced like w; as in quadrant, queen, conquest.
R.—R has a rough sound; as in Rome, river, rage; and a smooth one; as in bard, card, regard. In the unaccented termination re, the r is sounded after the e; as in fibre, centre.
S.—S has a flat sound like z; as in besom, nasal; and, at the beginning of words, a sharp, hissing sound; as in saint, sister, sample. It has the sound of sh when preceded by the accent and another s or a liquid, and followed by a diphthong or long u; as in expulsion, censure. S sounds like zh when preceded by the accent and a vowel, and followed by a diphthong or long u as in brasier, usual. It is mute in isle, corps, demesne, viscount.
T.—T is sounded in take, temper. T before u, when the accent precedes, and generally before eou, sounds like tsh; as, nature, virtue, righteous, are pronounced natshure, virtshue, richeus. Ti before a vowel, preceded by the accent, has the sound of sh; as in salvation, negotiation; except in such words as tierce, tiara, &c. and unless an s goes before; as, question; and excepting also derivatives from words ending in ty; as in mighty, mightier.
Th, at the beginning, middle, and end of words, is sharp; as in thick, panther, breath. Exceptions; then, booth, worthy, &c.
U.—U has three sounds; a long; as in mule, cubic; a short; as in dull, custard; and an obtuse sound; as in full, bushel. It is pronounced like short e in bury; and like short i in busy, business.
V.—V has uniformly the sound of flat f; as in vanity, love.
W.—W, when a consonant, has its sound, which is heard in wo, beware. W is silent before r; as in wry, wrap, wrinkle; and also in answer, sword, &c. Before h it is pronounced as if written after the h; as in why, when, what;—hwy, hwen, hwat. When heard as a vowel, it takes the sound of u; as in draw, crew, now.
X.—X has a sharp sound, like ks, when it ends a syllable with the accent on it; as, exit, exercise; or when it precedes an accented syllable which begins with any consonant except h; as, excuse, extent; but when the following accented syllable begins with a vowel or h, it has, generally, a flat sound, like gz; as in exert, exhort. X has the sound of Z at the beginning of proper names of Greek original; as in Xanthus, Xenophon, Xerxes.
Y.—Y, when a consonant, has its proper sound; as in youth, York, yes, new-year. When y is employed as a vowel, it has exactly the sound that i would have in the same situation; as in rhyme, system, party, pyramid.
Z.—Z has the sound of flat s; as in freeze, brazen.
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