BERKELEY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ON THE IMPROVEMENT ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY: Beixg a Paper read at the Philological Society, on the 6th of May, 1870. DANBY P. FEY, KARRISTER-AT-LAW, TREASURER OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY. LONDON: ASHER & CO., 13, BEDFORD STREET, COYENT GARDEN, AND 11 UNTER DEN LINDEN, BERLIN. 1870. 4^ CONTENTS. PAGX. Note, as to the spelling in this paper. - - - - 1 I. — Introductory Remarks. 3 II. — The Completion of the Alphabet. . . - 6 III. — The Digraphic System. 14 lY. — The Improvement of the Orthography. - - 24 v.— Phonetic Spelling. 31 YI. — Proposed Coursfe of Action. - - - - 35 YII. — Suggested Alterations. 38 ph : f 40 V 41 th 44 dh - 45 c;s;z 48 c; k; q; X 50 ch: (Latin); (French); (English). - - 52 g(gai); g(jee); j (jai). . . - 53 ng -------- 55 gh 56 rh 58 ci ; si ; ti ; su ; tu - - - - 58 Index Letters : u ; e - - - - 59 Silent Letters 60 Yowel Spelling .62 463 i) J ON THE IMPROVEMENT OP ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY. BY DANBY P. FRY. NOTE. In dhe following pajes dhe words ar spelt in conformity widh dhose chanjes which ar suggested for immediate adop- tion. Furdher chanjes must await dhe result ov fuller dis- cussion. Dhe chanjes now suggested, and here adopted, ar az follows : — 1. To uze dh for dhe flat th, i.e. dhe sound ov th in then. Dhis digraph iz here employed in evvery word in which dhat sound occurs. 2. To treat v like any odher consonant ; and hence, (a) to double it in dhe same positions in which any odher consonant would be doubled ; az evver^ givving, show el : (b) to allow it to cloze a word or syllable wherevver any odher consonant would do so, and consequently to omit dhe following e when- evver it iz uot required to mark a long vowel; az hav, giv, leav, hereav, hereavment. Dhe word ov (dhough not followed by e) falls into dhis class, being spelt in dhe current ortho- graphy widh/ (of) in order to avoid a final v. 3. To substitute dhe letter/ for dhe letter g wherevver dhe latter has dhe sound ov j, except in dhose Latin and Greek words which hav g in dhe original ; az, chanje^ stranje, but angel, stratagem. 4. To employ/ or _^ in sted ov dhe trigraph -ugh in words like enough, here spelt enuff. 6. To omit dhe servile e after z, when ewer it iz not re- quired to mark a long vowel ; az, freez, gauz; and generally to expel dhe servile e wherevver it iz useless. 2 Dhe foregoing rules ar intended to be observed through- out ; and if any word should occur in which dhey ar not observed, it must be ascribed to an accidental misprint. Dhe grounds on which dhese rules rest will be discussed in dhe paper itself. Widh respect to dhe vowels, no rules ar here laid down, because it iz believed dhat no satisfactory conclusions can be com to on dhat complicated subject, until it has undergone a far more complete examination in all its bearings dhan it has yet received. Som remarks upon it will be found in dhe following paper ; and where any chanjes ar made in dhe orthography in dhat respect, dhey will be sufficiently ap- parent. Dhey must necessarily, in dhe present state ov dhe question, be entirely experimental. I hav suggested dhat certain consonants should receiv a second name, on dhe principle dhat where a letter has two recognized or normal values, it ought to hav two alphabetic names ; dhus : — c, kee, when guttural, as in call. c, see, when sibilant, as in cell. g, gai, when guttural, as in go. g, jee, when sibilant, as in gem. r, ree, when trilled, as in rat. r, ar, when " soft," or untrilled, as in tar. w, double u, when a vowel, as in dew. w, wee, when a consonant, as in wed. y, wi, when a vowel, as in city. y, yai, when a consonant, as in yet. Dhese names will be uzed accordingly, when occasion requires, in dhe following paper. "Widh regard to s, I hav suggested no alteration ov dhe name, in dhe hope and expectation dhat dhis letter may be eventually confined to dhe sharp sound ; dhe flat sound being denoted by s, in all cases. Dhis cannot be accomplished per saltum. Meanwhile, widhout laying down here any rule, widh respect to dhe use ov s and z, I may refer to dhe remarks on dhe subject contained in dhe following paper. I. — Introductory Eemarks. On dhe 5tli November, 1869, I submitted to dbe Council ov dhe Philological Society certain resolutions, in which, after referring to dhe remarks on dhe subject ov English orthography contained in dhe Report for 1868, ov dhe Rev. J. E/ice Byrne, Inspector ov Schools, and in a letter from Mr. Russell Martineau, appended to dhat Report, I proposed dhat dhe Council should express dhe opinion dhat "it is verry desirable, if it be practicable, to correct dhe anomalies ov English spelling," and furdher, dhat "it is quite practicable to accomplish dhis desirable object, if such a system be adopted az will ensure due regard to dhe claims ov Ety- mology while it treuly represents dhe Pronunciation, and if dhe necessary chanjes be carefully considered, so az to be confined widhin dhe narrowest limits, and introduced widh moderation and discretion." The Council did not adopt dhese proposed resolutions, but appointed a Committee in dhe following terms : — " The Council of the Philological Society, thinking that it is desirable and practicable to amend the Orthography of the English language, appoint the following members — Mr. A. J. Ellis, Mr. R. Morris, Mr. J. Payne, Mr. R. Martineau, Mr. D. P. Fry, — to be a committee, with power to add to their number, to consider the direction, extent, and nature of such amendments, and to report thereon to the Society. '^ Dhe Committee added two members to dheir number, namely, Mr. H. B. Wheatley and Mr. J. A. H. Murray ; but being unable, after sevveral meetings, to com to an agree- ment on dhe subject, dhey reported to dhat efiect to dhe Council on 21st January, 1870. It waz dhen agreed dhat an opportunity should be afforded to Mr. Ellis and myself, for submitting to dhe Society our respectiv vews ; and I now propose to lay before you accordingly dhe suggestions which hav occurred to me upon dhe subject. Before doing so, I will quote dhe passaje, abov referred to, in Mr. Byrne's Report, which iz contained in dhe Appendix to dtie Report ov dhe Committee ov Council on Education, dated 19tli May, 1869. Mr. Byrne says :— *'I conclude my remarks on the condition of schools re- ceiving annual grants, with a few words on a subject of the greatest importance in elementary teaching, — that of spell- ing. Proficiency in spelling is recorded in the examination schedule under the head of writing. Of 9,287 scholars pre- sented for examination in writing, no less than 988, or more than one-tenth, were failures. Of these failures a large proportion were due to words mis-spelt in writing out pas- sages from dictation. "Were these subtracted, I believe that the failures in writing (meaning handwriting) would be found to be fewer than those in reading, writing being the easier to teach because the more mechanical, and requiring the least exertion of the intelligence. " The difficulties to be overcome in teaching spelling can scarcely be overrated. Most of them are inseparable from the very nature of English spelling, as at present in use. Any suggestion therefore should be welcomed, which would have for its object to permanently lighten the labours of the school teacher, and clear away one of the most serious im- pediments to the acquisition of elementary learning. It is on this account that I have ventured to insert as an appendix to my report a letter addressed to me by Mr. Russell Mar- tineau, embodying some remarks made by him upon English spelling in a paper read before the Philological Society. Mr. Martineau, after pointing out several of the absurdities involved in our present mode of spelling, suggests the ad- visability of a reform upon the basis of accommodating spelling, as far as possible, to pronunciation, and proposes the drawing up of such a scheme of reformation, under your lordships' sanction, as might with advantage be enforced upon the teachers in our elementary and normal schools, and in due course prevail throughout the nation generally. The case of the new Latin primer, imposed on public schools with the common consent and by the authority of a committee of public schoolmasters, may fairly be quoted as a precedent. I cordially recommend this proposal to your Lordships for your consideration, as calculated to meet a difficulty in elementary- teaching which I had myself remarked upon, and materially to benefit the cause of education." I cannot but think dhat it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to carry into effect dhese suggestions and re- commendations. "Whatevver may be dhe defects ov English spelling, or dhe difficulties ov teaching it, dhe Committee ov Council on Education would surely not be justified in compelling dhe teachers in our elementary and normal schools to teach dhe children to adopt a mode ov spelling different from dhat which iz in current use. A boy must be taught dhe orthography which he iz to employ in after-life, and dhat must be dhe recognized and established ortho- graphy. Dhe reformation ov dhe orthography itself must preceed any chanje in dhe teaching. It iz not, howevver, from dhis point ov vew^ dhat I regard dhe subject. It iz not for dhe sake ov lightening dhe labors of dhe teachers, but for dhe sake ov improoving our literature and languaje, dhat dhe amendment ov our orthography appears to me to be desirable ; dhough, no dout, one consequence would follow from dhe odher. If dhe spelling were more consistent, it would certainly be easier to teach. Dhe case ov dhe new Latin primer iz scaircely, perhaps, in point, az it did not alter dhe Latin languaje, but merely improoved dhe mode ov teaching it. Still, it shows dhat if our orthography were really amended, improoved methods ov teaching it might afterwards be adopted by general consent. In dhe mean while it can hardly be seriously maintained dhat one kind ov orthography should be taught in public or private schools among dhe upper and middle classes ov Society, and dhat anodher kind ov orthography should be taught in state-aided and rate-aided schools among dhe odher classes of Society, even widh dhe hope dhat dhe latter may "in due course prevail throughout the nation generally." "We must amend our spelling first, and teach it az amended, afterwards. 1 vew, boath on phonetic and on etymological grounds : Old French, veue (for vedvite, Ital. vedtita). View was originally a dissyllable, accented on the last (w=oo): vie'w. II. — Dhe Completion ov dhe Alphabet. On dhe ITth. ov November, 1869, 1 submitted to dhe Com- mittee appointed by dhe Council dhe following resolutions : — "1. That the question of spelling reform involves two distinct, although connected, questions : first, the completion of the alpha- bet ; and, second, the improvement of the orthography. "2. That the two chief defects of the existing alphabet are : first, that there is no distinction between the short and long vowels; and, second, that nearly all the so-called "aspirate" sounds, as well as the naso -guttural, are unrepresented. " 3. That these defects have been more or less supplied by a system of digraphs, a " digraph" being a combination of tico letters denoting a single sound, whether simple or diphthongal. In mishap, s and h are two letters denoting two sounds ; but in bishop, s and h form a " digraph" denoting one sound. ' " 4. That it is very desirable that the system of digraphs now in use in English should be recognized as being what it really is — an addition to the alphabet. If an alphabet is a collection of the symbols actually employed to denote the separate, single sounds in the language, then, in English, there are in fact two alphabets — first, the ordinary alphabet of single letters; and second, an auxiliary alphabet of digraphs. " 5. That it is now proposed to recognize the auxiliary alpha- bet as such by adding it at once to the ordinary alphabet, ap- pending it at the end. "6. That the consonant digraphs in actual use are "ng," denoting the naso-guttural sound, as in long ; and those formed with the letter h, which either actually represent or were origin- ally designed to represent a particular class of sounds, the so- called " aspirates," namely, ch, gh, kh, ph, rh, sh, th, and wh. " 7. That two of our so-called " aspirate " sounds are still with- out any distinct representative at all, either single letter or digraph, namely, the two sounds which would be represented, according to the same system, by the digraphs dh and zh, i. e., the sound of th in the, and the sound of z in azure (French j). It is proposed that these two digraphs, dh and zh, should be adopted as the recognized representatives of the two sounds in question, and included in the auxiliary alphabet accordingly. "8. That the vowel digraphs are very numerous, and with regard to their introduction into the auxiliary alphabet, two courses are open : first, to include them all ; or, second, to select and to include only those which have come to be regarded as the standard or normal symbols. It is proposed that the latter course should be adopted. " 9. That besides the employment of vowel digraphs, two con- trivances are resorted to in actual spelling to mark the distinction between the long and short vowels, namely, adding a mute e to denote a long vowel, and doubling the consonant to denote a short vowel. It is not necessary to deal with these two practices in pro- ceeding with the completion of the alphabet; but it will be necessary to consider them in connection with the improvement of the orthography. " 10. That in settling the characters to be used for the vowel sounds, it is advisable to adhere to the rule of denoting the short vowels by single letters, and the long vowels by digraphs. " 11. That in pursuance of this rule it is proposed to revive the use of the letter v as a vowel, and to employ it to denote the short vowel in words pronounced like full; which will not inter- fere in any way with the employment of the same letter as a consonant. " 12. That the influence of r on preceding vowels is a question which has not yet been fully investigated, and pending the in- quiry it is not perhaps advisable to make any change in the mode of representing such vowels. It may, indeed, be found to be more convenient to modify the spelling of the r. " 13. That, without in any way touching upon the question as to the mode of spelling individual words, the following letters and digraphs are proposed for adoption as the standard or normal symbols for the recognized vowels : — Short i as in fin, Long ee as in feel. e „ fell „ ai ,, fail. a „ fan „ aa „ bazaar. o „ folly „ au „ fault. u „ fun ,, oa ,, foal. V „ full. (fvll). ... „ 00 „ fool. " 14. That the diphthongal sounds of i and u (as in file and fuel) having now become identified with those letters, it is not proposed to interfere with them. The diphthongal digraphs oi 8 and ou (as in foil and foul) will of course claim their place in the auxiliary alphabet. The question as to using y and w as final letters instead of i and u need not be considered at present, but will require to be discussed in reference to the improvement of the orthography. " 15. That although a digraph is open to the objection that the two letters composing it are sometimes pronounced as two sounds, , and not as one, yet this objection may be met, and the separate sounds marked, by inserting a hyphen between the two letters or placing two dots over one of them; thus, bishop, mis-hap; cooper, cooperate. It is not to be expected that people in general will take the trouble to place these marks in writing, but it is extremely desirable that they should be invariably placed in printing, so that a reader may know with certainty whether the particular combination before him is to be pronounced as two letters or as a digraph." Dhere iz one point in dhe abov Eesolutions on which I desire to introduce a slight modification. In dhe 11th Reso- lution, I proposed to revive dhe use ov dhe letter «; az a vowel, to denote dhe short vowel sound in words like full; but az dhis proposal has been objected to on dhe ground dhat it might lead to some confusion in dhe use ov v for vowel and consonant (dhough I do not myself believ dhat it would do so), I am induced to suggest dhat dhe difficulty may be met by dhe future employment ov dhe two existing forms ov dhe letter u in distinct capacities. At present, — at least in printing, — we hav one form for dhe capital letter, U, and another for dhe small letter, u. Now it seems to me dhat if dhe capital and dhe small letter had in each case dhe same form, difiering only in size, one form might be appropriated to one sound and dhe odher form to dhe odher sound ; so dhat u might represent dhe vowelsound in bull^ and u dhe vowelsound in but. bull : bull but : but Dhere iz not dhe slightest difficulty in making dhe requisit distinction between dhe two letters in handwriting, az any one will find who will try dhe experiment. Dhe establisliment ov dhis distinction would be similar to dhat which, has been made widhin a verry recent period between u and v, az vowel and consonant, and would only, in fact, be carrying dhat distinction one step furdher. While keeping dhe pointed form ov dhe letter for dhe consonant, it would assign dhe rounded form to dhe vowelsoimd to which it originally belonged. I should dherefor propose to add dhis letter (which iz not a new letter) to dhe ordinary Alphabet, placing it after u and before v, and givving it dhe name ov " Short oo.