Stack 
 
 Annex 
 
 PE 
 
 1150 
 
 A2E4 
 
 1845
 
 ^ %MIIV;HO^ 
 
 ^OF-CAilFO% 
 & x-^ ^
 
 FOR 
 
 PHONOTYPY 
 
 ' AND 
 
 PHONOGRAPHY; 
 
 OK, 
 
 SPEECH-PBINTING AND SPEECH-WAITING, 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXANDER JOHN ELLIS, B.A., 
 
 FELLOW OF THE CAMBRIDGE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AND FORMERLY SCHOLAR 
 OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; 
 
 HONORARY MEMBER OF THE PHONOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDING SOCIETY; AUTHOR 
 OF THE "ALPHABET OF NATURE," ETC. 
 
 BATH: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ISAAC PITMAN, AT THE PHONOGRAPHIC 
 INSTITUTION, 5, NELSON PLACE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 S. BAGSTER AND SONS, 15, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS, PHONOGRAPHIC LECTURERS, AND TEACHERS. 
 
 1845.
 
 BATH: PRINTED BY JOHN AND JAMES KEENE, KINGSMEAD STREET.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 A PLEA, 
 
 8(C. 
 
 WHILE we are still children, and have to thumb the spelling book, and 
 perhaps, with many tears, to learn the orthography of every word in the 
 language out of Entick's Dictionary, or some such well-known school 
 manual, we feel all the horrors of our present heterotypy ; but when we 
 have mastered the art of spelling so far as to be able to read fluently at 
 sight, and to write without making any very great mistakes of orthogra- 
 phy, we forget the intense labour with which we acquired two arts, which 
 are nearly as necessary to us as speaking and hearing. And because we 
 feel no trouble in reading words, with which we are familiar by having 
 seen them thousands of times in our lives, we overlook the fact that every 
 one who sees them for the Jirst time will have the greatest difficulty in 
 discovering what sounds they represent. But, take the foreigner we 
 shall learn more from him than from a boy, because when we see a man 
 in full power of intellect, desirous of learning, and unsparing in his 
 efforts to gain knowledge, yet fail to acquire a facility in reading our 
 language, even when the mere pronunciation of any word offers no diffi- 
 culties to him, we can no longer put ourselves off with paltry excuses ; 
 we must own that there is a why, and a very serious one, although we do 
 not noiv feel it ourselves. We don't feel it? Nay, let us be sincere ; let 
 us take up a scientific work containing many new words, technical words, 
 derived from languages with which we are unacquainted, and Englished 
 after the usual disguising fashion, 1 do we never stumble never falsely 
 accentuate never blunder in the sounds given to the vowels ? Nay, 
 take the very name of the art we are now treating of, PHONOTYPY ; 
 present it thus written, and see whether every one pronounces it nearly 
 in the same way ; 1 will you not hear " fonotapi, fonotip'i, fonotip't/'W 
 and such like ? We have heard these pronunciations given. But without 
 travelling to unknown languages, let us take technical words of common 
 life ; the printers have types called primer, pica, bourgeois, and paper 
 called demy. 1 Well, my friend, how do you pronounce these words ? 
 If you have spent your tine at a public school and at a university, if 
 you have learned French and Italian, we imagine that you will stumble 
 upon very many pronunciations before you arrive at the true, " primur, 
 picu, burjos 1 , dimi 1 ." The first, perhaps, you may utter, though it will 
 be only a guess, but, if you are like ourselves, your first ideas of the 
 three last will be " pica," " buirjwa," and " demd ;" sounds very remote 
 indeed from the usual ones. Thus it is with all words in common life. 
 
 (1.) The meaning of these symbols, called " phonotypes," will be sufficiently 
 explained iu the first of the following tables, pp. 5 8.
 
 ? What landsman guesses that boatswain spells " bosun," coxswain, " coc- 
 sun," studdingsail, " stvinsul," &c., &c. ? These you will say are extreme 
 cases ; but S why so ? Only because your particular avocations have not 
 led you to utter these words, or hear them uttered. Recollect that the 
 foreigner is in the same predicament with respect to all the words in the 
 language ; and for this reason the letters in our alphabet have no fixed 
 sounds attached to them, nor is the same sound invariably represented by 
 the same combination of letters. Now what we plead for is, some system 
 of printing and writing, in which the same sound has always the same 
 symbol, and the same symbol has always the same sound ; and this we call, 
 when printed, PHONOTYPY, from " foni," voice, and " tipos," type ; while, 
 the now common, or other style of printing, is termed heterotypy, from 
 "heturos" other, and "tipos" type. When written, we call such a 
 system PHONOGRAPHY, from "foni," and "graft" writing; the other 
 style of writing being of course heterography. We ground this plea upon 
 the extraordinary diversity of spellings to be found in the English lan- 
 guage representing the same sound, and vice versd. We do not make 
 any assertions at hazard ; we are now prepared to prove the crime of 
 " lese orthografie," high treason against correct spelling, to a most alarm- 
 ing and unprecedented extent, against our language, as the two following 
 tables will show. In the first table, headed " Heterotypic Representation 
 of English Sounds," we have taken the sounds in English as we propose to 
 represent them in Phonotypy,< 2 > and to the right of each symbol we give the 
 symbols, which are heterographically used in different words and on diffe- 
 rent occasions to represent these sounds, followed by the words themselves 
 in which these symbols are employed. The letters by which the sound 
 appears to be indicated or misrepresented, are printed in italic. This 
 table will serve then to show the meaning of our phonotypes ; but in 
 order to make the distinction between heterotypy and phonotypy more 
 apparent, we shall give the phonotypic representation of each word chosen 
 
 (2.) In the Phonographic Journal, No. 3, for March, 1842, the question of 
 Phonotypy was first mooted by Mr. Isaac Pitman. In August, 1843, he became 
 acquainted with the author of this pamphlet, since which time, both have worked 
 together at the alphabet, with some little assistance from others. Printing was com- 
 menced in January, 1844 ; the alphabet was perfected in April, and published in 
 June, 1845. During the whole of that time, unremitting attention was paid to the 
 working of the alphabet, and a great number of experiments tried. We mention 
 this, to show that we are not offering a crude or unconsidered scheme to the public. 
 We do not here give any explanation of Phonography, for which reference must be 
 made to Mr. Pitman's Manual. It is sufficient to state that, independently of its 
 advantage as a system of phonetic writing, it forms when applied to the English laq- 
 gnage, the most effective short hand yet invented. We have the satisfaction of 
 adding that it is generally appreciated, as upwards of 150,000 phonographic publica- 
 tions have been sold, and the Manual itself has now a steady sale of 2,000 copies a 
 month ; and the Phonographic Correspondent, written entirely in the phonographic cha- 
 racter, numbers 2000 monthly subscribers. For information concerning the progress 
 of Phonography, reference must be made to the " Intelligence" portion of the Phono- 
 typic Journal. In thin pamphlet, we only recommend Phonography upon the score 
 of its giving a correct phonetical representation of the English language, and, there- 
 fore, what applies to Pliouotypy in this respect applies equally to Phonography. The 
 reader will tind a reason given for the great difference in the construction of the pho- 
 notypic and phonographic alphabets, in the " Alphabet of Nature," part 3, p. 184. As 
 a matter of curiosity, it may be mentioned that the printer has set up this pamphlet 
 from phonographic short hand copy.
 
 to illustrate the mode of spelling, immediately after the words themselves, 
 in such a manner that the eye can glance without trouble from one to the 
 other. Finally, in a third column, we place figures to show the number 
 of representations of this sound which we have found in English, in order 
 that the number of orthographical expedients may be properly appreciated. 
 The second table we term " Values of English Heterotypes." The 26 
 letters of the heterotypic alphabet do not by any means represent the true 
 number of letters in our language ; we must take into consideration cer- 
 tain combinations of vowels and consonants which supply the place of 
 simple letters, and we have therefore included all, or almost all, those 
 combinations of letters which in any particular word represent simple 
 sounds, or such sounds as we have deemed it best to represent by simple 
 characters in the phonotypical alphabet, such as q, j, i, 6, is, w. In the first 
 column stands the combination of letters under consideration ; in the next 
 the phonotypical representation of the sounds which it generally denotes, 
 followed by the words in which these sounds occur under the given symbols ; 
 together with the phonetical representation of the exemplificative word. 
 The third column contains the number of such values. 
 
 >* The various notes, referred to in the following Tables, are placed at the end of 
 Table II, pp. 14, 15. 
 
 TABLE I. HETEROTYPIC REPRESENTATION OF ENGLISH 
 
 SOUNDS. 
 
 1. I i=8e, e, e-e, ea, ea-e, eau, ee, eg, ei, ei-e, eo, ey, eye, i, i-e, ia, 
 ie, ie-e, i-ue, oe, uay, ui, y .... . .23 
 
 C^sar, be, complete, each, leave, Beauchamp,( 3 ) feet, impregn, 
 Sizur, bi, cumplit, iq, liv, Bu;um, fit, imprin, 
 
 conceit, conceive, people, key, keyed, albino, (4) magazine, parliament, 
 cunsit, cunsiv, pipid, ci, cid, albino, maguzin, parlimunt, 
 grief, grieve, antique, fetus, ( 4 ) quay, mosquito, ( 4 ) carry 
 
 grif, griv, antic, fitus, ci, moscito, cari 
 
 2. I i=a, a-e, ai, e, ee, ei, eig, i, i-e, ia-e, ie, ie-e, igh, o, u, ui, y, wi-e 18 
 imaging, image, captain, pretty, breeches, forfeit, foreign, sin, captive, 
 imijiij, imij, captin, priti, briqiz, f erf it, forin, sin, captiv, 
 marriage, pitied, sieve, sevennig/zt, women, busy, build, physic, 
 marij, pitid siv, senit, wimin, bizi, bild, fizic, 
 houseztfife luizif 
 
 3. 8 =a, a-e, a-ue, ah, ai, aigh, ao, au, au-e, ay, aye, ea, ei, eig, eigh, 
 eighe, ey, eye, eyo, ez . .20 
 mating, mate, plague, da/ilia, pain, straight, gaol,( 5 ) gauging, gauge, 
 metin, mtt, pkg, dslyu, pen, strct, jd, gJi\) gJ. 
 pray, prayed, great, veil, reign, weigh, weighed, they, conveyed, 
 pre, pml, gre't, vel, rai, WE, wed, cte, cunved, 
 eyot,( 6 ) rendezvous, ( 7 ) et, rondmn 
 
 Carried fonvard . 61
 
 6 
 
 Brought forward . . 61 
 
 4. Ee=a, se, ai, e, e-e, ea, eb, ei, eg, eo, eve, ie, CM, u, uc . . 15 
 many, P<estum,( s ) said, let, ledge, peasant, debt, heifer, phlegm, 
 meni, Pestura, sed, let, lej, pezunt, det, hefur, flem, 
 leopard, serennight, friend, fetid, ( 9 ) bury, guess 
 
 lepurd, senit, frend, fetid, beri, ges 
 
 5. .ZEa3=a, a-e, ai, aye, ayo, e-e, e'e, ea, ei, ey, ey-e, hei . . 12 
 paring, pare, pair, prayer, mayor, there, ne'er, pear, their, cyry, 
 pan-in, peer, pfer, preer, mser, &er, njer, pier, it;er, seri, 
 eyre, heir ser, aer 
 
 C. Aa=a, ah, al, au, e, ea, no, .... 7 
 
 father, ah, psalm, aunt, clerk, heart, guard 
 fadur, a, sam, ant, clarc, hart, gard 
 
 7. Ra=a, a-e, ai, al, au, .... 5 
 sat, have, plaid, saZmon, gauntlet, ( 10 ) 
 
 sat, hav plad, samun, gantlet 
 
 8. & e=a, al, ao, au, augh, augha, aw, awe, co-e, o, oa, oo, on, ough 14 
 fall, wak, extraordinary, caul, naughty, Vaughan, awful, awe, 
 fel, wee, ecstrerdinuri, eel, neti, Ven, eful, e, 
 George, nor, broad, door,( n ) cough, sought 
 
 Jerj, ner, bred, der, cef, set 
 
 9. O o=a, au, e, ho, o, on, ow 7 
 
 want, laurel, rendezvous, ( r ) honour, on, trough, knowledge 
 
 wont, lorul, rondevm, onur, on, trof, nolij. 
 
