UAY-Found only in the word quay, which is pronounced kee, and where the u belongs to the q.

UOI-Found only in quoit, where the u belongs to the q, and is silent. Pronounced koit.

UOY-Found only in buoy, and buoyant, where the u is

silent.

§ 289. Consonants.-P, at the beginning of words, when followed by a mute, is silent; as psalm, ptarmigan. In cupboard it is sounded as b. In receipt and corps it is not pronounced at all. Between m and t it is either not sounded at all or sounded very lightly.

B.-When b follows m in the same syllable, it is silent; as in lamb, climb, limb. Except in the words accumb and succumb, where it is sounded.

When b precedes t in the same syllable, it is silent; as in debt, doubt. When any such words take an additional syllable, the b still remains without sound; as redoubted, doubting. The b in subtle is silent.

F.-In the preposition of, ƒ is sounded as v; only, however, as long as the word is uncompounded. In the compound word whereof the f retains its usual sound.

V is always sounded as the v in vane.

T.-The combination ti, without an accent and followed by a vowel, is sounded as sh or shy; as mótion, sátiate, pronounced móshun, sa-shyate. In satiety, however, where the i is accented and sounded as in pine, the t preserves its original sound.

In all the terminations formed from verbs and adjectives ending in ty, the t preserves its original sound; as in pities, mightier, and twentieth, from pity, mighty, and twenty.

Tis silent when preceded by s and followed by the abbreviated or -en; as hasten, nestle, pronounced ha-s'n, nessle. In often and soften the t is silent. So it is in the French words trait, goût, éclat. So, also, in Christmas, chestnut, mortgage, hostler, bankruptcy, mistletoe (the first t only), cur

rant.

K, before n in the same syllable, is always silent; as knee, knight, know.

G, before a, o, u, l, and r, is always sounded as in gun.

Before e, i, and y it is sometimes sounded as in gun, sometimes as in oblige.

The sound of the g in gun is generally found in words of Saxon; that of the j in jest (dzh) in words of Greek, Latin, and French origin.

G before e is sounded as in gun, in gear, geck, geese, geld, gelt, gelding, get, gewgaw, shagged, snagged, ragged, cragged, scragged, dogged, rugged, dagger, pettifogger, tiger, anger, eager, meager, auger, finger, linger, conger, longer, stronger, younger, longest, strongest, youngest.

G before i is sounded as in gun, in gibbe, gibcat, gibberish, gibbous, giddy, gift, gig, giggle, gild, gill, gimlet, gimp, gird, girdle, girl, girth, gizzard, begin, give, forgive, biggin, piggin, nogyin.

G before y is sounded as in gun, in gyve, and in all adjectives ending in y and ish of Anglo-Saxon origin, and formed from substantives in g; as waggish, hoggish, doggish, sluggish, digging, shaggy, jaggy, knaggy, snaggy, craggy, scraggy, quaggy, swaggy, draggy, spriggy, twiggy, boggy, foggy, cloggy, buggy.

For the sound of g in words like longer, &c., see p. 42.

G is sounded as in gun, in target, although the word is of French origin, and targe is sounded tarj (tardzh).

G followed by h at the beginning of a syllable is sounded as in gun.

G followed by h at the end of a syllable is sounded as1. The g in gun; as burg, burgher. This is rare.

2. The k in kin. In the Irish word lough.

3. F-in laugh, cough, chough, clough, slough (a cast skin), enough, rough, tough, trough.

4. In high, nigh, thigh, neigh, weigh, inveigh, bough, dough, though, although, clough, plough, furlough, slough, through, throughout, thorough, borough, usquebaugh, pugh, it is silent.

N.B.-It is always silent when followed by t, except in the word draught, as fight, bought, draft (so pronounced).

By adding the varieties of the combination gh with those of ou, we find that the syllable ough has six different sounds

G followed by m at the end of a syllable is silent; as phlegm, diaphragm, apothegm.

G before n is always silent in words of Anglo-Saxon origin; as in gnaw, gnash, gnat. In words of Greek origin it is sometimes sounded, as in Gnostic; sometimes omitted, as in gnomon.

G followed by n, at the end of a syllable, is silent, and the vowel that precedes is either lengthened or sounded as a diphthong; as resign, reign, impugn, pronounced re-sine, rane, impewn.

Caution. The n must be in the same syllable as the g, otherwise the g is sounded; as benignant.

