sound of the noun eye; and when this letter commences a syllable, as in min-ion, pin-ion, etc. the sound of e with which it terminates is squeezed into a consonant sound, like the double e heard in queen, different from the simple sound of that letter in quean, and this squeezed sound in the commencing i makes it exactly similar to y in the same situation; which, by all grammarians, is acknowledged to be a consonant.[1] The latter of these compound vowels, u, when initial, and not shortened by a consonant, commences with this squeezed sound of e equivalent to the y, and ends with a sound given to oo in woo and coo, which makes its name in the alphabet exactly similar to the pronoun you.[2] If, therefore, the common definition of a vowel be just, these two letters are so far from being simple vowels, that they may be more properly called semi-consonant diphthongs.
9. That y and w are consonants when they begin a word, and vowels when they end one, is generally acknowledged by the best grammarians; and yet Dr. Lowth has told us, that w is equivalent to oo; but if this were the case, it would always admit of the particle an before it: for though we have no word in the language which commences with these letters, we plainly perceive, that if we had such a word, it would readily admit of an before it, and consequently that these letters are not equivalent to w. Thus we find, that the common opinion, with respect to the double capacity of these letters, is perfectly just.
10. Besides the vowels already mentioned, there is another simple vowel sound found under the oo in the words woo and coo; these letters have, in these two words, every property of a pure vowel, but when found in food, mood, etc. and in the word too, pronounced like the adjective two: here the oo has a squeezed sound, occasioned by contracting the mouth, so as to make the lips nearly touch each other; and this makes it, like the i and u, not so much a double vowel, as a sound between a vowel and a consonant.
Classification of Vowels and Consonants.
11. Vowels and consonants being thus defined, it will be necessary, in the next place, to arrange them into such classes as their similitudes and specific differences seem to require.
12. Letters, therefore, are naturally divisible into vowels and consonants.
13. The vowels are, a, e, i, o, u; and y and w when ending a syllable.
14. The consonants are, b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z; and y and w when beginning a syllabe.
15. The vowels may be subdivided into such as are simple and pure, and into such as are compound and impure. The simple or pure vowels are such as require only one conformation of the organs to form them, and no motion in the organs while forming.
16. The compound or impure vowels are such as require more than one conformation of the organs to form them, and a motion in the organs while forming. These observations premised, we may call the following scheme
| An Analogical Table of the Vowels | ||
| a | pa-per | simple or pure vowels. |
| a | fa-ther | |
| a | wa-ter | |
| e | me-tre | |
| o | no-ble | |
| oo | coo | |
| i | ti-tle | compound or impure vowels. |
| y | cy-der | |
| u | lu-cid | |
| w | pow-er | |
- ↑ How so accurate a grammarian as Dr. Lowth could pronounce so definitively on the nature of y, and insist on its being always a vowel, can only be accounted for by considering the small attention which is generally paid to this part of grammar. His words are these:
"The same sound which we express by the initial y, our Saxon ancestors in many instances expressed by the vowel e; as eower, your; and by the vowel i; as iw, yew; iong, young. In the word yew the initial y has precisely the same sound with i in the words view, lieu, adieu; the i is acknowledged to be a vowel in these latter; how then can the y, which has the very same sound, possibly be a consonant in the former? Its initial sound is generally like that of i in shire, or ee nearly; it is formed by the opening of the mouth without any motion or contact of the parts: in a word, it has every property of a vowel, and not one of a consonant." Introduction to English Grammar, page 3.
Thus far the learned bishop; who has too fixed a fame to suffer any diminution by a mistake in so trifling a part of literature as this: but it may be asked, if y has every property of a vowel and not one of a consonant, why, when it begins a word, does it not admit the euphonic article an before it?
- ↑ An ignorance of the real composition of u, and a want of knowing that it partook of the nature of a consonant, has occasioned a great diversity and uncertainty in prefixing the indefinite article an before it. Our ancestors judging of its nature from its name, never suspected that it was not a pure vowel, and constantly prefixed the article an before nouns beginning with this letter; as an union, an useful book. They were confirmed in this opinion by finding the an always adapted to the short u, as an umpire, an umbrella, without ever dreaming that the short u is a pure vowel, and essentially different from the long one. But the modern, not resting in the name of a letter, and consulting their ears rather than their eyes, have frequently placed the a instead of an before the long u, and we have seen a union, a university, a useful book, from some of the most respectable pens of the present age. Nor can we doubt a moment of the propriety of this orthography, when we reflect that these words actually begin to the ear with y, and might be spelled younion, youniversity, youseful, and can therefore no more admit of an before them than year and youth. See Remarks on the word An in this Dictionary.
