ilip_ and _filip_, &c.; a single sound has a double sign.

In respect to the degree wherein the English orthography is made
subservient to etymology, it is sufficient to repeat the statement that as
many as three letters c, ae, and oe are retained in the alphabet for
_etymological purposes only_.

s. 157. The defects noticed in the preceding sections are _absolute_
defects, and would exist, as they do at present, were there no language in
the world except the English. This is not the case with those that are now
about to be noticed; for them, indeed, the word _defect_ is somewhat too
strong a term. They may more properly be termed inconveniences.

Compared with the languages of the rest of the world the use of many
letters in the English alphabet is _singular_. The letter i (when long or
independent) is, with the exception of England, generally sounded as ee.
With Englishmen it has a diphthongal power. The inconvenience of this is
the necessity that it imposes upon us, in studying foreign languages, of
unlearning the sound which we give it in our own, and of learning the sound
which it bears in the language studied. So it is (amongst many others) with
the letter j. In English this has the sound of _dzh_, in French of zh, and
in German of y. From singularity in the use of letters arises inconvenience
in the study of foreign tongues.

In using j as dzh there is a second objection. It is not only inconvenient,
but it is theoretically incorrect. The letter j was originally a
modification of the vowel i. The Germans, who used it as the semivowel y,
have perverted it from its original power less than the English have done,
who sound it dzh.

With these views we may appreciate in the English alphabet and
orthography--

_Its convenience or inconvenience in respect to learning foreign
tongues._--The sound given to the a in _fate_ is singular. Other nations
sound it as a in _father_.

The sound given to the e, long (or independent), is singular. Other nations
sound it either as a in _fate_, or as _['e] ferm['e]_.

The sound given to the i in _bite_ is singular. Other nations sound it as
ee in _feet_.

The sound given to the oo in _fool_ is singular. Other nations sound it as
the o in _note_, or as the _['o] chiuso_.

The sound given to the u in _duck_ is singular. Other nations sound it as
the u in _bull_.

The sound given to the ou in _house_ is singular. Other nations, more
correctly, represent it by au or aw.

T