 10. U u=a, ae, aw, e, ea, eo, eu, i, ia, ie, io, o, oa, oi, on, u, ua, 
 we, y ..... . .19 
 
 again, Michael, awry, her, earth, dungeon, grandeur, stir, physician, 
 ugii, Micul, uri, hur, iirt dunjun, granjur, stur, fizijun, 
 soldier, motion, work, cupboard, Beauvoir, journey, cur, victuals, 
 soljur, mojun, wurc, cuburd, Bivur, jurni, ci'ir, vitulz, 
 answer, myrrh ansur, mur 
 
 11. li u=hu, iou, o, o-e, oe, oi-e, oo, on, ow, u . .10 
 /tumble, conscious, son, done, does, tortoise, blood, couple, bcllo;s, rub 
 iimbul, conjus, sun, dun, dnz, tertus, blud, ctipul, bclns, nib 
 
 12. Oo=au, eau, eaux, eo, ew, o, o-e, oa, oe, oh, ol, oo, ou, ough, 
 
 ow, owe, wo 17 
 
 hauteur, ( 4 ) beau,( 4 ) Bordeaux, ( 4 ) yeoman, sew, go, cove, coal, doe, 
 hotiir, bo, Bmrdo, yomun, so, go, cov, col, do, 
 oh, yolk, brooch, soul, though, know, owe, sword( n ) 
 
 o, yoc, broc;, sol, do, no, o, sard 
 
 13. TIJui=eo, eu, ew, o, o-e, oe, oeu, oo, ooe, ou, ough, ougha, ous, 
 oux, u, u-e, ue, ui, ui-e, wo .... 20 
 galleon, rheumatism, brew;, do, move, shoe, manoeuvre, too, wooed, 
 guluin, ruimutizum, brui, dm, mrav, Jui, mumuviu-, tvu, wuid, 
 soup, through, 'Brougham, rendezvous, billet-doua-, unruly, rule, true, 
 suip, trui, Bruim, rondsviu, bilidiu, iinrudi, rud, trai, 
 bruising, brwise, two briuzin, bruiz, tui 
 
 14. U u=o, oo, oid, u woman, wood, wou/d, full ... 4 
 
 wiamun, wud, wud, ful 
 
 Carried forward . .191
 
 7 
 
 Brought forward . . 191 
 
 15. * i=ais-e, ei, eigh, ey, eye, i, i-e, ic, ie, ig, igh, is-e, ui, uy, y, ye 16 
 aisle, neither, ( 12 ) height, eying, eye, bind, mine, indict, lie, sign, high, 
 U, n$ur, hit, iin, i, bind, min, iiidit, li, sin, hi, 
 is\e, begwiling, Guy, fly, dye il, bigilirj, Gi, fli, di 
 
 16. Ri ai=aye, ai-c aye, naive ai, naiv .... 2 
 
 17. <fr o=oi, oi-e, oig, oig-e, oy, uoy 6 
 
 noisy, noise, poignant, coigne, boy, \juoy 
 
 n6zi, n6z, pdmmt, c6n, b6, b6 
 
 18. ~S~s=eo, ho, o, on, oub, ough, ow, owe .... 8 
 Macleod, how:, compter, nown, doubt, hough, cow, allowed 
 
 Much'd, ffur, csntur, irsn, dst, by, cs, ulsd 
 
 19. *w=eau, eo, eu, ew, ewe, hu, ien, iew, iewe, u, u-e, ne, ug, ugh, 
 
 ui, yew, you . 17 
 
 beauty, feod, fewd, few, ewe,( 13 ) humour, lieu, view, viewed, wsage, 
 b\jti, fvvd, fwd, fw, w, wmur, Iw, vy, vyd, wzij 
 
 wse, agwe, impwgn, Hugh, suit, yew, you 
 
 F s ' oT> im P^ n Hy, syt, w, w 
 
 20. Yy=e, i, j, y courteous, onion, hallelu/ah, yard . . 4 
 
 certyus, unyun, halilmyu, yard 
 
 21. W w=u, w, A persuade, war, A one purswed, wer, wun . 3 
 
 22. H h=h, Iquh hat, Golquhoun hat, Cohuin ... 2 
 
 23. P p=gh, p, pe, ph, pp hiccougA, ( 14 )pay, ape, dipMhong, flapper 5 
 
 hicup, p, p, diptog, flapur 
 
 24. B b=b, be, bb, pb be, babe, abbot, cupoboard ... 4 
 
 bi, beb, abut ciiburd 
 
 25. T t=bt, ct, ed, ght, phth, pt, t, te, th, tt, tw, z . . .12 
 debt, indict, sucked, sought, phtMsical, ptarmigan, toe, mete, Thomas, 
 det, indit, suet, set, tizicul, tarmigun, to, mit, Tomus, 
 h&tter, two, mezzotint, ( 15 ) hatur, tui, metsotint 
 
 26. D d=d, dd, de, ed deep, add, trade, loved dip, ad, tred, luvd 4 
 
 27. Sq=ch, che, jori, t, tch ....... 5 
 
 chain, arched, Mar/oribanks, question, match 
 
 c/n, arqt, Marqbancs, cwesqun, maq 
 
 28. J j = ch, d, dge, g, ge, gh, j . . _ . . 7 
 Greenwich, ( 1G ) soldier, fudge, gem, age, Belling/jam, j>'ust 
 
 Grinij, soljur, fuj, jem, J, Belinjum, just 
 
 29. C c=c, ch, che, ck, gh, k, ke, Ik, q, qu, que, x . .12 
 can, chasm, ache, back, hough, /rill, bake, walk, <?uack, </May, anti^we, 
 can, cazum, tc, bac, hoc, cil, bee, wee, cwac, ci, antic, 
 exception ecsepjim 
 
 30. Gg=g, gg, gue go, egg, plague go, eg, pleg . . 3 
 
 31. F f=f, fe, ff, gh, ph, pph, u 7 
 foe, life, stiff, \a\\gh, p/dlosophy, sapphire, lieutenant 
 
 fo, fif, stif, laf, filosofi, safir, leftenunt 
 
 32. V v=f, ph, v, ve of, nephew, view, have ov, nevw, vw, hav 4 
 
 33. P t=phth, th, tth apophthegm, thigh, Matthew 3 
 
 apotem, tj, Matw 
 
 Carried forward . .315
 
 8 
 
 Brought forward . . 315 
 
 34. cfd=th, the thy, breathe $, brid 
 
 35. S s=c, ce, ps, s, sc, sch, se, ss, z .9 
 cell, ace, psalm, see, scene, schism, case, lu'ss, mezzotint 
 
 sel, s, sam, si, sin, sizum, ces, his, metsotint 
 
 36. Z z=c, ce, s, se, ss, x, z, ze, zz . . . . . 9 
 sacrificing, sacrifice, ( 17 ) as, ease, scissors, Xenophon, zeal, freeze, 
 sacrifizij), sacrifiz, az, iz, sizurz, Zenufun, zil, friz, 
 whizzing hwizin 
 
 37. S J=c, ch, s, sc, sh, t 6 
 
 special, cftaise, sure, conscious, shine, morion 
 
 spejul, JEZ, Juir, con/us, Jin, mo/un 
 
 38. 2 3=j, g, ge, s, z ^'ambeux,( 18 ) rouging, rouge, pleasure, azure 5 
 
 gombui, ru^in, rui3, ple3ur ajur 
 
 39. L 1=1, le, 11, sle lace, ale, all, isle les, d, el, U . . 4 
 
 40. Rr=lo, r, re, rh, rr, rrh, wr 7 
 
 colonel, ray, spare, rheumatism, burr, myrrh, write 
 
 curnul, re, spaer, ruimutizum, bur, mur, rit 
 
 41. Mm=chm, gm, 1m, Imonde, m, mb, me, mm, ran, mp . 10 
 draewm, phlegm, psalm, ChoZmondeley, am, lamb, lame, hammer, 
 dram, flem, sam, Giimli, om, lam, km, hamur 
 hymn, Beauchamp him, Bujum 
 
 42. N n=kn, gn, mn, mp, n, ne, nn, pn 
 
 Arnow, gnaw, mnemonics, compter, can, cane, fanner, pneumatics 8 
 no, ne, nimonics, csntur, can, CHI, fanur, nymatics 
 
 43. lfn=n, nd, ng, ngue finger, handkerchief, singer, tongwe 4 
 
 fingur, hancurqif, sinur, tug 
 
 379 
 
 TABLE II. VALUES OF ENGLISH HETEROTYPES. 
 
 1. A=i, t, e, a?, a, a, e, o, u 9 
 
 imaging, mating, many, paring, father, fat, fall, want, dollar 
 imijin, mstin, meni, pserin, fadur, fat, fel, wont, dolur 
 
 2. a-e=i, E, ss, a image, mate, mare, have imij, met, mser, hav 4 
 
 3. a-ue=e; e-Aj plague; ague pleg; gw ... 2 
 
 4. ae=u ; a ets. Michael ; aerial etc. Micul ; eiriul ets. . 2 
 
 5. se =i, e Caesar, Psestum Sizur, Pestum ... 2 
 
 6. ah=e, a dahlia, ah ddyu, a 2 
 
 7. ai=i, e, e, ae, a; ei captain, pain, said, pair, plaid; dais . 6 
 
 captin, pen, sed, paer, plad; deis 
 
 8. ai-e=ai naive noiv ....... 1 
 
 9. aigh= straight stret ...... 1 
 
 10. ais-e=i aisle [I ........ 1 
 
 11. al=a, a, e; d, al, el, ul etseturu 7 
 
 psalm, salmon, walk ; paling, alkali, all, principal etcetera 
 sam, samun, wee ; pslin, alculi, el, prinsipul etseturu 
 
 Carried forward . . 37
 
 9 
 
 Brought forward . . 37 
 
 12. ao=, se, e; e, EO, EQ etseturu . . . . 6 
 
 gaol, aorist, ecstraordinary ; aorta, chaos, Aonian 
 jd, jfirist, ecstrerdinuri ; eertu, CEOS, onyun 
 
 13. au=, a, a, e, o, o; EH 7 
 
 gauging, aunt, gauntlet, caul, laurel, hauteur ; Menelaus 
 gcjin, ant, gantlet, eel, lorul, hotur; Menikus 
 
 14. au-e= gauge gJ ....... 1 
 
 15. augh=e naughty neti 1 
 
 16. augha, = e Vaughan Yen ...... 1 
 
 17. aw=e, u; uw awful, awry; awake efiol, urj,; uwec . 3 
 
 18. awe=e; uw awe; aweary e; uwiri .... 2 
 
 19. ay=; ai pray; ay pr; ai 2 
 
 20. aye=, 33; ai prayed, prayer; aye pral, prser; ai . . -3 
 
 21. ayo=33; to mayor; Mayo maer; MEQ ... 2 
 
 22. B=b, mute babe, lamb bd), lam ..... 2 
 
 23. be/aZ=b bate bb 1 
 
 24. bt=t; bt debt; obtrude; det; obtruid . 2 
 
 25. C=c, s, z, J; mute ...... 5 
 
 can, cell, sacrificing, special; indict 
 can, sel, sacrifizin, spejul ; indit 
 
 26. cc=c; cs account; accident ucsnt; acsidunt . . 2 
 
 27. ceftnal=s, z ice, sacrifice( lr ) is, socrifiz ... 2 
 
 28. ch=q, j, c, J; cw, mute 6 
 
 chain, Greenwich, chasm, chaise ; choir, drachm 
 c/n, Grinij, cazum, JEZ, cwiur, dram 
 
 29. che=c;, c arched, ache arqt, EC ..... 2 
 
 30. ck=c back boc. . . . . .-. . 1 
 
 31. ct=t; ct, c/ ets. indict; interdict, indiction . . 3 
 
 indit ; inturdict, indicjun 
 
 32. JD=d, j, mute dyer, soldier, handkerchief ... 3 
 
 dim', soljur, haijcurcjif 
 
 33. dd^d add ad 
 
 34. definal=d trade trsd 
 
 35. dge=j wedge wej ....... 
 
 36. E=i, i, e, a, o, u, mute ....... 7 
 
 be, pretty, let, clerk, rendezvous, burden, tame 
 bi, priti, let, clarc, rondEVui, burdun, tin 
 
 37. e-e=i, e, a? these, ledge, there ctiz, lej, cfer 
 
 38. ea=i, E, e, a3, a, u; ia, iu, iu . . . . . 9 
 
 each, great, peasant, pear, heart, earth ; react, idea, area 
 it;, grt, pezunt, paer, hart, urt ; riact, idiu, a3riu 
 
 39. ea-e=t; IE breathe; create britt; crlst' 
 
 40. eau=i, o, w ^Beauchamp, beau, beauty Bujum, bo, bwti . 
 
 41. eaux=o Bordeaux Buu'do .... 
 
