196 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



(ou) for tbo reason already given. Its place is often supplied or 

 nsurped by the compound o (ow) as rout, rowt; gouge, gowge. In 



these instances our pronunciation is not stable, while fine distinctions- 



ai-e not easily drawn in the case of low vowels. When U, disinterred 



from the rubbish that for nearly three centuries has lain ujion it, 



shall have claimed and received lit recognition from our authorities, 



the position of the intermediate will become more clearly defined and 



be confounded neither on the one side with U (oo) nor on the other 



with o (ow). In regard to the compounds ^«, ^, oi, o, I find no short 

 I lilt 



form of them and imagine that to be pronounced at all, which iiecessi- 

 tates the passing from one vowel position to another, they must be 

 sounded long. 



One will see in scanning the table that the main difficulty in Englisb 

 orthoepy arises from the long and nob from the short forms of vowels. 

 Pin, bin, fin repi'esent I (ee) faithfully, but to produce the same- 

 vowel long, we change the character, peel, heat, feel, except, in foi-eign 

 words. Again for E we have an accurate short sound in pet, bet, 

 fell, but for the long we write pay, bay, fey, or fay. The a. (ah) i.s- 

 the most })ronounced intermediate in English both long and short and 

 was a particular favourite with Sheridan. It makes distressful havoc 

 of the continental A, though we manage to obscure by out-heroding 

 the outrage with our name sound for the same character. Tlu; center- 

 of the vowel system A (aa) found its advocate in Walker. As early 

 as the days of Chaucer it is represented by the letters au, but its 

 native garb is by no means obliterated from oui" tongue. It appear., 

 in many words, in father, for instance. Its short sound constitutes 

 the most unsatisfactory ])art of our urthograj)hy. Man\' dictionai'ies- 

 set it down as an obscure or obtuse form of the compound /<- (you). I 



doubt whether any statement could be more obscure or more obtuse. 

 If you lengthen the vowel in pun, you get the vowel in palm ; shorten 

 the first vowel sound of father and you have that of fun. The inter- 

 mediate 6 (awe) is well developed in both powers, and presents a 

 striking contrast to O and U. Such has been the influence of our 



compound u, that the ancient English sound for the letter came to be 

 I 



written oo for the short as wel) as the long form, fOot, pool. It is. 

 nevertheless found in its proper dress on comjjosition with p, b, f, 1, 



