ON THE ALPHABET, 5 
each case a slight difference of tone in addition to the difference in quan- 
tity. 
In English we have a vowel sound heard in awe, aught, all, lord, and 
many other words. It should be written by @. Then there is the sound of 
a in cat, man, and other words. This should be represented by d. Finally 
there is the vowel sound heard in but, son, blood. It is‘often called a neutral 
vowel, because in its utterance the organs of the mouth are nearly in the 
indefinite position of simple breathing. It is the obscure sound heard in 
many unaccented syllables — It is nearly like the German 6 and the French 
eu, but not exactly the same as either. As it is called by us “‘short wu,” and 
to one accustomed to English seems most naturally represented by a u, the 
sign @ has been here adopted for it. 
The peculiar sound of the French wu in tu, pure, mir, ete., or of the 
German i in kihl, kiissen, ete., will, whenever found, be written with the 
German sign #. It is made by a combination of the tongue-position by 
which i in pique is uttered with the lip-position by which w in rule is uttered. 
These four additional vowels are thus provided for: 
a a a ii ii 
all, cat, but, kuhl and mir. 
Sometimes a vowel is excessively prolonged, and this characteristic 
plays an important part in some languages. In such cases the sign for plus 
+ should be written after the vowel thus prolonged; thus—ad-+, a+, d+, 
0+, a+. 
DIPHTHONGS. 
What is called the “long i” of aisle, isle, etc., is really a compound 
sound, a diphthong, beginning with a (far) and running down and ending 
with i (pique or pick). It is, therefore, to be written with ai. 
The sound in how, out, etc., is in a precisely similar manner a com- 
pound, beginning with a (far) and running down to w (rule or full). It is 
accordingly to be represented by aw. 
If such a diphthong as ours in boil or boy is met with, it must of course 
be represented by di, the signs for its two parts. 
What we call “long u,” as in use, pure, mew, feud, ete., is clearly a 
