LETTERS.
A Letter is the first Principle, or least part of a Word.
An Articulate Sound is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech.
A Vowel is a simple articulate sound, formed by the impulse of the voice, and by the opening only of the mouth in a particular manner.
A Consonant cannot be perfectly sounded by itself; but joined with a vowel forms a compound articulate sound, by a particular motion or contact of the parts of the mouth.
A Diphthong, or Double Vowel, is the union of two or more vowels pronounced by a single impulse of the voice.
In English there are twenty-six Letters:
A, a; B, b; C, c; D, d; E, e; F, f; G, g; H, h; I, i; J, j; K, k; L, l; M, m; N, n; O, o; P, p; Q, q; R, r; S, s; T, t; U, u; V, v; W, w; X, x; Y, y; Z, z.
J j, and V v, are consonants; the former having the sound of the soft g, and the latter that of a coarser f: they are therefore intirely different from the vowels i and u, and distinct letters of themselves; they ought also to be distinguished by a peculiar Name; the former may be called ja, and the latter vee.
Six of the letters are vowels, and may be sounded by themselves; a, e, i, o, u, y.
Y is in sound wholly the same with i; and is written instead of it at the end of words; or before another i, as flying, denying: it is retained likewise in some words derived from the Greek; and it is always a vowel.
W is either a vowel, or a diphthong: its proper sound is the same as the Italian u, the French ou, or the English oo: after o, it is sometimes not sounded at all, sometimes like a single u.
The rest of the letters are consonants; which cannot be sounded alone: some not at all, and these are called Mutes, b, c, d, g, k, p, q, t: others very imperfectly, making a kind of obscure sound, and these are called Semi-vowels, or Half-vowels, l, m, n, r, f, s; the first four of which are also distinguished by the name of Liquids.
The Mutes and the Semi-vowels are distinguished by their names in the Alphabet, those of the former all beginning with a consonant; bee, cee, &c; those of the latter all beginning with a vowel, ef, el, &c.
X is a double consonant, compounded of c, or k, and s.
Z seems not to be a double consonant in English, as it is commonly supposed: it has the same relation to s, as v has to f, being a thicker and coarser expression of it.
H is only an Aspiration, or Breathing: and sometimes at the beginning of a word is not sounded at all; as, an hour, an honest man.
C is pronounced like k, before a, o, u; and soft, like s, before e, i, y: in like manner g is pronounced always hard before a, o, u; sometimes hard and sometimes soft before i, and y; and for the most part soft before e.
The English Alphabet, like most others, is both deficient and redundant; in some cases, the same letters expressing different sounds, and different letters expressing the same sounds.