the tongue touches the palate, the squeezed sound of ee in thee and meet is formed, which, by its description, must partake of the sound of the consonant y.
37. The i in i-dol is formed by uniting the sound of the Italian a in father, and the e in e-qual, and pronouncing them as closely together as possible. See Directions to Foreigners at the beginning of this book, page 20.
38. The o in o-pen is formed by nearly the same position of the organs as the a in wa-ter; but the tongue is advanced a little more into the middle of the mouth, the lips are protuded, and form a round aperture like the form of the letter, and the voice is not so deep in the mouth as when a is formed, but advances to the middle or hollow of the mouth.
39. The u in u-nit is formed by uniting the squeezed sound ee to a simple vowel sound, heard in woo and coo; the oo in these words is formed by protruding the lips a little more than in o, forming a smaller aperture with them, and, instead of swelling the voice in the middle of the mouth, bringing it as forward as possible to the lips.
40. Y final, in try, is formed like i: and w final in now, like the oo, which has just been described.
In this view of the organic formation of the vowels we find that a, e, and o, are the only simple or pure vowels: that i is a diphthong, and that u is a semi-consonant. If we were inclined to contrive a scale for measuring the breadth or narrowness, or, as others term it, the openness or closeness of the vowel, we might begin with e open, as Mr. Elphinston calls its, and which he announces to be the closest of all the vocal powers. In the pronunciation of this letter we find the aperture of the mouth extended on each side; the lips almost closed, and the sound issuing horizontally. The slender a in waste opens the mouth a little wider. The a in father opens the mouth still more, without contracting the corners. The German a, heard in wall, not only opens the mouth wider than the former a, but contracts the corners of the mouth so as to make the aperture approach nearer to a circle, while the o opens the mouth still more, and contracts the corners so as to make it the os rotundum, a picture of the letter it sounds. If therefore the other vowels were, like o, to take their forms from the aperture of the mouth in pronouncing them, the German a ought necessarily to have a figure as nearly approaching the o in form as it does in-sound; that is, it ought to have that elliptical form which approaches nearest to the circle; as the a of the Italians, and that of the English in father, ought to form ovals, in exact proportion to the breadth of their sounds; the English a in waste ought to have a narrower oval; the e in the ought to have the curve of a parabola, and the squeezed sound of ee in seen, a right line: or to reduce the lines to solids, the o would be a perfect globe, the German a an oblate spheroid like the figure of the earth, the Italian a like an egg, the English slender a a Dutch skittle, the e a rolling pin, and the double e a cylinder.
Organic Formation of the Consonants.
41. The best method of shewing the organic formation of the consonants will be to class them into such pairs as they naturally fall into, and then, by describing one, we shall nearly describe its fellow; by which means the labour will be lessened, and the nature of the consonants better perceived. The consonants that fall into pairs are the following:
| p | f | t | s | sh | th | k | ch | chair |
| b | v | d | z | zh | dh | g | j | jail |
42. Holder, who wrote the most elaborately and philosophically upon this subject, tells us, in his Elements of Speech, that when we only whisper we cannot distinguish the first rank of these letters from the second. It is certain the difference between them is very nice; the upper letters seeming to have only a smarter, brisker appulse of the organs than the lower; which may not improperly be distinguished by sharp and flat. The most marking distinction between them will be found to be a sort of guttural murmur, which precedes the latter letters when we wish to pronounce them forcibly, but not the former. Thus if we close the lips, and put the finger on them to keep them shut, and strive to pronounce the p, no sound at all will be heard; but in striving to pronounce the b we shall find a murmuring sound from the throat, which seems the commencement of the letter; and if we do but stop the breath by the appulse of the organs, in order to pronounce with greater force, the same may be observed of the rest of the letters.
43. This difference in the formation of these consonants may be more distinctly perceived in the s and z than in any other of the letters; the former is sounded by the simple issue of the breath between the teeth, without any vibration of it in the throat, and may be called a hissing sound; while the latter cannot be formed without generating a sound in the throat, which may be called a vocal sound. The upper rank of letters, therefore, may be called breathing consonants; and the lower, vocal ones.
44. These observations premised, we may proceed to describe the organic formation of each letter.
45. P and B are formed by closing the lips till the breath is collected, and then letting it issue by forming the vowel e.
46. F and V are formed by pressing the upper teeth upon the under lip, and sounding the vowel e before the former and after the latter of these letters.
47. T and D are formed by pressing the tip of the tongue to the gums of the upper teeth, and then separating them, by pronouncing the vowel e.
