f it?

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PART III.

SOUNDS, LETTERS, PRONUNCIATION, SPELLING.

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CHAPTER I.

GENERAL NATURE AND CERTAIN PROPERTIES OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS.

s. 105. To two points connected with the subject of the following chapter,
the attention of the reader is requested.

a. In the comparison of sounds the ear is liable to be misled by the eye.
Thus--

The syllables ka and ga are similar syllables. The vowel is in each the
same, and the consonant is but slightly different. Hence the words ka and
ga are more allied to each other than the words ka and ba, ka and ta, &c.,
because the consonantal sounds of k and g are more allied than the
consonantal sounds of k and b, k and t.

Comparing the syllables ga and ka, we see the affinity between the sounds,
and we see it at the first glance. It lies on the surface, and strikes the
ear at once.

It is, however, very evident that ways might be devised or might arise from
accident, of concealing the likeness between the two sounds, or, at any
rate, of making it less palpable. One of such ways would be a faulty mode
of spelling. If instead of ga we wrote gha the following would be the
effect: the syllable would appear less simple than it really was; it would
look as if it consisted of three parts instead of two, and consequently its
affinity to ka would seem less than it really was. It is perfectly true
that a little consideration would tell us that, as long as the sound
remained the same, the relation of the two syllables remained the same
also; and that, if the contrary appeared to be the case, the ear was misled
by the eye. Still a little consideration would be required. Now in the
English language we have (amongst others) the following modes of spelling
that have a tendency to mislead;--

The sounds of ph and of f, in _Philip_ and _fillip_, differ to the eye, but
to the ear are identical. Here a difference is simulated.

The sounds of th in _thin_, and of th in _thine_, differ to the ear but to
the eye seem the same. Here a difference is concealed.

Furthermore. These last sounds appear to the eye to be double or compound.
This is not the case; they are simple single sounds, and not the sounds of
t followed by h, as the spelling leads us to imagine.

b. Besides improper modes of spelling, there is another way of concealing
the true nature of sounds. If I say that ka and ga are allied, the alliance