 42. eb=e; ib debt; ebriety det:ibrieti 
 
 43. ed=t, d; ed plucked, loved; tempted pluct, luyd ; temted 
 
 44. ee=i, i, ss ; ie feet, breeches, ne'er ; preexist . . 4 
 
 fit, briqiz, na?r priegzist 
 
 Carried forward . .131
 
 10 
 
 Brought forward . . 131 
 
 45. eg=i,e; eg impregn,phlegm; phlegmatic imprin,flem; flegmatic 3 
 
 46. ei=i, i, , e, se, i; ii ? 
 
 conceit, forfeit, veil, heifer, their, Leipsig, reimburse 
 cunsit, ferfit, vd, hefur, dser, Lipsic, riimburs 
 
 47. ei-e=i conceive cunsiv 
 
 48. eig=i, E sovereign, feign sovrin, fen . 
 
 49. eigh=, i= weigh, height we, hit 
 
 50. eighe=e weighed wed ... 
 
 51. eo=i, e, u, o, lu, w, s; io, to . 
 
 people, leopard, dungeon, yeoman, galleon, food, Macleod ; 
 pipul, lepurd, dqnjun, yomun, gulum, fwd, Muchfd; 
 aureola, theology eriolu, tioloji 
 
 52. eo-e=e George Jerj 
 
 53. eu=u, m, w; iw grandeur, rheumatism, feud ; reunion . 
 
 granjur, numutizum, fwd; riwnyun 
 
 54. eve=e; iv, ivu, evu ets. sevennight; eve, even, seven 
 
 senit ; iv, ivun, sevun 
 
 55. ew=o, w, w, shew, brew, new Jo, brra, nw 
 
 56. ewe=\j; wu, uii ewe; ewer, jewel w; wur, juail 
 
 57. ey=i, E, se, i key, they, eyry, eying ci, ds, sen., iirj 
 
 58. ey-e=se eyre ser 
 
 59. eye=i, E, i; iu keyed, conveyed, eye; eyer . 
 
 cid, cunved, i ; iur 
 
 60. eyo= eyot tt ....... 
 
 61. ez= rendezvous rondeviu 
 
 62. P=f, v, mute foe, of, stiff fo, ov, stif .... 
 
 63. fe=f fife fif 
 
 64. ff=f staff staf 
 
 65. G=j, g, 3, mate gem, gag, rouging, impugn 
 
 jem, gag, ru^irj, impwn 
 
 66. ge=j, 3 age, rouge EJ, rui3 .... 
 
 67. gg=g egg eg 1 
 
 68. gh=p, j, c, g, f, mute ...... 
 
 hiccough, Bellingham, hough, ghost, laugh, though 
 hicup, Belinjum, hoc, gost, laf, do 
 
 69. ght=t ought et 1 
 
 70. gm=m; gm phlegm, phlegmatic flem, flegmatic 
 
 71. gn=n; gn impugn; pugnacious impwn; pugnsjus 
 
 72. gue=g; gy plague; ague pleg; gw . 
 
 73. H=h, mute( 19 ') hat, honour hat, onur 
 
 74. ha=u ; ha, he, ets. Birmingham , ham, hall, etc. . . 3 
 
 Bumihjum ; ham, hel, ets. 
 
 75. hei=ae; h heir; heinous Eer;hnu.s .... 
 
 76. ho=o, 7j;hu, ho, ets. h on o\n-, hour ; honey, honing . . 4 
 
 onur, TJUV ; huni, honiij 
 
 77. hu=u;hu, ets. humble; hum urabul; hum 
 
 78. I=i, i, u, j, mute admiration, sin, stir, bind, business . 5 
 
 adminjun, sin, stur, bind, biznes 
 
 Carried forward . .225
 
 11 
 
 Brought forward . . 225 
 
 79. i-e=i, i, i; iu magazine, captive, mine ; fire ... 4 
 
 maguzln, captiv, min, ftur 
 
 80. ia=i, u; is, is, ia, iu, ya, yu 8 
 
 parliament, special ; mediator, hiatus, iambic, trial, maniac, mania 
 parlimunt, speful; midktur, hiatus, iani'bic, triul, msnyac, menyu 
 
 ia-e=i marriage marij ...... 1 
 
 ic=i; ic indict; interdict indit; inturdict ... 2 
 ie=i, i, e, u, i; it, i, ie, iu, yi, yu .... 11 
 
 grief, pitied, friend, soldier, lie ; medieval, conscientious, piety, 
 grif, pitid, frend, soljur, li; mediivul, conjienjus, pieti, 
 crier, species, courier criiu*, spijyiz, curyur 
 
 84. .ie-e=i, i grieve, sieve griv, siv . . . . . 2 
 
 85. ieu=w; ef lieu; lieutenant lw; leftenoint . . . 2 
 
 86. icw=w view vw . . . . . . . 1 
 
 87. iewe=w; we, wu viewed; vieweth, viewer vwd; vyet, vwur 3 
 
 88. ig=i; ig ets. sign; signet sin; signet .... 2 
 
 89. igh=i, i night, sevennight nit, senit .... 2 
 
 90. io=u; io, io, io, Jo, yu . . . . . . . 6 
 
 motion ; mediocrity, mediocre, Tonic, violence, million 
 mojun ; midiocriti, midiocur, ionic, violuns, milyun 
 
 91. iou=u; yu vicious; bilious vijus; bilyus . . -. . 2 
 
 92. is-e=i isle il ' . 1 
 
 93. i-ue=i antique antic . .' . . . . 1 
 
 94. J=y, j, Y> hallelujah, just, jambcux halilwyu, just, 3ambui 3 
 
 95. jori=q Marjoribanks Marqbancs ..... 1 
 
 96. K=c, mute keep, know cip, no . . . - v .f- 2 
 
 97. kejinul=c wake wee . . . . ' . ', V- 1 
 
 98. kn=n know no 1 
 
 99. L=l, mute lace, psalm les, sam ..... 2 
 
 100. lejlnal=l; ul bale, able bd; gbul .... 2 
 
 101. 11=1 ball bel . 1 
 
 102. lm=m; 1m psalm, ( 20 ) psalmody sam, salmodi . . 2 
 
 103. lmonde=m Cholmondeley Gumli . . . 1 
 
 104. lo=r; Io ets. colonel; colonial curnul; colonynl . 2 
 
 105. lquh=h Colquhoun Cohuin .... ^ 1 
 
 106. BT=m, mute mace, mnemonics nis, nimonics . . 2 
 
 107. mb=m; mb lamb; amber lam; ambur ... 2 
 
 108. mm=:m rammer ramur ..... 1 
 
 109. mn=m, n; mn hymn, mnemonics ; Memnon . . 3 
 
 him, nimonics, Memnun 
 
 110. mp=m, n; mp Beauchamp, compter; lamp . . 3 
 
 Biqum, c^mtui- ; lamp 
 
 111. N=n, g, mute sun, finger, hymn sun, firjgur, him 3 
 
 112. nd=n; nd handkerchief; hand haijcurqif; hand 
 
 113. nejinal=i\ pine pin ...... 1 
 
 Ilk ng=y ; rjg, nj singer ; finger, hinging sinur ; fingur, hinjin 3 
 
 115. ngue=ij tongue tun ...... 1 
 
 Carried forward . .313
 
 12 
 
 Brought forward . . 313 
 110. nn=n tanner tanur ...... 
 
 117. O=i> e. o, u, u, o, ui, u, y 
 
 women, nor, hop, work, son, go, do, woman, compter 
 wimin, ner, hop, wiirc, sun, go, dm, wiamun, czmtur 
 
 118. o-e=e, u, o, ui; wu more,( n ) love, cove, move; one . 5 
 
 mer, luv, cov, muiv; wun 
 
 119. oa=e, o; os, oa, ou broad, coal; oasis, coagulate, coalesce 
 
 bred, col ; opsis, coagwkt, coides 
 
 120. oa-e=e coarse( n ) cers . 
 
 121. oe=i, e foetus, fcetid( 9 ) fitus, fetid 
 
 122. oe=u> Q, ux; oi, oi, oe, ou . . 7 
 
 does, doe, shoe ; coeval, poet, poetical, coercion 
 duz, do, Jui ; colvul, poit, poeticul, courjun 
 
 123. oeu=ui manoeuvre munuivur 
 
 124. oh=o oh! o! 
 
 125. oi=u, 6; oi, oi, uii, wa, we, wju . 
 
 Beavoir, noisy; Zoilus, stoic, doing, chamois, memoir, choir 
 Bivur, n6zi ; Zoilus, stoic, duiin, Jamwa( 21 ), memwer, cwiur 
 
 126. oi-e=u, 6 tortoise, noise tertus, noz 
 
 127. oig= 6 poignant p6nunt .... 
 
 128. oig-e=6 coigne con 
 
 129. ol=o; ol, ets. yolk; olfactory yoc; olfacturi 
 
 130. oo=e, u, o, ua, u; oo, oo ..... 7 
 
 door, blood, brooch, brood, wood ; zoology, zoophyte 
 der( u ), blud, broq, bruid, wiad; zooloji, zooftt 
 
 131. ooe=ui wooed wrad 
 
 132. ou=e, u, u, Q, ui, s ; ou . . . . . . 7 
 
 cough, journey, couple, soid, soup, foul ; Antinous 
 cef, jiimi, cupul, sol, suip, hi; Hntinous 
 
 133. oub=s doubt dst . ,.-' . . ... 1 
 
 134. ough=e, o, ui, ~>s; ef, oc, of, up, uf , 
 
 sought, though, through, plough ; cough, hough, trough, 
 set, do, trui, pis; cef, hoc, trof, 
 hiccough ( 14 ), tough hicup, tut 
 
 135. ougha=ui; ofu Brougham; Hougham Brium( 22 ); Hofum 
 
 136. oul=u; si, ets. would ; fold, ets. wtid;Mets . 
 
 137. ous=m; ss rendezvous; nous rondevui; nss . . 2 
 
 138. oux=ui; uiz billetdoux; billetsdoux bilidm ; bilidmz 2 
 
 139. ow=o, u, o, s knowledge, bello\vs, know, now . . 4 
 
 nolij, belus, no, ny 
 
 140. owe=o, y; oc, ou, si, ye, yu . . . . . . 1 
 
 owe, allowed ; lowest, mower, vowel, voweth, power 
 o, ulsd ; loest, mour, vsil, vsefc, psur 
 
 141. oy =6; oiy, oy boy; oyer, oyez b6; oiyur, oyes 
 
 142. P=p, mute peri, pneumatics pen, nwmatics 
 
 143. pb=b cupboard cuburd .... 1 
 
 144. pe_y?a=p ape ep 1 
 
 Camed forward . .410
 
 13 
 
 Brought forward . . 410 
 
 145. ph=p, f, v, mute; ph 5 
 
 diphthong, philosopher, nephew, apophthegm, haphazard 
 diptoij, filosofur, nevy, apotem haphazard 
 
 146. phth=t, t phthisical, apophthegm tizicul, apotem . . 2 
 
 147. pn=n pneumatics nwmatics 1 
 
 148. pp=p happy hapi ....... 1 
 
 149. pph=f Sapphire Safir 1 
 
 150. ps=s; ps psalm; lapse sam; laps .... 2 
 
 151. pt=t; pt ptarmigan; apt tarmigun ; apt . . 2 
 
 152. Q=/tas no meaning by itself ...... 
 
 153. qu=c; cw quay; quack ci; cwac .... 2 
 
 154. que=c antique antic 1 
 
 155. R=r, mute ray ; burr (second r} re; bur . . 2 
 
 156. rejinal=i- rare rser ....... 1 
 
 157. rh=r; rh Rhine; perhaps Rin; purhaps . . 2 
 
 158. rr=r burr bur ........ 1 
 
 159. rrh=r myiTh mur ...... 1 
 
 160. S=s, z, J, 5, mute gas, as, sure, pleasure, isle . . 5 
 
 gas, az, Jrar, plesur, il 
 
 161. sc=s, J; sc science, conscience; sceptic ... 3 
 
 siuns, conjuns ; sceptic 
 
 162. sch=s; sc schism; scheme sizum; scira . ' '' V v " . 2 
 
 163. se final=s, z case, ease CES, iz " '. . . 2 
 
 164. sh=J; sh shine; mishap Jin; mishap ... 2 
 
 165. s\ejinal=l isle il ....... 1 
 
 166. ss=s, z hiss, scissors his, sizurz ..... 2 
 
 167. T=t, q, /, mute take, question, motion, bustle . . 4 
 
 tec, cwesqun, mojun, busul 
 
 168. te foial=t mate met ...... 1 
 
 168. th=t, t, tt; th Thomas, thigh, thy ; pothouse . . 4 
 
 Tomus ti, di; pothss 
 
 170. the/Ho/=d: breathe brid . . . ... 1 
 
 171. tt=t butt but . 1 
 
 172. tth=t Matthew Matw 1 
 
 173. t\v=t; tw two; twain tui ; twen .... 2 
 
 174. U^i, e, u, u, ui, u, w, w 
 
 busy, bury, cur, but, unruly, pull, usage, persuade 
 bizi, beri, ciir, but, unruilt, piol, yzij, purswed 
 
 175. u-e=m, ~\y nile, use ruil, ws ..... 
 
