ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY. 281 
CHAPTER IV. 
THE LATIN ALPHABET. 
At present, ancient Latin usages are the only feasible basis for an alphabet that the learned in all nations can use; the 
letters, as far as possible, having their ancient Latin values.—Ellis, Universal Writing and Printing, Edinburg, 1856. 
The life of all language is pronuntiation.—_Roger Williams, Key into the Languages of America, London, 1643. 
La prononciation est la chose la plus importante dans l'étude d’une langue . . . . La prononciation est 4 une langue ce 
que les couleurs sont aux figures d’un tableau.—fobello, Grammaire Italienne. 
eters it will be found upon critical and candid inquiry, that much, which at first sight strikes us as barbarous, is only 
ancient.—Pennington, An Essay on the Pronunciation of the Greek Language, London, 1844. 
§ 88. Most of the languages of Europe for which the Roman character is used, preserve 
the original power, except that the greater number of sounds in some of the modern lan- 
guages prevents each of the characters from being restricted to a single power. 
89. The characters of the Latin Alphabet are the twenty following :—A, B, ©, D, E, F, G, 
H, I, L, M, N, 0, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X; and of these, nine had the same power as in English, 
namely: B,D, F, H, N, P, Q, T, X. 
90. The names of the letters, according to the ancient grammarians (Schneider’s Gram- 
matik, Berlin, 1819, p. 2,) are, for the vowels, their power, and for the consonants, the 
following syllables, given in Hnglish spelling,—bay, cay, day, aif, gay, hah, ail, aim, ain, 
pay, coo, air, ace, tay; to which Schneider adds kah, and I consonant, V consonant, these 
being called by Hichhoff (in English spelling) yee, and way. Sometimes Greek K was 
used in writing CALENDAn; and y, Z, appeared in unnaturalised Greek words, with their 
Greek power of French u, and English zd. 
91. In modern books when I would have its consonant power of English y, it is some- 
times varied to J; and V oo is sometimes rounded for a vowel, and left angular for its con- 
sonant power of English w.* } 
92. The Latin Vowels are long (marked ~, ) and short (marked ~, ) the short ones having 
the same quality as the long ones, with but half their length. Some words are long or 
short according to the usage of the poets. 
93. The power and name of the Latin vowels are always as in the following English 
words— 
* For example— DE SONIS LITERARVM GRAECARVM TVM GENVINIS TVM ADOPTIVIS LIBRI DVO AVCTORE GYSTA- 
VO SEYFFARTHO,”’—etc. Lipsiae, 1824. This author uses the spellings—yt, huius, quamuis, inuita, leue, diuersa, 
subiecta, vera, prouocari, obiicere, &c. 
