1861.] 



313 



[Diphthongs 



mail (which is a genuine diphthong in German), ou 

 With the vowel-sound -, 



a as their first member, 

 two diphthongs are form- 



in to pour, &c. 



ed, 1, 



at', 



aO', as IS 



shown in diagram 1. 



The diphthong az is 

 considered in the Eng- 

 lish language as the long 

 sound of the vowels i or 

 y, and is accordingly 

 spelled i, as in child , le 



as in pie, y as in fly, or igli as in Idyli. The diphthong ao is spelled 

 either ou as in spouse, or oio as in foicl. 



In order to make the vowel-sounds i or u termini of diphthongs, 

 we have recourse to the unmodified vowel-sound, which is as near to 

 them as to any other vowel-sound, and, accordingly, we obtain the 

 following diphthongs, viz., 9\ and 9X1, as in the diagram 2. 



These two diphthongs 2 



are higher powers of the 

 two former, and are ex- 

 pressed by the same signs 

 in writing. The diphthong 

 Ql is spelled /, y, or igh, 

 as in blithe, scythe, and 

 night. The diphthong d\i 

 is spelled in the same 

 way as the diphthong ao, 

 viz., ou in gout, stout. 



Of the vowel-sound a°, only one diphthong is in use in the English 

 language, viz., a°e, as appears from diagram 3. 



This diphthong is either 

 spelled oi as in toil, or oy 

 as in hoy. 



There are accordingly 

 five pure diphthongs in 

 use in the English lan- 

 guage, to which we may 

 add as a sixth the impure 

 diphthong ill in cue, few, 

 &c., as may appear from 

 the followino' table: 



