he sound given to the w in _wet_ is somewhat singular, but is also correct
and convenient. With many nations it is not found at all, whilst with those
where it occurs it has the sound (there or thereabouts) of v.

The sound given to y is somewhat singular. In Danish it has a vowel power.
In German the semivowel sound is spelt with j.

The sound given to z is not the sound which it has in German and Italian,
but its power in English is convenient and correct.

The sound given to ch in _chest_ is singular. In other languages it has
generally a guttural sound; in French that of sh. The English usage is more
correct than the French, but less correct than the German.

The sound given to j (as said before) is singular.

s. 158. _The historical propriety or impropriety of certain letters._--The
use of i with a diphthongal power is not only singular and inconvenient,
but also _historically incorrect_. The Greek _iota_, from whence it
originates, has the sound of i and ee, as in _pit_ and _feet_.

The y, sounded as in _yet_, is historically incorrect. It grew out of the
Greek [upsilon], a vowel, and no semivowel. The Danes still use it as such,
that is, with the power of the German ue.

The use of j for dzh is historically incorrect.

The use of c for k in words derived from the Greek as _mechanical_,
_ascetic_, &c., is historically incorrect. The form c is the representative
of [gamma] and [sigma] and not of the Greek _kappa_.

s. 159. _On certain conventional modes of spelling._--In the Greek language
the sounds of o in _not_ and of o in _note_ (although allied) are expressed
by the unlike signs (or letters) [omicron] and [omega], respectively. In
most other languages the difference between the sounds is considered too
slight to require for its expression signs so distinct and dissimilar. In
some languages the difference is neglected altogether. In many, however, it
is expressed, and that by some modification of the original letter.

Let the sign (-) denote that the vowel over which it stands is long, or
independent, whilst the sign (U) indicates shortness, or dependence. In
such a case, instead of writing _not_ and _n[omega]t_, like the Greeks, we
may write _n[)o]t_ and _n[=o]t_, the sign serving for a fresh letter.
Herein the expression of the nature of the sound is natural, because the
natural use of (-) and (U) is to express length or shortness, dependence or
independence. Now, supposing the broad sound of o to be