ng is well written,
that can possibly be misunderstood; and if any definition be likely to
_suggest_ a wrong idea, this alone is enough to condemn it: nor does it
justify the phraseology, to say, that a more reasonable construction can be
put upon it. By Murray and others, the young learner is told, that, "A
_vowel_ is an articulate _sound_, that can be perfectly _uttered by
itself_;" as if a vowel were nothing but a sound, and that a sort of echo,
which can _utter itself_; and next, that, "A _consonant_ is an articulate
_sound_, which cannot be perfectly uttered _without the help of_ a vowel."
Now, by their own showing, every letter is either a vowel or a consonant;
hence, according to these definitions, all the letters are articulate
_sounds_. And, if so, what is a "silent letter?" It is a _silent articulate
sound!_ Again: ask a boy, "What is a _triphthong?_" He answers in the words
of Murray, Weld, Pond, Smith, Adams, Kirkham, Merchant, Ingersoll, Bacon,
Alger, Worcester, and others: "A triphthong is the union of three vowels,
_pronounced in like manner_: as _eau_ in beau, _iew_ in view." He
accurately cites an entire paragraph from his grammar, but does he well
conceive how the three vowels in _beau_ or _view_ are "pronounced _in like
manner?_" Again: "A _syllable_ is a _sound_, either simple or _compound_,
pronounced by a single impulse of the voice."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p.
22. This definition resolves syllables into _sounds_; whereas their true
elements are _letters_. It also mistakes the participle _compounded_ for
the adjective _compound_; whereas the latter only is the true reverse of
_simple_. A _compound sound_ is a sound composed of others which may be
separated; a _sound compounded_ is properly that which is made an
ingredient with others, but which may itself be simple.

16. It is observable, that in their attempts to explain these prime
elements of grammar, Murray, and many others who have copied him, overlook
all _written_ language; whereas their very science itself took its origin,
name, and nature, from the invention of writing; and has consequently no
bearing upon any dialect which has not been written. Their definitions
absurdly resolve letters, vowels, consonants, syllables, and words, all
into _sounds_; as if none of these things had any existence on paper, or
any significance to those who read in silence. Hence, their explanations
of all these elements, as well as of many other things equally es