 176. ua=a, u; WE, wa, wa, we, wo, wu .... 8 
 
 guard, victuals; persuasion, guano, suavity, squall, squabble, 
 gard, vitulz ; purswegun, gvvano, swaviti, scwel, scwobul, 
 equal icwul 
 
 177. uay=i quay ci .... 
 
 178. ue=e, u, w, w; wi, wi, we, mute . 8 
 
 guess, masquerade, true, ague; duel, query, querulous, plague 
 ges, mascured, tnu, gw ; dwil, cwiri, cwerwlus, pleg 
 
 Carried forward . . 492
 
 14 
 
 Brought forward . . 492 
 
 179. ug = w; u impugn; pugnacious impwn ; pugnp/us 
 |s(). ugh=\) Hugh Hy . 1 
 
 181. ui=i, i, ui, i, w; wi, wi, wu, wju . 
 
 mosquito, build, bruising, beguiling, suit; quinine, quill, 
 mosclto, bild, bruiziij, bigiliy, swt ; cwinin cwil, 
 quirk, acquiring cwiirc, ucwiuriy 
 
 182. ui-e i, ui; wi,wj,u guile, bruise ; suite, quire 
 
 gU, bruiz; swit, cwj,ur 
 
 183. uo= o; wo, we, wo quotha; duo, quorum, ( u ) quondam 4 
 
 cota 1 ; dwo, cwerum, cwondum 
 
 184. uoy=6; 6y buoy; buoyant bo; boyunt 
 
 185. uy,=i Guy Gi ... 
 
 186. V=v, mute vine, sevennight vjn, senit 
 
 187. \cjinal=v eve iv 
 
 188. V/=w, jnwteC 23 ) way, write we, rit 
 
 189. we=u; wi, we, mute answer; we, wet, owe . 4 
 
 ansur ; wi, wet, o 
 
 190. wo=o, ui; wu sword, two; word sord( u ), tm ; ward . 3 
 
 191. wr=r write lit ...... 1 
 
 192. X=c, z; cs, cj, gz except, Xenophon, vex, axiom, exert 5 
 
 ecsept, Zenufun; vecs, acjyum, cgzurt 
 
 193. \ejinal=cs axe acs 1 
 
 194. Y=i, i, u, i, y pity, physic, myrrh, fly, yard 
 
 piti, fizic, mm-, fli, yard 
 
 195. yew=w yew w ....... 
 
 196. you=w; yu youth; young wt; ymj 
 
 197. ye=i; yi, iu dye; ye, dyer di; yi, diur 
 
 198. Z=t, s, z, %,mute mezzotint (first z,) mezzotint (second z,) ( 15 ) 5 
 
 metsotint, metsotint, 
 
 zeal, azure, rendezvous zil, o^ur, rondmu 
 
 199. zejinal=z freeze friz ...... 1 
 
 200. zz=z; ts whizzing; mezzotint hwizin ; metsotint. . 2 
 
 553 
 
 NOTES TO THE PRECEDING TABLES. 
 
 (3.) We admit English family names into this list, as they are true specimens of 
 the irregularity of English pronunciation. Considered as a French name, " Beau- 
 champ" would be pronounced very differently. 
 
 (4.) Foreign words, which, from being thoroughly adopted into the language, have 
 received an English pronunciation, should be included in such a list as tins. 
 
 (5.) Sometimes spelt jail an orthography coming now into common use. 
 
 (6.) Sometimes spelt aite, or ait ; a small island in a river. 
 
 (7.) The pronunciation given to this word is strictly English without a nasal tone ; 
 hence, the word must be cited as a specimen of English pronunciation. 
 
 (8.) The more general pronunciation at Eton. Some consider it more correct to 
 say ' Pistum.' The Italian Pesto, would seem to give some colour to the pronun- 
 ciation in the text. 
 
 (9.) Sometimes spelt fetid. 
 
 (10.) The pronunciation of this word is not fixed ; as a participle, gauntleted 
 always has this vowel, we believe ; but the substantive has sometimes No. 6, or 
 No. 8, as well as No. 7.
 
 15 
 
 (11.) These words belong to a class, and should evidently have No. 1*2, which all 
 orthoepists give them; it is, however, very common in the neighbourhood of London, 
 and we believe other parts of England, to use No. 8 instead. 
 
 (12.) " <? Doctur Jonsuu, dm \y se ' nichir,' er ' nidur' ?" " ' Nstlur,' 
 
 Sur." ' Nedtll'' is now quite out of fashion; but ' nictlir' and ' nJ4ur' are used 
 indiscriminately. Similarly for either. 
 
 (13.) The following words are very instructive : ewe, you, yew, use, ewes, yeics, 
 hew, Hugh, /ie'.s, Huyhes. 
 
 (14.) People are now beginning, in spite of all etymology, (!) to spell this word 
 phonetically, thus, " hiccup." ? Why not follow out this happy thought in the ortho- 
 graphy of the remaining o-u-ge-aitches ?" 
 
 (15.) The Italian word is mezzotinto, and tho Italian pronunciation is ' meddzo- 
 tint'O,' so that we are quite justified in citing this as an instance of English anomaly, 
 in which there is not even the excuse of the original foreign sound. 
 
 (16.) "Pronounced Grinitche," says Viscount D'Arlincourt ; he should have 
 said " Grinidge," at any rate. He adds, as a note, " We know that English words 
 are not pronounced as they are written. ' Thus,' said a wag, ' in London, when they 
 set down Solomon, they pronounce it Nebuchadnezzar.' " We cite from Chambers'* 
 Journal, the editor of which adds to this remark, " This jest comes with an ill grace 
 from a Frenchman. In no language are words pronounced so unlike their orthogra- 
 phy as in his own." We are sorry that there is an ambiguity in the expression " un- 
 like their orthography." If the editor means " unlike the orthographical or alphabet 
 names of the letters," the remark is, perhaps, just; but in no language is the same 
 sound more regularly and consistently given to the same combination of letters, 
 whenever it occurs, than in French, although this combination may be passing strange. 
 Hence there is hardly any language in which a foreigner may be more sure of the pro- 
 nunciation from a mere inspection of the word ; while there is none in which he will 
 be so uncertain as the English. 
 
 (17.) Mr. Smart, in his Pronouncing Dictionary, makes the substantive ' SQCl'i- 
 fj,8,' and the verb ' sdcrifiz,' and, similarly, distinguishes rise, into ' ris,' 'liz.' We 
 do not recollect ever having heard these distinctions made in conversation by persons 
 of education, however agreeable it may be to (he fancied analogy. But, in fact, it 
 will be found that English orthoepy sets all observations of analogy at defiance. As 
 " none but itself can be its parallel," we sincerely hope that " we ne'er shall look 
 upon its like again." 
 
 (18.) Used by Dryden and Chaucer. As it is not to be found in French diction- 
 aries, although manifestly of French origin, we presume it must be French, " after 
 the scole of Stratford atte Bowe." We follow Smart in giving a thorough English 
 pronunciation of French. 
 
 (19.) To this we may add the part which h plays in the combinations ch, sh, th. 
 
 (20.) As we cite psalm for an example of al representing a, it may seem incor- 
 rect to cite it for Im meaning m, as both cannot be right. But when we look at the 
 word, and are told it is pronounced " sam," it is clear that we may either suppose p 
 mute, or ps to be a means of representing s ; 1 to be mute, or 1m a means of representing 
 m ; or al a means of representing a. In fact, as psam would be pronounced ' SCim,' 
 and not ' sam,' the latter is, perhaps, as we should afterwards find, the most correct 
 supposition ; but it is clear that all the others are, at first sight, as good. We have, 
 therefore, cited this word for all these cases, and have treated many other combina- 
 tions in a similar manner, and for a similar reason, although we have not noticed the 
 fact at length, except in this place. 
 
 (21.) Also called " Jami." 
 
 (22.) 1 Bmun, Broum, Brilfum ? All three pronunciations may be heard, 
 and Brmm most commonly. We have not the advantage of knowing his Lordship's 
 own pronunciation. 
 
 (23.) To which we may add the use of to in the combinations ow, ew, aw, &c.
 
 16 
 
 The results of these Tables are some of the most extraordinary in litera- 
 ture. The first table shows the elements of the English language, being 
 36 in number (considering ae as distinct from ), to which, for the sake of 
 convenience in printing, we have added 7 others, properly compounds, 
 namely, i, ai, 6, TS, w, c,, j ; making a total of 43, or rather 42 letters and 
 one combination ai, which are all that are necessary for the correct 
 printing of every sound in the English language. The table then shows 
 that these 43 phonetic characters have no less than 379 heterotypic equi- 
 valents, being on an average 8-j^- for each letter. When we recollect that 
 the sounds only strike the ear, and that these sounds are readily discri- 
 minated into the 43 different simple and compound elements of the pho- 
 notypic alphabet, it is appalling to think that we are left to choose out of 
 very nearly 9 different heterotypic modes of noting any one of these sounds! 
 Thus, if a word contain only 6 elements, as " sizurz," we may expect to have 
 (8-jT>) 8 , or 464,404 different ways of spelling this simple word ; it so hap- 
 pens, however, that the sounds in the word we have chosen, admit of being 
 spelt in more than the average number of ways each ; thus the table gives 
 s=9, i=18, z=9, u=19, r=7, z = 9, and the number of possible modes 
 of spelling is, therefore, 9X18X9X19X7X9 = 1,745,226 ! ! Of these, 
 of course, only one is " RIGHT," that is CUSTOMARY, namely, the 
 somewhat singular and complex form " scissors." In point of fact, the 
 real number would not be quite so large as that just mentioned, because 
 there are certain recondite laws, such as that c should not represent s when 
 it occurs after a, o, u, &c., which will interfere ; the absolutely feasible 
 number, however, is very great. (**) Some of these combinations are 
 amusingly extravagant, as 
 schiesourrhce ^ C* 5 ) justified by schism, sieve, as, honour, myrrh, sacrifice. 
 
 We subjoin a few heterotypic enormities which might be committed 
 
 and justified by those learned in the quips and cranks of our "just 
 
 method of spelling words." The ignorant would naturally be more 
 
 phonetic in his vagaries. 
 
 gnuitheierrh (nidur) ; sureties #naw, mosquito, breathe, soldier, myrrh, 
 phaighpheawroibt (fevurit) ; sureties physic, straight, nephew, earth, 
 
 write, captain, debt, 
 psourrphuakntw (survunt) ; sureties psalm, journey, burr, Stephen, 
 
 victuals, know, two. 
 eolotthowghrhoighuay (ertogrufi) ; sureties George, colonel, MaW/tew, 
 
 knowledge, <7/iost, r/ieumatic, Beauvoir, laugh, quay. 
 
 But the subject is too serious to jest over. It is really a lamentable 
 fact, which must be a subject of the greatest regret to every one who 
 wishes for the advancement of general enlightenment and learning in this 
 country. The average above given does not place the amount of evil in 
 the true light. There is not one single sound in our language which is 
 on all occasions represented by one uniform letter or combination of let- 
 ters. Of the 14 vowel sounds, 4 only, namely, a, a, o, la, are represented 
 
 (24.) In the Phonographic Correspondent for 1845, page 11, in which only a 
 few of the most common representatives of the letters are taken, the number of modes 
 of spelling are computed at 34,560. 
 
 (25.) Note of laughter.
 
