udy of the English language with the elementary
sounds and the letters which represent them.

Name the first letter of the alphabet---_a_. The mouth is open and the
sound may be prolonged indefinitely. It is a full, clear sound,
an unobstructed vibration of the vocal chords.

Now name the second letter of the alphabet---_b_.
You say _bee_ or _buh_. You cannot prolong the sound. In order to give
the real sound of _b_ you have to associate it with some other sound,
as that of _e_ or _u_. In other words, _b_ is in the nature of an
obstruction of sound, or a modification of sound, rather than a simple
elementary sound in itself. There is indeed a slight sound in the
throat, but it is a closed sound and cannot be prolonged. In the case
of _p,_ which is similar to _b,_ there is no sound from the throat.

So we see that there are two classes of sounds (represented by two
classes of letters), those which are full and open tones from the vocal
chords, pronounced with the mouth open, and capable of being prolonged
indefinitely; and those which are in the nature of modifications of
these open sounds, pronounced with or without the help of the voice,
and incapable of being prolonged. The first class of sounds is called
vowel sounds, the second, consonant sounds. Of the twenty-six letters
of the alphabet, _a, e, i, o,_ and _u_ (sometimes _y_ and _w_)
represent vowel sounds and are called vowels; and the remainder
represent consonant sounds, and are called consonants.

A syllable is an elementary sound, or a combination of elementary
sounds, which can be given easy and distinct utterance at one effort.
Any vowel may form a syllable by itself, but as we have seen that
a consonant must be united with a vowel for its perfect utterance,
it follows that every syllable must contain a vowel sound, even if
it also contains consonant sounds. With that vowel sound one or
more consonants may be united; but the ways in which consonants may
combine with a vowel to form a syllable are limited. In general we
may place any consonant before and any consonant after the vowel in
the same syllable: but _y_ for instance, can be given a consonant
sound only at the beginning of a syllable, as in _yet_; at the end
of a syllable _y_ becomes a vowel sound, as in _they_ or _only_.
In the syllable _twelfths_ we find seven consonant sounds; but if
these same letters were arranged in almost any other way they could
not be pronounced as one syllable