hich the other
and more perfect Vowel Sounds are made by modulation, or, in other
words, by the shapings and strains put upon the machinery of utterance.
The Hebrew _scheva_, the French _eu_, and _e_ mute, are varieties of
this easily-flowing, unmodulated, unstable, unsatisfactory sound. Like
the _o_ (aw), this sound _u_ (uh) has a vacant, unfinished, and
inorganic character as a sound, while yet, from its great fluency, its
frequent occurrence tends, more than that of any other sound, to give to
Language that conversational fluency, rapidity and ease which are
especially characteristic of the French Tongue. From this same easy
laxity of its nature all the other Vowel Sounds tend, in English
particularly, when they are not accented, to fall back into this Natural
Vowel; as in the following instances: Rom_a_n, brok_e_n, m_i_rth,
mart_y_r, Bost_o_n, c_u_rd, etc.; words which we pronounce nearly
Rom_u_n, brok_u_n, m_u_rth, mart_u_r, Bost_u_n, c_u_rd, etc.

This Sound, as to inherent meaning, is, by its alliance with the idea of
flux, flow and continuity, the Type, Analogue, Equivalent or
Representative in the Domain of Oral Sound of that _Fundamental
Conception_ which, in respect to Idea, we denominate TIME; and of
Stream-like or _Currental_ Being of all kinds.

_Space_, denoted by _o_ (aw), has relation to the Air as an atmosphere,
and to the Ocean of Ether in filling the Great Spheral Dome of Empyrean
or Firmament. The Vowel-Sound _u_ (uh) has a similar relation to
Fluidity or Liquidity, and, hence, to Water as a typical fluid, to the
Ocean Flux or Tide, to the Flowing Stream, etc. This Time-like idea is
uni-dimensional or elongate in a _general_ or _fluctuating_ sense; not
_specifically_ like I. It is in view of this characteristic, that it is
broadly and primarily contrasted with the Spacic significance of _o_
(aw), which is omnidimensional.

The two remaining Vowel-Sounds, the O and U (oo), repeat the _o_ (aw)
and _u_ (uh), in a sense, but in a new and more refined stage or degree
of development. The sound O is made at the front mouth--the locality the
most openly in sight of any at which Sound is produced--by rounding the
lips into an irregularly-circular, face-like, or disk-like presentation.
The O Sound so produced denotes Presence, as of an object by virtue of
its reflection of Light; and, hence, LIGHT, _Clearness_, _Purity_,
_Reflection_.

The U (_oo_ in f_oo_l) is an obscured or impure pronunciation of the O