 17 
 
 in a less number of modes than 10 each ; of the remaining 10 vowels, 
 only 3, namely, x, e, u, have less than 15 different representatives, and 
 the remaining 7, which are the very frequently occurring vowels i, i, E, e, 
 u, o, in, have from 15 to 23 equivalents each ! ! ! The following analysis 
 of the 43 letters of the speech-alphabet will serve to show the extraordi- 
 narily stupid and perverse plan adopted in heterotypic spelling : 
 
 3 letters have 2 hetcrotvpic equivalents each, making in the whole 6 different form*, 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 a 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 
 i 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 i 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 i 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 43 
 
 379 
 
 A mere inspection of this Table would be enough to make any one 
 shudder who had to learn English heterography. Fortunately for the 
 young child, such a Table is not presented to him. The teacher never 
 thinks of placing before him a list of the sounds of the language, and 
 their heterotypic representatives, because it would be impossible for 
 the strongest memory to recollect all the rules which such a method 
 would require. The child is simply set to learn by heart the mode of 
 spelling every single word in the language, column after column, as given 
 in a school dictionary ! ! Most amazing caricature of a written language ! 
 *. And what is the result ? No one spells correctly ; many spell wretch- 
 edly ; but no one is at all times certain of the proper mode of spelling 
 any given word. For there is not even method in this madness. Words 
 of precisely the same sound are spelt in the most different manners 
 words of different sounds are spelt in the same manner. Of these two 
 cases, the following examples occur to us immediately. We give the 
 phonetic representative of the sound, followed by =, and the heterotypic 
 spellings : 
 
 I. No=no, know; tui=to/ 26 ) too, two; trui== threw, through ; rit= 
 right, rite, wright, write; mit=meet, meat, mete; do = doe, dough; 
 vd=veil, vail, vale; ctser= there, their; pser=pair, pare, pear; staer 
 =stair, stare; pir=pier, peer; bir=bier, beer; beer=bear, bare; 
 prinsipul=^rinciple, principal; gest= guessed, guest; west = waist, 
 waste; hit=hight, height; strt=strait, straight; grt=great, grate; 
 
 (26.) There is this difference between this word and the two following, it is unac- 
 cented, so that there is a real discrimination in speaking, which may be represented 
 in writing by placing the accent to the other words ; thus : tui, tui'.
 
 18 
 
 riq = reach, retch ; signet = signet, cygnet ; ro=roe, row; hart = hart, 
 heart; sit=sit, cit; et=ought, aught; gilt = guilt, gilt ; men = main, 
 mane; si = see, sea; silin= sealing, ceiling; sir = sere, cere; hoc 
 = hock, hough; sol = soul, sole; cel=call, caul; so=sew, so, sow; 
 idul=idol, idle; ser=e'er, ere, heir, air, eyre; &c. 
 II. ifs, wz=use; refws, rifwz=refuse; absunt, absent' = absent ; atri- 
 bwt, utribwt= attribute; egmunt, egment'= augment ; compsnd, cum- 
 pcynd= compound; afics, ufics= affix; prifics, prifics=prefix (and some 
 fifty or sixty other words thus differing in accent only) ; prezunt, pri- 
 zent = present ; wind, wind = wind; wuind, w?md= wound; clos, cloz 
 = close; so, ss=sow, &c. 
 
 We are aware that it is considered a beauty in the language, by some 
 people, that we do make a difference in the heterography, on certain occa- 
 sions, corresponding to a change of meaning in the word, although we 
 make no difference in speaking. We grant to the full that it might be a 
 great advantage to the language if a different sound were employed for 
 the conveyance of a different idea; but this principle is not by any means 
 acted upon in English. Independently of those words which have a dif- 
 ference in heterography corresponding to a difference in meaning, there is 
 an immense number of words which have totally different meanings, but 
 are the same in orthography and in pronunciation ; thus, 
 
 III. Hop=/zop, a plant, to dance, a dance, jump upon one leg; ferm= 
 form, shape, ceremony, bench; l>iscit= biscuit, a kind of bread, a kind 
 of porcelain ; Ginu= China, the name of a country, the name of a 
 particular species of earthenware ; pam=/>alm, a tree, the inside of 
 the hand; csei=care, verb and substantive; cupasiti=capadfy, size, 
 intelligence; carij= carriage, vehicle, mode of walking, price of con- 
 veyance; clos close, shut, avaricious, near, compact, secretive; clet 
 =cloth, a woollen fabric, a linen fabric, a cotton fabric; clsd=c/oz/, 
 nebulous vapour, darkness; deimmstT.$un= demonstration, proof, large 
 public meeting ; idvl=idte, averse from labour, vain; mes=wm, a 
 dinner of officers, &c., a medley of dirt; Jed = shade, darkness, ghost; 
 let = let, permit, prevent; hnd=fond, affectionate, silly; &c., &c. 
 
 By the help of a dictionary, this list may be extended almost infinitely, 
 as nearly every word in our language has one or two meanings, some 
 being clearly derived from an original one, others barely traceable to 
 obscure analogies, and others apparently derived from perfectly different 
 roots. 
 
 To those, then, who object to phonotypy on the ground of its confusing 
 words which are discriminated in the present heterography, the answer is, 
 first, the error lies in the language itself ; second, the error is, however, 
 not found to be (generally) productive of confusion in speaking/ 27 ) and 
 no more care would be required in writing than in speaking ; third, there 
 
 (27.) The punster makes it productive of much amusement. The context can 
 hardly fail to determine which of the meanings of a word is intended ; and if the 
 context does not suffice, it is the fault of the speaker or writer, and shows that he is 
 not sufficiently master of the language in which he is endeavouring to deliver his 
 ideas.
 
 19 
 
 is an immense number of words in which the senses are different, but the 
 present heterography is the same, and only comparatively very few in which 
 the heterography alters with the signification ; fourth, there is a great 
 number of words in the present heterography which have the same spelling 
 but are pronounced differently ; or, more properly speaking, there is a 
 great number of different words (different not merely in sense, as in the 
 former case, but in sound, which is the proper characteristic of a word) 
 which are now spelt in the same manner, and these will be discriminated 
 in the new phonotypy in precisely the same manner as they are now 
 distinguished in speaking ; fifth, but supposing, even, that every different 
 meaning were distinguished by a different syinbolization (which is very, 
 very far, indeed, from being the case, but which must be very nearly the 
 case, in order that the argument to be derived from it should have any 
 weight), this advantage to the eye, when not accompanied by a corre- 
 sponding advantage to the ear, would be purchased at too dear a rate, as 
 it would so very much increase the difficulty of communicating ideas by 
 writing, on account of the great additional effort of memory which would 
 be required in order to recollect such a large number of different symbo- 
 lizations of the same sound. Language is a collection of sounds repre- 
 senting ideas ; alphabetical writing, a mode of symbolizing the sounds of 
 language. The latter is not responsible for the errors of the former, any 
 more than a mirror is responsible for reflecting disagreeable objects when 
 placed before it. If we wish to have pleasant objects reflected, pleasant 
 objects must be presented ; if we wish to have an alphabetically written 
 language, which shall admit of no ambiguities, we must have a spoken 
 one which attains the same object. 
 
 We have seen how miserably deficient our present alphabetical system 
 is in the means of representing sounds, and the consequent difficulty of 
 expressing our ideas upon paper ; but we must turn to the reverse of the 
 picture. It does not follow, that because a given sound may be expressed 
 in any of 9 or of 20 modes, in the same manner a given combination of 
 letters should represent more than one sound. In fact, we have an in- 
 stance to the contrary in the French language, in which the difficulty of 
 spelling is', to the full, as great as, or even greater than in English, but 
 the difficulty of reading is very slight ; for although each sound is repre- 
 sented by very numerous combinations, each combination represents only 
 one sound, or so very nearly so as to occasion but little trouble to the 
 learner. The second Table, just given, illustrates this inquiry, and the 
 results are nearly equally startling with the former. 
 
 We are accustomed to think that the English heterotypic alphabet con- 
 sists of only 26 letters. True there are only 26 separate different charac- 
 ters, but these are so far from constituting the alphabet of the language, 
 that there are many sounds which cannot be represented by the letters, if 
 we suppose them to have only the values indicated by their alphabetical 
 names. We must, therefore, admit at least, that some or all of the letters 
 should have more than one meaning. But this is not enough ; we must 
 allow very frequently that they have no meaning, and also that several 
 when taken together have but a single meaning. Hence in constructing 
 the second table we have taken any combination of the 26 letters to con- 
 stitute an effective letter of the alphabet, which is on any occasion the
 
 JO 
 
 representative of one of those sounds expressed by a single character in 
 the phonotypic alphabet. Viewed in this light we find that the present 
 English alphabet effectively consists of the enormous number of 200 let- 
 ters ! ! Surely we might 'have expected that, with such very numerous 
 means at our disposal, we should have had but one meaning attached to 
 each effective letter. But no ; nothing can serve to show in a more striking 
 manner the hap-hazard mode in which our spelling is come about, than 
 that only about one in three of these effective letters, and those of the 
 rarest occurrence, have each a single meaning, while some have as many 
 as 9, and one has 11 meanings, as the following analysis shows : 
 
 1 alphabetic letter has meaning at all. 
 
 65 efl'ective letters have 1 meaning each, making a total of meanings 65 
 63 2 126 
 
 22 
 15 
 9 
 5 
 8 
 5 
 6 
 1 
 
 200 
 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 11 
 
 66 
 60 
 45 
 30 
 56 
 40 
 54 
 11 
 
 553 
 
 Thus our 200 effective letters have 553 meanings between them, giving 
 an average of 2| meanings to each letter. And in this case, as well as in 
 the preceding table, we are convinced that the truth is rather understated, 
 for we cannot hope to have gathered together all the anomalies of our 
 most anomalously written language, although we have been at some pains 
 to hunt them down. Indeed the Tables upon which these calculations 
 were founded, lay by us for many months, that they might be made tole- 
 rably perfect ; and we have to acknowledge the assistance of some mem- 
 bers of the "Phonetic Council," to whom they were submitted in their 
 original form, and who have supplied us with several words which had 
 escaped our own observation. Yet, the following words have been sug- 
 gested, or have occurred to us, while these pages were passing through 
 the press, but we did not esteem it necessary to alter our calculations in 
 consequence, and we therefore merely subjoin them : 
 
 Halfpenny, hepni ; twopence, tupuns ; threepence, tripuns ; fivepence, 
 fipuns ; Wednesday, Wenzde ; kiln, cil ; towards, tordz, or terdz ; liquor, 
 licur; Meerschaum, Mir/urn (in German, " MiTj'sm"); masquerade, mas- 
 cural; queue, cw. 
 
 The rich mine of proper names, whether of places or of persons, is 
 scarcely opened in the Tables, although a few very glaring instances will 
 be found there. We subjoin the following, whose irregularities are so 
 great as scarcely to admit of classification : 
 
 Magdalene College, Medlin Colij ; Alnwick, Rnic (on the river Alne, 
 n) ; Covent Garden, Covun Gardun (originally " Convunt Gardun") ; 
 Wednesbury, Wejburi ; Towcester, Tostur ; Cirencester, Sizistur ; Wor- 
 cester, Wustur ; Gloucester, Glestur ; Hertford, Harfurd ; Aylesbury, 
 Slzburi, Birmingham, Burmiijum ; Pontefract, Pomfret (in which man-
 
 21 
 
 ner it is sometimes spelt ; some persons, however, insist upon calling it 
 " Pontifract," in courtesy to tlie spelling, but this is not the general 
 practice of the inhabitants) ; Mary-le-Bone, Maribun ; Windsor, Winzur ; 
 Holborn, Hoburn ; Malmesbury, Mamzburi ; Cambridge, Cembrij (com- 
 pare " Cam," the name of the river, from which that of the town is 
 derived) ; Grosvenor, Grovnur ; Guildford, Gilfurd (compare Guildhall, 
 Gildhel) ; Hoiyicell-street, Holiwel-strit (which would have been the pro- 
 nunciation had its named been spelt Hollywell, and leads, of course, to a 
 false etymology) ; Salisbury, Selzburi ; Thaives, or Thavies Inn, Taviz 
 In; Theobald's- road, Tibuldz-rod; Cadogan-place, Cudugun-pks ; War- 
 wick, Woric ; Bridlington, Burh'rjtun ; Keighley, Citli ; Colnbrook, Con- 
 briac ; Exmouth, Ecsmut ; Lincoln, Liijcun ; Wandsivorth, Wonzwurt ; 
 Blenheim Park, Blenim, or Blenim Pare (the original German name, from 
 which it is derived, is pronounced "Blenhim" in German;) Wycombe 
 and Wickham, Wicum ; Wolverton, Wulvurtun; Southampton, Ssthamtun 
 (this use of tk for thh, i. e. for "th," instead of" t," or "ct," or " th" simply, 
 occurs in a few other names, as Northampton ; but in Northumberland, 
 Nertumburlund, it has not this value, although the river Humber, Hum- 
 bur, does not drop the aspirate) ; Marlborough, Melburu ; Woodderowjf'e, 
 (spelt "double \j, double o, double d, i; r, o, double y, double f, i/" ) 
 Wudruf ; Shakespeare, Shakspear, Shakespear, Shakspere (for we find 
 the poet's name spelt in all these fashions by different writers), Eecspir ; 
 Howley, Huili ; Hodgson, Ilodsun ; St. John, Sinjun (the family name of 
 the Bolingbrokes, Bialinbmcs) ; Leveson Gower, Lwsun Ger; Tottenham, 
 Totnum ; Abergavenny, Rburgeni ; Cowper, Cuipur ; Denbigh, Denbi ; 
 Leicester, Lestur ; Somers, Sumurz ; Bosanquet, Bosan'ci, or Bo'zuncet 
 (there are two branches of the family, one of which uses the first pronun- 
 ciation, and the other the second) ; Wemyss, Wimz, or "Winiz ; Knowles and 
 Knollis, Nolz ; Bayley, Bailey, and Baillie, Bell ; Fitzmaurice, Fitsmoris ; 
 Jocelyn, Josh'n ; Lee, Lea, Legh, Leigh, Li ; Mahon, Muhuin 1 ; Napier, 
 Nepyir ; Pole, Puil ; Vivian, Vyvyan, Vivyun ; Wallace, Wallas, Wolus, 
 &c., &c., 
 
