n to form
syllables. But the reader may easily learn to utter them all, separately,
according to the foregoing series. Let us note them as plainly as possible:
eigh, ~a, ah, awe, =eh, ~e, eye, ~i, oh, ~o, oo, yew, ~u, u. Thus the eight
long sounds, _eigh, ah, awe, eh, eye, oh, ooh, yew_, are, or may be, words;
but the six less vocal, called the short vowel sounds, as in _at, et, it,
ot, ut, put_, are commonly heard only in connexion with consonants; except
the first, which is perhaps the most frequent sound of the vowel A or
_a_--a sound sometimes given to the word _a_, perhaps most generally; as in
the phrase, "twice _~a_ day."

The simple _consonant sounds_ in English are twenty-two: they are marked by
_b, d, f, g hard, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, sh, t, th sharp, th flat, v,
w, y, z_, and _zh_. But _zh_ is written only to show the sound of other
letters; as of _s_ in _pleasure_, or _z_ in _azure_.

All these sounds are heard distinctly in the following words: _buy, die,
fie, guy, high, kie, lie, my, nigh, eying, pie, rye, sigh, shy, tie, thigh,
thy, vie, we, ye, zebra, seizure_. Again: most of them may be repeated in
the same word, if not in the same syllable; as in _bibber, diddle, fifty,
giggle, high-hung, cackle, lily, mimic, ninny, singing, pippin, mirror,
hissest, flesh-brush, tittle, thinketh, thither, vivid, witwal, union,[97]
dizzies, vision_.

With us, the consonants J and X represent, not simple, but complex sounds:
hence they are never doubled. J is equivalent to _dzh_; and X, either to
_ks_ or to _gz_. The former ends no English word, and the latter begins
none. To the initial X of foreign words, we always give the simple sound of
Z; as in _Xerxes, xebec_.

The consonants C and Q have no sounds peculiar to themselves. Q has always
the power of _k_. C is hard, like _k_, before _a, o_, and _u_; and soft,
like _s_, before _e, i_, and _y_: thus the syllables, _ca, ce, ci, co, cu,
cy_, are pronounced, _ka, se, si, ko, ku, sy_. _S_ before _c_ preserves the
former sound, but coalesces with the latter; hence the syllables, _sca,
sce, sci, sco, scu, scy_, are sounded, _ska, se, si, sko, sku, sy_. _Ce_
and _ci_ have sometimes the sound of _sh_; as in _ocean, social_. _Ch_
commonly represents the compound sound of _tsh_; as in _church_.

G, as well as C, has different sounds before different vowels. G is always
hard, or guttural, before _a, o_, and _u_; and generally soft, like _j_,
before _e, i_, or _y_: thus t