is spread abroad far beyond the range of the voice and ear.

It is of the utmost importance in the acquisition of correct speech that the various sounds of a language should be clearly distinguished and uttered with exactitude and precision; we therefore present, at the outset of this part of our subject, a comprehensive review of the sounds and corresponding signs of our mothertongue, and we strongly advise the student, who wishes to acquire a mastery of elocutionary power, not to regard this elementary enquiry as beneath his notice.

THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH.

THE elements of speech are the sounds of which the words of a language are composed. The number of sounds in English speech is forty-two, while the number of letters in the alphabet is only twenty-six, and of these three are unnecessary, as the sounds they stand for may be represented in other ways. These redundant letters are c, q, and x. The sounds of care the same as s and k; q, which is always followed by u, can be represented by k; and x by ks. We thus have forty-two sounds to be represented by twenty-three letters. This deficiency in our alphabet is obviated

(1) By making one letter stand for several sounds;
(2) By giving combinations of letters one sound.

The sounds of the vowels and diphthongs are produced by the uninterrupted passage of the breath through the open mouth, the relative positions of the tongue and palate causing the different tones; and it is the predominance of these sounds in a language which renders its speech easy and musical. The consonant sounds are the result of the more or less complete stoppage of the breath in utterance by the partial or entire closing of the air passage by one or other of the organs of speech, and it is the degree of effort to produce these imperfect sounds that causes that harshness and roughness which renders speech difficult and unmusical.

There are thirteen vowel sounds in our speech, of which a stands for four, e three, i one, o two, u three, as will be seen in the following table :—

The vowel sounds are represented in the written language in a variety of other ways. There are, in fact, upwards of a hundred different methods of representing these thirteen sounds.

1. The a in bate by ai in mail, ay in day, ao in gaol, au in gauge, ea in great, ey in they.

2. The a in bat by ai in plaid, ua in guarantee.

3. The a in bar by au in haunch, ea in heart, er in clerk, ua

in guard.

4. The a in ball by au in fraud, aw in law, awe in awe, or in for, ough in ought, augh in caught.

5. The e in me by ea in meat, ee in feet, eo in people, ei in perceive, ie in believe, ey in key, ay in quay, i in marine, a in phoenix.

6. The in met by a in any, ai in said, ea in bread, eo in leopard, ei in heifer, ie in friend, ue in guest.

7. The e in her by ea in earth, er in berth, ir in firth, oe in does, ur in murder, yr in myrrh.

8. The i in bit by ei in forfeit, ie in sieve, ee in breeches, o in women, u in busy, y in symbol.*

• What is usually considered a long i is really a diphthong.

9. The o in home, eo in yeoman, oa in goat, oe in toe, oo in door, au in hautboy, ough in though.

10. The o in hot by a in what, want.

11. The u in rule by o in prove, oo in groove, oe in shoe, w in

win, ue in true, ui in fruit.

12. The u in bull by o in wolf, oo in good, ou in could. 13. The u in bun by o in love, oo in blood, ou in rough.

DIPHTHONGS.

Two vowels sounded together without a break form a diphthong. There are four such compound sounds in our speech, and, like the vowels, they are variously represented. They are:

1. The sound of a in at combined with e in me; as in I, eye, ai in aisle, eigh in height, y in thy, ui in guise, uy in buy.

2. The sound of a in all combined with i in it; as in oi in voice, oy in boy, uoy in buoy.

3. The sound of i in it conbined with u in rule; as in eu in feul, ew in few, eau in beauty, iew in view, ou in youth, u

in tube.

4. The sound of a in at combined with u in rule; as in ow in cow, ough in bough.

CONSONANTS.

There are twenty-five consonant sounds in our speech, for most of which we have a separate character; double letters are used to supply the deficiency. These imperfect sounds are produced, as has been already said, by the partial or entire closing of the air-passage by the muscles of the throat, the teeth, or the lips. Those of the consonant sounds that are produced by the

partial emission of breath, and which can be prolonged, are called spirants; the others, in the production of which the breath seems stopped altogether, are called mutes. They are usually grouped together according to the organs of speech by which they are produced; viz., into gutturals (guttur, the throat), labials (labium, lip), dentals (dens, tooth); and they are again subdivided into sharp and flat sounds. The following table may be taken as a complete scheme of the mutes and spirants:

In addition to the above nineteen consonant sounds, there are six others that are classed separately; viz. :—