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On the English sounds of the vowel-letters of the alpha- 
bet, on their production by instruments, and on the 
natural musical sequence of the vowel-sounds. By 
Mr Porter. 
This subject falls under the consideration of the gram- 
mnarians in their studies of the rules which connect spoken with 
written language, under the investigations of the physiologists 
in their discussions of the structure and functions of the organs 
of the voice and articulation, and under those of the natural 
philosophers again in their studies of the science of acoustics as 
the general theory of sound. 
The vowel-sounds are shewn by instruments as well as in 
the voice to be infinitely numerous as they slide or glide 
gradually from one to another through the whole series or 
sequence IHAOU from I (i) to U (u), without breaks or dis- 
continuity. Certain sounds of the series are however considered 
normal sounds, and are supposed to be represented by the vowel- 
letters of the alphabet; though with little unanimity amongst 
our grammarians. 
The comparison of the speech of different. countries is of 
course a distinct study, and does not fall sey under the 
present subject of discussion. ite 
The author of the paper having had to lecture through many” 
years on acoustics in the general course of experimental natural 
philosophy, using, amongst other acoustical apparatus, Kempe- 
len’s funnel-shaped instrument and Professor Willis’s sliding: 
tubes producing the vowel-sounds, found the sound of the 
English vowel I (@) not to be given by them, though he was 
convinced that it was a simple vowel-sound as now used in all 
large towns, and no diphthong, as many assert it to be from. 
provincial pronunciations, 
Where opinions differ so much a reference to actual ex- 
periment is the only safe alternative, and a representation of 
