ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

THE ALPHABET.

1. THE Alphabet is the collection of written characters or symbols representing the simple articulate sounds.

The English Alphabet contains twenty-six characters, or letters, but the sounds to be expressed are still more numerous. Moreover, as several sounds have duplicate letters, the available characters are really fewer than twenty-six.

2. There are two kinds of articulate sounds,-vowels and consonants.

A sound that can be uttered alone, as ee, ah, owe, is called a vowel sound. A sound that cannot be uttered alone, but must be joined with a vowel sound, as p, t, k, v, is called a consonant sound.

3. The characters available for the vowel sounds are five,—a, e, i, o, u.

A vowel sound, uttered clearly and with stress of voice, is said to be accented. The accent may fall either on the vowel alone, or on the vowel together with a consonant next following it.

As most usually represented by the five vowel characters, the following five vowel sounds (which may be called long vowels) exemplify such vowels as receive the accent exclusively on the vowel :lay, lea, lie, lo, loo;

which may be symbolized thus: lá, lé, lí, ló, lú.

The other following five vowels sounds (which may be called short vowels) exemplify such vowels as receive the accent on the consonant following, as well as the vowel :

àt, et, it, òt, ùt (as in nut).

Independent of the different kind of accent, these ten vowels are each distinct from the other; they make up ten separate vowels.

In some words the accented long vowel sounds are pronounced with force, quickly, and so as to include in the accent a consonant that comes after the vowel. This happens in the case of the fifth long vowel 'ú,' in several words, as in pull, full, compared with pool, fool; which may be symbolized thus: pûl, ful; púl, fúl. The second long vowel 'é' undergoes a like change of accent in the word been, which is pronounced "bên;' probably too in several other words; but

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this particular form of accent has not been much studied heretofore. The third long vowel 'í' becomes 'î,' that is to say, carries its accent to the next consonant, as in the word pride, compared with the words 'pry,' 'pried;' which three words may be symbolized thus: prîd, prí, príd. The like happens with this vowel in a good many words; but as yet no care has been taken to discriminate syllables thus accented. On the other hand accented short vowel sounds have the vowel sound prolonged, in certain words, without any of the accent falling on a following consonant. This happens particularly in the case of ‘à' andò,' the first and fourth of those vowels, as may be seen on comparing the words'am,' palm' (which may be symbolized'àm,' 'pam') and the words sot, saw, sought (which may be symbolized' sòt, so, sōt'). The other three accented short vowel sounds (è, ì, ù) are not thus prolonged, excepting 'è,' which occasionally becomes e,' as in the expression 'vèri wèl vēri !'

These variations of accent add to the number of accented vowel sounds, but not to the number of vowels. Only the mode of accentuation is varied.

ow or ou in the words now and noun, and oy or or in the words boy, boil, are compounds of other vowels; in the words now and noun, of 'ō' and 'ú;' in boy and boil, of 'ō,' and 'i.'

'I' is here a supposed vowel, produced by extending the vowel twice occurring ir the word 'pity.' Some authorities prefer considering the vowel sound in now and noun as combined of 'a' and 'u.' The truth is that the compound sounds do so vary in pronunciation in different parts of England as to justify either analysis; but ‘ō' rather than 'a' is the one here preferred. eye, dye, is also considered as a compound sound, but its elementary parts can hardly be assigned. We may regard it as a compound of 'a' and the sound of 'I' just described. '' is here treated as a simple sound.

w and y are sometimes called consonants, sometimes semi-vowels. In any case 'w' is 'ú,' and 'y' is é,' each quickly pronounced before another vowel; as in the words we and way (ú-é, ú-á=wé, wá), and in the words ye, yea (é-é, é-ã=yé, yá).

'ú' has often the sound of 'y' before it, as in tune, few (=tyún, fyú). a, e, i, u' may respectively stand for the unaccented vowels of ‘à, è, ì, ù;' ‘ă, ĕ, i, u for the unaccented short vowels of 'á, é, í, ú.' 'ō' symbolizes a vowel that is heard in the words awe, paw, pawn (=ō, pō, pōn). The first syllable of the word autumn contains the same vowel, likewise accented (=ōtum). The first syllable of the word autumnal contains the same vowel, but unaccented. This unaccented vowel of ō' will be symbolized as 'ö.' Say autumn, autumnal =ötum, ötùmnal-'ö' is found to substitute 'o' when losing the accent; as in the words, author, authorize, authority, authoritative; sayōthor, ōthoríz, öthòriti, öthòritátiv.' The same vowel 'ö' is also the unaccented vowel of 'ò;' but when 'ò' loses its accent in a kindred English word, this vowel is hardly ever substituted, but in place of it the unaccented vowel of 'ó,' as heard in the first and last vowels of the word 'potáto.' The first syllable of the word opposite (òpozit) loses its accent in oppose, and then becomes, not öpóz,' but opóz.' Opposite becomes, not 'òpözit,' but 'òpozit, The vowelö occurs

VOWEL SCHEME.

