G

G has two sounds: one hard; as in gay, go, gun: the other soft; as in gem, giant.

At the end of a word it is always hard; as in bag, snug, frog. It is hard before a, o, u, l, and r: as game, gone, gull, glory, grandeur.

G before e, i, and y, is soft; as in genius, gesture, ginger, Egypt; except in get, gewgaw, finger, craggy, and some others.

G is mute before n as in gnash, sign, foreign, &c.

Gn at the end of a word, or syllable accented, gives the preceding vowel a long sound; as in resign, impugn, oppugn, impregn, impugned; pronounced impune, imprene, &c.

Gh, at the beginning of a word, has the sound of the hard g; as ghost, ghastly in the middle, and sometimes at the end, it is quite silent; as in right, high, plough, mighty.

At the end it has often the sound off; as in laugh, cough, tough. Sometimes, only the g is sounded; as in burgh, burgher.

H

The sound signified by this letter, is, as before observed, an articulate sound, and not merely an aspiration. It is heard in the words, hat, horse, Hull. It is seldom mute at the beginning of a word. It is always silent after r; as, rhetoric, rheum, rhubarb.

H final, preceded by a vowel, is always silent; as, ah! hah! oh! foh! Sarah, Messiah.

From the faintness of the sound of this letter, in many words, and its total silence in others, added to the negligence of tutors, and the inattention of pupils, it has happened, that many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring its just and full pronunciation. It is, therefore, incumbent on teachers, to be particularly careful to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this sound.

I

I has a long sound; as in fine; and a short one; as in sin.

The long sound is always marked by the e final in monosyllables; as thin, thine; except give, live. Before r it is often sounded like a short u; as, flirt, first. In some words it has the sound of e long; as in machine, bombazine, magazine.

The diphthong ia is frequently sounded like ya; as in christian, filial, poinard; pronounced christ-yan, &c. It has sometimes the sound of short i; as in carriage, marriage, parliament.

Le sounds in general like e long; as in grief, thief, grenadier. It has also the sound of long i; as in die, pie, lie: and sometimes that of short i; as in sieve.

Ieu has the sound of long u; as in lieu, adieu, purlieu. Io, when the accent is upon the first vowel, forms two distinct syllables; as priory, violet, violent. The terminations tion and sion, are sounded exactly like the verb shun; except when the t is preceded by s or x; as in question, digestion, combustion, mixtion, &c.

The triphthong iou is sometimes pronounced distinctly in two syllables; as in bilious, various, abstemious. But these vowels often coalesce into one syllable; as in precious, factious, noxious.

J

Jis pronounced exactly like soft g; except in hallelujah, where it is pronounced like y.

K

K has the sound of c hard, and is used before e and i, where, according to English analogy, c would be soft; as, kept, king, skirts. It is not sounded before n; as in knife, knell, knocker. It is never doubled; except in Habakkuk; but c is used before it, to shorten the vowel by a double consonant; as cockle, pickle, sucker.

L

L has always a soft liquid sound; as, in love, billow, quarrel. It is sometimes mute; as in half, talk, psalm. The custom is to double the at the end of monosyllables: as, mill, will, fall, except where a diphthong precedes it; as, hail, toil, soil.

C

Le, at the end of words, is pronounced like a weak el in which the e is almost mute; as, table, shuttle.

M

;

M has always the same sound; as, murmur, monumental, except in comptroller, which is pronounced controller. N

Nhas two sounds: the one pure; as in man, net, noble, the other a wringing sound like ng; as in thank, banquet, &c.

Nis mute when it ends a syllable, and is preceded by m; as, hymn, solemn, autumn.

The participial ing must always have its ringing sound, as, writing, reading, speaking, Some writers have supposed that when ing is preceded by ing, it should be pronounced in; as, singing, bringing, should be sounded singin, bringin: but as it is a good rule, with respect to pronunciation, to adhere to the written words, unless custom has clearly decided otherwise, it does not seem proper to adopt this innovation.

