A Letter is the first Principle, or least part of a Word.
An Articulate Sound is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs
of speech.
A Vowel is a simple articulate sound, formed by the impulse of the voice,
and by the opening only of the mouth in a particular manner.
A Consonant cannot be perfectly sounded by itself; but joined with
a vowel forms a compound articulate sound, by a particular motion or
contact of the parts of the mouth.
A Diphthong, or Double Vowel, is the union of two or more vowels
pronounced by a single impulse of the voice.
In English there are twenty-six Letters:
A, a; B, b; C, c; D, d; E, e; F, f; G, g; H, h; I, i; J, j; K, k; L, l;
M, m; N, n; O, o; P, p; Q, q; R, r; S, s; T, t; U, u; V, v; W, w; X, x;
Y, y; Z, z.
_J j_, and _V v_, are consonants; the former having the sound of the
soft _g_, and the latter that of a coarser _f_: they are therefore
intirely different from the vowels _i_ and _u_, and distinct letters of
themselves; they ought also to be distinguished by a peculiar Name; the
former may be called _ja_, and the latter _vee_.
Six of the letters are vowels, and may be sounded by themselves; _a_,
_e_, _i_, _o_, _u_, _y_.
_Y_ is in sound wholly the same with i; and is written instead of it at
the end of words; or before another _i_, as _flying_, _denying_: it is
retained likewise in some words derived from the Greek; and it is always
a vowel.
_W_ is either a vowel, or a diphthong: its proper sound is the same as
the Italian _u_, the French _ou_, or the English _oo_: after _o_, it is
sometimes not sounded at all, sometimes like a single _u_.
The rest of the letters are consonants; which cannot be sounded alone:
some not at all, and these are called Mutes, _b_, _c_, _d_, _g_, _k_,
_p_, _q_, _t_: others very imperfectly, making a kind of obscure sound,
and these are called Semi-vowels, or Half-vowels, _l_, _m_, _n_, _r_,
_f_, _s_; the first four of which are also distinguished by the name of
Liquids.
The Mutes and the Semi-vowels are distinguished by their names in the
Alphabet, those of the former all beginning with a consonant; _bee_,
_cee_, &c; those of the latter all beginning with a vowel, _ef_, _el_, &c.
_X_ is a double consonant, compounded of _c_, or _k_, and _s_.
_Z_ seems not to be a double consonant in English, as it is commonly
supposed: it has the same relation to _s_, as _v_ has to _f_, being a
thicker and coarser expression of it.
_H_ is only an Aspiration, or Breathing: and sometimes at the beginning
of a word is not sounded at all; as, _an hour_, _an honest_ man.
_C_ is pronounced like _k_, before _a_, _o_, _u_; and soft, like _s_,
before _e_, _i_, _y_: in like manner _g_ is pronounced always hard
before _a_, _o_, _u_; sometimes hard and sometimes soft before _i_, and
_y_; and for the most part soft before _e_.
The English Alphabet, like most others, is both deficient and redundant;
in some cases, the same letters expressing different sounds, and
different letters expressing the same sounds.