^* By dhis means, we should secure dhe great advantaje ov denoting dhe six short vowelsounds by six single letters, — assigning a separate letter to each sound. Dhe question ov dhe alphabetic names ov dhe letters iz one ov considerable importance, not only in teaching, but in odher respects. Not only ar children dredfuUy puzzled by dhem in learning to spell, but people ar continually misled by dhem boath in spelling and in pronouncing individual words. Indeed, many chanjes in pronunciation ar traceable directly to dhe influence ov dhe alphabetic names ov dhe letters, which ar often erroneously supposed to represent dheir orthographic powers. I venture to suggest dhat where a letter has two recognized or standard values, it should be allowed two names. Dhere iz, perhaps, nothing ov which teachers so frequently complain az dhe illogical and deceptiv character ov English spelling ; but if a child were taught to say, kee, a, tee, cat ; dee, o, gai, dog ; he would at least be saved from dhe mischievous absurdity ov being told dhat see, a, tee, spells cat, and dee, o, jee, spells dog. Dhese examples ar often adduced az proofs ov dhe inconsistency ov our orthography and dhe necessity for its reform; but a little reflexion will show dhat dhis argument iz founded on a stranje misconception ov dhe facts. Dhe word dog iz one ov dhe best spelt words in dhe languaje. It does not seem possible to improov it ; nor does any one, so far az I am aware, propose to alter it. Even dhose who complain moast about it do not suggest any chanje in it. It iz obvious, indeed, dhat dhe fault iz not in dhe orthography ov dhe 10 word, but solely in dlie alphabetic name ov its last letter. Dhe learner naturally supposes dhat "dee, o, jee/' must be pronounced doj, and iz surprised to find dhat it iz really pro- nounced dog. If dhe last letter were called gai, dhis difficulty would vanish. Dhere can be no dout, I think, dhat dhe Greek and Hebrew system ov givving proper names to dhe letters iz in som respects preferable to dhe Latin and English practice ov givving dhem phonetic names. Dhere iz, howevver, no question before us az to adopting " proper names " for our letters ; no one proposes dhis ; and dhe only question iz, whedher we should not do wisely to improov dhe " phonetic names" so az to render dhem consistent widh dhe ortho- graphic uses ov dhe letters. Dhere ar, indeed, in dhe English alphabet, two letters with "proper names," — %ed^ which iz dhe Greek zeta ; and double w, which iz a descriptiv name ov our own invention. Dhe name ov wi iz phonetic, combining dhe original labial sound (Greek v) widh its most common English sound, az dhe equivalent of i. (In French, dhis letter has a "proper name," — y grec). Dhe name ov aitsh iz open to som discussion; but I believ it to be phonetic, and not descriptiv. All dhe odher letters hav clearly phonetic names, givven originally on dhe plan, az regards dhe vowels, ov simply pronouncing dhem, and az regards dhe consonants, ov uttering dhe mutes widh a vowel following, and all dhe odher s widh a vowel preceeding, except vee and Jai, which follow dhe analogy ov dhe mutes j dhus : — Mutes. Odhers. bee ef gee aitsh dee ^1 em en pee cee \ ar (er) kai > es "l"" ' ex tee ®^ jai vee 11 In naming dlie digraphs, az will be seen presently, I pro- pose to be guided by dhese analogies ; dhus : — whee — dhee etb zhai esb — etsb (English, cb) — eng Dhe consonants for which I venture to propose double or alternativ alphabetic names ar dhese five, — c, g, r, w, y ; and I propose to name dhem in dhe manner suggested in dhe Note at dhe commencement ov dhis paper {ante, p. 2). Az each vowel letter has a recognized long (or diph- thongal) and also a recognized short sound, it should, I think, receiv two names accordingly. Dhe names suggested will be found in dhe table below. Dhe naming ov dhe digraphs involvs a more difficult question ; but it seems advisable to name dhem ; and dhis may be done by first stating dhe individual letters and dhen dheir combined value ; dhus — *' tee, aitsh, eth.^' Az ch has three recognized powers, it demands three distinct names, so long az dhose powers remain. It iz, indeed, more correct to say dhat dhere ar three separate digraphs, — separate in origin, in history, and in value, — which hav one common form, ch. Dhe suggested mode ov naming dhe sevveral digraphs iz set forth in dhe table givven below. Dhe general result ov dhe proposals put foreward in dhe foregoing remarks may now be exhibited, az follows : — {See next two pajes). 1 Dhis iz usually considered to be " short oa," but it seems to me to be " short ur." If so, dhen dhere iz no distinct sign for dhis vowel sound when long. What appears to me to be dhe long sound corresponding to dhe short vowel in hurry, worry, dun, done, iz associated widh various letters, az in fern, fir, fur, work, myrrh. We hav no recognized means ov distinguishing, in spelling, be- tween dhe two varieties ov dhis vowel, which seems to be intermediate in sound be- tween oa and oo, and dhe trew short sound corresponding to long oa does not, per- haps, exist in English. Generally, dhe long and short varieties ov dhe different vowels ar not exact, but merely approximate pairs. A Capital letter will be re- quired ov dhe same shape az u. * Az in. full, wool. Dhis letter iz proposed for adoption ; e. g. fol, wul. 12 DHE ALPHABETIC SYSTEM. I. — Dhe Alphabet ov Single Letters: — NUMBI 1 JR. Letter. A a Name. ai long, and short aa 2 3 4 B C c b c c d bee kee, when guttural see, when sibilant dee 6 E e ee long, and short ai 6 7 8 G G H f f ef gai, when guttural jee, when sibilant aitsh 9 10 I J i i diphthongal, and short ee jai 11 K k kai 12 13 14 L M N 1 m n el em en 16 oa long, and short au 16 17 18 19 20 P Q R R S T P q r r s t pee kew ree, when trilled ar, when " soft" or untrilled es tee 21 22 23 24 if V w w u u V w w u diphthongal, and short oa^ short 00^ vee double u, when a vowel wee, when a consonant 26 X X eks 26 Y Y y y wi, when a vowel yai, when a consonant 27 Z z zed note 1, preceeding paje ' See note 2, preceeding paje. 13 DHE ALPHABETIC SYSTEM. II. — Dhe Auxiliaby Alphabet ov Digraphs : — MBER. Digraph. Name. Pron., as in 28 (Latin) Ch ch kee, aitsh, ek chemist 29 (French) Ch ch see, aitsh, shee chaise 30 (Engl.) Ch ch see, aitsh, etsh church 31 Dh d¥ dee, aitsh, dhee then {dhen) 32 Gh gt gai, aitsh, eg ghost 33 Kh kh kai, aitsh, ak khan 34 Ph ph pee, aitsh, fee phase 35 Eh rh ree, aitsh, rai rhythm 36 Sh sh es, aitsh, esh shine 37 Th th tee, aitsh, eth thin 38 Wh wh wee, aitsh, whee when 39 Zh z¥ zed, aitsh, zhai azure {azhure) 40 Ng ng en, gai, eng long 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Ee ee double e, ee long feel Ai ai (ay) ai, i (y), ai long* fail, fray Aa aa double a, aa long bazaar Au au (aw) ai, u (w), au long fault, flaw Oa oa oa, ai, oa long foal Oo 00 double o, oo long fool Oi oi (oy) oi diphthong foil, boy Ou ou (ow) ou diphthong foul, fowl Ei ei (ey) ei diphthong < 3ye, eider-down Eu eu (ew) eu diphthong ewe, eulogy 3 Dhe digraphs dh and zh ar new, being now proposed for adoption. All dhe odher consonant digraphs ar in current use ; but six ov dhem ar redundant, being employed in our actual orthography for etymological reasons only, viz. : — (Latin) ch = k (French) ch = sh S^ = g (guttural) kh = k ph = f rh = r * Dhe sound ov ai in 'fair' differs from dhat in 'fail,' but dbe difference iz perhaps due to dhe influence ov dhe following r. Az to dhe vowel in ' fur,' see note 1 on dhe opposit paje. Dhe series ov vowel sounds, long and short, may perhaps be taken to be, in English, az follows : — feel, fin, fail, fen, fair, fan, far ; fall, fond, foal, fund, furl, full, fool. 14 III. — Dhe Digraphic System. In dhe Besolutions quoted abov, wliicli were submitted to dhe Committee ov dhe Council, dhe earlier paragraphs set forth a series ov facts which ar ov great importance in dhe consideration ov dhis subject. Dhey show dhat dhe defects ov dhe English alphabet (which, az regards dhe letters, dhough not az regards dheir spunds, iz simply dhe Latin alphabet, widh w added) hav been felt, and recognized, and to a certain extent remedied ; and dhey show furdher dhat dhe remedy has been applied in a particular form, namely, dhe adoption ov a system ov " digraphs," supplementary and ancillary to dhe defectiv alphabet ov single letters. A verry strong disinclination to introduce new letters has evidently prevailed ; and dhese curious " digraphs," or special com- binations ov old letters widh new powers, hav been resorted to, manifestly widh a vew to avoid dhe adoption ov new letters. It iz somwhat difficult to understand why dhe sim- ple and apparently natural expedient ov devizing a new letter for a new sound should be so much dredded and so per- sistently avoided; but dhe history ov our literature shows dhat since dhe invention ov printing dhis feeling has been paramount, and it would dherefor seem to be useless and hopeless to attempt to resist it or to act in opposition to it. After dhe invention ov printing, dhe new letters which had been added to dhe Latin Alphabet and uzed in Anglo-Saxon and Early English manuscripts were rejected ; dhe runic "thorn," J>, for example, which waz uzed by Caxton and odher erly printers concurrently widh dhe digraph " th," waz first replaced by dhe roman y, az in y^, y^ but dhis clumsy contrivance waz soon discarded, and dhough it still lingers in manuscript, especially among clergymen, it iz now newer met widh in printing, except in dhe pajes ov Punch, or similar humorous works, where it somtimes appears az a jocular reproduction ov dhe past. It may seem, at first sight, dhat w iz an exception to dhe rule, but it iz not so in fact, for w iz really a digraph, composed ov two letters, vv, which were at first printed separate and apart, but afterwards came to be so combined az to present dhe appearance ov a single 16 letter. Its alphabetic name, " double u," still preservs dhe record ov its digraphic origin. I do not myself share in dhis feeling ov aversion to new letters ; but I am convinced ov its existence, and indeed ov its general prevalence ; and I do not see dhat any advantaje would be gained by running counter to it. And in dhis respect dhe revival ov an old letter iz practically dhe same az dhe introduction ov a new one. To dhe present generation ov Englishmen, dhe Anglo-Saxon ^ would be just az stranje az if it were now invented for dhe first time. It iz on dhis ground, and on dhis ground only, dhat I advocate dhe adoption ov dhe digraphs dh and zh^ to denote dhe two con- sonantal sounds which hav at present no distinct represen- tativs in our alphabetical system. Dhese digraphs involv no new letter; dhere iz nothing more dhan a simple substitution ov d for t, and z for s ; and dhe resulting combinations ar in strict analogy widh dhe rest ov dhe series ov /^-digraphs. Widhout entering into an elaborate investigation ov dhe nature ov dhese sounds or dhe mode ov dheir production, it will suffice to observ dhat az th iz to ^, so iz dh to d ; and az sh iz to 5, so iz zh to s. Dhat som character to denote dhe flat sound ov th in thine iz urgently needed in our languaje, iz a point which it iz easy to proov. Each consonant iz susceptible ov two modes ov utterance, — first, its plain or primary sound, and secondly, a certain modification which iz usually termed dhe "aspirated," but which Mr. Melville Bell, at least in som cases, calls dhe " divided " sound. We hav no difficulty in appreciating dhe phonetic difference between dhem, dhough it may not always be easy to explain physiologically dhe cause ov dhat difference. Now, it iz a fact deserving especial notice, dhat dhe plain or primary sound ov evvery consonant in our English speech iz denoted by a Single Letter, widh dhe sole exception ov dhe naso-guttural liquid, for which we uze dhe digraph " ng," az in long; whilst, on dhe odher hand, dhere iz considerable confusion in dhe representation ov dhe " aspirated " or " divided " sounds, — som being denoted by single letters, som by digraphs, and som by boath concurrently. Before 16 dlie introduction ov printing, dhe confusion waz apparently much less; for each ov the "Aspirates" corresponding to dhe six Mutes had its own separate letter, dhough A- digraphs were also uzed, and certainly dhe separate letters were not always consistently employed : — Mutes. Corresponding " Aspirates." (letters.) (letters.) (digraphs.) ( labial b v - flat guttural g dental d ? ^ S^ labial p f ph ic j k ( h ch dental t J) th Dhe original sounds ov dhe two guttural aspirates (flat and sharp), denoted by dhe digraphs gh and ck, hav long since been entirely lost in our actual pronunciation ; yet we retain dhese digraphs in spelling, while we hav left dhe flat aspirate ov dhe dental series widhout any character whatevver to represent it. If dh be adopted, dhe sounds now referred to and dheir actual representativs would be az follows : — Labial. Guttural. Dental. flat b V g d dh sharp p f k V t th For dhe Labial Aspirates, single letters — v, f; for dhe Dental Aspirates, digraphs — dh, th ; but for the Guttural Aspirates, which no longer exist, no characters at all. Dhe Sibilants constitute a series distinct from dhe Mutes, and among odher peculiarities, dhey combine reddily widh dhe Dental Mutes so az to form what seem to be a kind ov consonantal diphthongs : — Sibilants. Corresponding " Aspirates.*' simple z zh [French j] j compound dz [Italian z] dzh [English j] ( simple s sh [French ch] ® ^^ \ compound ts [German z] tsh [English ch] 17 "We hav in fact no less dhan three distinct digraphs com- posed ov dhe same letters, ch, viz. : Latin ch = k, az in character = karacter. French ch = sh, az in chaise = shaise. English ch = tsh, az in church = tshurtsh. Dhe digraph sh has superseded an erlier trigraph sch ; az in bishop, formerly spelt bischop ; and dhis waz no dout owing to dhe analogy ov dhe odher A-digraphs. Guided by dhe same analogy, we may extend dhe list by adopting zh, to denote dhe sound ov dhe French /, which stands in dhe same relation towards dhe English y az dhe French ch does towards dhe English ch. It appears to me dhat dhe digraphs which we hav actually adopted, and which we employ in our actual spelling, ought to be recognized az being what dhey really ar, — part and parcel ov our alphabetic system. Dhey ar not accidental or casual combinations, such az we find in dhe word beauty, where dhe three letters eau ar not employed to denote a particular sound, but hav merely received a particular pronunciation. In such a word, dhe spelling iz inde- pendent ov dhe pronunciation : dhe spelling iz borrowed, but dhe pronunciation iz our own. In such a word az thin, dhis iz not dhe case ; dhe spelling iz our own, quite az much az dhe pronunciation. When we want to express in any new word dhe sound or sounds herd in dhe name ov dhe letter tc, we do not write eau ; but when we want to express in any new word dhe sound ov dhe initial consonant in thin, we do write th, which iz, in fact, dhe only character we now possess, dhat iz available for dhe purpose. Dhere appears to me to be a wide and marked distinction between a combination ov letters intentionally uzed to represent a particular sound, and a combination ov letters occurring casually in a word, which happens to hav received a particular pronunciation. Dhe A-digraphs hav been formed upon a definit principle, and according to a specific analogy; whedher rightly or wrongly, iz a difierent question; it iz clear dhat dhey ar not acci- dental combinations, but intentional, — and dhat dhey ar designed, just az much az dhe single letters, to represent par- 2 18 ticular sounds. Dlie trew sound ov h does not enter into any- one ov dhem ; but dhere iz in all ov dhem a modification ov dhe breadhing, or escape ov dhe breth, for wbicb dhe letter h may be considered to stand az dhe symbol. At all events, whatevver may hav been dheir origin, dbey ar now in fact adopted az dbe signs ov certain sounds ; and taken togedher, dhey constitute a remarkable series ov phonetic characters, which serv precisely dhe same purpose az single letters. Gulph spelt widh ph iz not a different word from gulf spelt widh/; it iz dhe same word, and dhe digraph and dhe single letter perform precisely dhe same functions. In carrying out dhis view, anodher and verry difficult question arises. If we regard dhe digraphs az forming an Auxiliary Alphabet, what ar dhe digraphs which should be admitted into dhe list ? Which ar entitled to be enrolled az members ov dhis auxiliary force ? Dhis iz really a verry difficult practical question, owing to dhe various and even perverse uses to which som ov dhe digraphs hav been put. Dhe obvious answer iz, dhat all ov dhem ought to be included ; but dhe difficulty springs from dhe fact dhat, on closer examination, we find dhat, taken in connexion widh dhe Single Letters and widh one anodher, som ov dhem ar " equivalent," and som " ambiguous." By " equivalent " characters, I mean dhose dhat ar ov equal value; and by " ambiguous" characters, I mean dhose dhat ar ov doubtful value. " Equivalent" characters ar different symbols employed to denote dhe same sound ; an " ambiguous " character iz one symbol employed to denote different sounds. It iz extremely important to bear dhis distinction in mind. Dhere iz no " ambiguity " in *' equivalent " characters. Dhus, rh iz an " equivalent " ov r ; and hence, whenevver we meet widh rhy we know dhat it iz to be pronounced like r. Dhere iz no uncertainty about it. On dhe odher hand, ch has three different values ; and, dherefor, when we meet widh ch^ we do not know how it iz to be pronounced. It iz necessary to learn its actual pronunciation in each individual word. It will be convenient to consider dhe Consonants first; and afterwards dhe Yowels. 