VOICE ARTICULATE LANGUAGE. 483 



pound sound has been reduced to certain elementary sounds, which are 

 represented by signs, called letters. These elementary sounds, by com- 

 bination, form syllables ; and the syllables, by combination, words. The 

 number of elementary sounds, admitted in each language, constitutes 

 its alphabet, which differs more or less in certain languages ; but as it is 

 entirely a matter of human invention, and as the elementary sounds, of 

 which the human voice is capable, are alike in the different races of 

 mankind, we see readily, that the alphabets of the different languages 

 must correspond, although the combinations of letters constituting syl- 

 lables and words may vary essentially. 



Into the origin of written legible language, it is not necessary to 

 inquire. We may remark, that the invention has been considered 

 so signally wonderful as to transcend human powers ; and hence, St. 

 Cyril, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Isidore, and, in more modern 

 times, Messrs. Bryant, Costard, &c., have been of opinion, that the 

 knowledge of letters was first communicated to Moses by the Almighty 

 himself, and that the decalogue was the earliest specimen of alphabetic 

 writing. Many passages in the writings of Moses, show unequivocally, 

 however, that written records must have existed prior to his time. In 

 the passage in which writing is first mentioned in the sacred volume, 

 the art is alluded to as orre of standing : " And the Lord said un-to 

 Moses, 4 Write this for a memorial in a book or table ;' " and in a sub- 

 sequent chapter "And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave 

 upon, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord." 1 



The English alphabet is considered to consist of twenty-six letters. 

 It may, however, by ultimate analysis, be reduced to twenty-five sim- 

 ple sounds A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, 0, P, R, S, T, 

 U, V, Z, Ch, Sh, Th, and Ng. To these letters arbitrary names have 

 been assigned, as Bee (B,) See (C,) Dee (D,) &c., which express very 

 different sounds from those that belong to the letter when it forms part 

 of a word or syllable. The word bad is not pronounced bee-a-dee, as 

 the child, just escaped from learning his alphabet, must imagine ; hence, 

 he has to unlearn all that he has acquired ; or to imagine, that different 

 letters have very different sounds, according to the situation in which 

 they are placed. To obviate this inconvenience, some persons are in the 

 habit of teaching their children syllabicall^ from the very first, by 

 which they acquire the true sound attached to each letter of the alpha- 

 bet. In the preceding enumeration of the simple sounds, that consti- 

 tute the alphabet, C, Q, W, X, and Y, have been excluded, for the fol- 

 lowing reasons. C has always the sound of either S or K, as in cistern 

 or consonant. Q has the sound of koo, as in quart, (kooart;) W of oo, 

 as in word (oourd;) X. of ks, or Z, as in vex, (vecks,) or Xerxes, (zerk- 

 ses;) whilst Y has the sound of I or E, as in wry or yard, (wri or eeard.) 

 Ch, Sh, and Th, have been added, as being true alphabetic or simple 

 sounds. 



Letters have been usually divided into two classes, vowels and conso- 

 nants. The vowels or vocal sounds are so called, because they appear 

 to be simple modifications of the voice formed in the larynx, uninter- 



1 Good, op. citat., ii. 273. 



