Oi denotes the Sounds of o and i very intimately united; as in oil, noise. Y follows at the End of Words, instead of i; as boy, deftroy.

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Oo directs the Sound of o to be formed towards the Palate, whilft the Breath is emitted by a round Aperture of the Mouth. This Aperture enlarges the internal Cavity of the Mouth so as to make it approach to the Articulation denoted by w. Therefore Oo is the Clofe Sound which corresponds to the open Sound denoted by ow, or ou. This clofe Sound may either be long; as in boot, fool, food; or fhort; as in blood, ftood, wool.

Ou, or ow denotes the Sound of open united with the following Articulation of u or w; as in foul, found, grow, knowledge. These Sounds may be made more or less close and deep, by making the Mouth more or less hollow, and directing the Breath more or less toward the Palate. Thus a Bowl, meaning an orbicular Body, requires a close Sound: But a Bowl, meaning a Vessel, requires a more open Sound.

By varying the Cavity of the Mouth, and directing the Breath more and more inwards, ou approaches, in some Words, to u long and foft; as court; or to u fhort and soft, as labour, vapour; or to u close; as cou'd, wou'd, for could, would; or to u deep and open; as rough, tough; or too close and guttural; as cough, flough meaning a Place deep in Mire.

U

U has a long fmooth Sound in the laft Syllables of Words that end in filent e, or in ution or ufion; as blue, true, rule, to ufe, to abuse, to refufe, to confute, refolution, confufion, &c.

But

But in the Nouns, use, abuse, réfuse, abstruse, the s is pronounced more through the Lips, fo as to give u a harder Sound.

U is commonly fhort before two or more Confonants; as in ftubble, ruft, percuffion; and before fingle Confonants at the end of Words; as put, thus, rub.

U forms a Diphthong in the Middle of Words, by preceding all the other Vowels; as in Square, queft, quite, anguish, to quote. But when thus applied it has the Effect of w; which, and not u, is used at the beginning of Words; as wane, weft, wild, worn.

U is fometimes quiefcent, or omitted in the Pronunciation, before a, e, i, y; as in guard, gueft, guide, buy.

r

r, when used as a Vowel, fupplies the Place of i at the end of Words; as in my, thy, fly; and before an i; as dying, flying. It is ufually retained in derivative Words, if it was the latter Part of a Diphthong in the Primitives. Thus, from day, days; from deftroy, deftroyer; from convey, conveyancer, &c. But if y is not the latter Part of a Diphthong in the Primitives, it is removed, and i substituted for it in Derivatives. Thus, from Fly, Flies; from deny, denies, denial, &c.

TH

Of the Confonants in particular.

HE mute Confonants, b, d, k, p, t, require few Obfervations: For each of them is uniform in its Effect, and that Effect is probably much the fame in all Languages.

B is quiefcent in fome English Words; as debt, subtle, himb, thumb, comb, &c.

P is quiefcent in Pfalm, Ptizan; and between m and t; as tempt, exempt.

Ti before Vowels denotes an open Sound like that of fi; as in patience, difputations, abfolution. But if an goes before ti, or the word be derived from one that ends iny by a Vowel following ti, the t is close; as in christian, fuggeftion; mighty, mightier, mightieft, &c.

H directs to give the Breath a free current through the Lips. Therefore, ifb follows a mute Confonant, the Articulation is opened by it: Thus pb denotes the Articulation of p made open by paffing the Breath through the Lips. This is the Articulation denoted by ƒ; and therefore pb and ƒ are equivalent.

The general Nature of the Liquid Sounds denoted by 1, m, n, and r, has been already explained at page 5.

It is not neceffary to make any particular Observations on l, m, and n; but it is proper to obferve of the Sound of r, that it may be made less or more liquid at our Pleafure. When it is lefs liquid, a confiderable Portion of the Breath is forced through the Teeth; and this makes the Sound rough. This Sound of r is hard at the end of Words, if the Syllable which it clofes be long; as bar, refer, cur. But when r goes before a Vowel, the Breath is directed to the Palate with a more gentle flow; as in range, relieve, rife, rule. The Sound is thus foftened, or liquified, and hence this Letter has been ranked amongst the Liquids.

Re at the end of Words taken directly from the French is founded as er weak and liquid; as in theatre, luftre.

The

The Articulations of several of the Letters may be liquified by altering the Direction of the Breath fo as to make it tend towards the Roof of the Mouth, and detaining it a little before it paffes by the Nofe or Mouth, or both. Thus Confonant is the Liquid f; w, when confidered as a Confonant, is the Liquid ou; y, when confidered as a Confonant, is the Liquid i, and ≈ is the Liquid /.

2 directs to a round Aperture of the Lips, which occafions the internal Cavity of the Mouth to be fuch, that the Breath neceffarily paffes up to the Palate as in articulating the Liquid ou; fo that the Sound of u or w muft neceffarily follow 9.

X is equivalent to ks.

C, ch, g, j confonant, f, and th, remain to be confidered.

C is mute, or hard, and has the Effect of k before a, o, u; as in can, colour, curious. It has the fame Effect before r; as credit, crime, &c.

C is open, or foft, before e and i, and has the Effect off; as cellar, civil, &c.

Ch Sounds as tch; as charm, cherish, child, chofen, church. Except chaife, chandelier, and fome few other Words taken directly from the French.

G is mute, or hard, before a, o, u; as gather, go, gun.

G is ufually open, or foft, before e; as gem, gentle: except gear, geld, get, geefe, gewgaw, and derivatives from Words ending in g; as from ring-ringer

ringing;

ringing; wrong-wronger wronged; young-younger youngest And generally before er at the end of Words; as finger, ftronger, anger, &c. But g is foft in ginger, harbinger, and fome other Words.

G before i is close, or hard; as gift, gild, giddy; except giant, gibbet, giles a Man's Name, gill a Measure, (for in gills, a Part of a Fish, the g is hard) gilly-flower, gin, giblets, gingle, gipfey.

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G foft, or open, has the Sound of dy.

G is quiefcent in gnash, gnaw, fign, foreign.

Gh at the beginning of Words, has the Sound of g clofe; as in ghoft. In the middle and end it is ufually quiefcent; as, right, eight, straightness, thoughtful, &c.

At the end of fome Words gb denotes an ƒ pronounced deep in the Throat; as, cough, enough, tough, Slough meaning the caft Skin of any Thing.

Confonant is equivalent to dy or open g; as, James, jealous.

S at the beginning of Words denotes an open hiffing Sound; as in falt, fell, fide, fole, fudden; and at the end of the Pronouns this, us; and of the Adverb thus; and of a few Latin Words taken into English; as, Venus, rebus, furplus: For this Sound at the end of Words, meerly English, is denoted by fs; as, glass, mefs, amifs, loss, trufs.

Single has a smooth Sound, when it is the Sign of the Genitive Cafe, or of the Plural Number of Subftantives, or of the third Perfon fingular of Verbs; as from god—god's; men—men's ; a King—many Kings; I call— be calls, &c.

The