O has a long sound; as in note, bone, obedient, over; and a short one; as in not, got, lot, trot.

It has sometimes the short sound of u; as, son, come, attorney. And in some words it is sounded like oo; as in prove, move, behove; and often like au; as in nor, for, lord.

The diphthong oa is regularly pronounced as the long sound of o; as in boat, oat, coal; except in broad, abroad, groat, where it takes the sound of broad a; as, abrawd, &c. Oe has the sound of single e. It is sometimes long; as in fœtus, Antoci: and sometimes short; as in œconomics œcumenical. In doe, foe, sloe, toe, throe, hoe, and bilboes, it is sounded exactly like long o.

Oi has almost universally the double sound of a broad and e long united, as in boy; as boil, toil, spoil, joint, point, anoint: which should never be pronounced as if written bile, spile, tile, &c.

Do almost always preserves its long regular sound; as in moon, soon, food. It has a shorter sound in wool, good, foot, and a few others. In blood and flood it sounds like short. Door and floor should always be pronounced as if written dore and flore.

The diphthong ou has six different sounds. The first and proper sound is equivalent to ow in down; as in bound, found, surround.

The second is that of short u; as in enough, trouble, journey.

The third is that of oo; as in soup, youth, tournament, The fourth is that of long ; as in though, mourn, poultice.

The fifth is that of short o, as in cough, trough.

The sixth is that of awe; as in ought, brought, thought. Ow is generally sounded like ou in thou; as in brown, dowry, shower. It has also the sound of long ; as in snow, grown, bestow.

The diphthong oy is but another form for oi, and is pronounced exactly like it.

P

P has always the same sound, except, perhaps, in cupboard, where it sounds like b. It is sometimes mute; as in psalm, psalter, Ptolemy: and between m and t; as, tempt, empty, presumptuous.

Ph is generally pronounced like f; as in philosophy, philanthrophy, Philip.

In nephew and Stephen, it has the sound of v. In apophthegm, phthisis, phthisic, and phthisical, both letters are entirely dropped.

Q

Q is always followed by u; as, quadrant, queen, quire. Qu is sometimes sounded like k; as, conquer, liquor, risque.

R

R has a rough sound; as in Rome, river, rage; and a smooth one; as in bard, card, regard.

Re, at the end of many words, is pronounced like a weak er; as in theatre, sepulchre, massacre.

has two different sounds.

S

A soft and flat sound like z; as, besom, nasal, dismal. A sharp hissing sound; as saint, sister, cyprus.

It is always sharp at the beginning of words.

At the end of words it takes the soft sound; as, his, was, trees, eyes; except in the words this, thus, us, yes, rebus, surplus, &c.; and in words terminating with ous.

It sounds like z before ion, if a vowel goes before; as, intrusion; but like s sharp, if it follows a consonant; as, conversion. It also sounds like z before e mute; as, amuse; and before y final; as rosy; and in the words bosom, desire, wisdom, &c.

S is mute in isle, island, demesne, viscount.

T

T has its customary sound; as in take, temptation. Ti before a vowel has the sound of sh; as in salvation : except in such words as tierce, tiara, &c. and unless an s goes before; as, question; and excepting also derivatives from words ending in ty; as, mighty, mightier.

Th has two sounds: the one soft and flat; as, thus, whether, heathen: the other hard and sharp; as, thing, think, breath.

Th, at the beginning of words, is sharp; as in thank, thick, thunder: except in that, then, thus, thither, and some others. Th, at the end of words, is also sharp; as, death, breath, mouth: except in with, booth, beneath, &c.

Th, in the middle of words, is sharp; as, panther, orthodox, misanthrope: except worthy, farthing, brethren, and a few others.

Th, between two vowels, is generally flat in words purely English; as, father, heathen, together, neither, mother, Th, between two vowels, in words from the learned languages, is generally sharp; as, apathy, sympathy, Athens, theatre, apothecary.