t us at the threshold. From the earliest period
of the invention of written characters to represent human language, however
more or less remote that time may be, it seems absolutely certain, that the
distinction of letters into _vowels and consonants_ must have obtained. All
the speculations of the Greek grammarians assume this as a first
principle." Again: "I beg leave only to premise this observation, that I
absolutely and unequivocally deny the position, that all the letters of the
Hebrew alphabet are consonants; and, after the most careful and minute
inquiry, give it as my opinion, that of the twenty-two letters of which the
Hebrew alphabet consists, five are vowels and seventeen are consonants. The
five vowels by name are, Aleph, He, Vau, Yod, and Ain."--_Wilson's Heb.
Gram._, pp. 6 and 8.

III. POWERS OF THE LETTERS.

The powers of the letters are properly those elementary sounds which their
figures are used to represent; but letters formed into words, are capable
of communicating thought independently of sound. The simple elementary
sounds of any language are few, commonly not more than _thirty-six_;[96]
but they may be variously _combined_, so as to form words innumerable.
Different vowel sounds, or vocal elements, are produced by opening the
mouth differently, and placing the tongue in a peculiar manner for each;
but the voice may vary in loudness, pitch, or time, and still utter the
same vowel power.

The _vowel sounds_ which form the basis of the English language, and which
ought therefore to be perfectly familiar to every one who speaks it, are
those which are heard at the beginning of the words, _ate, at, ah, all,
eel, ell, isle, ill, old, on, ooze, use, us_, and that of _u_ in _bull_.

In the formation of syllables, some of these fourteen primary sounds may be
joined together, as in _ay, oil, out, owl_; and all of them may be preceded
or followed by certain motions and positions of the lips and tongue, which
will severally convert them into other terms in speech. Thus the same
essential sounds may be changed into a new series of words by an _f_; as,
_fate, fat, far, fall, feel, fell, file, fill, fold, fond, fool, fuse,
fuss, full_. Again, into as many more with a _p_; as, _pate, pat, par,
pall, peel, pell, pile, pill, pole, pond, pool, pule, purl, pull_. Each of
the vowel sounds may be variously expressed by letters. About half of them
are sometimes words: the rest are seldom, if ever, used alone eve