19 Dhe English system (which iz not co-extensiv widh dhe natural system) ov Consonant-sounds, az represented hy Letters and Digraphs, iz shown in dhe following list, which also indicates dhe deficiencies. It comprises (in dhe first column) dhe Mutes and Sibilants, sharp and flat, widh dhe Liquids, oral and nasal; and (in dhe second column) dhe corresponding Aspirates, or " divided " sounds. Mutes, Sibilants, and LiauiDS. Cobbespondjng "Aspirates." Labial. mute sharp (flat pee bee P p B b F f Y Y ef vee liquid oral nasal wee em W w M m Dental. Whwh whee mute [ sharp (flat tee dee T t D d Th th Dhdh eth dhee liquid (oral ( nasal el en L 1 N n Palatal. • • sibilant ( sharp (flat es zed S s Z z Sh sh Zh zh esh zhai liquid ^oral ( nasal ar or ree E, r • • . , ( sharp , ( sharp kai gai yai eng [ts] (English) Ch ch etsh^ [dz] (English) J j dzhai^ Guttural. K k H h aitsh* (> g ... Y y ... Ng ng Dhe foregoing list contains, I believ, a complete collection OY dhe English consonant- sounds, but it does not contain a complete collection ov dhe characters by which dhose sounds ar represented. Az we hav already seen, dhere ar many 1 Aldhough dliese two aspirates belong phonetically to dhe palatal or sibilant series, dhey ar connected etyraologically widh dhe guttural series. Hence, dhe characters by which dhey ar denoted,— ch, j. 2 Dhis letter (h), which seems to hav denoted originally a much strongger breadhing, now represents dhe lightest form ov dhe guttural aspirate. 20 additional letters and digraphs which ar employed, under certain circumstances, to denote dhe same sounds. Subjoined iz a list ov som "EQUIVALENT" CHAEACTERS. Consonants. Number.^ NaME.2 Character-3 Value. 3 kee c 11 kai k 17 kew q ► = k 28 33 ek (Latin) eh kh J 3 19 see sharp s J = 8 6 34 ef fee f " = f 7 32 gai eg |h! = (guttural) g 7 10 jee jai g j > ! = J .18 35 ar, or ree rai rh ; — r 19 27 es zed (flat) s ^ z = z 29 36 shee esh (French) oh ' sh I = sh 1 For dhese numbers, see " Dhe Alphabetic System," ante, pajes 12 and 13. 2 Az each digraph denotes a single sound, it tflay conveniently receiv a single name ; which, by a slight variation, may reddily be made to mark dhe distinction between dhe digraph and dhe " equivalent" single letter ;dhus, ^being dhe name ov dhe single letter f, fee may be dhe name ov dhe digraph ph. (See dhe names ot dhe digraphs alreddy suggested, ante, pajes 12 and 13). 3 None ov dhese ar complete equivalents. Dhey cannot be interchanjed in- discriminately. Dhey ar only uzed az equivalents in certain cases and under certain conditions. qu and cw ar not equivalents, az cw iz not now in use ; but qu iz the substitute for cw, az in queen = cween, Anglo-Saxon cwen. X iz a compendious substitute for cs, or (when flat) for gz. 21 So long az dliese equivalents ar actually uzed in English orthography, and dhus form part ov our written languaje, dhey necessarily form part also ov our alphabetic system; and dhey cannot be legitimately discarded from dhe alphabet until dhey ar discarded from dhe orthography. It will be noticed dhat some ov dhem are not merely '' equivalent," but " ambiguous ; " especially c, g, s, and ch. It does not necessarily follow, howevver, (az many persons seem to suppose) dhat dhese letters ought dherefor to be at once expelled from our orthography and summarily rejected from dhe alphabet. It iz quite possible to improov dhe use ov dhem so az to avoid dheir ambiguity widhout getting rid ov dhem altogedher. Dhe mode ov doing dhis iz a question which will be discussed presently, in reference to dhe im- proovment ov dhe orthography. Proceeding to dhe vowels, we find dhe confusion so great, dhat it seems almoast hopeless to attempt to bring any sort ov cosmos out ov such a chaos. In my proposed resolutions alreddy quoted, I hav made a selection ov vowel-digraphs, in order to estabKsh a normal or standard character for each vowel- sound ; but dhere ar odher vowel-digraphs in actual use, which claim to be registered az " equivalent " characters. It iz hardly necessary to say dhat io in opinion^ ua in persuade, and similar combinations, ar two letters widh two sounds, which do not form a digraph ; but it may be important to observ dhat dhe servile e does not appear to me to form a digraph in such words az fee, fie, foe, flue. In dhese cases it iz simply an index letter, pointing out dhe length or quality ov dhe pro- ceeding vowel, exactly az it does in such a word az fitie or fume. Dhis iz not a refined and useless distinction, but a real and important one, az I think will be seen when we com to discuss dhe difficult question ov dhe final e. Reckoning y and w for dhe present purpose az simple equivalents ov i and u, it iz clear dhat dhe five vowel letters will make twenty-five possible digraphs (5 x 5 = 25) . Among dhese, dhe following ar in actual use ; and it will be observed dhat dhere iz a verry remarkable difference, widh respect to dhe abundance ov combinations, between dhe three pure 22 vowels (a, e, o) and dhe two semi-consonantal vowels (i, u) : — 1. aa ea oa . . 2. ae (ae) ^ ee ^ oe (oe) ^ ie ^ 3. ai, ay ei, ey oi, oy . ui, uy^ 4. ao eo 00 . . 5. au, aw eu, ew ou, ow Almoast evvery one ov dhese digraphs iz "ambiguous" in itself, az well az "equivalent" to som odlier. Dhus, ea has three recognized values, in great, feat^ dread = grait, feet^ dred ; all three ov which occur, according to our present pronunciation, in dhe well-known couplet in Hudibras : — " Doubtless the pkasure is as grmt In being cbmted as to cheat. It iz dhese ambiguities which create so much difficulty in our vowel spelling ; and it will be necessary to examin dhem in a subsequent part ov my paper. At present, I am only concerned widh dhe alphabet ; in which, besides making a selection ov vowel digraphs, I hav proposed cer- tain chanjes in dhe alphabetic names ov dhe vowel letters. I hav done so, because each ov dhe vowel letters has in practice two values ; i.e., a long or diphthongal sound, and a short sound. It would take far too much time to enter, now, into an examination ov dhese in detail ; but it iz important to observ dhat, while in Latin dhe same vowel letter denoted boath dhe long and dhe short varieties ov dhe same vowel sound, in English dhe reverse iz dhe fact. It iz one ov dhe moast striking and remarkable differences between dhe two languajes. "We hav kept dhe vowel letters ov dhe Latin and hav refused to add to dhem a single new one ; but we hav entirely altered * By dhese characters I mean dhe trew digraphs, az in feet, field, — Gaesar, oeconomy ; and not dhe index letter in fee, fie, foe. I hav dherefor not included ue, which iz newer a digraph. Perhaps dhe two compendiums, se, oe, ar scaircely English, notwidhstanding dhe " oecumenical " council; and ae and oe seem nearly obsolete. * In strictness, perhaps, ui, iz merely a casual combination, and not an in- tentional digraph, i.e. not designed to denote any particular sound. In fruit, dhe t represents dhe guttural c (kee) in fructus. In build and buy, waz dhe u ewer pronounced ? and if so, how ? On etymological grounds it ought to be rejected : to bild, to by. A similar remark, az to dheir being casual combinations raadher dhan inten- tional digraphs, will apply to som ov dhe combinations even widh a, widh e, and widh 0. 23 dhe use ov dhem, and dhe general result iz, dhat in no one instance do dhe long and short sounds denoted by dhe same vowel letter correspond, but in evvery instance, widhout ex- ception, dhe recognized short sound differs in quality from dhe recognized long or diphthongal sound ov dhe same vowel letter, dhus :— SHORT. LONG. a as in fan a as in fane e fen e fee i fin i fine fond foe u fun u fume It iz mainly for dhis reason dhat it seems to me to be desirable to name dhe vowel letters in such a manner az to mark dhe difierent qualities ov dheir recognized sounds. It would of course be verry much better dhat each letter should denote only one sound, and no more ; but so long az each letter does in fact possess two recognized values, dhat fact ought to be noted, and dhose values recorded, in its alphabetic name. An examination ov dhe alphabetic names which I hav suggested for dhe several vowel letters will show dhe orthographic values which appear to me to belong to dhem. Dhese may be open to discussion in detail ; but dhe general fact, dhat (in English) dhe long and dhe short sounds ov each vowel letter do really difier in quality, cannot be denied, and dhe practical question dherefor iz, whedher it would not be a great advantaje to exhibit dhis fact clearly and correctly in dhe alphabetic names ov dhe letters. 24 IV. — Dhe Improovment ov dhe Orthography. In proceeding to dhis branch ov dlie subject, I find dhe mass ov detail almoast overwhelming. Still, it iz not im- possible to grapple widh it in a general way. I do not pro- pose at present to examin, one by one, dbe hundred thousand words in our latest dictionaries, and revise dhe spelling ov each; but I propose to consider briefly dhe general principles by which any action in dhis matter should be guided. And here let me say dhat, in printing dhis paper, I hav not introduced all dhe chanjes which I think it will be desirable eventually to make ; on dhe contrary, I hav confined my alterations to dhose few chanjes which I would propose for immediate adoption, leaving dhe others to await dhe issue ov dhat discussion which under present circumstances may be expected to arise. Dhis incompleteness may perhaps giv an appearance ov occasional inconsistency ; som persons may think dhat I hav gone too far, odhers, dhat I hav not gone far enufi"; but I must refer, in explanation, to dhe remarks below, in " § YII. Suggested Alterations." Dhere ar two classes ov words in our languaje, which stand, historically and in fact, upon different footings, and which accordingly appear to me to require different treatment. In dhose words which form dhe main stream ov dhe spoken languaje, dhere has certainly been an endevvor, more or less successful, to spell phonetically, i.e., to represent dhe pronun- ciation ; but widh regard to words imported into dhe languaje through dhe medium ov literature in comparativly recent times, dhe desire has been to spell (az it iz termed) "etymologically," i.e., to preserv az much az possible dhe written form ov dhe original word, so az to appeal to dhe ey raadher dhan dhe ear. Dhese words, in fact, so far as dhe English languaje iz con- cerned, ar spelt before dhey ar spoken; dhey ar borrowed in a written form from odher languajes, livving or ded, and ar pronounced afterwards. Dhey consist ov words taken directly from Latin, or from Greek in dhe Latin orthography, or else formed analogically widh Latin or Greek materials ; and also ov words borrowed from odher languajes written 25 widh dhe Latin alphabet. It is obvious dhat words borrowed from languajes which ar not written widh dhe Latin alphabet do not belong to dhis class. "Words, for instance, from dhe Persian, Arabic, Hindoo, Chinese, Japanese, African, Poly- nesian and odher languages, eidher written according to systems ov dheir own or not written at all, must, when im- ported into English, be spelt in our own way. Dhey ar generally spelt phonetically, widh more or less success. But words taken from languajes written widh dhe Latin alphabet, which we uze ourselvs, ar alreddy written in a character which we understand, and ar accordingly imported in dhat form. "Words from dhe Hebrew ov Scripture, which iz a ded languaje, ar in som degree exceptional; especially az we hav not merely dhe Hebrew itself to guide us, but also dhe corresponding or transliterated forms in Greek or Latin, to guide or mislead us az dhe case may be. It appears to me, dhen, dhat Latin words and Latin-spelt Greek words (all our Greek words being spelt in dhe Latin orthography), which hav com to us through literature, and not through speech, stand upon a footing ov dheir own. So far az dhe English languaje iz concerned, dhey ar not, and were newer intended to be, spelt phonetically. Dhey com to us reddy spelt ; and dhe question widh regard to each word dherefor iz, not how it shall be spelt, but simply how it shall be spoken. Dhe spelling iz not required to fit dhe pronun- ciation, but dhe pronunciation iz required to fit dhe spelling. Speaking generally, I see no ground for altering dhe ortho- graphy ov dhese words, dhough in particular instances it may need revision widh a vew to making it more correct etymologically. What iz wanted widh respect to dhese words iz, dhat dhey should be pronounced consistently, so az treuly to harmonize widh dhe orthography. It iz dhe pro- nunciation, and not dhe spelling, dhat requires correction. "Where, howevver, dhe pronunciation ov a particular word iz thoroughly established, and has permanently deviated from dhe orthography, it iz a question whedher it would not be best to alter dhe spelling in dhat particular case, so az to adapt it to dhe pronunciation. Dhus, sceptic iz dhe only word in dhe 26 languaje in which, c iz guttural (or hard) before e. If dhis exceptional pronunciation iz permanently fixed (az it seems to be), it would certainly be convenient to spell dhe word skeptic (widh k in sted ov c), not on dhe ground dhat k occurs in dhe Greek (for we do not follow dhe Greek spelling), but dis- tinctly on dhe ground dhat k iz dhe only letter which, according to dhe rules ov English orthography, will denote dhe exceptional pronunciation. Dhis remarkable stratum ov Latin and Greek words, which has been deposited entirely through a literary medium, lies upon dhe main boddy ov dhe languaje like a layer ov gravvel on a bed ov chalk. Beyond dhis, dhere ar dhe forein words which we hav imported from modern French, Italian, Spanish, and odher languajes written widh dhe Latin alpha- bet. Dhese ar generally spelt at first according to dheir orthography in dhe languaje from which dhey ar taken, but afterwards, az dhey becom more completely naturalized, dhey gradually acquire an English dress. It iz a question ov time in each case ; dhus, we hav altered risque into risk, but we hav not yet altered burlesque into burlesk. So, likewise, troupe has becom troop, but groupe and soupe, dhough dhey hav lost dhe final e, hav not yet chanjed ou into oo. Dhis class ov words seems to me to difier essentially from dhe Greek and Latin words. Dhey com to us from livving lan- guajes, and quite az often through conversation az through literature ; we merely spell dhem in conformity widh dheir original orthography, because dhey ar written widh dhe same alphabet which we ourselvs employ ; and az dhey becom assimilated to dhe rest ov dhe languaje, dhey gradu- ally com to be spelt in an English way. "Would it not be advisable to hasten dhis process, and to giv such words an English orthography az speedily az possible? It does not follow dhat dheir pronunciation will undergo any chanje. Dhe pronunciation ov troop does not difier from dhat ov troupe. Omitting dhe literary Latin and Greek words, which stand, az I hav said, on a footing ov dheir own, dhe principle ov phonetic spelling pervades all dhe rest ov dhe languaje, 27 dhougli dhe practice appears verry often to be at variance widh. it. Here perhaps I should explain dhat literary Latin and Greek words do not include dhose words which came into English from Norman French or Old French, hawing been formed under colloquial and not tmder literary influences. Dhus, blame iz dhe same word az blaspheme ; but blame iz dhe popular, colloquial, contracted form, while blaspheme iz dhe ecclesiastical, literary, complete form. When dhe middle vowel in Latin blasphemare waz dropped, dhe ph, being in dhat position almoast unpronounceable, would be dropped also, leaving az a residuum dhe Old French blasmer ; dhough in som dialects dhe ph became t, blastemaVy reduced to hlastmaVy blasmar. Dhe s waz afterwards lost before dhe following consonant, in accordance widh dhe general practice ov dhe French languaje ; dhe series ov contractions being az follows: blasphemare, blasphmer, blasmer, blamer. Dhese chanjes did not take place in English ; dhey took place in French ; and dhe word came over into English in its last staje ov con- traction, — blamer, to blame. So far az English iz concerned, dherefor, dhe word iz not Latin or Greek, but French, — and not literary but colloquial French. Since its adoption into English it has undergone a furdher chanje in its pronuncia- tion, dhough none in its orthography. Dhe vowel a has shifted its sound from aa to ai, and dhe word (i.e. dhe spoken word) which in Chaucer's day waz blaame or blaam iz now blaim. Whedher " phonetic "" spelling would require dhat it should now be spelt blaim, insted ov blame, iz a question which must be considered in connexion widh dhe general question ov dhe final or servile e ; 1 only wish to point out here, dhat "etymological" spelling, confined to literary Greek and Latin words, does not require dhat blame should be respelt blaspheme, any more dhan it requires bishop to be respelt episcop^ which, after loozing dhe initial vowel and dhus hQCommm^piscop, passed through dhe following phonetic and orthographic chanjes, — biscop, bisceop, bischop, bishop. Dhe line to be drawn between dhe literary forms and dhe colloquial contractions, iz perfectly clear and distinct, dhough dhere may be som words about which it may be difficult to deter- 28 min on which side ov dhe line dhey should be placed. It iz essential dhat dhis point should be thoroughly understood, — az to what *' etymological " spelling does require, and what it does not. It requires that literary Latin and Greek words should be spelt according to dheir original form in dhe Latin orthography ; but it does not require dhat colloquial con- tractions ov such words, whedher arising in Anglo-Saxon, French, or English, should be spelt odherwise dhan phoneti- cally. Dhere iz, howevver, anodher kind ov " etymological " spelling, which calls for distinct consideration. Etjrmology has two aspects, according az it regards, on dhe one hand, dhe original form ov a word, or, on dhe odher, dhe chanjes it undergoes. Retrospectiv etymology looks