-CONSONANTS.

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very rarely in English; the vowel in the first and last syllables of 'potáto occurs very frequently. Therefore it is preferred to symbolize this vowel by the lettero,' without any mark at all.

Although, as already correctly stated, 'á' is a different vowel from à,'as is'é' from 'è,' 'í' from 'ì,' 'ú' from 'ù,' yet it is an important observation that the individuals of each of these four couples of vowels are exchangeable with each other in kindred English words, sometimes accented, sometimes unaccented, as may be seen from a few examples: náshon, nàshonal, nàshonàliti; derív, dèriváshon, derìvativ; réal, réatíz, reàliti; idéa, idéalíz, Ĭděàliti; rál, wá, rálwă; repyút, rèpyŭtabl; párent, parèntal; papā, pápal; máson, masònic; contìnyú, còntinyúiti; theatr, theatrical; Canada, Canádian; Pariz, Parizian; revél, rèveláshon; replí, rèplicáshon; repét, rèpetìshon; accent. accènt; Gèrman, Germànic; Britan, Britània, Britànic, British; land, Scot, Scòtland; lábor, labórius; östér, östèrity (austere, austerity); ōspis. öspìshus (auspice, auspicious).*

4. The consonants, and their sounds, are divided into liquids, mutes, and sibilants.

The liquids are, r, l, n, m, and the sound of ng in sing. They are so called because they flow on continuously, and are therefore more like vowels than consonants in the strict sense of the word. They are not the only consonants that do so, and therefore the name has no descriptive propriety.

The mutes are the larger number of the consonants. They are of various classes, according to the part of the mouth that utters them, and according to the concurrence of vocal sound from the throat.

Those uttered by the mouth are labials; p, ƒ, b, v. If we compare p and ƒ with b and v, we find that in uttering the first two the air-tube is entirely closed, and the voice shut off; up, off: while with the last two, the stoppage is but partial, and we can still keep up a certain degree of sound, cob, love. This is the distinction between sharp and flat mutes, and is of importance in English Grammar.

Those uttered by the teeth are dentals; (sharp) t, th (thin), (flat) d, dh (thine). Those uttered by the throat are gutturals; (sharp) k, ch (Scotch in loch), (flat) g, gh (Irish lough).

The sibilants are the hissing sounds, &, sh (shame), z (zeal), zh (azure). There are two compounds of these, tsh (chest), dzh (jest). The letter h, a softened form of ch (loch), is called the aspirate.

It will be seen from the above list, that our alphabet is deficient in characters for expressing the consonant sounds ng (ring), sh (shame), zh (azure), th (thin), dh (thine). It is farther redundant as regards the letters c (represented by s or k), q (the same as k before u), and x (either ks or gs). Also j, as representing a compound sound, would be superfluous, if we had the elementary character zh (azure). At present it is a convenient contraction for dzh.

This scheme of vowel symbolization, which has the peculiar advantage of indicating at once the accents and the vowels of words, has been communicated to me by Dr. Clark, who considers it likely to be useful, not only in grammatical discussions, but in English pronouncing dictionaries and in the vowel part of any system of phonetic spelling that may be hereafter attempted for the Englih language.

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ETYMOLOGY.

Etymology is the study of individual words. It is in contrast to Syntax, which is the joining of words in sentences.

Individual words may be viewed in three different

ways:

First, we may divide them into classes, or kinds, and explain the purposes served by each kind. This is to give the classification of words, or the PARTS OF SPEECH.

Secondly, we may consider the changes that they undergo when they enter into composition, as in the plurals of nouns, the comparison of adjectives, &c. This is INFLECTION.

Thirdly, we may examine the growth and structuro of words. This is called DERIVATION.

Before entering upon the first division,-the Parts of Speech, it is requisite to examine the nature of the Sentence