The following table shows the principal vowels of each class: Lingual. Labio•Lingual. Labial.
Close ee(1) oo(ze) Medial 5eu le(re) 1 o(re)Open art e(rr) a(ll) The possible modifications of the oral channel are endless, and untraceably minute, as are the shades of vowel-quality heard in dialects, and among individual speakers. In English, there are altogether thirteen established varieties, as heard iu the words eel, ill, ale, ell, an, ask, art, err, lip, all, ore, old, ooze. Besides these, which a perfect alphabet must represent, we have the diphthongal sounds heard in the words isle, owl, oil, and the asperated compound yoo—the sound of the letter u in use—which is often, but errone ously, supposed to be a diphthongal vowel.
Pim Aspirate H.—The letter II (see ASPIRATE) represents an expulsive breathing, modified by the form of the vocal element which follows it—as in he, hay, high, hoe, etc., in which the II will be observed to have the quality of e, u, i, .6, etc., but without the w laryngal contraction, and consequent asperation of the breath, forms a whispered vowel.
Consonants. —When the tongue is raised convexly against the back of the palatal arch so as to stop the breath, the separation of the tongue from the roof or back of the mouth is accompanied by a percussive effect, which is represented in the English alphabet.by C, K, and Q, and by G when the obstructed breath is vocalized. While the tongue is in this obstructive position, if the soft palate be depressed so as to uncover the inner end of the nostrils, the breath will pass through the nose. This, with vocalized breath, is the formation of the element represented in English, for lack of an alphabetic character. by the digraph rig.
[The percussive effect of K—G is slightly modified by the point at which the tongue leaves the palate before different vowels, as in the words key and caw; the consonant of the latter word being struck from the soft palate, and that of the former word further forward, from the hard palate. A peculiar Anglicism of pronunciation is derived from the substitution of the anterior for the posterior formation of K—G in certain words, as kind, card, guide, guard, girl, etc.] When the fore-part of the tongue is raised to the front of the palate, so as to stop the breath, the separation of the tongue is accompanied by the percussive effect which is represented by T, and by D when the obstructed breath is vocalized. The uncovering
of the end of the nostrils while the tongue is iu this obstructive position produces, with vocalized breath, the sound represented by N.
When the lips are brought in contact (the lower lip rising to join the upper lip), their separation from the obstructive position is accompanied by the percussive effect repre sented by P, and by B when the obstructed breath is vocalized. The uncovering of the nares while the lips are in contact produces, with vocalized breath, the sound represented by 31.
The remaining consonants are all of the continuous or non-obstructive class; the organs of articulation being so placed as merely to narrow the apertures, central' or lateral, through which the breath issues with a degree of hissing or asperation.
The elevation of the base of the tongue so as to leave a narrow aperture between its center and the back-part of the palate, forms, with vocalized breath, the sound of Y initial as in ye. The sound of y resembles that of the vowel e, but with the contracted. aperture and resulting oral asperation of the breath essential to a consonant. The same position with voiceless breath forms the German ch as in iclt—an element which is heard. in English as the sound of II before fc, as in hue. [The Scotch guttural heard in loch, differs from this only in the more retracted position of the tongue, which is approxi mated to the soft instead of the hard palate. The same position with vocalized breath produces the soft Parisian burr. The approximation of the concave root of the tongue to the fringe of the soft palate causes the uvula to flutter in the breath, and forms the rough Northumbrian burr.] The elevation of the middle of the tongue towards the front of the palatal arch, with a narrow central passage for the breath, produces the element which, for lack of an alphabetic character, is represented by the digraph Sit; and the same position forms, with vocalized breath, the common element heard in pleasure, seizure, etc., but which has no appropriate literal symbol in English.