backward to dhe original form ; prospectiv etymology looks foreward to its subsequent history, and traces its successiv modifications. Dhe " etymological '' spelling which follows dhese successiv chanjes iz necessarily, so far az it goes, co-incident widh phonetic spelling. It records what dhe chanjes ought to be, widhout taking heed ov slurred or slovvenly pronunciation ; or raadher, it records what dhe chanjes really ar, under a full, emphatic and proper pronunciation. Dhus, dhe article an loozes its n before a consonant, and dhis loss iz duly noted in dhe spelling; but it iz quite unnecessary to note dhe various shades ov obscuration which dhe residuary vowel, a, receivs from difierent persons in dhe hurried utterance ov daily life. When fully and emphatically uttered it iz a, and nothing else ; and dhis accords widh dhe spelling. For practical purposes, dhis iz all dhat iz needed; dhough, ov course, a more minute discrimination may be requisit for dhe scientific investigation ov linguistic phenomena. Az a general rule, retrospectiv or historical etymology, which looks to dhe original forms, deals widh words dhat ar borrowed from dhe fixed literature of ded languajes ; whilst prospectiv or grammatical etymology, which looks to dhe chanjes dhat words undergo, deals widh dhe phenomena dhat occur widhin dhe limits ov dhe livving English languaje itself. When we hav got hold ov a word from abroad or 29 outside, and hav naturalized it, we treat it az a nativ ; and dhe chanjes to which it iz dhen subjected demand to be registered not merely on phonetic but on etymological grounds. We distinguish, for example, between dhe nowns and dhe verbs in certain classes ov words by dhe diversity ov dhe sharp and flat varieties ov dhe same consonant ; and wherevver dhis distinction iz made in speech, it ought also to be marked in spelling. It iz not merely a matter ov orthoepy, but a point ov grammatical etymology. Dhe phonetic chanje iz not merely euphonic, but significant. It accompanies and indicates a chanje ov sense ; and dherefor claims to be recorded not simply for dhe sake ov dhe pronunciation, but especially for dhe sake ov dhe meaning. But in dhis respect, az in so many odhers, our actual orthography iz extremely inconsistent. Dhus, we distinguish in spelling, az well az in speech, between glass and to glaze, advice and to advise ; but we do not distinguish in spelling, dhough we do distinguish in speech, between house and to house, use and to use. If we were to write dhese words according to " analogic spelling,'* we might spell dhem dhus — houss and to houze, uce and to use. Dhe best mode ov writing dhem, I shall discuss pre- sently ; and I will only say at present, dhat grammatical etymology certainly requires dhat dhe difierence in question should, at all events in some mode or odher, be marked in dhe orthography. I do not think dhat grammatical ety- mology conflicts in dhis respect widh historical etymology, because, az it seems to me, dhe sphere ov each iz quite dis- tinct from dhe odher. Historical etymology desires dhe retention ov dhe original form ov dhe word; grammatical etymology demands dhe registration ov its significant varia- tions. It iz quite practicable to satisfy boath, if due attention iz paid to dhe proper limits ov each. Dhus, it cannot be too strongly insisted on, dhat advice, az distinguished from advise, iz not a Latin, nor even a French, but a purely English word. Here iz a chanje ov pronunciation ybr a purpose ; and it appears to me dhat dhe spelling which records dhat chanje iz az treuly etymological az it iz phonetic. Whatevver vew we may take widh regard to dhe bearing 30 ov historical etymology on orthography, it appears to be clearly desirable dhat dhe demands ov grammatical ety- mology should be complied widh. I dherefor venture to propose dhat to dhis extent " etymological " spelling (which iz so far co-incident widh phonetic spelling) should at once be not only adopted az a principle, but carried out in practice consistently and completely. Dhe details must be discussed hereafter; but az an illustration ov my meaning, I would suggest dhat dhe verb to houze should be spelt widh z in sted ov 5. If it should be decided dhat henceforth dhe final e iz to be discarded wherevver it iz useless, dhen houz would be dhe form ; but dhe decision to be com to on dhat point iz a distinct question. Hence — NowN. Verb. house to houze or, if dhe final e be rejected — hous to houz The difierence between to house and to houz iz no doubt considerable to dhe ey, and iz perhaps at first a little startling; but if it recommends itself to dhe judjment, az dhe con- sistent application ov a principle, it would soon becom familiar in practice. 31 Y. — Phonetic Spelling. If dhe vew wliicli I hav taken be correct, dhere are, widh regard to orthography, two classes ov words in our languaje, viz., dhose in which dhe spelling iz govverned, and rightly govverned, by historical etymology ; and dhose in which dhe spelling iz based on dhe phonetic principle, aldhough dhat principle may be carried out in a clumsy, inconsistent and unsatisfactory manner. Dhis latter class practically includes dhose words which ar affected by dhe chanjes ov grammati- cal etymology. What dhen iz phonetic spelling ? More dhan 120 years ago, Dr. Johnson, in his " Plan of an English Dictionary," observed — "The great orthographical contest has long sub- sisted between etymology and pronunciation. It has been demanded, on one hand, that men should write as they speak ; but * * * it may be asked with equal propriety, why men do not rather speak as they write." Dhis question un- doutedly bears dhe stamp ov Johnson's strong common sense ; neverdheless, it does not exhaust dhe subject. If we were really to do boath dhese things, or eidher ov dhem, — to write az we speak, or to speak az we write, — our spelling would be equally phonetic ; for whedher dhe spelling iz such az to represent dhe pronunciation, or dhe pronunciation iz such az to harmonize widh dhe spelling, dhe effect iz practi- cally dhe same. Dhe two ar brought into conformity ; and dhat iz all dhat iz required. But dhe treuth iz, dhat Johnson's question overlooks dhe important fact dhat, except az regards dhose words which hav com to us through literature, dhe spelling iz necessarily phonetic, i.e. intended to represent dhe pronunciation, — whedher it does so effectually or not. "We may " speak as we write " with regard to words dhat ar written ; but how can we do so with regard to unwritten words ? When words hidherto unwritten ar written for dhe first time, dhe question necessarily arises, — how shall dhey be spelt? Dhe answer ov course will be, dhat dhey should be spelt so az to repre- sent dhe pronunciation, — so az to make dhe written form correspond widh dhe spoken form ; and in dhat case men do at least attempt to " write as they speak."*' With respect to such words it iz altogedher irrelevant to ask men to " speak as they write." Dhe words which hav dhus been phonetically spelt, i.e. written originally widh dhe intention ov representing dhe pronunciation, form dhe great bulk ov what iz really our modher-tung. But dhe intention has been more or less de- feated by sevveral causes ; az, for instance, first, dhat our means ov representing dhe pronunciation ar, and always hav been, inadequate; secondly, dhat dhe difierent systems ov orthography, such az Anglo-Saxon, Latin, French, and Modern English, which hav prevailed at difierent periods and in different branches ov dhe languaje, hav clashed widh each odher and produced inconsistency and confusion ; thirdly, dhat where a chanje takes place in dhe pronunciation widhout any corresponding chanje in dhe spelling ov a word, a dis- crepancy arises, so dhat dhe spelling, which may once hav faithfully represented dhe pronunciation, no longger does so. Our languaje has been a written languaje for more dhan a thousand years, and to remoov dhe evils which hav been dhe growth ov so many centuries iz a task which would seem to be indeed herculean. Dhe first step, howevver, iz to under- stand what dhese evils really ar ; and dhe next, to consider in what way dhey may be remedied. Dhe practical adoption ov dhe suggested remedies iz, ov course, a different matter. It appears to me dhat an attempt may at least be made to bring our two languajes, — our spoken languaje and our written languaje, — into harmony widh each odher, by ob- serving certain conditions, among which dhe principal are dhese : — Dhe retention ov " equivalent " characters, wherevver dheir value iz not " ambiguous ;" Dhe rejection or modificati^jn ov " ambiguous" characters, wherevver dhe ambiguity cannot be remooved by *' rules ov position ; " Dhe retention ov etymological "silent letters," if dheir silence may be known or determined by " rules ov position "; 33 And laastly, dhe consistent application ov dhose ortho- graphical contrivances, which exist in our actual spelling, and which require to be regulated, modified, or corrected, raadher dhan discarded. Among dhe chief ov dhese con- trivances may be reckoned dhe use ov dhe servile e and ov dhe servile u ; dhe practice ov doubling dhe consonants ; and dhe employment ov dhe letters tj and w dJL ornamental finals in sted ov i and u. If we can lay down a rule to determin dhe pronunciation ov different words widh dhe same spelling, dhere iz no necessity to alter dhe spelling in order to render it phonetic ; for it becoms phonetic by dhe operation ov dhe rule. Dhus, if dhe rule be universal, dhat dhe prefix ex always becoms flat {egz) before an accented syllable beginning widh a vowel or silent A, but in all odher circumstances remains sharp, no chanje in dhe spelling iz required to inform us ov dhe pro- nunciation; and under dhe influence ov dhat rule example and exhibit (pron. egzdmple and egzihit) ar just az much phonetically spelt az excM, expSy extol, or Exercise. And I wish to dwell upon dhis az an extremely important principle. Where dhe actual pronunciation ov a word (whedher supposed to be spelt etymologically or odherwise) can be pointed out by a definit rule, dhe orthography iz really phonetic, being rendered so by dhe rule, which givs to dhe letters in dhat particular position a certain pronunciation, and no odher. In such cases, dherefor, it iz unnecessary to introduce any chanje in dhe spelling ; and it iz, ov course, extremely desirable to introduce az few chanjes az possible. A verry large proportion ov Latin words, and ov Greek words in dheir Latin orthography, appear to fall widhin dhe scope ov dhis principle; and hence, in dhose words, dhe etymo- logical and dhe phonetic spelling really co-incide, or may at least be reconciled by means ov certain rules, which may be termed *' Eules ov Position." If, for instance, it be a phonetic law ov dhe languaje, dhat a mute (whedher flat or sharp) iz newer pronounced before a nasal Hquid in dhe same syllable, dhen, if we know dhat law, we not only see why g iz silent in words like phlegm and sign 3 34 (dhough pronounced in phlegmatic and signaly where dhe sounds ar syllabically sewered), but dhe presence ov dhe g in spelling dhose words will not disturb our pronunciation, because its silence iz secured by dhe *' rule ov position " just noticed. And dhis brings me to dhe question ov " equivalent characters," which involvs considerations similar to dhose affecting ** silent letters." It iz, indeed, on dhese two points dhat dhe zeal ov our phonetic reformers appears to me to hav carried dhem away. A silent letter, if it iz known to be silent, does not interfere widh dhe law which would require dhe spelling to represent dhe pronunciation ; and, on dhe odher hand, two different modes, or even half a dozen dif- ferent modes ov denoting dhe same sound may be equally effectiv, and would, if adopted, be equally phonetic. Dhe digraph js?A iz just az much a phonetic sign az dhe digraph th\ and it does not cease to be a phonetic sign merely because dhe same sound iz also denoted by dhe single letter/. On dhe odher hand, where dhe same letter, or dhe same digraph, has different values in different situations, it becoms " ambiguous," unless its precise value in any givven situation can be determined by a *' rule ov position." Dhis may som- times be done, but not always. Dhus, it may be laid down (and taught) az a universal rule, dhat c iz always sibilant {see) before e (except in sceptic = skeptic) and before i or its equivalent y, and guttural (kee) in all odher positions. Dhis rule determins dhe different phonetic values ov c so az to remoov all ambiguity ; but no similar rule can be laid down widh regard to ^, or widh regard to dhe digraph ch. I think it may be said dhat " equivalent " characters {i.e., different signs for dhe same sound) ar not inconsistent widh phonetic spelling, which dherefor presents no obstacle to dheir retention for dhe purposes ov etymological spelling ; but dhat, on dhe odher hand, an " ambiguous " symbol {i.e., dhe same sign for different sounds) iz not only inconsistent widh phonetic spelling, but does in fact create so much con- fusion, dhat it iz expedient to make almoast any sacrifice ov etymological spelling for dhe sake ov avoiding dhat confusion. 35 If ''equivalent" characters ar to be rejected, dlieir re- jection will not be required by phonetic spelling, but by considerations ov an entirely different nature, dbat iz to say, by considerations ov practical convenience. It iz mainly a question ov time and trouble in teaching and learning. Dhus, rh has in English dhe same phonetic value az r, but dhe two cannot be uzed indiscriminately in spelling. Dhey ar equivalent but not interchanj cable ; rh being confined to a particular class ov words. If a boy sees for dhe first time dhe word " rhetoric '* written down, he may know at once how to pronounce it ; but if he iz asked to write it down, not hawing seen it before, he will probably spell it widhout dhe h. I>his iz dhe trouble, and dhe only trouble in dhe matter. It may or it may not be an important practical question ; but it iz wholely independent ov phonetic spelling. VI. — Proposed Course ov Action. Dhe anomalies which hav dhus crept, in dhe course ov cen- turies, into English spelling may, I think, be remooved to a great extent, dhough not perhaps entirely, by dhe adoption ov certain principles or methods ov proceeding, som ov which I hav briefly indicated in dhe present paper. Dhose indi- cations hav necessarily been verry brief, compared widh dhe vaast extent ov dhe question in all its ramified details. Dhat question has now becom dhe object ov lively attention in various quarters, but az dhere iz no Academy in dhis country,, nor any odher Literary Tribunal, which can exercise authority in such a matter, I cannot but think dhat dhe most practical step would be, dhat dhose literary or odher Societies to which dhe subject iz interesting or appropriate should take som joint action upon it. "Whedher dhe Philological Society should take dhe initiativ, eidher by appointing a Committee ov its own members or by inviting odher Societies to join it in doing so, iz a question which iz almoast forced upon its attention by dhe present state ov dhe agitation elsewhere. Meanwhile, dhe suggestions ov individuals, looking at dhe subject from various points ov vew, may be ov advantaje in dhe general discussion and may assist in dhe final decision. 36 Suggestion, discussion, decision ; dhis iz dhe natural order ; and dhe final decision, dhougli it may be advanced, will not be govverned or controuled by individual theories, but will be mainly determined by dhe tendencies ov dhe national cha- racter and dhe influence ov dhe national habits. Dhe con- servativ inclinations ov Englishmen will doutless resist all chanje in our orthography, whedher proposed on etymological or on phonetic or on any odher grounds, unless some practical advantaje can be shown ; but if any practical advantaje can be shown, dhen dhe best and moast suitable suggestions will probably be adopted and carried into effect by dhe good sense ov dhe people, notwidhstanding dhe dislike ov chanje. Aldhough dhere iz no Literary Tribunal endowed widh authority in such a matter, dhere ar som constituted authorities or recognized boddies in dhe country who might exercise much influence over it. Dhe Committee ov Council on Education, dhe Civil Service Commissioners, dhe Eoyal College ov Preceptors, and odher examining boddies, eidher at dhe Universities or elsewhere, might be called upon by public opinion to accept, and to pass at all examinations az equally valid, boath forms ov orthography, dhe old and dhe new, widhout deciding between dhem. If, at present, a candidate iz not rejected because he adopts dhe etymological spelling, expense, in sted ov dhe phonetic spelling, expence, why should he be rejected because he writes, on dhe same grounds, defense and offense, in sted ov defence and offence ? or because he thinks dhat dhe u may be conveniently omitted in gard (guard) az it iz in regard ? or dhat dhe verb to houze may be properly distinguished from dhe nown house, az well az dhe verb to graze from dhe nown grass ? It iz not contemplated dhat evvery person shall spell just az he likes; but what iz proposed iz dhis, — dhat dhe alternativ spellings ov indi- vidual words, resulting from definit principles understood and recognized and agreed upon, whedher etymological or phone- tic, shall be passed by dhe examiners az being equally admissible, equally valid, and in all respects on an equal footing. It iz quite clear dhat dhere ar two principles, dhe etymo- .