184 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



There was no king in Israel in those days, no tyrant compositor, 

 and every man spelt as seemed good in his own eyes. One vowel is 

 written for another indifferently. " The New English," in its early 

 stages is equally belligerent. Thus 



a takes the place of aw, awe, e, ea, eo, ge, i, y, o ; 



e " " " ae, ea, ei, eo, ew, i, io, iw, o, oi, ow, u, ui, y; 



i " " " a, ae, ai, e, ea, ee, eh, eye, o, ou, ow, u, y ; 



o " " " a, ae, au, aw, e, eo, ew, i, ou, ow, u, y ; 



u " " " a, e, eo, eu, ey, i, o, ew, ow, we, y, ye, v. 



We have plain traces of the anarchy to-day. Dictionaries agree that 

 a in fate is like e in they, a in fair like e in their, a in fall like o in 

 form, a in liar like e in brier, i in ruin, o in major, and the second u 

 in sulphur. Again, e in her is the same as i in sir, o in worm, u in 

 fur, and y in myrrh ; the o in move cannot be distinguished from the 

 00 in moon, or u in rule, while o in wolf is like oo in wool, and u in 

 push. To cap the climax we are told that a has five distinct sounds, 

 e six and o seven, as if distinct sounds do not constitute distinct 

 vowels. 



But if a has five distinct sounds why should it be named from one 

 of them only 1 Not it alone but all our vowels have been so 

 named, and, with one exception, named strangely. Shakespeare says, 

 the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. In this case we have 

 had ours. If invasion from the continent wrought sad havoc on 

 English vowels, and nicknames arose from them, very likely in the 

 manner which Mr. Earl points out, we have done our best to impose 

 the.se nicknames on the languages of the continent. With respect to 

 dead varieties, Greek and Latin, we succeeded in the attempt for 

 several centuries, succeeded at least to our own satisfaction. These 

 days a doubt has been ripening to a conviction that this course of 

 action is not wise. Through the influence of philological study and 

 under the leadership of Cambridge, English-speaking-people are be 

 ginning to rai.se themselves above the vulgarism, and are at once^ 

 adopting a more rational mode of pronouncing the classic tongues, 

 and are enquiring what vowel sounds their own language really has. 

 If the question then be put thus, have we as vowels in English the 

 five tones which are represented by the Koenig forks, call them what 

 you will ? the answer without an exception is. Yes. How could it be 

 otherwise ? They are octaves which embrace the compass of the- 



