ENGLISH GRAMMAR. THE ALPHABET. § 1. The modern English Alphabet consists of twentysix letters, which are written both as small letters and as capitals: Small: a b c de f g hij k l m пор Capital: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. Obs. 1. In the thirteenth century three other letters were in use: p, , the sounds of which are now represented by th [ 7, Cbs. 2], and 5, which had an intermediate sound between g and y [§ 9, Obs.]. The letter p was retained till recently under the form of y in the words ye the, and yt = that. Obs. 2. In addition to the above, the double letters æ, ce (= ae and oe) are somtimes found in words borrowed from foreign languages: as, Egina (an island of Greece), sub-pœna (a law term). They are pronounced in English exactly like ee. § 2. A capital letter is used at the beginning of every new sentence, and of every line of poetry; also generally at the beginning of a quotation. Names of individual persons, places, and things (Proper Names) are written with a capital in whatever part of a sentence they occur; and so also are the words derived from them: as, France, Frank, Frenchified; America, American, Americanize. The names of the arts and sciences and the principal terms used in them are also often written with a capital: as, Astronomy, Theology, Political Economy; Active, Passive ; Indicative, Subjunctive. The pronoun I and interjection O are always written as capital letters; and the words thou, thine, thee, he, his, him, are usually written with a capital letter when they refer to God. Also in the expressions Her Majesty, His Majesty, capitals are used with both words. B Obs. English writers vary a good deal in their use of capitals, some employing them much more frequently than others. Words are often written with a capital on account of their importance where they occur. Sometimes entire words and phrases are written with capitals for the same reason: thus "And it is named, in memory of the event, The PATH OF PERSEVERANCE." (Wordsworth, Excursion, bk. vi.) § 3. The letters are divided into Vowels and Consonants. The vowels can be fully sounded by themselves, and without altering the position of any part of the mouth or throat. They are five: a, e, i, o, u. NOTE.-W and y are sometimes used as vowels [see § 9]. Obs. 1. When the sound of a vowel is dwelt upon in pronunciation, it is said to be long, as a in fa-ther, fate. When the voice falls at once upon the letter following, the vowel is said to be short: as, fat. So the vowel e is long in meet, and short in met; i is long in fine and short in fin; o is long in o-cean and short in otter; u is long in mu-sic and short in muster. Obs. 2. The true long sound of e is however that of a in mate (French and Continental é); and the true long sound of i is that of ee in meet (French and Continental î). In no other European language are these letters pronounced as the English pronounce them. Obs. 3. E is generally silent at the end of a word, when it is called e mute: but in most cases it lengthens the preceding vowel: as, pāle, mēte, lide, nōte, acute. It sometimes has the same effect in the middle of a word: as, ungrateful, retirement. § 4. The Consonants cannot be fully articulated without a vowel sound along with them, nor without some change in the position of the organs of speech. They are b, c, d, f, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z. (The letters h, w, y, are treated separately: see §§ 9, 11.) Obs. The proper sound of a letter must on no account be judged of by its name. The names of the letters are to a great extent arbitrary; and though it is convenient to know them, yet they must be put aside before we can tell what the real power of a letter is. This is especially the case with the consonants and h. In order to judge of the sound of these letters, they should be articulated with the different vowels in succession: as, § 5. Consonants may be divided into Liquids, Mutes, Sibilants, and Semivowels. § 6. The Liquids are 1, m, n, r. These run smoothly and easily into the sounds of certain other consonants. Thus the sound of m unites readily with that of b or of p; the sound of n with that of d or of t; and the sounds of 1, r, with those of many other letters. Examples: per-ambulator, amph-itheatre; eld-er, elm, Els-inore; and, ant-imony, ard-ent, h-arp, ars-enal. § 7. The Mutes or Dumb Letters are divided into three classes, according to the part of the mouth or throat chiefly used in pronouncing them; namely, Labials, Dentals, and Gutturals. (Latin: labium, lip; dens [dent-is], tooth; guttur, throat.) Obs. 1. The Mutes p, t, c, k are pronounced with a harder and thinner sound than b, d, g: hence the former are called Hard Mutes, and the latter Soft Mutes. Obs. 2. The sound of th was formerly represented by