In physiognomy the g begins a syllable, and is, consequently, silent. In cognizance and recognizance it is generally silent. In poignard, champignon, and seignior, it has the French, in bagnio, seraglio, intaglio, the Italian sound. This is in both languages that of ny, or ly-ponyard, seralyo.

S has three sounds-1, that of the s in seal; 2, that of the z in zeal; 3, that of the sh in shine. It has the sound of z in the following situations:-In as and whereas, these and those. In dissolve, possess, scissars, hussey, and hussár. In words compounded with dis, when followed immediately by an accent, and not followed by a sharp consonant; as, disáble, disáster, disorder, disband, &c.

Caution. If the syllable be accented, the s is sounded as in seal-dissonant, dissolute. So it is if the accent follow two syllables after, i. e. not immediately-dis-agrée. Hence we say diss-ability, and diz-áble; with s in one case and z in the other.

Caution. For this rule to apply, the dis- must be an element of composition. Hence, dismal is sounded dizmal; since the dis-, although accented, is no part of the original word.

In words ending in sm; as prism, microcosm (prizm, microcozm).

Before liquids; as cosmetic, dismal, &c.

In the termination sy, following an accented syllable, not ending in a sharp mute; as easy, pansy, jersey, &c. Except in the single word pursy.

In the termination sible, preceded by a vowel; as visible, &c. In rosary and misery.

In the terminations sal and sel, when preceded by a vowel.

In the terminations son, sen, and sin; as reason, cousin, &c. Except mason, bason, garrison, caparison, comparison, parson, person, and basin.

In presence, president, presume, presumptive, and presumption. In words compounded of re, where the re is inseparable; as resemble, resent, resist.

Caution. When re can be separated from the syllables that follow it, and those syllables still constitute a perfect word, the s is sounded as in seal-re-seat, and re-sign, when it means sign a second time.

It is silent in isle, island, aisle, demesne, and at the end of certain French words; as sous, vis-a-vis, &c.

Z.-When s is pronounced as sh, z is sounded as sh; glazier, grazier, azure.

In the single word rendez-vous, the z is silent; such being the case in the French, from which language the word has been introduced.

In Italian the z is sounded as ts. nounced metsotinto.

Hence mezzotinto is pro

Lis mute between a and k in the same syllable; as chalk, talk. Also between a and m in the same syllable; as alms, balm. Also in would, could, should, almond, calf, half, folk, yolk, halser, malmsey, salmon.

M has always the same sound; and is always pronounced, except in the word comptroller.

N, in an accented syllable, and before the sounds of the g in gun, or of k, is sounded as the ng in king; as thank, concourse, pronounced thangk, congcourse.

Caution. If the syllable be unaccented, n is sounded as in kin-concúrr.

N at the end of a syllable after lor m is silent; as kiln, hymn.

R.-The sound of r is sometimes vocalized, sometimes transposed.

For the vocalized r see pp. 6, 7, 8.

The transposed r is of two kinds, medial and final. The first kind is the rarer of the two, and occurs only in the word iron, pronounced iurn.

The transposition of the final r occurs in unaccented syllables, ending in re, preceded by a consonant; as, acre, lucre, sabre, fibre, sounded áker, &c.

§ 290. The superfluous letters.-C is sounded as k before a, o, and u, as s before e, i, and y; as card, cord, curd, pronounced as kard, kord, kurd-cement, city, cynic, as sement, sity, synic.

C preceded by s and followed by e, i, or y, is not sounded at all. It is then equivalent to a second s, which would be unpronounceable, e. g. scene, sceptre, pronounced sene, septre.

Between 8 and 1, c is silent; as in muscle.

In words derived from the Italian, and only imperfectly incorporated with the English, e is pronounced as ch (tsh) in situations where it would in English words be sounded s—violoncello, vermicelli.

In the titles of the Emperor and Empress of Russia, c precedes z, as Czar, Czarina. According to the spelling, these words should be sounded either Ksar and Ksarina, or Gzar and Gzarina. Generally, however, the sound of the c is wholly omitted, and the words are pronounced Zar and Zarina.

When c comes after an accent, and before the combinations ea, ia, io, and eou, it takes the sound of sh; as in ocean, social, Phocian, saponaceous. However, as the effects of y upon c sounded as s are precisely the same as if the letter were s as well as the sound, this has already been investigated.

Q is always pronounced as kw. It is also always followed, in spelling, by u; which is sounded as w. Except in certain words of French origin; in which case it is silent.

X has three sounds-1. that of ks-2. that of gz-3. that of z.