182 S. Porter on the Vowel Elements in Speech. 
This is the long wv vowel of most European languages. In 
French, it is the long ow; the letter u, as alone, having early 
gone over from this to a vowel group further forward. 
The labial contraction is closer in this vowel than in the close 
o. ‘lhe vowel bas a peculiar mellow smoothness, and imparts 
the same character to the 0, when added thereto as a vanish. It 
is possible to utter the palato-lingual part of this vowel without 
the labial modification, but not smoothly and with perfectly pure 
vowel quality. 
Degree 2.— Vowel u?', Full, push, bosom, should, good, foot, &c. 
In the proper pronunciation of these words, the lips are con- 
tracted to nearly or quite the same degree as for the close o 
simple. It is the final element in the diphthong our, now, 
round, and the usual vanish of woe, low, roll, &c., the long 0. 
In French, we have it in coup, bout, bourse, &c., that is, the 
shorter ou. Itis the short or middle u of the German and of 
most of the languages of Europe. 
_ Vowel u?. This non-labial is frequently used in America, 
improperly, in place of each of the two preceding, as in foot, 
soot, root, roof, soon, book, shoot, full, put. If I mistake not, it is 
the proper form of the shortest u in German, as in durch, &e. 
egree 3.— Vowel u*. The unaccented fulfill, willful, &c.; also, 
to, do, &e., when uneniphatic and somewhat slurred; also for- 
merly common and still to be heard in New England in some, 
if not all, of the class of words just specified, foot, soon, &c. 
Young misses who mince their words will pronounce two, as 
well as too, in this way. But slight change in the action of the 
organs is needed to convert this utterance into either a short? 
or a French wu. 
Degree 4.— Vowel u*. Heard, as I incline to think, in the 
Scotch gude or guid, sune, suld, blude or bluid, dure, &c. (for 
goad, soon, should, blood, door, &c.), with perhaps a vanish in an- 
new, tube, lute, &c. (Prine. of Pron., § 30. 
‘ E 6 Vowets.—The palato-lingual tube reaches yet 
further forward, but hardly beyond the extreme fore-part of the 
soft palate. ‘he edges of the tongue join the borders of the 
palate about «s far as to the hinder teeth, and the tip of the 
tongue is naturally further forward than in the more close of the 
degrees in the preceding group. 
In this and in all the remaining groups, the degrees of close 
and open are made by the greater and less elevation or depres 
sion of the tongue, and not at all by its retraction. 
yvee 1.— Vowel 01", A sound strange to English ears; the 
long & in German, as schén, Kénig; the long close eu in Frene 
as jefine, heureuse, fewx. 