^7 logical and dhe phonetic, wliich hav long struggled for dhe maastery in our spelling. My own opinion iZj az I hav fully explained alreddy, dhat phonetic spelling co-incides necessarily widh grammatical etymology, and dhat it may be made to co-incide widh historical etymology (at least, to a great extent, if not entirely) by dhe aid ov "rules ov position." Whedher dhis opinion iz correct or not, it iz difficult to see on what ground eidher dhe one or dhe odher ov dhe two principles can claim exclusiv preference. Az a matter ov fact, dhey ar boath in activ operation, and dhe phonetic principle iz dhe older ov dhe two. In dhe English languaje it iz sanctioned by dhe respectable antiquity ov more dhan a thousand years. On dhe odher hand, dhe etymological principle iz more generally in favor at dhe present time. Let boath hav fair play. Let each operate in its own sphere ; and if two different modes ov spelling dhe same word should be dhe result, let boath dhe forms be accepted az ov equal force and worth, az in dhe case ov expenee and expense. It iz obvious dhat dhis proposal iz distinct and definit and limited; and iz widely different from dhe admission ov all sorts ov hap- hazzard and fortuitous spellings, dhe results ov mere ignorance or blundering. Dhe proposal, indeed, follows logically and necessarily from dhe recognition ov dhe existence ov dhe two principles in our orthography ; but I do not think dhat it wo-uld lead in practice to much actual conflict or collision, because dhe spheres in which dhe two principles legitimately act appear to be essentially distinct. 38 VII. — ^Suggested Alterations. [Note. — In dhe spelling ov dhe present section I hav gone two steps furdher dhan in dhe previous part ov dhe paper : — 1. Dhe flat sound ov s iz invariably spelt widh z, except, ov course, in dhe literary Greek and Latin words and in words not fully naturalized, and except, also, in dhe inflexions, which ar determined by a "rule ov position" : see remarks below, under ** s." Probably few persons ar at all aware ov dhe extent to which dhe flat sounds generally, and especially dhe flat s or z^sound, prevail in our actual speech. 2. Dhe second I iz omitted in monosyllables after a short vowel, az wil, tel, shal, dol, dul, ful, for will, tell, shall, doll, dull, full. Dhis does not extend to words widh a pronounced au, — az in fall, — which, being a long vowel, stands on a difi'erent footing. Dhe few words of dhis kind, in which o iz long, would be better spelt widh single / and servile e; az, drole for droll.] Dhere ar two objects in vew — 1. Alphabetic Reform ; 2. Ortbograpbic Beform. I bav explained my proposals widb regard to dbe first, and my vews widb regard to dbe principles on wbicb dbe second sbould proceed. It now remains, to apply dboze principles to dbe details ov actual spelling. If any enterprizing person would re- write Walker's Dic- tionary, marking dbe pronunciation on a treuly pbonetic sys- tem, be would render a great service. I do not propose to do dbat bere : I merely wisb now to examin som ov dbe details, not at all exbaustivly, but simply by way ov illus- tration. Wbat I am advocating iz ** Consistent Spelling;*' not uni- form spelling, but consistent spelling ; so dbat dbat balf ov dbe languaje, wbicb iz spelt etymologically, may be spelt con- sistently on dbe etymological principle; wbile dbe odber balf ov dbe languaje, wbicb iz spelt pbonetically, may be spelt consistently on dbe pbonetic principle. It may be wel to giv bere a list ov dbe flat and sbarp sounds, occurring in Englisb. Dbe distinction between flat and sbarp iz confined to dbe mutes and sibilants, widb dbeir corresponding " aspirates ;" and does not extend to dbe liquids, wbedber oral or nasal. Dbis list follows dbe natural order ov succession, according to dbe physical formation ov dbe sounds, proceeding inwards, from dbe lips to dbe tbroat : 39 Flat.-' Sharpy bee B b P p pee vee V V F f ef dhee Dh dh Th th eth dee D d T t tee zed Z z S s es zhai Zh zh Sb sb esb dzbai J j Cb cb etsb gai a g K k kai I bav alreddy remarked dbat dbe two sounds ov j (dzbai), and cb (etsb), dbougb pbonetically related to dbe sibilants, ar connected etymologically widb dbe gutturals {antCj p. 19). Dbey bav practically taken dbe places ov dbe trew guttural "aspirates" (gb, kb), wbicb we bav lost. Dbe caracters denoting dbem — dbe single letter j and dbe digrapb cb — ar quite anomalous pbonetically, dbougb dbey may be accounted for bistorically. It iz not a matter ov fancy, but ov practical use, to point out dbat dbe distinction between flat and sbarp, az regards dbe plain or primary consonants, iz marked in pairs by dbe sbape ov dbe letters (wbatevver may bav been dbejr origin), and especially in dbe capitals : — Flat. Sharp. bee B P pee gai G C kee dee D T tee zed Z S es B iz merely P widb a second loop ; and D iz T widb a loop carried round from top to bottom. G iz simply C widb a stroke across ; wbile Z iz an angular or pointed S, turned dbe odber way. ^ I uze dlie words flat and sharp, az well az aspirate and odher similar terms, because dhey ar convenient and commonly employed, and not because I think dhem correct. Our sounds hav been called all sorts ov names ; fiat and sharp, hard and soft, thick and thin, surd and sonant, voiced and voiceless, spoken and whispered, and many more ; but all such descriptions ar necessarily confined to som single point or aspect, and, dherefor, defectiv ; and widhout discussing dheze questions ov terminology, it iz sufficient for practical purposes to adopt dhoze terms which ar in current use. Ov all dheze, perhaps ' flat ' and ' sharp ' ar dhe least scientific and dhe moast handy. 40 Dhe complete series ov h-digraphs, to denote dhe corre- sponding * aspirates/ would be : — Bh bh Ph ph Gh gh Ch ch {kh) Dh dh Th tb Zb zb Sb sb Dzb dzb {j) Tab tsb {eh) Dbe conditions under wbicb, in dbe spoken languaje, dbe flat and sbarp sounds intercbanje, require investigation. In bishop f az compared witb 'piscop, dbe sbarp mute, initial and accented, bas becom flat ; in gossip, az compared widb godsib, dbe flat mute, final and unaccented, bas becom sbarp. In dbeze words, dbe cbanje iz sbown in dbe spelling, but in many ov our words it iz not. I propose to consider, in succession — 1. Som ov dbe digrapbs, and single letters : 2. Dbe index letters, — servile u ; and servile e : 3. Dbe question ov silent letters : 4. Vowel spelling. ph f Dbe digrapb pb iz dbe equivalent ov dbe single letter f. Az p iz dbe symbol ov dbe sbarp labial mute, so pb iz dbe symbol ov dbe sbarp labial " aspirate." Dbere iz, dberefor, no necessity for discarding it, on pbonetic grounds ; but words like sbep-berd and up-bold require to be distinguisbed by a bypben. Dbougb pb and f ar equivalent, dbey ar not properly intercbanj cable. Dbe cause ov dbe existence ov pb in Eng- lisb spelling iz etymological. All Greek words adopted into Englisb ar spelt in dbe Latin ortbograpby; and in dbe Latin ortbograpby pb represents dbe Greek (f>. Dbe word nephew, bowevver, iz an anomaly, and requires to be respelt boatb on pbonetic and on etymological grounds. It iz a terrible ey-sore, az it stands. It iz neidber literary Latin, nor colloquial Frencb, nor pbonetic Englisb. Latin nepotem Italian nepote Frencb neveu Old English IZIZ ° ( nevew Modern Englisb nepbew 41 Bhe Englisli word, pronounced nevew, iz in fact dhe Frenct neveu, whicli superseded dhe Anglo-Saxon nefa or neva, in whicli dhe sound waz flat, dhough in German neffe it iz sharp. We ought to revive dhe old spelling, nevew ; or, better stil, write nevvewj but dhis, ov course, depends upon dhe general question az to doubling v. Many persons who advocate " uniform " spelling think dhat it would be best to abolish ph altogedher, and substitute f in all cases, az we hav alreddy done in som words, such az frenzy = phrensy, contracted from phrenesy, and fancy = phantsy, contracted from phantasy. To do so would be to abandon our practice ov spelling Greek words in dheir Latin orthography. Nevverdheless, it might be done. Dhe state ov dhe matter iz dhis : Etymological spelling requires dheze words to be spelt widh ph, and phonetic spelling does not require dhem to be spelt odherwize ; but it might be a point ov practical convenience to spel dhem uniformly widh f, and it rests widh dhe English people to determin whedher dhis chanje shal be made. Dhe appropriate h- digraph for dhis sound would be bh ; for az ph iz to p, so iz bh to b ; but dhis digraph has newer been adopted, and it iz not necessary to introduce it now. Dhe letter v iz newer doubled in any English word, because when w waz written or printed disjunctivly, w, it s<« would hav been impossible to double dhe v, az a v, widhout utter confusion ; but az w has now becom virtually a single letter, dhere iz no longger any reazon for refusing to double dhe letter v in dhe same positions in which any odher con- sonant would be doubled. Dhe practice, indeed, has com- menced in dhe word " navvy," which, howewer, iz usually printed between inverted commas, az if it were regarded az an exceptional word, not admitted az ov right, but on sufier- ance. It seems to me dhat dhe time has arrived for treating V like any odher consonant, and doubling it where any odher consonant would be doubled. Moreover, dhe letter v iz newer proceeded by dhe letter u in any purely English word ; dhough dhis combination 42 occurs in a few words ov Latin origin, such, az alluvial, ante- diluvian. Dhe letter o iz substituted for u in words like shove, dove, love, glove, above, in order to avoid dhe juxtaposition ov u and V ; but dhere seems to be no good reazon why dheze words should not now be spelt widh u in sted ov o. Formerly, when dhe letters u and v were uzed indis- criminately for vowel and consonant, a silent e waz added or retained, for dhe sake ov distinction, in dhoze words in which dhe V waz consonantal ; and hence it iz dhat, in English, no word ends widh v in spelling, dhough many hundreds end widh V in pronunciation. Az u and v ar now thoroughly distinguished from each odher, dhe reazon for dhis rule no longger exists ; and dhe final e might, dherefor, be at once discarded; cessante ratione, cessat lex. Dhis remark iz ov course confined to dhoze words in which dhe final e iz em- ployed for dhis purpose, and does not extend to dhoze in which it marks dhe length ov a proceeding vowel. It does so in words like rave, rove ; but in words like leave, sleeve, grieve, groove, it iz superfluous, dhe long vowel being ex- pressed by dhe digraph, while in words like give, have, love, it iz not merely superfluous, but misleading, az it appears to indicate dhat dhe vowel iz long, when, in fact, dhe vowel iz short. I would propose to omit dhe final e after v in evvery word in which it iz not wanted to denote dhat dhe proceeding vowel iz long. Dhe result ov dheze suggestions would be, dhat no chanje would be made in words like rove; dhat words like leave would be spelt leav ; dhat words like have would be spelt hav ; and dhat words like having would be spelt hawing. Dhe chanje from o to u in words like lav, lower, lowing, = luv, luwer, luwing, involvs odher considerations, which must be discussed in connexion widh dhe general question ov vowel spelling. Dheze remarks wil likewize apply to words derived from dhe Latin, such az new, serv, solv, for nerve, serve, solve, in which dhe final e iz not required by etymological considera- tions; az wel az dhat large class ov adjectivs ending in -ive, where dhe final e iz not wanted on etymological grounds, while on phonetic grounds it iz not merely superfluous, but 43 misleading, az dlie vowel, at least in English, iz not long, but short, az in activy pensiv, creative evasiv, for adivef pensive^ creative f evasive. Dhere ar, I belie v, about 450 words ov dhis description ; and to dheze must be added dbe derivativs in -ly and -ness, az activly, activness, pensivly, pensivness. Subjoined ar lists ov som words in whicli dbe servile e iz eidber superfluous or misleading : V final : vowel long ; — servile e superfluous. Present Spelling Proposed Spelling. Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. waive V. waiv achieve V. achiev grieve V. griev heave V. heav aggrieve V. aggriev up-heave V. up-heav relieve V. reliev leave V. leav reprieve V. repriev leave s. leav reprieve s. repriev cleave V. cleav retrieve V. retriev cleave V. cleav interleave V. interleav move V. moov reave V. reav move s. moov bereave V. bereav remove V. remoov weave V. weav remove s. remoov inweave V. inweav interweave V. interweav prove approve V. V. proov approov ■' sleeve s. sleev disapprove V. disapproov reeve s. reev disprove improve V. V. disproov improov conceive V. conceiv reprove V. reproov preconceive V. preconceiv deceive V, deceiv groove s. groov undeceive V. undeceiv groove V. groov perceive V, perceiv receive V. receiv bereavement s. bereavment achievement s. achievment believe V. believ movement s. moovment' disbelieve V. disbeliev improvement s. improovment ^ sieve s. siev^ thieve V. thiev sleeveless a. sleevless 1 Az to dhis word, dhe furdher question arizes, — whedher it should be pro- nounced seev, or spelt siv. 2 Dheze words, az dheir pronunciation indicates, hav com to us from dhe French, and not directly from dhe Latin. Dhe spelling widh oo iz preferable on dhis ground ; dhus : — French, — troupe : English, — troop „ mouvement : ,, moovment Again, in English dhe verbs and nowns wil correspond: e.g., proov, proof; reproov, reproof ; like griev, grief. 44 V final : oral liquid preceeding ' ; — servile e superfli iious. calve V. calv carve V. carv halve V. halv starve V. starv salve V. salv swerve V. swerv salve s. salv valve 8. valv bivalve S. bivalv nerve s. nerv nerve V. nerv delve V. delv unnerve V. unnerv delve s. delv helve s. helv serve V. serv shelve V. shelv conserve V. conserv twelve a. twelv conserve s. conserv deserve V. deserv solve V. solvrf absolv dissolv resolv observe V. observ absolve dissolve resolve V. V. V. preserve preserve reserve V. s. V. preserv preserv reserv resolve s. resolv reserve s. reserv subserve V. subserv devolve V. devolv evolve V. evolv curve a. curv involve V. involv curve s. curv revolve V. revolv curve V. curv V final: vowel short ] — servile e misleading. have T. hav above adv. abov ^ above pr. abov give forgive misgive V. V. V. giv forgiv misgiv dove ring-dove stock-dove turtle-dove s. s. s. s. dov ring-dov stock-dov turtle-dov live outlive V. V. Hv outliv love love glove V. s. s. lov lov glov endive s. endiv glove shove V. V. glov shov olive s. oliv shove s. shov ;^3 th Dhis digraph properly denotes dhe sharp sound. Az t iz dhe symbol ov dhe sharp dental mute, so th iz dhe symbol ov dhe sharp dental " aspirate." 3 Az to dheze words, it iz a question, — whedlier dhey should not be spelt widh u in sted ov o. 45 Unfortunately, howevver, it iz uzed for dhe flat az wel az for dhe sharp sound ; and we hav at present no means ov distinguishing in spelling between dhe two sounds. I propose dhat dhe digraph dh should be adopted for dhe flat sound. Dhere iz a third class ov words, in which th 'yl pronounced like t ; but dhey ar chiefly proper names, such az Thames and Thomas, and I do not propose in dhe present paper to deal widh proper names. Perhaps thyme iz dhe only common nown so pronounced ; and it iz a question whedher dhe pro- nunciation or dhe spelling should be altered; i.e., whedher dhe word should be pronounced thyme, or spelt tyme. Moreover, dhe digraph occasionally coms into contact, on one side, widh dhe sound represented by dhe first letter, and on dhe odher side widh dhe sound represented by dhe laast letter ; and in such cases dhere iz a tendency to omit one ov dhe letters, so az to avoid repetition. Such an omission iz a mistake, and cannot be defended eidher on phonetic or on etymological grounds. Dhus, eighth iz derived from eight (like fourth from four) by dhe suffix th ; and should dherefor be spelt eightth, according to its pronunciation. On dhe odher hand withhold waz formerly often spelt withold (widh a single K) ; but dhe correct spelling (widh hh) iz now general. dh In a paper which I redd before dhe Philological Society in 1867 (Trans. 1867, p. 82) I remarked dhat " some single letter (like the A.S. ^) might very usefully and conveniently be adopted in our current spelling for the flat (or soft) sound of th, leaving the sharp (or hard) sound to be still represented by the established digraph th. The appropriate digraph for the flat (or soft) sound would, of course, be dh ; but a single letter is in every respect far more convenient than a digraph." Dhis iz certainly trew in dhe abstract, but dhe question now iz one ov actual chanje, and I hav giwen my reazons for thinking dhat upon dhe whole, dhe substitution ov dh for th, to denote dhe flat sound, would be dhe moast advisable. Dhe paper abov referred to contains a list ov dhe words in which dhe sound iz flat when initial. It iz generally, dhough 46 not always flat when medial, in Anglo-Saxon words, like father, mother, brother, = faadher, modher, brodher ; but always sbarp in Greek words, like anathema. Wben final, it iz somtimes sharp and somtimes flat, dhus in tooth it iz sharp, but in booth = boodh, it iz flat. It iz clear, dherefor, dhat a separate symbol iz wanted, az dhe pronunciation cannot be determined by any ** rule ov position." Moreover, dhis separate symbol iz required quite az much for dhe sake ov dhe etymology az for dhe sake ov dhe pro- nunciation. Dhus widh regard to dhe class ov words in which th initial iz flat, dheir trew position iz obscured and disguized by dhe present spelling. Thou does not bear dhe same relation to dhe Latin tu, az theatre bears to theatrum. In thou, dhe initial sound iz not only aspirated, but flat, but in tu, it iz both sharp and unaspirated : while in dhe Gferman du, it iz unaspirated, but flat. Dhe trew relation ov dheze words iz best shown az follows: — Latin, tu, German, du, English, dhou. In dhe verb to bathe, az compared widh dhe nown bath, dhere iz a chanje precisely similar to dhat between thief and thieve, glass and glaze, advice and advise ; but dhis etymological fact iz not noted, or not distinctly noted, in dhe orthography, az dhe final e in bathe iz at least ambiguous, and seems raadher to lengthen dhe vowel a dhan to soften or flatten dhe th. In bathing, dhe servile e disappears, but dhe th remains flat. Dhe trew etymological connexion ov all such words would be far more clearly and efiectivly shown by dhe digraph dh dhan by dhe present spelling widh th ; and it iz dherefor no less on etymological dhan on phonetic grounds dhat dhe chanje iz really called for. In dhe subjoined lists ov words dh iz initial or final. Dhe words in which it iz medial ar verry numerous, and involv many etymological questions. dh initial. Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. Present Spelling, Proposed Spelling, the dhe than dhan that dhat then dhen those dhoze thence dhence this dhis thenceforth dhenceforth these dheze thenceforward dhenceforeward thus dhus 47 dh initial. Present Spelling. there thereabout thereabouts thereafter thereat thereby therefore therefrom therein thereinto thereof thereon thereupon thereout thereto thereunto thereunder therewith therewithal thither thitherto thitherward they them themselves their theirs Proposed Spelling. dhere dhereabout dhereabouts dhereafter dhereat dhereby dherefor dherefrom dherein dhereinto dhereov dhereon dhereupon dhereout dhereto dhereunto dhereunder dherewidh dherewidhal dhidher dhidherto dhidherward dhey dhem dhemselvs dheir dheirs Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. thou dhou thee dhee thine dhine thy dhy thyself dhyself though dhough tho' dho' although aldhough altho' aldho' dh final. Present Spelling. lathe s. hithe 8 sithe 8 tithe 8 booth 8 lithe a blithe a smooth a with prep bathe v swathe v writhe v breathe v loathe V mouth V teething part Proposed Spelling. ladhe hidhe sidhe tidhe boodh lidhe bHdhe smoodh widh badhe swadhe wridhe breadh loadh moudh teedhing dh final. Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. [Dhe following verbs ar at present spelt boath ways ; i.e., somtimes widh final e, and somtimes widhout] : — sheath sheathe unsheath unsheathe wreath wreathe in wreath in wreathe bequeath bequeathe V. sheadh V. unsheadh V. wreadh V. inwreadh V. bequeadh Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. seeth seethe .. - cloath clothe uncloath unclothe betroth^ betrothe sooth soothe smooth smoothe V. seedh V. cloadh V. uncloadh V. betroadh V. soodh V. smoodh "Walker makes dhe th in dhis word sharp, and dhe o short. 48 Etymological Relations : ^ "^010)18. Verba. Nowns. Verbs. Singular. Plural. Singular Plural. breth breths breadh troth betroadh bath badhs badhe mouth moudhs moudh wreath wreadhs wreadh tooth teeth teedhing sheath sheadhs sheadh lath ladhs cloth^ cloths path padhs Flural. moth^ moths clothes cloadhs > cloadh oath oadhs Fron. treuth treudhs cloa'z cloa'z ^ youth youdhs C, see s, es z, zed. Dhe letter s iz " ambiguous ;" being somtimes sharp and somtimes flat. It iz " equivalent " to dhe sibilant c {see) on dhe one side, and to z on dhe odher. It iz advisable to remoov dhis ambiguity; but it appears to me dhat dhis object can only be attained by degrees. If z be gradually substituted for s where vver dhe sound iz flat, dhe object wil be eventually attained ; and meanwhile, dhe pronunciation ov s may be to a certain extent, dhough by no means com- pletely, pointed out by "rules ov position." Dhere iz no necessity on phonetic grounds, — whatevver dhere may be on odher grounds, — for discarding dhe sibilant c. Dhe " rule ov position " relating to it iz perfectly clear and simple : iz always sibilant when it iz followed by e (except in sceptic 2= skeptic) or i or y. If a boy or a foreiner cannot learn dhis rule, he can learn nothing. Dhe use ov ce for dhe sharp final s iz a curious device ov phonetic spelling, which need not, perhaps, be interfered widh at present ; but licence (Lat. licentia, Fr. licence,) ought to be spelt licence, — with c not s, — boath in nown and verb. S, az an inflexional suffix, iz flat (z), except when it im- ^ Dheze two words ar marked by "Walker with short ; but dhe present pro- nunciation iz, I believ, generally long, — clauth, claudhs ; mauth, raaudhs ; dhough som persons stil say, cloth, cloths; moth, moths, — widh o short and th sharp. In breths, also, where dhe vowel iz short, th iz sharp. Az to s in dhe plural ov dhis class ov nowns, it iz necessarily flat after a flat consonant in dhe same syllable ; and whedher z should be substituted in spelling, iz a separate question. 2 "What iz dhe cause ov dhe exceptional pronunciation ov dhis word ? Dhe desire to distinguish it from septic seems scaircely a satisfactory explanation. In writing skeleton we hav adopted dhe phonetic k^ in sted ov dhe etymological c. "Why should we not do dhe same widh skeptic ? 49 mediately follows a sliarp consonant, in which case it becoms sharp. Dhis "rule ov position" applies generally to dhe plural ov nowns, dhe possessive case ov nowns and pronowns, and dhe third person singular in verbs. In dice and pence y dhe exceptional pronunciation iz represented in dhe ortho- graphy. In words like loaves = loavz, and oaths = oadhz, it iz not dhe suffix, but dhe proceeding consonant, dhat iz modified in pronunciation ; and, dherefor, in such words it iz dhe spelling ov dhe consonant, and not ov dhe suffix, dhat requires alteration. After a sibilant, dhe suffix iz a distinct syllable, es = ez. In vew ov dheze facts, it iz not necessary to vary dhe spelling ov dhe suffix -s, dhe pronunciation ov which iz dhus made known by "rules ov position;" but dhere iz no reazon why dhoze who prefer it should not write z for dhe flat s in dheze inflexions, az wel az in as, and in is and was, in which dhe s iz not inflexional, but radical. Perhaps dhe disinclination to uze z in sted ov s arizes partly from dhe dislike ov its angular look. It iz certainly not so pleazing to dhe ey az dhe curved s, which closely approaches dhe agreeable sweep ov dhe "line ov beuty." It would be better if dhe corners ov z coud be rounded off". Widh regard to dhe discrimination ov nowns (whedher substantivs or adjectivs) and verbs by dhe flat and sharp sibilants, our present practice follows no rule at all. Dhus we write : — house to house grass to graze mouse to mouse gloss to gloze grease to grease advice to advise close to close device to devise use to use abuse to abuse price to prize excuse to excuse brass to braze difiiise to diffuse glass to glaze In dhe verbs, we write somtimes s, somtimes z, for dhe same flat sound ; and in dhe nowns, somtimes s, somtimes ss, and somtimes c, or raadher ce, for dhe same sharp sound. So far az dheze ar equivalents, I do not object to dhem; but 4 W(^ 50 where dhej ar ambiguous, I do ; dhus, dhere iz no distinction between close and to close, dhougb dhere iz between price and to prize. It seems to me dhat it would be best to write all dheze verbs widh z ; viz., houz, mouz, greaz, cloze, uze, abuze, advize, devize, excuze, diffuze. Moast ov dheze verbs ar ov Latin origin, but it must be remembered dhat dhe dis- tinction here made between dhe nowns and dhe verbs iz not Latin, but exclusivly English ; and dherefor, its notation wil not trench upon historical etymology, while it wil satisfy grammatical etymology. c, kee ; k, kai ; q, kew ; and x, eks. Dhe alphabetic name ov dhe letter c, unfortunately hides dhe fact dhat it iz properly a guttural letter. Originally, it waz so entirely ; and it iz stil so in dhe main. It iz sibilant (except in sceptic = skeptic) before e, i, and y ; but it iz in- variably guttural in evvery odher j^osition. So far az it iz guttural, it iz dhe " equivalent " ov k ; which (except in sceptic) iz always uzed before e and i to denote dhe guttural sound. K iz also available when dhe guttural sound requires to be specially noted. All dhis iz strictly phonetic spelling, and does not appear to demand any alteration. Dhe mischief which iz so much complained ov widh regard to dhis letter c, in teaching children to spel, may be eazily avoided by givving it two alphabetic names, and calling it see when it iz sibilant, and kee when it iz guttural. Dhe practice which has been lately creeping in ov spelling Greek words widh k insted ov c (az, keramic for ceramic), iz founded on a total misconception ; altogedher forgetting or ignoring dhe fact dhat all our Greek words ar spelt in dhe Latin orthography, and dhat in dhe Latin orthography c represents the Greek k. Dhis practice, dherefor, cannot be justified on etymological grounds ; but nevverdheless, where we really pronounce k, it would certainly be convenient to write k, az we hav done in skeleton, and might do in skeptic. Som years ago, a question aroze in dhe Court ov Queen's Bench az to dhe proper pro- nunciation ov pharmaceutical. Lord Campbell, who waz dhen Lord Chief Justice, suggested dhat it ought to be pronounced pharmaceutical; but after conversation widh dhe Bar, who 51 inclined to dhe opposit pronunciation, dhe Lord Chief Justice acquiesced, observing — " Dhen let it be pharmaceutical." Dhe combination qu iz not a digraph, but two letters denoting two sounds. Aldhough it came to us from dhe Latin, it iz not now confined to Latin words, but has taken dhe place ov cw (az in queen = cwen) in Saxon words also. Wherevver qu = kw dhe spelling iz strictly phonetic. It iz merely one combination ov letters in sted ov anodher, to express certain sounds. Nothing would be gained by writing cween or kween, in sted ov queen. But unfortunately dhere ar many w^ords in which qu = k only, and not kw. Here iz an ambiguity which may perhaps be corrected by a " rule ov position," az dhe words ar moastly French words, like unique; dhough liquor = likkor is exceptional.^ It would certainly be more convenient to spel all dheze words widh k in sted ov qu ; az we hav done in risk and many odhers. To sum up : Az to spelling^ dhe rules ar dheze (and dhey ar really verry simple and eazy to learn) : Dhe sharp guttural mute iz denoted — by k (kai) before e, i, or y (except in sceptic) ; and at the end of monosyllables, except in a few words. by c (kee) in all odher positions : but dhe combined sounds ov kic ar denoted — by qu, in all positions ; newer by cw or kw, Dhe consonant iz doubled by writing ck, in sted ov cc or kk. Az to pronunciation, dhe rules ar az follows : k iz always k, except when silent ; c iz always s before e, i, or y (except in sceptic) ; c iz always k in all odher positions ; qu iz always kw, except in certain words, in which it iz simply k. It iz obvious dhat dhe onely difiiculties here ar, to know when k iz silent, and when qu iz simply k. Dhe sounds ov kw ar always spelt by dhe letters qu ; but dhe letters qu ar not always pronounced az kw. Dhe silence ov k may be 1 Should dhis word be altered in dhe spelling, or in dhe pronunciation ? i.e.y should it stil be spelt liquor and pronounced lik'wor, or be spelt and pro- nounced likkor ? Its present pronunciation iz an anomaly ; of. liquid = lik'wid. liqueur iz a French word, not yet I'ully naturalized. 52 determined by '' rules ov position ; " but where vver qu has dhe sound ov k only, it would certainly save trouble to write k. It must be added dhat c {see), like s, has somtimes dhe flat sound ov z, and dhat c {kee), like k, iz somtimes silent. Widh dhe suffix -le = el, c iz really followed by e ; hence, muscle = muscel iz properly pronounced mussel. Acre = aker, howevver, iz certainly an anomaly. It would be far better to write aker. Dhe letter x iz a compendium which has nothing to recom- mend it but its brevity. It iz difficult, howevver, to suggest any ground for its rejection. It cannot be objected to on etymological grounds, az it iz a Latin letter, nor on phonetic grounds, az it iz dhe recognized symbol ov certain sounds ; and even dhe ambiguity ov its flat and sharp varieties may be met, az I hav pointed out, by dhe ''rule ov position" widh regard to accented syllables, az in example j exhibit. Nevver- dheless, it iz in som respects inconvenient, and might be superseded widh advantaje. In smallpox = smallpocks, it has dhe odd efiect ov converting a plural into a singular. Latin eh = k French eh = sh English eh = tsh. Dheze three digraphs ar dhe moast difficult to deal widh, in dhe whole ranje ov our orthography. Dhere seems to be no reazon why we should not now substitute sh for eh in all naturalized words, like machine^ in which dhe digraph iz so pronounced ; but dhe Latin words or Latin-spelt Grreek words in which ch = k, stand upon a difierent footing. It iz im- possible to deal widh dhem satisfactorily by any " rule ov position ;" but it seems to me dhat it would at least be con- venient to treat dhe Latin ch in dhe same way az c; i.e., to omit dhe h altogedher (a2 waz often done in Latin itself, e.g., caracter and character) ^ and to uze k before e, i, or y, and c in all odher positions. "We should dhen consistently write caracter and kemist, just az we now write cat and king. So long, howevver, az dhe three digraphs remain in force, dhey must all three be admitted into dhe Auxiliary Alphabet. Dhe best mode ov dealing widh dhem requires furdher dis- cussion. One course ov proceeding might be to supersede dhe English ch by dhe trigraph tsh. 53 g> gai ; g, jee ; j, jai. Dhe letter g iz " ambiguous ;" being somtimes sibilant, and somtimes guttural. Dhe desire to mark dhe distinction has led to various contrivances, which hav occasioned far more confusion dhan dhey hav remooved or prevented. It ought to be clearly understood dhat dheze contrivances belong wholely and solely to phonetic spelling, and ar in no respect etymological. Dhe h inserted in dhe old form ghess, and dhe u inserted in dhe current form guess, sly purely phonetic ex- pedients, adopted to indicate the pronunciation ov dhe word, and not to record its origin. Dhey simply show dhat dhe ff iz guttural, and not sibilant. Being exclusivly phonetic devices, dhey may be improoved or superseded widhout trenching in any way on etymological spelling. On dhe odher hand, in Latin words and Latin- spelt Greek words like angel and stratagem, a certain vew ov etymological spelling may appear to require dhat dhe g should be retained. If we leav dhe g untouched in such words, relying on " rules ov position" to determin dhe pronunciation, we may, widhout endangering etymological spelling, adopt az regards all odher words dhe simple rule, dhat wherevver dhe sound ov j occurs dhe letter j should be employed. Dhe treuth iz, dhat dhe difficulty arizes chiefly from dhe conflict in our languaje ov two difierent orthographic systems. On dhe Saxon side, g iz properly guttural ; but on dhe Nor- man or French side, g iz sibilant before e and i or y, dhough guttural in all odher positions. Gaol, 1 believ, iz dhe only word in which g iz sibilant before a. Dhis spelling, I suppose, iz regarded az etymological ; but it iz certainly not so in fact. Dhe French word, geole, iz not spelt widh ga, or even widh simple g, but widh ye =j, a verry important difierence. Gaol iz dherefor an orthographical anomaly; and dhe phonetic spelling, jail, iz clearly dhe best. And widh respect to a large number ov words even ov Latin origin, dhe substitution ov j for g would not only be more convenient, but even more strictly etymological. In words like dungeon, gudgeon, strange, dhe combination ge 64 represents not g in dhe original word, but i or e, passing through dhe sound ov y into dhat ov^* ; dhus — Lat. dominionem gobionem extraneum domnion gobion extranyum donyon goby on extranjum French / donjon goujon estrange and j dunjon gudjon strange (Eng.) English I dungeon gudgeon etrange (Mod. Fr.) In som words boath forms ar actually in use ; e.g., serjeant and sergeant, from servientem. In all such words a labial proceeding dhe j becoms absorbed or elided. Dhus, calum- niare has becom challenge, which would be better spelt challenj. Words ov dhis class were often spelt widh j in Old French ; az, venjer, from Lat. vindicare, becomming vendi'er, vendjer, venjer, and venger, whence Eng. vengeance = venjance. So, judicare became judi*er, judjer, Mod. Fr. juger, Eng. to judge =judj. Dhe practical advantaje ov adopting dhe letter j (jai) uni- formly in such words would be, dhat dhe letter g (gai) might be reserved for dhe guttural sound widhout any index letter, like u, being required to gard against a sibilant pronunciation. Even at present, in words like guards dhe u iz quite super- fluous, and in dhe derivativ regard, it does not occur. Dhe rule now proposed would com into collision widh anodher peculiarity ov English spelling, viz., dhat j newer ends a written word, dhough hundreds ov spoken words terminate widh dhat sound. Az in dhe similar case ov v, which waz liable to be confounded widh w, dhis curious fact iz probably due to dhe former confusion ov i and /. Az dhis confusion no longger exists, dhere seems to be now no reazon why j should not be allowed to cloze a word in dhe place ov ge ; az in judj = judge. In doubling dhe consonant in such words, dhe phonetic value raadher dhan dhe literal form has been regarded ; and az ge = dzh, so dge = ddzh : dhus — age = aidzh ; edge = eddzh. At all events dhe practice, which has been much increasing lately, ov omitting dhe servile e in spelling dhe derivativs, az in judgment, in sted ov judgement, iz quite indefensible, 55 being a moast inconvenient violation ov dhe rule, dliat g iz always guttural wlien not followed by e, i, or y. It iz clear dhat, according to dbis rule, judgment iz an unpronounceable word. It sliould be written eidber judjment or judgement. ng. In ungrateful, ingratitude, n and g do not form a digraph. To mark dhe pronunciation distinctly, a hyphen iz required : un-grateful, in-gratitude. In danger, ranger, n and g do not form a digraph. In dhe preceeding remarks, relating to g and j, it has been sug- gested (az much on etymological az on phonetic grounds) dhat such words should be spelt widh j in sted ov g ; danjer, ranjer. But Greek and Latin words, in which dhe original has g, like angel, tangent, ar required by dhe exigencies ov etymological spelling to preserv dhe g. Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. change chanje swinge swinj exchange exchanje swingeing swinjing estrange estranje twinge twinj strange stranje lounge lounj grange granje lunge lunj range ranje plunge plunj arrange arranje dungeon dunjon derange deranje avenge avenj danger danjer challenge challenj endanger endanjer lozenge lozzenj manger manjer orange orranj ginger jinjer flange flanj harbinger harbmjer cringe crinj messenger messinjer fringe ' ^^} passenger passinjer hinge hinj porringer porrinjer singe sinj scavenger scawinjer springe sprinj wharfinger wharfinjer And, ov course, all dhe derivativs ov dheze words to be spelt in dhe same way. In long, ng iz a digraph. Dhe symbol iz compound, but dhe sound iz singgle. In dhis instance it would really be ov great benefit to introduce a new letter. Dhe digraph iz cumbersom and inconvenient, and a singgle letter would be an immense improovment. And for dhis reazon. Dhe only 56 way in whicli we ar able, widh our present means, to mark dhe difference in pronunciation between such words az long and longer, hanger and anger, iz by adding a second g, — longger, aw^^er, — which, iz boath troublesom and unsightly, and in sted ov reforming our orthography by diminishing dhe number ov letters, would largely add to dhem, seeing dhat dhe words in which dheze sounds occur ar in verry frequent use. I am fully aware ov dhe objections to new letters ; but in dhis particular case, if a singgle letter coud be adopted, it would effect a great gain in evvery way, — in eaz and convenience, in neatness and simplicity, in brevity and clearness. Dhe treuth iz, dhat ng waz not originally a digraph, but an accidental combination. In Latin, n de- noted dhe nasal liquid before g (gai) az well az before d, -m being uzed before b, e.g. tango, tundo, cumbo. Dhe g (gai) waz no dout pronounced distinctly ; tan' go ; dhe n hawing, moast likely, not dhe naso-dental, but dhe naso-guttural sound. In English, dhe combination ' ng ' has com to be uzed az a digraph, to denote dhis naso-guttural sound for which we hav no singgle letter. Whatevver may hav been dhe original value ov *gh,' dhis digraph, when pronounced at all, has now invariably dhe same sound az guttural g (gai) ; and dhe h might dherefor be conveniently omitted ; dhus, gost, gastly. Dhis omission, howevver, iz not necessary on phonetic grounds, az gh and g (gai) ar now simply " equivalents," i.e., two separate signs for dhe same sound. In certain positions, ' gh' iz silent, az in high, height, weighs weight, bought, daughter. Its retention in dheze positions in- volvs dhe general question ov dhe expediency ov retaining silent letters ; to which I shal advert hereafter. It iz often said dhat ^^ gh iz somtimes pronounced like/;" but dhis iz not a correct statement ov dhe facts. I hav not been able to discovver any word in which dhe sound ov / iz attatched to dhe digraph gh ; but dhere ar many words in which dhat sound iz attatched to dhe trigraph ugh. It iz dhe 57 labial element, denoted by dhe u, and not dhe purely guttural element, denoted by gh, dhat has acquired dhe sound ov/. "We may say dhat dhe trigraph ugh iz somtimes pronounced like/; but perhaps dhe moast correct statement iz, dhat dhe original sound ov * gh ' az a guttural aspirate hawing been entirely lost, dhe proceeding u has beoom a consonant. (Dhe same chanje has taken place in lieutenant, pronounced lef- tenant, widhout any influence ov a guttural aspirate.) If 'ugh' were ahcays so pronounced, dhere would be no difficulty ; but it iz quite az often silent altogedher, (az in though = dho) and hence dhe perplexity to which dhis combination has givven rise, prooving so great a stumbling-block not merely to foreiners but to ourselvs. Dhe eaziest and simplest way ov remooving dhis stumbling-block iz, to spel widh dhe letter / dhoze words which hav acquired dhe sound ov /. Dhere does not appear to be any insuperable obstacle to our doing so. Dheze words ar not ov Greek or Latin origin; dhey belong to dhat portion ov dhe languaje which, until com- parativly recent times, waz always spelt phonetically ; and som ov dhem we hav alreddy altered. Dhus, we write boath draft and draught, confining dhe former to written documents ; az well az duff and dough, duff being dough dhat iz boiled. We hav royal authority for writing enuff, dhis being sub- stantially dhe form adopted by Charles dhe First in dhe letters written to his wife in 1645, which ar printed in dhe recent Report of dhe Royal Commission on Historical MSS. (Appendix, p. 6) :— " Thy dispaches * * w*^^ I red with wonder anufe ;" " but anuf of this, I know thy affection, etc." Dhis shows dhat dhe labial sound had dhen becom prevalent. If all dhe words dhat ar so pronounced were now spelt widh f or ff, no chanje would be needed in dhe spelling ov dhe remaining words, az a " rule ov position " would eazily declare whedher gh waz to be silent or guttural before or after a vowel ; dhe pronunciation ov dhe primitivs being ex- tended to dhe derivativs, az ghastly, aghast ; high, higher, highest; plough, ploughed, ploughing. Hiccough, which iz doutless an imitativ word, should be spelt hiccup ; and 68 dhe Irish lough^ pronounced luff az well az lock^ iz in a doutful or transition state, and iz scaircely an English word. In gherkin and hurgheVy dhe A iz a kind ov index letter, serving in sted ov w, to prevent g being pronounced j before the following e. Dhe following iz a list ov words in which dhe labial pro- nunciation has established itself, gh being silent : — Resent Spelling . Froposed Spelling. Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. laugh 1 laff or laaf chough chuff laughter lafter or laafter enough enuff draught draft or draaft slough sluff draughts drafts or draafts rough ruff cough coff or cauf tough tuff trough troff or trauf duff {for dough) duff rh r and rh ar, I believ, in dhe present state ov dhe English languaje, phonetically equivalent, but not orthographically interchanj cable. Dhe employment ov rh in English spelling iz purely etymological, and iz properly confined to Greek words, which com to us in a Latin dress. Hence, dhe word rhyme, which iz dhe Anglo-Saxon rim, should be spelt ryme, or raadher rime ; az dhe erroneous insertion ov h, az well az dhe chanje ov i into y, givs dhe false appearance ov a Greek origin to an Anglo-Saxon word. ci, si, ti ; sn, tu. Dheze combinations widh i, in certain cases, ar ''equiva- lents" ov shy-, sh-, or ov zhy-, zh- ; dhat iz to say, under certain circumstances dhe sibilant (sharp or flat az dhe case may be) becoms " aspirated." Dhe " rules ov position'* applicable to dheze facts (which render it unnecessary to alter dhe spelling) may be eazily lernt, and need not be 1 Dhe familiar nursery-rime (wMch must hav been a rime to dhe ear) appears to hav been composed at a time when "laugh" waz pronounced "law " : — " Hey ! diddle, diddle ! The cat and the fiddle ! The cow jumpt over the moon : The little dog lau't To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon." 59 set out here. Dhey depend chiefly upon dhe accent: if it falls upon dhe syllable, dhe pronunciation iz normal, az in soci'ety ; but if it proceeds, dhe ' aspiration ' takes place, az in so'cial = so'syal, so'shyal, so'shal. In words like vision, dhe s, being between two vowels, iz flat, and hence dhe aspiration iz also flat ; viz'yon, vizh'yon, vizh'on. Dhe similar phenomena widh regard to su, — (sugar, pleasure) depend upon dhe diphthongal nature ov dhe u = yoo, yu. It might, perhaps, be convenient to spel sure and sugar widh h ; shure, shugar ; dhough it iz a question whedher dhe pronunciation ov dheze words ought not to be altered. Dhe diphthongal u has a similar efiect upon t (az in feature = fea'tshure) ; but not upon c, which, before u, has always dhe sound ov k. Index Letters. An index letter difiers from a digraph in dhis respect. In a digraph two letters ar combined to form one joint symbol for a singgle sound ; az oa in foal; but an index letter iz sub- joined to anodher letter to show dhat dhis odher letter iz to receiv a particular pronunciation ; az dhe servile u in guest, or dhe servile e in fencej fringe, foe. In fate dhe servile e marks dhe pronunciation ov dhe proceeding vowel, a, and not ov dhe t, which it more immediately follows. Dhe servile u. Dhis servs to show dhat g before e or i iz to be guttural, and not sibilant. I hav referred to it in a previous section, in discussing g and j. Whatevver iz done az to substituting j for g, dhe servile u might at once be omitted in words like guard, guarantee, in which it iz not wanted to characterize dhe sound ov dhe g. Dhe original sound may hav been compound = gw, but dhis iz not perhaps a sufficient ground for retaining dhe u, looking at dhe etymological connexion az a whole, — e. g. compare guard and regard. Even if guard came to us from Italy, and regard from France, dhat does not seem to be an adequate reazon for maintaining dhis difference in dhe spelling ; nor iz dhe u necessary to indicate 60 dlie connexion widh ward and reward. In guano = gwaano, dhe u iz wanted, if, indeed, it ought not to be replaced by w. In words like langiiaje it iz not an index letter, and its pro- nunciation az IV may be determined by a " rule ov position ;" but it would be better, perhaps, to write w. Dhe servile e. Dhe uses ov dhis index letter ar verry various ; but dhey may be classed in two divisions ; 1, to mark dhe pronuncia- tion ov consonants ; 2, to mark dhe pronunciation ov vowels. 1. Widh regard to consonants, dhe servile e performs sev- veral functions ; it somtimes marks dhe flat sound ov fh ; it notifies, dhough by no means consistently, dhe sibilant sounds ov c and g ; it also discriminates under som circum- stances, but not at all systematically, dhe flat and sharp sounds ov s ; and it prevents a word or syllable from dozing widh V. In previous sections, I hav noticed all dheze points, more or less fully. If dhe suggestions dhere made be adopted, dhe servile e wil be to a great extent superseded widh respect to dhe consonants in question. Dhere wil stil, howevver, re- main a considerable amount ov irregularity az regards dhe letter s, which wil require to be delt widh hereafter. Generally, it maybe borne in mind az an important principle, dhat dhe silent e iz one ov dhe worst and moast objectionable expedients in English orthography, and should be forthwidh expelled wherevver it cannot show dhat it answers som positiv and wel defined purpose. It should always be re- garded az on its trial ; and if it cannot justify itself, should be at once condemned. 2. Widh regard to vowels, dhe servile e cannot be satisfac- torily considered except in connexion widh dhe general question ov vowel spelling, which I propose to examin separately. Silent Letters. In my remarks on "phonetic spelling" (ante, p. 32), I hav recommended, az one ov dhe means ov reconciling dhe claims 61 ov etymology widh. dhoze ov pronunciation, "dhe retention ov etymological silent letters, if dheir silence may be known or determined by rules ov position." It may be laid down az a rule dhat initial k and initial g (gai) ar silent before dhe nasal liquid n\ az in knot, gnaw ; and dhat g (gai) iz silent before tn or n in dhe same syllable ; az in phlegm, sign. Dheze rules extend to dhe English derivativs, az, unknown, signed, signing ; but not to odher derivativs, az signature, phlegmatic. Dhere iz no difficulty in ascertaining what derivativs ar ov English formation ; and dhere iz dherefor no difficulty in applying dheze rules. Dhe suffixes -ed and 'ing, -er and -ee, az well az -ment, ar English (I do not mean Anglo-saxon in origin, but English in use) ; and hence, dhe silence ov dhe g in consign obtains equally in consigned, con- signing, consigner, consignee, and consignment ; but in words of Latin origin, like assignation, designation, resignation, dhe g iz pronounced in accordance widh dhe rule. Dhe chanje ov accent in consignee iz an entirely distinct question. Dhe g in reign iz required by dhe etymology. In foreign and sovereign it iz not required eidher by dhe etymology or by dhe pronunciation, and should dherefor be omitted. And should not dhe g be omitted in campaign (Fr. cam- pagne), az it iz in mountain (Fr. montagne) ? Doubt and debt should be spelt dout and det on etymo- logical grounds. Like moov and proov, dhey com to us from dhe French, and not direct from dhe Latin. Dhey ar colloquial, not literary forms. A similar remark wil apply to " receipt," which should be spelt " receit," like deceit and conceit. Dhe 1 should be rejected from could on etymological grounds ; dhough retained in would and should. Many odher "rules ov position" widh regard to silent letters (such az w before r, dhe impronounced 1, dhe silent h, and so forth) require to be laid down ; but dhe foregoing wil suffice to illustrate dhe principle, which iz all dhat can be attempted here. Dhere iz, howevver, one instance which claims fuller notice ; 62 dhat ov dhe suffix -ed in dhe Past Tense and Past Participle. It has often been proposed to spel dhis suffix widh simple -d or 't, according az it iz pronounced flat or sharp. Dhe at- tempt, indeed, has been frequently made, and has always failed. I see no necessity for it. Dhe suffix iz really -ed, and in emphatic or solemn utterance, az well az often in poetry, iz pronounced az a distinct syllable. Dhe rule iz clear. Dhis suffix iz subjoined to dhe verb in dhe form ov -ed when dhe verb remains odherwize unaltered ; but where dhe verb undergoes also som internal chanje, dhe suffix be- coms simple -d or -^, az in tell, told ; weep, wept ; buy, bought ; send, sent.^ It iz likewize often simple -t after dhe liquids 1, m, n, widh or widhout an internal chanje in dhe verb, az spell, spelt ; deal, dealt (delt) ; dream, dreamt (dremt) ; mean, meant (ment). Dhere iz no reazon, how- ewer, why boath forms should not be permitted at dhe dis- cretion ov dhe writer ; az, shipped, shipt ; locked, lockt ; passed, past ; rubbed, rubd ; tugged, tugd ; buzzed, buzd ; but, az I hav said, it iz not necessary, az a " rule ov position " determins dhe pronunciation. Where dhe -e in -ed iz silent, dhe -d iz necessarily pronounced sharp or flat according to dhe nature ov dhe proceeding consonant widh which it coms into contact, and dherefor it need not be noted in dhe spelling. Dhere iz also considerable difficulty according to dhe present spelling widh regard to words like chanced and changed (which cannot be written chanct and changd), and, indeed, widh regard to all verbs ending with a servile e. YowEL Spelling. Dhe question here iz not merely how to spel, but what to spel. Dhe consonant sounds may be eazily ascertained ; but dhe vowel sounds ar so vol'atile and versatile, dhat it iz 1 Dhere ar, in fact, three conjugations ov English verbs, according az dhe Past Tense iz formed from dhe Present — 1. By dhe suffix -ed; 2. By dhe suffix -d or -t, widh or widhout internal chanje ; 3. By vowel-chanje. All new verbs follow dhe first conjugation. — In each conjugation dhere ar som apparent irregularities. 63 hard to fix dhem. What iz dhe prop'er pronuncia'tion ov eidher ? iz it ai'dher ? or ee'dher ? or i-dher ? And how should it be spelt? It appears to me dhat before any extensiv chanje iz made in our vowel spelling, dhe subject requires to be more fully exam'ined dhan perhaps it has hidh'erto been. Dhe few remarks about to be made wil do no more dhan furnish a verry slight contribu'tion to dhe discussion. Setting aside for dhe pres'ent dhe effect ov a following r (see notes on pajes 11, 13, ante), dhere ar, in English, six- teen vowel-sounds, — 6 short, 6 long, and 4 diphthon'gal, — which require to be represented in som way or odh'er (see list on paje 7, Nos. 13 and 14, ante). Az we hav refu'sed, since dhe invention ov printing, to add an'y new letters to dhe Lat'in alphabet, and az y and u\ when vowels, ar merely ornamental vari'eties ov i and m, we hav in fact onely 5 sin-gul letters to denote dheze 16 vowel-sounds, viz., a, e, i, 0, u. It iz clear dherefor dhat dhe limited resources ov dhe Lat'in alphabet ar wholely inad'equate to do justice to dhe abundant fulness and picturesk vari'ety ov dhe English vowel-system. Dhere ar five letters for 16 sounds, and, consequently, 11 ar unrepresented. Az regards dhe short vowel in full, Mr. Ellis, in his " Glossic," propo'ses dhe new di'graph uo ; wri'ting/wo/ for full. Dhere appears to me to be dhe stronggest possible objection to dhe use ov a di'graph for a short vowel. Dhis point waz adverted to in my propo'sed Resolu'tions, No. 10 {ante, paje 7). Dhe rule, — short vowels, sin'gul letters ; long vowels, di'graphs, — iz brief, plain, and practical. To depart from dhis rule iz to perpet'uate, so far, dhe existing con- fu'sion. I hav suggested dhe use ov dhe sin'gul letter u, to be called " short oo " ; but dhe question iz compar'ativly new, and requires to be discussed before an'y satisfactory conclu'sion can be com to. Dhe remaining short vowels be'ing deno'ted by dhe 5 existing letters, what iz to be done widh dhe long and diphthon'gal vowels ? Som orthograph'ical reformers pro- pose to introduce 10 new letters for dheze sounds ; but before admitting dhis formidable array ov novelties, let us exam'in carefully dhe actual state ov dhe case. 64 In our pres'ent orthog'rapliy dhere ar three devi'ces by which we distin'guish dhe short and long vowels (for brev- ity's sake, I wil deal widh dhe diphthongs az long vowels) ; dhe doubled consonant to mark dhe short vowels ; and dhe di'graph and dhe servile e to mark dhe long ones. Dheze ar purely devi'ces ov phonet'ic spelling, and ar in no respect etymological. Dhey ar verry cu'rious contri'vances, being a kind ov " legal fictions " in orthog'raphy ; and would answer dheir purpose sufficiently wel, if pla'ced under prop'er regula'tion. If dhey really do so, it iz not necessary to introduce new vowel letters, except for " short oo." All dheze three devi'ces ar founded on dhe no'tion dhat an accented vowel spelt widh a sin'gul letter iz long in an o'pen, and short in a clo'zed syllable ; a mon'osyllable being for dhis purpose regarded az accented. In an o*pen syllable, dhe vowel iz not followed by a consonant ; in a clczed syl- lable, it iz. Dhus, in go, go'ing, nego'tiate, dhe vowel iz long ; while in got, gotten, it iz short. Dhe probiem in vowel spelling, dherefor, iz to show whedh'er dhe syllable iz o'pen or clo'zed ; for, according to dhis vew, dhe vowel wil be long or short as a necessary consequence. Dhis vew iz fictit'ious, because a vowel may be long in a clo'zed syllable ; but it iz a convenient fiction. Where in a polysyllabic word dhe vowel iz followed by two consonants, one iz assu'med to belong to each syllable, az, lan'tern ; and a consonant iz doubled on dhe same assumption, az, lat'ter. Where, howevver, dhe vowel iz followed by one consonant onely, such consonant iz assu'med to belong to dhe succeeding syllable, az, la'ter ; and on dhis assumption dhe servile e iz regarded az drawing dhe consonant away from dhe pro- ceeding syllable, az, la'te = late. In dhe same way a di'graph iz suppo'sed to produce an o'pen syllable by dhe effect ov dhe second vowel on dhe first, az, ga'it = gait. Boath dhe servile e and dhe second letter in dhe di'graph, dhough really si'lent, ar suppo'sed to act az if dhey were pronounced ; az if dhey were dissyllab'ic, dhough really monosyllab'ic ; dhus, in ga«t, gate, dhe a onely iz pronounced, but it iz pronounced az if it were in an o'pen syllable, and dherefor long. 65 Dheze two expe'dients, — dlie di'graph and dhe servile e, — ar " equivalents," boath indica'ting by sim'ilar fictions, dhough. in difierent ways, dhat dhe preceeding vowel iz long. Dhere ar som inconve'niences attending dhem ; but dhere seems to be no sufficient ground for discarding eidher, unless we discard boatb. Vain and vane; to waiv and to wave; ar respectivly identical in sound, but different in sense ; and why should dhe spelling ov eidher be altered ? and if altered, which should be adopted, — dhe servile e, or dhe di'graph ? 