VOWELS AND CONSONANTS. . 57 



have often to learn new Values, in sound, for the let- 

 ters with the native values of which (English, for ex- 

 ample) we are already familiar. (For instance a is, 

 in French, pronounced not a, but ah ; i is pronounced 

 not i, but ee, etc.) For Universal purposes we have, 

 therefore, first, to agree in what way we will repre- 

 sent (print or write) the Sounds of the Alphabet, be- 

 fore we can be sure that we and the people of other 

 countries shall be thinking and talking of the same 

 Sounds, even when we may be using the same letters. 



91. Vowel-Sounds are sounds ivhich are made by a 

 continuous flow of the sounding breath through the mouth 

 (and sometimes through the nose also), or, in other words, 

 WITH THE MOUTH OPEN ; as when we say i (ee), Ah ! 

 Oh ! Consonant-Sounds are Cuts, Breaks or Limits 

 made by the voice, ivhich ive put upon the sounding 

 breath, as that of the k in ling or in o (a) Jc. To ana- 

 lyze speech into its elements is to learn to utter, sepa- 

 rately, just the sounds which are contained in the 

 words, without regard to the way in ivhich the ivords are 

 commonly spelled ; as if we were to call o k' oak, omit- 

 ting the a which is not sounded, 1 This is also called 

 Spelling by Sound. It is of the utmost importance 

 to become perfectly familiar with analyzing or spelling 

 by sound, in order to understand, without confusion, 

 whatever is written or said about Sounds. (App. D, 

 p. 190.) 



92. The Yowel-Sounds, even of all the languages 



1 The name we give to k is kay ; but this includes a vowel-sound 

 (uy). Practice enables one to explode the Consonants without the 

 aid of any appreciable amount of vowel-soimd. The name is not 

 the sound ; or rather it is something- more than the sound. 



