DIRECTIONS 



FOR THE 



PRONUNCIATION of the VOCABULARY. 



As all nations who are acquainted with the me- 

 thod of communicating their ideas by characters 

 (which represent the sound that conveys the idea), 

 have some particular method of managing or pro- 

 nouncing the sounds represented by such charac- 

 ters, this forms a very essential article in the con- 

 stitution of the language of any particular nation, 

 and must therefore be understood before we can 

 make any progress in learning, or be able to con- 

 verse in it. But as this is very complex and tedious 

 to a beginner, by reason of the great variety of 

 powers the characters of letters are endued with 

 under different circumstances, it would seem neces- 

 sary, at least in languages which have never be- 

 fore appeared in writing, to lessen the number of 

 these varieties, by restraining the different sounds, 

 and always representing the same simple ones by the 

 same character ; and this is no less necessary in the 

 English than any other language, as this variety of 

 powers is very frequent, and without being taken 

 notice of in the following Vocabulary, might render 

 it entirely unintelligible. As the vowels are the 

 regulation of all sounds, it is these only that need 

 be noticed, and the powers allotted to each of these 

 in the Vocabulary is subjoined. 



A in the English language is used to represent two 

 different simple sounds, as in the word Arabia, 

 where the first and last have a different power 