8ervile e. If dheze principles ar borne in mind, som ov dhe moot points ov English spelling may be reddily deci'ded. We double dhe / in " gravelly," which, ov course, iz really " gravel-y " (suffix-y, not suffix-ly), because dhe word would odh'erwize look like " grave-ly ; " we want to make a distinction, and we double dhe 1 improp'erly because we wil not double dhe v ; but if we write " gravvel," we can also write " gravvely," widhout an'y risk ov its being confounded widh " gravely." So, in traveller, travelled, travelling, dhough dhe accent iz not on dhe second syllable, we double dhe 1 in sted ov dhe v, because dhe e would odh'erwize appear to be si'lent, (trave-ler, trave-led, trave-ling, like shaveling) ; but if we write travvel, az we ought to do, dhen travveler travveled, and travveling, wil be correctly and phonet'ically spelt. In dhoze nowns which hav v (flat) in dhe plu'ral, but/ (sharp) in dhe sin'gular, az loaf, loaves, dhe suffix iz not -es, but simple -s. Dhe e follows dhe Vy according to dhe gen'eral rule, and dhen s iz subjoined. Dhus, loaves iz really have + s, and not loav + es ; i.e., dhe e belongs to dhe v, and not to dhe «, and should dherefor be omitted when dhe vowel iz spelt widh a di'graph, e.g., loaf, loavs ; but retained when wanted to mark a long vowel, e.g., stafi", stave, staves. "Whatevver val'ue, inflexional or odh'erwize, dhe fi'nal e may hav had formerly, — in Chaucer's time or at an'y odh'er period, — it iz now, when mute, simply an index letter. In words like beauty., compa'red widh dhe French heaute. 66 dhe fin-al e has been turned into y in order to show dhat it iz not mute. Such a word, dherefor, iz really spelt upon boath principles, etymolog-ical and phonet'ic ; dhe first syllable be-ing spelt in dhe French, dhough pronounced in dhe English manner ; while in dhe second syllable dhe spelling de'viates from dhe French orthog-raphy for dhe express purpose ov deno-ting the English pronuncia'tion. Half etymolog-ical and half phonet'ic, it iz a stri'king example ov dhe incon- sistency ov our practice. Dhe old spelling, heuty, might wel be revived. In deno'ting a long vowel, dhe servile e iz uzed in two ways ; it iz subjoined (dhough apparently widhout necessity in mon-osyllables) to dhe vowel-letter itself, when dhis ends dhe syllable, as, fee, fie, foe, flue ; or it iz appended to dhe consonant, if dhe latter clo'zes dhe syllable, az, fane, fine, fore, fume. It iz always si'lent, except in a few Greek and Lat'in words, like simile and catastrophe^ which may be eazily lernt. In ague and argue dhe syllable -ue iz pronounced ; in vague it iz not. Why ? Because in ague and argue dhis syllable iz a rad'ical part ov dhe word ; in vague it iz simply a clumzy device ov phonet'ic spelling. In vague, dhe servile e shows dhe a to be long, but if it stood close against dhe g, dhe latter would be sib'ilant; and in order to prevent dhis, dhe servile u iz inserted, az a kind ov " bufier " between dhem. Dhis iz a French device, but we hav extended it to som words dhat ar not French ; az, tongue, which iz dhe Anglo- Saxon tung (nom. sing., tunge). Dhe orig'inal spelling ov dhis word requires to be revi'ved, az wel on etymolog'ical, az on phonet'ic grounds. In man'y ov dheze words dhe vowel iz short, notwidh- standing dhe servile e ; and where it iz so, dhe letters -ue ar misleading, and may wel be omitted. Dhe fact dhat som ov dhe words ar so spelt in French does not seem to be a sufiic- ient reazon for retaining dheze now misleading letters ; nor does dhe orig'inal quantity ov dhe vowel determin dhe question. In Greek, dhe o iz long in demagogos, but short 67 in dialogos; while in English , it iz short in boath. Dheze remarks apply to dhe following words : — Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. demagogue demagog catalogue catalog emnienagogue emmenagog decalogue decalog menagogue menagog dialogue dialog mystagogue mystagog eclogue eclog pedagogue pedagog epilogue epilog ptysmagogue ptysmagog monologue monolog synagogue synagog prologue prolog tongue tung harangue harang Dhe words in which dhe vowel iz long stand in a diiOferent posit'ion. In league and colleague dhe si'lent syllable iz superfluous, dhe long vowel be*ing deno'ted by dhe di'graph ; and we may dherefor write leag and colleag ; but in dhe following words dhere iz a difficulty, az a di'graph must be substituted, if -ue be dropped : — plague would becom vague rogue brogue brogues vogue fugue fatigue intrigue collogue prorogue disembogue Dheze altera'tions would involv odh'er questions, and it may perhaps be consid'ered dhat som ov dhe words ar not so fully nat'uralized az to call for immediate chanje (see remarks on dhis point, ante, p. 26). When a long vowel iz deno'ted by a di'graph, dhe servile e becoms superfluous. Hence, it might be rejected from dhe following words, widh dheir compounds and derivativs : — Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. awe aw plaig vaig roag broag broags voag feug fateeg intreeg colloag proroag disemboag ewe ew owe ow aye eye wheeze ay wneez sneeze breeze sneez breez sent Spelling. freeze Proposed Spelling. freez squeeze frieze squeez friez baize baiz maize maiz seize seiz ooze ooz gauze gauz 68 Nor iz it necessary in — Present Spelling. Proposed Spelling. adze adz axe ax bronze bronz furze furz Nor in dhe large classes ov Lat'in words, like 'requisit,' and * determin.' See also dhe words no'ticed in reference to dhe letter Vy ante, pp. 43, 44. It wil be seen dhat, in dhis pa'per, I hav omitted dhe servile e wherevver dhe proceeding vowel iz short ; but widhout altering dhe o in such words az som, com, becom, which involvs odh'er considera'tions. Dhe suffix -U iz -el inverted : able = a*bel. Hence, when it follows a sin'gul consonant, dhe proceeding vowel iz long ; and if dhat vowel iz short, dhe consonant should be doubled: rabble = rab'el. It would be a great improovment to write -el ; but in words like single, angle, circle, it would be better to return to dhe Lat in orthog'raphy, singul, angul, circul ; from which dhe derivativs, singular, angular, circular, would be directly dedu'ced. Dhe spelling ov -re iz on a different footing. It simply subjoins e to dhe Lat'in word, shorn ov its case-suffix: lucr-um, lucre ; theatr-um, theatre. But here, again, we ar inconsistent ; for we write monster, not monstre, dhough dhe Lat'in form iz monstr-um. And in som words dhe pronuncia*- tion iz traversed ; for lucre = lucer ought to be pronoimced lu'ser, not lu'ker. It would certainly be advi'sable to spel all such words according to one rule. Doubled Consonants; and Accentual Marks. If dhe consonant were doubled in evvery accented syl- lable where dhe vowel iz short, our orthog'raphy in dhat respect would be simple, systemat'ic, and consistent. Dhis cannot, howevver, be done in dhoze Greek and Lat'in words in which dhe consonant iz sin'gul in dhe orig'inal, widhout infringing on " etymolog'ical '' spelling. We do it alreddy, verry prop'erly, in dhe collo'quial forms, like letter, but not in dhe Kt'erary forms, like literature. I hav 69 acted upon dKis vew througliout dhis pa'per ; but no dout words like sevveral ar o'pen to discussion. In words like govvern, cower, dhe chanje ov o to u involvs odh'er questions. Dhough dhe consonant iz doubled in spelling, onely one iz pronounced ; and, dherefor, where two ar really pronounced, a hyphen iz needed ; az, un-known, il-literate. In wholely dhe servile e sep'arates dhe consonants while it keeps dhe vowel long. It rimes prop'erly widh solely, but wholly ought to rime widh folly. In Greek and Lat'in dhe consonants were doubled for odh'er reazons, such az dhe assimila'tion ov one consonant widh anodh'er, e.g. illiterate for inliterate, flamma for flagma ; and in dhe English pronuncia'tion ov such words it does not affect dhe accent ; az, inflamma'tion. In flame, we hav dropped one m, and lengthened dhe vowel. In such words, dhe vowel pronuncia'tion may be reddily shown by plaxing a mark at dhe end ov dhe accented syllable, after dhe vowel, if long, and if short, after dhe clo'zing consonant. I hav adopted dhis contri'vance in dhe pre "sent portion ov my pa'per, not widh a vew to its gen'eral employment, but solely for dhe purpose ov exhib'iting practically dhe effect ov clo'zed and o'pen syllables, when accented. I hav employed it in dhoze syllables in which dhe vowel iz followed by a sin'gul consonant, whedh'er spelt widh a sin'gul letter or a di' graph, or in which dhe consonant iz followed by I or r, az, prob'lem, di'graph ; and also in dhoze o'pen syllables which ar followed by a vowel, az, be*ing. I hav pla'ced it in words like sin'gul, to show dhat dhe g (gai) iz not si -lent ; and in dhe Past Tenses and Participles, on dhe assumption dhat dhe e in ed iz pronounced, az clo'zed. By dhis means, and by dhe aid ov a verry few " rules ov posit'ion," dhe pronuncia'tion ov nearly all our Greek and Lat'in words may be perfectly wel indicated widhout any chanje ov spelling. Dhus, in na'tion, dhe a iz long, dhe syllable being o'pen, while in nat'ional, it iz short, dhe syllable being clo'zed. Dhe boy or dhe foreiner (stil better, forrener) must first learn how to spel * nation,* and dhen how to pronounce it ; and so, widh * national ; ' and he ought also to learn why ti in 70 dhis posit'ion iz dlie " equivalent " ov sh^ and not merely how, but why dhe a in ' national ' differs from dhe a in * nation.' In mon'osyllables, dhe doubled consonant iz not needed. In dhe note at dhe hed ov dhis section (§ VII.)? I bav made a suggestion widh regard to /; and in dhe few words like lamh, dhe h (which stands for a second m) might verry wel be omitted, boath on etymolog'ical and phonet'ic grounds. "Widh respect to ck, ff, ss, odh'er considera'tions ar involved, besides dhe shortness ov dhe vowel. Complete phonetic spelling iz simply impossible widhout som mode ov marking dhe accent. In English, dhe accent may be determined by " rules ov posit'ion," to a great extent, but not entirely. Accentual marks ar not, and wil not be, adopted in English wri'ting or printing ; and dherefor Eng- lish orthog'raphy cannot be made perfect. Nevverdheless, dhe contri'vance abov referred to may be employed widh advantaje, not merely in Pronouncing Dictionaries, but wherevver it iz desi'red to note dhe vowel pronuncia'tion, az wel az dhe accent, in dhe accented syllables in poly- syllab'ic words. Dhe doubled consonant iz merely a sub- stitute for an accentual mark. Vowel Di' graphs. Dhe confu'sion which exists in our actual orthog'raphy, on dhe one hand, in dhe use ov dhe sin'gul letters for dhe different short vowels, and on the odher, in dhe use ov dhe di'graphs for dhe va'rious long and diphthon'gal vowels, cannot be rem'edied widhout a careful and detailed examina*- tion ov dhe individ'ual words, or at least classes ov words. Dhis would far exceed dhe lim'its ov dhe pres'ent pa-per; but if dhe principles here contended for should be admitted and adopted, it would be a work ov little difficulty, dhough ov som labor, to apply dhem consistently to dhe whole ov dhe lan'guaje, paying due regard to etymol'ogy, boath his- tor'ical and grammatical, az wel az to pronuncia'tion. Widhout attempting dhis now, I may add one or two remarks. I hav shown dhat a di* graph and dhe servile e ar 71 simply two different modes ov marking a long or diph- tlion'gal vowel. Dhe reazons why dhe one or dhe odh*er mode has been preferred in dhe actual spelling ov individ'ual words ar mainly etymolog-ical ; and such spelling, dherefor, ought not to be altered in an'y case widhout due considera*- tion. In som cases dhe object has been to distin'guish between words hawing dhe same sound, but different senses. Bode and road ar boath deri'ved from ride ; and dhe spelling not onely marks dhe difference ov meaning, but iz deter- mined in each word by specif'ic reazons. In dhe Past Tenses ov dhe Strong Verbs, dhe servile e iz gen'erally preferred to dhe di-graph ; az, broke, spoke, — not broak, spoak ; while dhe di'graph iz perhaps u'sually, dhough far from univer- sally, preferred in dhe nowns. Hence rode follows dhe anal'ogy ov dhe Past Tenses, while road accords widh dhe prevailing form in nowns. In breach and speech, compared widh break and speak, dhere iz a remarkable diversity ; and it would seem dhat, on etymolog'ical grounds, speech should be written speach (widh ea in sted ov ee) : break, broke, breach ; speak, spoke, speach. On dhe odh'er hand ought not break to be pronounced breek, in sted ov braik ? and wil it not be so pronounced, sooner or la'ter ? In spread and read (Pres'ent), — spread and read (Past), — we hav anodh'er vari'- ety. It would seem dhat spread (Pres'ent) ought to be pro- nounced spreed, just az read (Pres'ent) iz reed ; while in boath verbs, dhe Past Tense should be spelt widh dhe sin'gul letter e, az dhe vowel iz short ; spred, red ; but it iz perhaps advi'sable to write dhe latter widh a double consonant, redd, to distin'guish it from dhe adjectiv red. Man'y odh'er ques- tions arize widh regard to nowns and verbs, which require to be exam'ined in detail. Why should we spel noun and renown differently ? Dhey ar identical, boath phonet'ically and etymolog'ically. Noun and pronoun ar, I believ, dhe onely words in which dhis diphthong iz spelt widh ou when followed by n alone. It iz such motivless anom'alies, az dheze, dhat cause so much difficulty. Let us by all means spel nown and pronown like renown, and dhe rest ; az, clown, crown, down, drown, frown. 72 town. It would be wel if we coud go furdher, and spel dhis diphthong widh dhe di" graph ow, in sted ov ou, wherevver it occurs. On dhe odh'er hand, if we would always spel dhe sound ov " long oo," az in group, soup, widh oo in sted ov ou (groop, soop), we should make a great stride towards re- du'cing the inconsistent and perplexing u'ses ov dhe di'graph ou. If dhe sin'gul letter u were adopted for " short oo," and u'zed in all cases, az wuld, shuld, cud, for would, should, could (coud), dhen ou would be left az a simple equivalent ov oa (" long o "), az in mould, controul. Dhe sound ov " short oo " has com to be asso'ciated widh four modes ov spelling ; dhe sin'gul letters, u (full), and o (woman), and dhe di'graphs ou (would) and oo (wood). Dhe sound itself forms one ov dhe moast caracteristic differences between dhe English lan'guaje az spo'ken in dhe North and inudhe South ov England. In dhe Nordhern counties, dhis (dhe orig-inal) sound iz stil prevalent, while in dhe South it seems to be dying out, hawing been superseded by dhe remarkable sound ov u in hut, which Mr. Ellis believs to be compar'ativly mod'ern. In dhe North dhey say " cum up " (short) —not " coom oop " (long) ; while in dhe South we say " cum up." Dhis raizes dhe moast difficult ov all dhe ques- tions connected widh vowel spelling : and furdher discussion iz required in order to determin whedh'er dhe orthog'raphy ought not to be chanjed from time to time, to make it con- form to dhe chanjes ov pronuncia'tion, and if so, to what standard ov pronuncia'tion it should be made to conform. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subjea to immediate recall. man'63R^Vtf JAN 2 u 1963 JOL isigs^s-y gEC'P CIBr DEFT JUH 2 074 JANU4fJb8 ■ AUTO. DisB; JAN 5 I9i8 LD 21A-50m-12,'60 (B622l8l0)476B General Library University of California UC. BERKEUr LIBRARIES i CD0417b2^b