484 MUSCULAR MOTION. 



rupted by the tongue and lips, and passing entirely through the mouth. 

 Such at least is the case with those that are reckoned pure vowels. 

 These, in the English alphabet, are five in number, A, E, I, 0, and U. 

 W and Y are, likewise, vowel sounds in all situations. In enunciating 

 A, as in fate, the tongue is drawn backwards and slightly upwards, so 

 as to contract the passage immediately above the larynx. In sounding 

 E, the tongue and lips are in their most natural position without exer- 

 tion. I is formed by bringing the tongue nearly into contact with the 

 bony palate ; 0, by the contraction of the mouth being greatest imme- 

 diately under the uvula, the lips being also somewhat contracted. In 

 the production of U, the contraction is prolonged beneath the whole of 

 the soft palate. From these principal vowels, all the other vowel 

 sounds of the language may be formed, by considering them as partak- 

 ing more or less of the nature of each. They are, in our language, 

 fourteen in number : besides compound sounds, as in oil and pound. Of 

 these fourteen, four belong to A ; two to E ; two to I; three to 0; and 

 three to U. 



A, asm- 



E, as in - 



fFate. 

 Far. 



Fall. 

 Me. 

 Met. 



Pine. 

 I, asm 



(No. 



0, as in - < Not. 

 ( Move. 

 CTune. 



U, as in - - - < Tub. 

 /Bull. 



The vowels are more easy of pronunciation than the consonants. 

 They merely require the mouth to be opened ; and howsoever it may 

 be arranged in the enunciation of the different vowels, the vocal tube 

 is simply modified, to vary the impression, which has to be made on 

 the organ of hearing. The shape of the cavity is altered ; but the 

 passage of the air continues free, and the voice, consequently, issues in 

 an unrestrained manner. Hence, perhaps, the physiological origin of 

 the Danish word Aa, " a river" a generic term, which became after- 

 wards applied to three rivers in the Low Countries, three in Switzer- 

 land, and five in Westphalia, the sound of the two broad A's flowing 

 without obstacle, like a river. Time passes away in a similar manner; 

 hence, for a like reason, the Greek twi which signifies "always, per- 

 petually ;" and the German je, which has the same signification. 



The consonants are more difficult of enunciation than the vowels; as 

 they require different, and sometimes complex, and delicate movements 

 of the vocal tube; and, on this account, they are not acquired so early 

 by children. The term consonant is derived from one of its uses, that of 

 binding together vowels, and being sounded with them. By most, and 

 according to Mr. Walker, 1 by the best grammarians, w and y are con- 

 sonants when they begin a word; and vowels when they end one. Dr. 

 Lowth, 2 however, a man of learning and judgment, who certainly would 

 not suffer in a comparison with any of his opponents, regards them, as 

 the author does, to be always vowels. Physiologically, it is not easy to 

 look upon them in any other light. Yet Mr. Walker exclaims: "How 



1 Preface to his Dictionary. a Introduction to English Grammar, p. 3. 