two characters, þ and ð; the former being more frequently used at the beginning of a word or syllable, and the latter at the end: as, þes smið, this smith. It has been supposed that p represented the hard sound, as in thin, think, and the soft sound, as in thine, or vice versa. But the two characters appear rather to have been used as interchangeable forms of the same letter. Compare the Greek 0, F, and σ, s. Cbs. 3. Chas a guttural or k-sound before a, o, u: as, call, cod, cut; and a sibilant or s-sound before e, i, y: as, cell, city, cynic. In old English e was always pronounced as a guttural, and ke was a superfluous letter. The s-sound of c before e and i was introduced by French influence after the Norman conquest. The k-sound of c before e and i then came to be represented by k, and c in such cases disappeared: as, keen, king. When k has to be doubled, ck, not kk, is used: as, acknowledge, not akknowledge. Obs. 4. G has always a guttural sound before a, o, u: as, gave, got, gun. Before e and i it has sometimes a guttural sound: as, get, give; and sometimes a sibilant or j-sound: as, gem, generous, giant, gibe. This j-sound of g is owing to French influence, and occurs in words of French or Latin origin. Obs. 5. Ch and gh are now used as aspirates only in Lowland Scotch. Gh is now used in two ways: (1) it is silent, as in plough, through, daughter; (2) it is sounded like ƒ, as in enough, laughter. On ch see § 8. § 8. The Sibilants are s (sh), x, and z. (See also § 7, Obs. 3.) They are called Sibilants or hissing letters, from the Latin word sibiláre," to hiss." Ch and j have also a sibilant sound, ch being sounded nearly as tsh (chin), j nearly as dzh (jest); but ch and j are more correctly called Palatals, being sounded with the palate (Latin: palátum, “palate"). Obs. 1. X is a compound letter, being equal to ks or gs; and accordingly these letters might be used instead of it: as, fox foks; exampleegsample. The ks is the original sound; the gs is a sound owing to French influence. "X sounds = as gs when the syllable following the x.is accented, as exhaust, exált, exótic, extend; but in other cases with its simple and original value of ks" (Earle). Obs. 2. Z is not found in the earliest form of our alphabet. = Obs. 3. The letter j is only another form of i, which in older English is used for it as Ioye joy; Ius juice. The palatal sound of j (=g soft) was first introduced into English in Norman-French words: as, jest (gest), jealous (zealous), journey. In early MSS. this sound is sometimes represented by the now obsolete letter, J. § 9. The Semirowels or Half-vowels are w and y, which are so called because they are used both as vowels and consonants. At the beginning of a word or syllable, or before a vowel, they are consonants: as, yellow, yield, un-yielding; winter, world, un-worldly; wine, twine; witch, switch. At the end of a word or syllable they are vowels: as in try, try-ing (here y = i); cow, cow-ard, few (here W = ૫). Obs. Y was originally a vowel only, and was first used as a consonant after the Norman conquest. It represented an initial g-sound in words which were losing their guttural: as, year instead of gear. While this transition in sound was taking place, that is, from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, a separate letter was used, 3, which had an intermediate sound between g and y. § 10. Q is a superfluous letter. It is always followed by u. In the oldest English the sound of qu was expressed by cw: as, cwen = = queen; cwic quick (living). Q was first introduced in French and Latin words after the Norman conquest: as, quart, quarrel, quarry. Its $ 11. H must be classed by itself. It is not a vowel, nor is it properly a consonant. But it resembles a consonant in that it cannot be articulated by itself. sound is produced by forcing out the breath in the act of pronouncing a vowel: as, ha, he, ho! Hence h is often called the aspirate, from the Latin word aspiráre, “to breathe upon." In some words h is not sounded at all, and it is then said to be silent. It is silent in heir, heiress; hour, hourly; honour, honourable, honest, honesty, dis-honest; hotel; hostler. In a few words it is doubtful, being sounded by some persons and not by others. Such are herb (pronounced by some 'erb, and by others herb); humble (humble or 'umble); hospital (usually pronounced 'ospital); inherit (usually pronounced inherit, but also in-❜erit). Obs. 1. H was originally a guttural, but has entirely lost this sound except in the north of England and in Scotland. Obs. 2. Wh- is sounded like hw-: as, who (h-wo), what (h-wat). These words were originally written with hw- [hwa, hwat], but when the guttural sound of h was dropped, and the w-sound became more prominent, the position of the two letters was changed. |