VOWELS AND CONSONANTS. 



oo (moor) the lips are protruded and the mouth-cavity 

 lengthened. The change in the form of the mouth may 

 be noticed by pronouncing consecutively the vowel-sounds 

 ah, eh, ee, oh, oo. The English i (as in spire) is a diph- 

 thong, consisting of d (pad) followed by e (feet), as may be 

 readily found on attempting to sing a sustained note to the 

 sound I. 



Semivowels. In uttering true vowel-sounds the soft 

 palate is raised so as to cut off the air in the nose, which 

 then does not take part in the resonance. For some other 

 sounds (the semivowels or resonant s) the initial step is, as 

 in the case of the true vowels, the production of a laryngeal 

 tone; but the soft palate is not raised, and the mouth-exit 

 is more or less closed by the lips or the tongue; hence the 

 blast partly issues through the nose, and the air there takes 

 part in the vibrations and gives them a special character; 

 this is the case with m, n, and ng. 



Consonants are sounds produced not mainly by the vocal 

 cords, but by modifications of the expiratory blast on its 

 way through the mouth. The current may be interrupted 

 and the sound changed by the lips (labials, as p and b); 

 or, at or near the teeth, by the tip of the tongue (dentals, 

 as t and d) ; or, in the throat, by the root of the tongue 

 and the soft palate (gutturals, as Tc and g). 



Consonants may also be classified by the kind of move- 

 ment which gives rise to them. In explosives an interrup- 

 tion to the air-current is suddenly interposed or removed 

 (p, T), t, d, Ic, g). Other consonants are continuous (f, 

 s, r) and may be divided into (1) aspirates, when the air 



Is the long { of English a true vowel ? 



What is meant by the semivowels ? 



"What are consonants ? How mav they be classified ? 