 (28.) We have given examples enough to show how greatly the Tables might have 
 been extended had it been considered necessary, and fully enough to prove that we have 
 been far from exaggerating the irregularities of our heterography. Some changes of 
 spelling, which have, arisen from these anomalies of pronunciation, are amusing, as 
 Bull and Mouth, the sign of a well-known Inn in London, from Boulogne Mouth 
 (or harbour), which must have been pronounced " BullUl Mfft," which is, then, 
 hardly separable from the colloquial pronunciation of " Bui un' Mtft." Similarly, 
 Cod encompasses us, was, in process of time, converted into " Got un' cujnpusiz;" 
 The Bacchanals became " 3_\ bag u' mlz." The names of families themselves, 
 although apparently preserved with such jealous care, have been often changed. 
 " If every name of a person or place were to be restored to original spellings," says 
 Pegge, Anecdotes of the English Language, 3rd ed., p. 246, "we should not disco- 
 ver who was meant ; nay, the simplest names have been so mutilated, that the learned 
 editor of the Northumberland House Book assures us that he has seen the plain 
 dissyllabic name of Percy, in various documents which have come before him, written 
 in Jifteen different ways. The family name of the Earl of Dysart has so long been 
 spelt Talmash, that one stares at the first view of the present mode of writing it, 
 Tollemache. The Peerage of Scotland, Crawfurd, Douglas, &c., and the heraldic 
 writers, Sir George Montague, and Mr. Nisbett, give it as Tallmash." "The family 
 of the Duke of Somerset," says Mr. Christian, in a note on this passage. " have dis-
 
 if we confine ourselves to the actual letters of the alphabet, as shown 
 by the capital letters in the second table, instead of including the effective, 
 the result of the analysis is as follows : 
 
 1 actual letter has no meaning ; (this is q, which, when used without the following 
 
 u, has no signification.) 
 
 9 actual letters have 2 meanings each, making a total of 18 meanings 
 43 12 
 
 2 
 6 
 1 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 30 
 7 
 
 8 
 18 
 
 101 
 
 This gives an average of 3-88 or very nearly 4 meanings to each letter, 
 and rather more than 4 meanings to each of the 25 letters which have 
 any meaning at all. 
 
 From this analysis, then, it appears that it is easier to guess the mean- 
 ing to be assigned to a given heterotypic symbol, or combination, than 
 to guess the symbol or combination to be assigned to a given sound, in 
 the proportion of 2| to 8-^, or 1 to 3-^. Hence, if we have six sym- 
 bols or combinations to guess the meaning of, and six sounds for which 
 to guess the symbols, while in each case only one set of results will be 
 right out of the very many which could be selected, the difficulty of finding 
 the true one in the first case would be to that in the second as I 6 : (3-^)*, 
 or 1 : 1074, very nearly. Tims it would be 1074 times more difficult to spell 
 a word with six sounds in it, than to read a word consisting of six effective 
 letters ; and similar for any other numbers/ 29 ) It is therefore not surprising 
 that we should find a great number of persons who read with fluency and 
 correctness, while we find so very few who spell well, we mean who spell 
 well on all subjects ; for almost every one who writes much, learns to 
 spell correctly the one or two thousand words which he is constantly in 
 
 carded their historical name, Seymour, and reassumed that which they brought from 
 Normandy, St. Maur." 
 
 There is a degree of aristocracy in these faulty spellings ; the owners of a name 
 with an e at the end of it, look down upon those who have it not ; and y's disdain 
 simple i's. Strange that the true cause of this diversity of spelling names is not felt 
 as something to be ashamed of, namely, the great and prevailing ignorance of their 
 first possessors. With this pride of false spelling is also a tenaciousness of the true 
 pronunciation, which their owners seem to expect every one to know intuitively ; 
 as in the story of Lord Cholmondeley, who, when asked by a person who had never 
 seen him before, whether " Lerd Golmondeld" were at home, is said to have re- 
 plied, "No, but sum ov hiz pkypul (pipul) ar." We must own that, in our 
 ignorance, we are content to suppose that a person's name is what he tells us it is, and 
 that, if we write it in such a manner that any one who sees it will pronounce it in 
 the same manner as its owner, we really and indeed write his name, and our spelling 
 is correct, hi* false. Hieroglyphical names which could not be pronounced, were very 
 well in the days when persons could not write or read, but sealed a deed, instead of 
 signing it, and painted a monster on their shields by way of an address card. 
 
 (29.) Generally for n effective letters and n sounds the proportion is 1 : (3-2)". 
 It may assist the reader to know that (3'2) 2 == 10-24 ; (3'2) 3 =32-768 (3-2) 4 =104'86 
 nearly; (3'2)s=335-54 nearly; (3'2)=1073-74 nearly; (3-2) 7 =3435-97 nearly; 
 (3-2)*=l 1004-01 nearly; (3-2)=35 190-8 nearlv; (3-2)io=l 12560 nearly
 
 23 
 
 the habit of using, but which only constitute about the 50th or 25th part 
 of the language itself. 
 
 Still, learning to read is a very difficult affair a very tedious, trouble- 
 some, wearing, mind-afflicting business ; disheartening to the master, 
 repulsive to the pupil ; occupying years of toil, years that give many a 
 distaste for books, and are consumed in a kind of drudgery, which makes 
 the boy sigh for holidays/ 30 ) For not only have the effective letters of 
 our alphabet a variety of meanings, but they are used in such a capricious 
 manner, so utterly disregardful of all analogy all expectation, that it is, 
 as we have seen, totally impossible for even a practised English reader to 
 guess, with any approach to certainty, what may be meant for the pro- 
 nunciation of any word which he has not previously seen, or how to 
 write any word which he has only heard, and never seen written. We 
 will give a very few examples of this capriciousness, which, were it not 
 for its really hurtful nature, would be only a source of mirth, and which, 
 as we hope to substitute a rational system of spelling that will put the 
 present heterography among the curiosities of literature its only proper 
 place we can afford to make merry with. Observe how the meaning of 
 the same combination, not of vowel characters simply, but of vowels and 
 consonants, varies in different words : 
 
 ear, earth, pear, heart =ir, urt, peer, hart; 
 
 hoe, $hoe=liQ, jui ; now, know;, kwo;ledge=ns, no, nolij ; 
 
 beseec/z, breec/tes == bisk;, brkjiz; ague, plage=egw, pkg; 
 
 impregn, impregnate =imprin, impregnct; % /h?<us,/a?rid=fitu.s, fetid ; 
 
 woman, icowen=wumun, wimin ; 
 
 mould, should=mo[d, Jiad; hoorf, flood=hiad, find; 
 
 ice, sacrifice=is, sacriftz ; love, move, drowe=lnv, muiv, drov; 
 
 and so on in many, many other instances, with which we will not detain 
 the reader, as he may easily discover them for his own amusement. 
 
 The names of the letters in the heterotypic alphabet are, of course, 
 supposed to indicate their sound ; and there is a primd facie appearance 
 of this being the case, which it is impossible to deny. Now in the case 
 of the consonants, vowels have been added, and, in one instance (zed), a 
 vowel and a consonant, in order to make up a pronounceable word, these 
 vowels, of course, being only auxiliaries, which are to be rejected when 
 the letter is used in composition. Let us see, then, what the values of 
 the English letters are when thus determined : 
 
 (30.) What a mistaken notion it is to make holydays or relaxations of study a 
 pleasure much to be desired, to be granted as a favour, asked as something delightful, 
 and made, perhaps, the mark of even royal good-will (as is frequently the case at 
 Eton). Verily, our teachers have put a pitifully small margin of honey round the bitter 
 wormwood of study. There is a way to make study pleasing ; it is simply to suit 
 the subject of study to the disposition and talent of the boy, to make him feel an 
 interest in what he is taught, till the punishment would be to take his books from 
 him, and he would only grudgingly admit of holydays for the relief of his master's 
 mind. At present, we teach boys a barbarous and absurd heterography and two dead 
 languages, and then feel surprised that they do not feel an interest in them. We all 
 know that neither Scott, nor Liebig, nor Byron, nor Porson, nor many others that 
 might be named, were brilliant at school ; though the latter subsequently shone in 
 school studies. ? When will the voice of warning be listened to ">
 
 Form. 
 
 a, 
 
 b, 
 
 c, d, e, 
 
 f, 
 
 g, 
 
 h, i, 
 
 j, k, 
 
 1, 
 
 m, 
 
 n, 
 
 o, 
 
 Name. 
 
 E, 
 
 bi, 
 
 si, di, i, 
 
 ef, 
 
 
 cq> i. 
 
 JE, C, 
 
 el, 
 
 em, 
 
 en, 
 
 0, 
 
 Value. 
 
 
 
 b 
 
 s, d, i, 
 
 f 
 
 j 
 
 <;, i, 
 
 j, c, 
 
 1 
 
 m, 
 
 , 
 
 0, 
 
 Form. 
 
 P' 
 
 
 r, s, t, 
 
 u, 
 
 v, 
 
 w, 
 
 x, 
 
 y? 
 
 z. 
 
 
 
 Name. 
 
 pi, 
 
 cy, 
 
 ar, es, ti, 
 
 Fi 
 
 vi, 
 
 dubul \ 
 
 r, ecs, 
 
 
 zed. 
 
 
 
 Value. 
 
 P. 
 
 c, 
 
 r, s, t, 
 
 A 7> 
 
 v, 
 
 yy> 
 
 cs, 
 
 ^vi, 
 
 z. 
 
 
 
 Taking these as the values, let us endeavour to pronounce an English 
 sentence. We give the following to our readers, written in phonotypy, 
 premising that it is a real English sentence, in which, having first spelt it 
 in the ordinary method, we have substituted for each lieterotypic letter a 
 corresponding phonotype, as shown by the above comparison ; we leave 
 the reader to pronounce and guess the meaning of the sentence : 
 
 " Tfji Injlisq knjweji ywowld, if sposin prisisilwi ES it is spilt, ksc; littir 
 risiivinj its dpqebitisd vdwi, bi tokllwi wnintillijibli, biseysi its ortqoj- 
 i is e ralisellwi ebswrd oni." 
 
 The precision of the phonotypic alphabet in representing sounds of 
 "unknown tongues" is very well exemplified in the above passage, 
 which, though, very uncouth, is perfectly pronounceable. 
 
 But we are told by some " learned Theban," that " we have been 
 making a great fuss about nothing ; that all the difficulties of which we 
 complain are due to our own gross ignorance, and that nothing could be 
 more barbarous than the letters which we propose ; that if we change 
 the orthography of the language, we shall lose its etymology ; and that 
 if we had only learnt a little Latin and Greek, we should have found no 
 difficulty either in reading or writing English, as far as its spelling is 
 concerned, while our sense of propriety would have been irrevocably 
 shocked by the mere proposal of the slightest change." 
 
 It is worth while answering this argument, not from any merit of its 
 own, but because it is advanced by people who, upon other matters, pos- 
 sess real knowledge, and who stand high in the world's esteem. 
 
