3G4' Mr. H. Wedgwood o« the Nattiral 



The letter C has in some situations the pronunciation of K, 

 in others of S, and may therefore be considered superfluous in 

 a system of which the object is the arrangement oi' so7mds alone. 

 The same may be said of Q, which is only used in combina- 

 tion with U, to represent the sound K W ; and of X, which 

 is pronounced GS, or KS. 



The sound of S in leisure, pleasure, or of Z in azure, is a 

 simple articulation, identical with the French pronunciation 

 of the letter J, but having no exact representative in the En- 

 glish alphabet, in which the sound of J or G soft is a com- 

 bination of the last-mentioned sound with a D immediately 

 preceding. 



The simple sounds expressed by double letters are those 

 of SH ; TH in thin, and TH in then, and NG in h-ing, hang. 



In addition to the foregoing, the guttural articulations 

 GH, CH, which we do not possess in English, are also simple 

 sounds. Of these, the former is very common in Dutch (in 

 which it is the pronunciation both of G and CH) and 

 Gaelic ; the latter in German and Lowland Scotch. 



The following, then, will be found to be a complete list of 

 the simple consonantal sounds arranged according to the or- 

 gan employed in their pronunciation. 



Gutturals : K, G, NG, CH, GH, H, pronounced by a 

 constriction of the upper part of the throat and base of the 

 tongue. 



Labials : P, B, M, F, V, W, pronounced by the motion of 

 the lips. 



Dentals: T, D, N, TH (in thick), TH (in this), L, pro- 

 nounced by the pressure of the front of the tongue against the 

 teeth or front of the palate. 



Palatals: S, Z, R, SH, J (French), Y, pronounced (as it 

 appears to me) by the pressure of the sides of the tongue 

 against the palate, leaving a passage for the air more or less 

 free through the middle. 



The first relation of which we shall take notice between 

 sounds of the same organic class in the foregoing arrange- 

 ment, is that which distinguishes the classes of Tenues and 

 Medials, as they are commonly called ; for Avhich, however, 

 a more characteristic appellation would be spirants and 

 sonants respectively ; inasmuch as the former class are pro- 

 nounced by a mere expiration not falling within the musical 

 scale ; the latter, by a fundamental note of the vocal instru- 

 ment, the organic articulation being in other respects the 

 same in corresponding consonants of either class. 



The consonants commonly arranged under the heads of 

 Toiues and Medials, are the following only : — 



