D.

This letter preserves its sound, produced by pressing the tongue against the front of the upper jaw, unchanged by any situation with respect to other letters; as in the words, dumb, dinner, dungeon, duty, loved, louder, dowdy.

F.

The sound of the letter f, formed by applying the upper fore-teeth to the under lip, and breathing pretty strongly through the apertures, on each side of the point of contact, is unvaried, except in the word of, which is pronounced ov; and that change is not made, when of is found in composition; as, whereof, thereof.

H.

It is asserted by some grammarians that this character is not the mark of any distinct, articulate sound, but merely of an aspiration, or a strong expulsion of breath; but as, in order to produce the exact sound of this letter, it is necessary that the aspiration be accompanied with an undulatory motion of the tongue, it may safely be pronounced to be an articulation, and to belong to the rank of letters. It is exemplified in the words, hermit, hunter, horse, hare, heron.

As mistakes and bad habits with respect to the sounding this letter, are very common, owing to its indistinctness in many words, and its being mute in others, peculiar attention

should be paid to its proper pronunciation. To accustom the ear and tongue to its fully aspirated sound, the frequent repetition of examples, such as the following, may be of some service:

and of words in which the letter h is strongly pronounced; such as, huntsman, hungry, hound, harp, here, he, her, him, hither, hurt, hurry, cohort, happiness, inhale, exhale, hinder, heaven, &c.

.

This character represents a sound compounded of d and zh, which is formed by pressing the tongue against the upper teeth, and suddenly opening the mouth, and making an impulse of the breath. It is pronounced thus uniformly, except in the Hebrew derivative hallelujah, where it is sounded as y.

K.

This letter is sounded by pressing the tongue strongly against the lower teeth, and opening the mouth at the same time. When it precedes n immediately, in the same syllable, it is not pronounced; as in the words, know, knot, knoll, knife, knock. Except in the proper name Habakkuk, it is never doubled. The letter c is used before k, to shorten the preceding vowel

by a double consonant; as in pickle, sucker,

stickler.

L.

L always preserves one uniform sound, soft and liquid, formed by a sudden elevation of the tongue against the upper teeth. In the words, balm, talk, half, psalm, it is obscurely heard. At the end of monosyllables, excepting when a dipthong precedes it, l is doubled; as, full, bull, bell, dell, toil, soil, rail, bail, soul. In the end of words, the syllable le is pronounced like a faint el, in which the e is scarcely sounded; as in bible, able, stubble, shuttle.

M.

M represents a sound produced by the sudden junction of the lips, while the tip of the tongue is pressed against the lower teeth. Excepting in the word comptroller, where it is pronounced

like n, it preserves invariably the same sound, and is never silent. Examples, mummery, mountain, numerous, mumble.

N.

The pure sound of this letter is made by pressing the tongue full against the fore part of the palate. When united with g, it has a kind of ringing sound; as in the words, ring, singing, thanking. When preceded by m, n is the last letter of a syllable, it is mute; as in condemn, solemn, hymn, autumn.

P.

The sound, of which this letter is the character, is produced by pressing the under lip strongly against the upper, and suddenly drawing it downwards almost perpendicularly. Excepting in the word cupboard, where it is pronounced more like b, it preserves the same sound. Sometimes it is mute; as in psalm, psalter, contempt, empty, presumptuous, temptation.

United with h, p is generally sounded as f; examples, philosopher, sophist, philanthropist, Philip. In nephew, and Stephen, this combination has the sound of v; while, in the words, apophthegm, phthisical, &c. it is entirely lost.

Q.

The sound of this letter is formed by an undulatory movement of the tongue. It is always followed by u; as, queer, square, quarter, queen, quadrant, antiquity. In the words conqueror, liquor, it has an obscure sound of k; but in risque, it is pronounced with the full sound of that letter.

R.

This letter has a rough, rattling sound, which is formed by turning the tip of the tongue up towards the roof of the mouth, and breathing strongly, so as to shake the tongue, and make it vibrate, as in Rome, rumble, grumble, rear, run, rude, river. This is a little softened when the letter occurs in the end of words, before d

and t; as in lard, bard, regard, retort, start, alert. The final re is often faintly pronounced like er; as, amphitheatre, massacre, sepulchre.

S.

S has a sharp, hissing sound, produced by a strong impression of the breath over the tongue, towards the palate; and a soft, flat sound, like that of z, formed by impelling the breath from the palate to the tongue. Its first sound is heard in the words, sign, semblance, sincere, sister, silly; its second is distinguishable in bosom, is, was, has, rises, dismal, eyes. At the beginning of words, this letter is always sharp; when found at their end, it has the flat soft sound, except in this, thus, yes, surplus; and in words terminating in ous; as, nauseous, cutaneous. In words ending in ion, when preceded by a vowel, s sounds like z, but when following a consonant, it is sharp. Before e mute, and y final, s has the sound of z; as, amuse, refuse, chuse, blowsy, busy. In isle, island, demesne, viscount, s is mute.

T.

The sound of this letter, which is made by pressure of the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth, continues unchanged at the beginning of words, and in the end of syllables; as in the words, term, take, tinge, trumpet, temple, turbot. In all terminations in tion, t assumes the sound of sh; as in termination, temptation,