 First, let the argument hold to the full ; let us suppose that the 
 knowledge of Latin and Greek, such a knowledge as is acquired at a 
 public school, is sufficient to do all that is ascribed to it, while the parties 
 who advance this argument necessarily admit that, without such a know- 
 ledge, it is not possible to acquire the spelling of the English language 
 easily, or to see its beauties. How monstrous and preposterous the idea ! ! 
 In order to learn to write and read our own modern living language, 
 which we have spoken from childhood in order to appreciate the system 
 employed in representing it upon paper, we are to acquire a considerable 
 knowledge of two foreign ancient dead languages, the pronunciation of 
 uhich no one knows, and all dispute about ! ! By what means the boy 
 is to acquire Latin and Greek, is not generally mentioned, but it must be 
 assumed to be entirely by oral instruction ; for, as in order to read and 
 write English, the boy must have already known Latin and Greek, there 
 are no books which could be put into his hand | 
 
 Now the population of England only, in 1844, was 15 millions. Of 
 these, a certain number had independent means, some were employed in 
 miscellaneous pursuits, others in commerce, agriculture, labour, servitude,
 
 25 
 
 &c., with a large residue unaccounted for. If we take the two first classes, 
 amounting in the whole to 754,325 and add ten per cent, for the residue 
 and persons engaged in other pursuits,, thus taking 829,757 or in round 
 numbers one million of persons, we have the very utmost number of those 
 who can be supposed to acquire a knowledge of Latin and Greek ; namely, 
 not quite one in every 15 persons in England only, exclusive of Wales 
 and Scotland. The argument, therefore, if perfectly true, and carried out 
 to the furthest possible extent, and with every facility of oral instruction, 
 is entirely inapplicable to 14-1 5ths of the population of England. And if 
 it be said, that it is only the manual labour class who will thus be exclu- 
 ded, we have to reply, without entering into further particulars, that tiie 
 number of females exceeds the number of males by 348,364, and that 
 of the whole number of females, whatever be their station in life, not 
 1,000 can be supposed at any time to have been taught Latin and Greek, 
 and of these, of course, a very large proportion, fully as large as that 
 among the males, do not belong to the manual labour class. The argu- 
 ment is, therefore, not merely absurd, but absolutely inapplicable, if correct. 
 
 But we deny the correctness of the argument. We assert most advi- 
 sedly and deliberately, that the most consummate knowledge of not only 
 Latin and Greek, but of Anglo-Saxon, German, Danish, Swedish, Norman 
 French, Modern French, Arabic, or any other language from which the 
 English has borrowed words, would never assist the possessor of them to 
 the knowledge of how a single English word was spelt or pronounced. 
 That no one could tell a priori, from knowing a Latin or Greek word, for 
 example, how a word derived from that word would be spelled^ 31 ) or 
 pronounced in English, or even how the word itself would be pro- 
 nounced by every one who saw it. We cannot enter upon the proof of 
 this assertion as it would occupy too much space, it is sufficient to say 
 that it depends upon the following propositions, which we have never 
 seen any attempt to disprove. 
 
 First. The heterography of the English language was not the result of 
 design or rule. 
 
 Second. It has altered from time to time. 
 
 Third. The heterography of many words is still a matter of dispute ; as 
 honour, honor; expence, expense; enquire, inquire; judgment, judge- 
 ment; &c. 
 
 Fourth. Words derived from the same root are not uniformly spelled 
 in the same manner ; as succeed, concede, &c. 
 
 Fifth. In words derived from different roots, similar letters, whether 
 vowels or consonants, are not expressed by similar letters in English. 
 
 As to the etymological value of the present heterography, we will, as 
 before, admit at first the entire truth of the assertion to its greatest ex- 
 tent, namely, that by such knowledge as can at the present time be ac- 
 quired of the languages from which we know English to be derived, 
 joined with the heterography of the English language as now written, the 
 
 (31.) We speak of words which already form a part of our language. New 
 words, derived from Greek and Latin, are spelt after a certain rule, derived from the 
 method in which the Latins transcribed Greek words which they introduced into their 
 own language. The pronunciation of such words is somewhat reduceable to rules, 
 but not entirely to, and they form but a very insignificant portion of our tongue.
 
 26 
 
 history of every word may be clearly traced. It is self-evident that those 
 who know no language but English, can derive no benefit from this ety- 
 mology and by far the greater number of those who speak English are in 
 this predicament. But even among those who know some of the lan- 
 guages from which the English has borrowed words, 1 how many are 
 there who take a pleasure in general etymology ? And of these again, 
 ? how few derive instruction in the right use of words from a knowledge 
 of their history ? ? Have we not changed the original meaning so tho- 
 roughly that it frequently requires great critical and metaphysical acumen 
 to trace the secondary from the primary meaning,* 32 ) and is not this re- 
 search often unproductive of results ? Again ? is it of importance to the 
 great mass of mankind that they should know the history of the symbols 
 which they employ to impart their thoughts to others, or is it not rather 
 a matter of antiquarian curiosity, pleasant indeed, and highly gratifying to 
 some intellects, and of great value in the prosecution of some particular 
 studies, in which, however, the world at large takes but little interest ? " It 
 should take more," you answer. This is doubtful. Let a few take an interest 
 in them, and pursue them till they arrive at results, (such as the impor- 
 tant ethnological facts which have been lately established,) and the world 
 will take an interest in these results, although it cares not for the process 
 of discovery ; and of all people, those who prosecute scientific studies 
 should be the last to exclude light from others. Additional millions will 
 become able to learn the thoughts of others by the introduction of a 
 system of spelling which (apparently) sets etymology at nought ; only a 
 few hundreds will derive any pleasure from the prosecution of etymologi- 
 cal studies, and those few may take upon themselves the trouble of learning 
 the old as well as the new alphabet ; while, if they have already learnt 
 the old, ten minutes' study will be sufficient for them to acquire the new. 
 Assuming the argument to hold universally then, we assert it to be 
 worthless, because of the very limited number to whom it could apply ; 
 but we utterly and entirely deny its universality ; nay, we deny, in toto, 
 that the present heterography of the English language is sufficient to lead 
 us to its etymology, and that, if a phonetical orthography were substituted, 
 the etymology would be obscured. We justify this denial by the fact, well 
 known to etymologists, that the etymology of a very great number of the 
 
 (32.) The English word understand is derived from under and stand, as every 
 Englishman sees ; the German unterstehen comes from unter, meaning under, and 
 stelten, meaning stand; the English subsist from the Latin subsisto, and this from 
 tub, meaning under, and sitto, meaning stand. Here, then, we have three words 
 derived from roots whose meaning is precisely similar. Suppose the reader to be 
 informed of this for the first time, ? what idea will he have of the meaning of these 
 words? ? Will he have any notion that understand means to comprehend; sich 
 unterstehen, to presume or venture; and subsist, to be, exist, consist, &c. ? When 
 English words, taken from a foreign language, have passed into common use, they 
 hare generally acquired meanings very far removed, indeed, from the original ; and 
 it would not only be affectation to use them in the original sense, but the speaker or 
 writer who did so, would be simply unintelligible to the generality of the community. 
 It is one thing given the primary and secondary meanings of a word, to tell how 
 the latter were derived from the former ; and another given the primary only, to 
 guess what secondary meanings might be employed. The former is difficult; the 
 latter impossible. But the whole argument depends upon the latter being easy and 
 generally done.
 
 27 
 
 commonest words in our language, is a matter of dispute among the learned, 
 that many of the so-called etymologists have been guilty of the grossest 
 blunders in attributing words to certain roots, and that others have sub- 
 stituted merely fanciful derivations, due to some preconceived idea of what 
 was the primitive language. The majority of the so-called etymologists 
 have contented themselves with merely assigning the language from which 
 the English borrowed a word, but very few, and those only in very late times, 
 and principally among our hard-working neighbours, the Germans, have 
 raised themselves above tlus word-grubbing, which is, both in practice and 
 result, tedious and worthless, and have looked at etymology in a new and 
 more scientific light ; considering not languages but language, and tracing 
 a word not merely as bandied about from one idiom to another, but as 
 forming a part of the original endowment of the power to articulate signi- 
 ficant sounds. These men do not want a dead heterography, they want a 
 means of representing living speech. They do not deal with manuscripts 
 which no one can read with certainty, clothed in cabalistic characters, which 
 
 " Show the eyes, and grieve the heart ; 
 Come like shadows, so depart," 
 
 and " leave not a rack behind," these cannot help them to a comparison 
 of articulate sounds, they can only tend to confuse them. They seize an 
 English book, but, lo ! they grasp a phantom. It contains not the Eng- 
 lish language, but what somebody thought, at some time or other, would 
 be a possible representative of what he considered to be the English lan- 
 guage, by symbols which he knew to be inefficient. The English language 
 the true, existing, spoken English language, is as yet an unwritten 
 language, and has, therefore, not yet become the subject of etymological 
 investigation ; it is reserved to later times, to etymologists who have the 
 advantage of a phonetic alphabet, to inquire seriously and truly into the 
 etymology of our spoken language. We grant, our present heterography 
 may be useful in tracing the history of our language, but so is the hetero- 
 graphy of Chaucer and of Shakspere, and so is the Scotch heterography, so 
 is the gradual change of heterography from the coming in of the Normans, 
 nay, from the first writing of Anglo-Saxon until the present day ; but 
 ? does any one advocate their present daily use ? No ; they lie in old 
 volumes upon the shelves of public libraries very useful to those who 
 are studying the history of the English language, very useless to every 
 body else. Thus, let us hope, in a few years, will lie upon the shelves of 
 our libraries the works now printed in heterotypy, useful to the student 
 of the history of literature and language, but unopened by those who 
 study ideas in place of words. 
 
 This thought adds new hope to our opponent, who is not an imaginary 
 one, for such opponents we have had, and shall have for some time to 
 come ; we see him preparing to raise his mighty double-handled sword 
 of error wherewith to smite us to the earth. " ? What," he asks, tri- 
 umphantly, " do you recklessly doom to dust and neglect those number- 
 less tomes which the industry of the modern press has given to the 
 world ? Would you seal up, against future generations, the knowledge 
 of their forefathers, or condemn them to acquire it at an enormous expen- 
 diture of capital ? The thing cannot be done ; you must give up your 
 scheme, for it will not pay."
 
 28 
 
 Tliis is the " money argument," the argument which will weigh the 
 most and heaviest with the majority ; but, like the others, it fails from 
 its want of generality. 
 
 The futility of this argument may be first shown by our admitting it 
 to the fidlest extent. ? What does it assume ? First, that a sufficient 
 supply of books is already in the market for those who do, and will read ; 
 and, secondly, that the number of readers should not be increased. That 
 the first is false, is proved by the immense sale of new and cheap books, 
 such as Knight's Weekly Volume, Chambers's Tracts and Journal, Mur- 
 ray's Home and Colonial Library, and numberless other libraries and 
 eheap publications. There are not books enough in existence for the 
 number of readers ; and there are not copies enough of the books already 
 written for the number of those who now read. We do not consider the 
 second assumption, that the number of readers has already reached its 
 proper amount, worthy of a serious refutation. Even if we were dis- 
 posed to allow (what we most emphatically refuse to admit) that the pro- 
 portion of readers to non-readers is sufficient, yet, as the population stea- 
 dily increases, both here and in America, the number of readers must 
 steadily increase also, the same proportion being preserved. But we 
 believe that the introduction of Phonotypy will, in twenty years, increase 
 the number of readers three-fold, and, in a century, increase it tenfold. 
 If, however, it only doubles the number in that time, there is a sufficient 
 market for Phonotypy, without trenching, in any respect, upon hetero- 
 typic publications. If just double the number of persons read, just double 
 the number of books must be produced, whether heterotypic or phono- 
 typic ; and if the accession be entirely phonotypic, there will be no waste 
 of capital in the production of books in the phonotypic character, in 
 preference to the heterotypic, for the books must be produced, at any 
 rate. The books now printed in heterotypy will have served their purpose 
 when read by the present generation. We can then afford to put them 
 by, and supply the rising generation with new, or with new copies of 
 these, printed in a new character. Undoubtedly, the progress of Phono- 
 typy, as that of all reforms, will be gradual; and, for some time, we 
 shall have heterotypy and phonotypy proceeding together. At first, there 
 will be thousands of heterotypers to tens of phonotypers ; in time, the 
 proportion will change, until it becomes one of equality, and then the 
 doom of heterotypy is sealed, and, in a hundred years, it will be only 
 known by name. Still, during this interval, the heterotyper will have the 
 advantage of being able to acquire a facility of reading phonotypy by 
 less than an hour's study ; while the phonotyper will find, that, "having 
 acquired a habit of reading phonotypy, he will soon be able to read 
 heterotypy with ease, much sooner than lie could acquire the art upon the 
 old system, and he will be saved for ever from the still greater and more 
 terrible task of learning to spell. Thus our public libraries will still be 
 useful depositories. After two generations, should Phonotypy succeed at 
 all, the number of those who study heterotypy will be few ; while there 
 will always be, from the commencement of the success of Phonotypy, an 
 immense number of persons who will never trouble their heads about 
 heterotypy at all, and who would never have learned to read at all but 
 for Phonotypij.
 
 29 
 
 But there is another, and even a better, way of meeting this money 
 argument. To the Englishman, time is money, and the balance should 
 be made out thus : debtor, to the reprinting of all those copies of books 
 which have been printed up to this time, and would have been consulted 
 if the alphabet had not been changed (this by no means amounts even to 
 50 per cent, of those which now exist, and all fresh copies are, of course, 
 excluded, as costing as much one way as another) ;( 33 > creditor, the whole 
 of the time to each individual to be hereafter born, necessary for learning to 
 read and spell, less one fortnight each (a mere nominal time). Say that, 
 in thirty years, this would amount to saving only one year on an average 
 in the life of five millions (assuming only l-3rd of 'the population of 
 England to learn to read), we should thus have the mental labour of five 
 millions of years to apply elsewhere, and it needs no great political econo- 
 mist to prove that these five millions of years must be inconceivably more 
 valuable than the cost of reprinting such of the books now existing as 
 would ever be re-read. 
 
