consonants closer and less musical sounds, but this distinction does not seem to throw much light on the subject. Or we are told that vowels are formed without the stoppage of the breath, and that consonants are formed by stopping or by squeezing the breath. All this is interesting, no doubt, to us as physiologists, but it is no concern of ours as grammarians whether we stop our breath or only squeeze it, whether we vibrate our vocal chords or do something with our larynx or pharynx. This is physiology, not grammar. Our business is to distinguish the sounds when produced, not to determine the mode of their production. 45. Classification of Consonantal Sounds. Let us now take the consonantal sounds and consider some broad distinctions between them. Compare the four sounds of d', t', dh', th', as represented in the words din, tin, thine, thin, remembering, as before, to make these sounds by beginning to utter the words and stopping short before the vowel is reached. Now in these four sounds, there are two important distinctions to be noticed : 46. Sonants and Surds. (1) In the first place, if we compare d' with t' and dh' with th', we shall observe that although the d' and dh' are not audible at the ordinary pitch of the voice, still they can be just heard, if an effort is made, while the and th' are scarcely to be heard at all. The same contrast may be noticed in other pairs of sounds: g, if pronounced when isolated from its vowel, is audible, k' is less so. The sound of j' in jest is audible when it stands alone; ch' in chest is less so. The sound of b' is just audible; p' is almost silent. Various names have been used to express this distinction. Some writers call one set of Soft; others call one set sounds Hard and the other Sharp and the other Flat. Let us compare once more b' and ' and ask ourselves which is hard and which is soft, which is sharp and which is flat. If it strikes us that the application of these metaphors is obvious,-if these terms at once convey their appropriate meaning to our minds,—by all means let us continue to make use of them. Possibly however we may not be struck by the suitability of the epithets, and in that case the old words Sonant and Surd will express the difference more plainly for us. Sonant means sounding, surd means noiseless. Supposing that we fail to see the fitness of calling hard or sharp and b soft or flat, we can see the fitness of calling p surd and b sonant, for we have only to pronounce both letters and observe which of the two we can hear most of. By continuing the experiment, we can distribute all the sonants and surds in their right classes, and this is a much better plan than learning the lists by heart and then putting the wrong names at the top. If we pronounce g, j, d, b, dh, z, zh, v, without an accompanying vowel, we can hear them. These we call sonants. If we pronounce their correlatives k, ch, t, p, th, s, sh, f, without a vowel, they are almost inaudible. These we call surds. To make this distinction clear, we will give these pairs of sounds in two columns with a word to illustrate each. They are variously distinguished as Now let us return to our four sounds d, t, dh, th, and observe what other distinction can be drawn between them, besides the distinction of sonant and surd. 47. Mutes and Spirants. (2) The sounds d and t are sudden, abrupt, instantaneous, explosive: it is impossible to prolong them. The sounds dh, th (as in thine and thin, for we often make the sound of dh, though we never use this sign for it) are continuous: they can be prolonged if we keep on breathing. Hence they are called Spirants, (from the Latin spiro, 'I breathe.') Such letters as d, t, p, b, g, k, are called Mutes, because the sounds are silenced with a sudden halt. From the same circumstance they are also called Checks, or Explosives. Grammarians have exercised much ingenuity in finding a variety of terms to express the same distinction, thereby rendering the matter more difficult than it naturally is. We will now make a second list of consonantal sounds, classified according as they are Mutes or Spirants: Mutes, Checks, Stops, Explosives. g, k, d, t, b, p,j, ch Spirants, Breaths, Continuous. v, f, zh, sh, z, s, dh, th, h 48. The sounds l, m, n, r, and ng (as in sing) are called Liquids, or 'flowing' sounds. A few other terms are applied to differences in the classification of consonantal sounds. The letters and are called Trills, because there is a vibration in the sounds, or in some part of the vocal apparatus by which we pronounce them. Roll out an r as a Frenchman does, rrrr, and this will be recognised at once. Sibilants are hissing sounds. They can be picked out easily from among the spirants; they are s, z, sh, zh. 49. Classification of Consonantal Sounds according to Vocal Organs. These consonantal sounds may be classified on quite a different method. Hitherto we have dealt with them according to their characteristic differences as sounds. But it is customary also to arrange them according to the part of the vocal organism chiefly concerned in their production. Consider the various parts of the apparatus by which sounds are produced. These are lips, teeth, tongue, roof of the mouth, throat, and nose, and from the Latin equivalents of these names we form adjectives and speak of labials, or lip-letters, dentals, or teeth-letters, linguals, or tongue-letters, palatals, or roof-of-the-mouth letters, gutturals, or throat-letters, and nasals, or nose-letters. To physiologists this classification is of more importance than it is to grammarians, but it is a matter of some interest to observe how the different vocal organs are brought into play in varying degrees in the pronunciation of different sounds. We must not expect to find some sounds made entirely by one organ and other sounds made entirely by another,—some all tongue and others all teeth. Tongue and teeth may frequently combine in such a fashion as to render it difficult to say whether the sounds are to be put down as linguals or as dentals. However, some sort of rough classification may be made on this physiological principle. An indication of it is given here, not with the object that the student shall learn it by heart, but in order that he may test each sound under its proper heading for himself, and observe how the organ of the voice from which it derives its class-name is brought into play in its production. 50. Besides vowels and consonants there are two classes of sounds called semi-vowels and diphthongs. Semi-vowels. These are w and y. Pronounce a word beginning with a w followed by a vowel, such as wit or wet, and let the voice dwell upon the w. In the sound given to the w you may detect a close resemblance to the vowel-sound of oo in cool or of u in rude. Try the pronunciation slowly of oo-it, oo-et; then increase the speed as you repeat the word, and you will find that you are saying wit, wet. Again, take a word beginning with a y, such as yes, pronounce it slowly, and you will recognise in the sound of its first letter the long e sound of feed. listen carefully to a person who gives us a hesitating 'yes' in reply to a question, we shall hear that he says ee-es. such cases as these, when w and y stand at the beginning of words, the vowel-sound glides into a closely allied consonantal sound. When w and y occur after other vowels, they help sometimes to represent pure vowel-sounds, as in draw, dray, and sometimes to express diphthongs, as in If we In how, buy; that is to say, a pure vowel-sound or a diphthongal sound is given to the combination, but the w and y have contributed nothing as sounds to the result. The w is not sounded in draw nor the y in dray: these letters merely indicate which of the sounds of the over-worked vowel sign a is intended in each case. The sound of ow in how is a blend, not of o+w, but of o+u, as in house: the sound of uy in buy is no blend of u+y or of anything resembling these vowels; it is the same sound as the sound of i in bind, a blend of the a in father with the i in pin. It must be borne in mind throughout this chapter that it is the sounds in English which we are classifying and not the signs or letters: sounds which are identical with other sounds are not to be regarded as distinct because they happen to be represented by entirely different signs. 51. Diphthongs are blends or combinations of two vowel-sounds which are run together in pronunciation. At this point great care is needed not to be misled by the diphthongs of print, æ, æ, neither of which, in our English pronunciation, is a true diphthong at all. The a of Cæsar is no diphthong in sound; it is the pure vowel long e. So is the a in fœtid. The ai in fair, ea in lead, ie in field, ei in receive, are none of them true diphthongs; they are only more or less clumsy ways of showing the length of an elementary vowel-sound. The true diphthongs in English, those in which two vowel-sounds are run into one, are four, or perhaps five, in number, viz. i in fine a (in father) + i (in pin), = oi in noise = a (in fall) +e (in feed), = These are true blends, and to them is sometimes added as a fifth the broader form of i in fine, viz. the i of aye, when |