 Let us shortly sum up the consequences of heterotypy and phonotypy 
 being general. 
 
 At present, heterotypy being in general use, 
 
 1. It takes years for a child to learn to read with tolerable accuracy. 
 
 2. It takes many more years before he is able to spell. 
 
 3. No one ever knows, with certainty, how to spell a word which he 
 has only heard, and has not yet seen written. 
 
 4. No one ever knows, with certainty, how to pronounce a word 
 which he has only seen, and never heard. 
 
 5. Very few can, or do, at all times, spell every word with which 
 they are familiar, both in speaking and writing, correctly. 
 
 6. Foreigners are continually committing the most ludicrous mistakes 
 of pronunciation, from being misled by the spelling. 
 
 7. The irregularities of spelling are the great cause of the difficulty 
 experienced in learning our language. 
 
 8. Missionaries to foreign countries find the greatest difficulty in re- 
 ducing to writing the dialects of the barbarous tribes which they are 
 endeavouring to civilize ; and travellers and geographers seem quite at a 
 loss for a means of conveying the names of places which they have visited 
 or described, the strange medleys of letters which they furnish being in 
 general ludicrously unintelligible. 
 
 (33.) This is not absolutely true, but the difference is entirely in favour of Pho- 
 notypy. If the reader will cast his eyes over the Tables so often referred to, he will 
 find that, in almost every instance, the phonetic spelling of any given word occupies 
 less space than the heterotypic. Some few words occupy the same space, and a very 
 few, indeed (see under X, in the second table), more. This saving we may safely 
 calculate at one -fifth ; so that phonotypic works would necessarily cost 20 per cent. 
 less than heterotypic for the same number of words. This is really an important 
 discount. It would not be difficult to invent a " phonotypic short hand," similar to 
 the " phonographic short hand," in which about 100 of the commonest words would 
 be reduced to one or two letters at most, and about one-third of the number of letters 
 would be saved in this manner. Such works would be very easily read by any one who 
 had learned to read for a single year (or even less), and the saving in them over hetero- 
 typic works would be -j-j j, or J^-, being rather more than half. Attention will be 
 hereafter paid to this important point of abbreviated printing.
 
 30 
 
 If phonotypy be generally used, 
 
 1. Children, of six or eight years old, will be able to learu to read in 
 a week. 
 
 2. Those who can now read heterotypy will learn to read in ten minutes. 
 
 3. No difficulty will be experienced in spelling any word which can be 
 pronounced with accuracy. 
 
 4. No doubt will be experienced as to the proper pronunciation of 
 any word which meets the eye. 
 
 5. Every one will be able to spell as correctly as he pronounces. 
 
 6. Foreigners will never be led into any errors of pronunciation by 
 the orthography of words. 
 
 7. Our language, which is about the simplest, in its grammatical 
 construction, of any in the world, will be rendered accessible to the whole 
 of mankind, and will be much more extensively read and spoken. 
 
 8. Missionaries will be able to reduce the languages of any tribes to 
 an alphabetical form, and to print it off with ease ; no language need be 
 unwritten, no difficulty experienced in giving the names of places, Stc. 
 All the immense variety of existing alphabets may be merged into one, 
 and thus one great stumblingblock to the student of languages (especially 
 of Oriential languages) immediately removed. 
 
 9. Reading and writing will no longer be thought feats, their attain- 
 ment being the end and aim which the parents of most poor children have 
 in sending them to school ; they will take their proper places as subsi- 
 diary arts, without which we can learn nothing, but which contain no 
 learning in themselves ; they will be universally esteemed the begin- 
 nings, and not the ends, of education/ 34 ) 
 
 To conclude. Suppose we had not this " monkish orthography," but 
 a better system, and some one were to propose the former, and show its 
 beauties by the tables just given, ? would he not be scouted at for daring 
 to propose what is so self-evidently absurd ? And, *; are generations yet 
 unborn to undergo the labour of wading through this mass of blunders 
 merely because we now have a bad system of spelling ? *: Is this one 
 argument, it is so, and must, therefore, remain so, to supersede all reason ? 
 Forbid it, common sense ! 
 
 17 April, 1845. 
 
 (34.) These are advantages and disadvantages entirely due to the method of 
 spelling, the subject to which we have confined ourselves in this tract. But we can- 
 not help drawing attention here to the great difference, in point of mere quill-driving, 
 between the heterographic long hand, which is necessary for the perfect expression 
 of the present heterography, and the beautiful system of phonographic short hand, 
 which corresponds to Phonotypy letter by letter, so that, although a phonographic 
 long hand is furnished, the short may, in almost every conceivable case, supply its 
 place. When we recollect that, without hurrying, phonographic short hand enables 
 us to write at least three times as many words in the same time as heterographic 
 long hand, at much less than half the bodily fatigue, the saving of labour in mere 
 writing may be thus, at a very moderate calculation, estimated atjive-sijcths. Those 
 who know, from practical experience, the pains and labour of much writing under 
 the present system, will properly appreciate this boon ; but no one can avoid being 
 struck with the immense economy of the plan here recommended in writing, as well a; 
 reading.
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING EXAMPLES OF THE APPLICATION OF 
 PHONOTYPY TO SIXTEEN LANGUAGES.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 IN the preceding pages we have only spoken of the English Language, 
 and have only given such an alphabet as will suffice for the representation 
 of English sounds. Hence, it would be impossible to print French, Ger- 
 man, and many other languages with these characters, because those lan- 
 guages contain sounds unfamiliar to English organs. As, however, words 
 from those languages are of frequent occurrence in English works, and as 
 a knowledge of the mode of pronouncing those languages is important to 
 Englishmen, we have temporarily extended the Phonetic alphabet to 
 embrace all the languages with whose prommciation we could form an 
 acquaintance. We think that it may be useful to the reader to see a 
 complete Table of the Phonetic Alphabet, with exemplificative words, such 
 as would suit it for the representation of all European and almost all 
 Oriental languages, and we annex it with a few specimens in different 
 languages. 
 
 In the following list we have placed against each Phonotypic charac- 
 ter, a number of words in different languages, containing the sound 
 represented by it ; and if its value does not occur in any English word, 
 we have enclosed in brackets that Phonotypic letter which denotes the 
 sound an Englishman may substitute for the correct one until he is 
 better informed. The Italic letters in the examples point out the parti- 
 cular sounds which they are meant to illustrate. 
 
 The order of the letters in the following Alphabet has been chosen to 
 facilitate reference ; the unaccented letters being placed in the order as- 
 signed to them in the first Table, and the accented letters being placed 
 immediately after their unaccented prototypes. In order still farther to 
 assist the eye, the letters of a similar form, and which only differ by the 
 accents placed upon them, are grouped. For what the writer considers 
 the theoretically best mode of arranging the letters, he begs to refer the 
 reader to the "Alphabet of Nature," Part 1, in which the subject is entered 
 into at great length. The English Alphabet will, however, in practice, 
 be kept distinct, and arranged as in the first Table, and the Phonotypic 
 Journal for June, 1845; while the Additional Symbols required for the 
 extension of Phonotypy to foreign languages, will form a separate Table, 
 as in the July Journal for the same year. 
 
 c
 
 34 
 
 COMPLETE PHONOTYPIC ALPHABET. 
 G. German; F. French; I. Italian; P. Portuguese; W. Welsh. 
 
 1. I i= . . feet, puffy; ihnen, G; vie, F. 
 
 2. I i= . . fit ; inne, G ; imiter, F. 
 
 3. 'Ii= 
 
 4. li= 
 
 5. A I1= 
 
 6. -Ii= 
 
 T] The Polish y in open syllables. 
 r i] .... close . 
 [an] fin, F. 
 fwn, P. 
 
 7. e= . . date, Sunday ; heer, G ; imiter, F. 
 
 8. Ee= . . debt; wenn, G; exister, F. 
 
 9. ^E se= . dare ; wer, G ; laben, G ; chene, F. 
 
 10. *E e=[e] ben; Italian e aperto in close syllables. 
 
 11. A a= . . father ; vater, G ; fracas, F. 
 
 12. B. a= . . fat. This vowel is only found in English. 
 
 13. 'Aa=[a] pate, F. [shire and in Scotland. 
 
 14. 'A a= [a] patte, F ; mann, G. This sound may be heard in York- 
 
 15. *Aa=[on]a, F. 
 
 16. 'A a= [a] vaa, P. 
 
 17. e= . . nowght, austere ; Swedish a. 
 
 18. o= . . not; von, G. Some pronounce o instead ofoin German. 
 
 19. '06=[e] Italian o aperto in open syllables. Some say this is the 
 
 20. N b= [o] Italian o aperto in close sylbls. [Swedish a and Danish aa. 
 
 on, F. 
 "en] nao, P. 
 "on] Camoes, P. 
 
 ^u, or e in German] hoken, G ; pew, F. 
 or e in German] bocke, G ; jewne, F. 
 
 21. A 06= 
 
 22. "O6= 
 
 23. Oo= 
 
 24. "O6= 
 
 25. '06= 
 
 26. U u= . . cwr, ochre, able, open ; liebe, lieben, G ; le, F. 
 
 27. Tiu= . bwt. This sound is not found in any European language but 
 
 28. "U ii= [y, or i in German] kwhnste, G ; v^, F. [English and Dutch. 
 
 29. 'Uu=[u, or i in German] kiinste, G; swffit, F. 
 30. 
 
 31. Oo= . . bone; boAne, G; cawse, F. 
 
 32. O o= [o] bonne, F. In some parts of Germany instead ofo. 
 
 33. Wui=. . fool, into; bw/ile, G; towte, F. 
 
 34. TJu=. .fwll;bMUe, G. 
 
 35. li= eye; ein, G. 
 
 36. Rioi= . aye; naive, F; guai, I. 
 
 37. $6= . . oyster; new, G. 
 
 38. ~5 s= . . cow ; baw, G.
 
 35 
 
 39. flu au= [s] lawde, I. 
 
 40. f y= . . lew ; Jude, G. 
 
 41. Yy= . .yea; German j. 
 
 42. Y'y'= [y] ^le, F.=fily'. Some sa# fly', and others fi. 
 
 43. W w=. . way. 
 
 44. H h= . . hay ; 7toch, G ; havA, F. 
 
 45. X x= [h] Spanish j ; Florentine c in cosa ; Arabic xa. 
 
 46. o= [omi, or rj a/fcr, and gn 6e/ore a vowel in Hebrew'] Arabic oin 
 
 47. Pp= . . peep; puppe, G; pois, F. 
 
 48. Bb= . . 6aoe; 6uoe, G; hois, F. 
 
 49. Tt= . . tea*; tote, G; foi, F. 
 
 50. 'T T= [t] Arabic, Ta. 
 
 51. Dd= . . deed; du, G; dois, F. 
 
 52. DD=[d]^ra&ic, Dad. 
 
 53. 6 q= . . chesi; Deusc/i, G; cena, I; often mispronounced as J in 
 
 54. Jj= . .jest; giro, I. [Italian 
 
 55. C c= . . coc&; &ein, G; cause, F. 
 
 56. Gg= . .gag; gab, G; gage, F. 
 
 57. 'G G= [g] Arabic, Gin ; Provencal r ; Newcastle burr. 
 
 58. K k= [c] ic/i, ac/i, G. T^e vowels of the i anrf e class when prece- 
 
 59. 'K K= [c] Arabic, Kaf . [ding /iis letter and <\,give them a softer sound. 
 
 60. Q q= [g] einig, general, G. See remark on k. 
 
 61. F f = . . fife ; /isch, G ; /oi, F. \_this sound, but scarcely appreciable. 
 
 62. V v= . . valve ; w;enn, G. The German \v is really a variation of 
 
 63. Pt= . . thigh; Spanish z; Modern Greek 9. 
 
 64. clct= . . thy; Spanish & final; Modern Greek}. 
 
 65. S s= . . cease ; da*s, G; soi, F. 
 
 66. 'S<j=[s] Arabic, 9ad. 
 
 67. Zz= . . zeal; so, G; plaise, F. 
 
 68. 'Zz=[z] Arabic, za. 
 
 69. S J= . . vicious, shine; sc/iiff, G; champ, F. 
 
 70. ^3= . . vision, pleasure; gage, F; juste, F. 
 
 71. Ll= . . lull; Mien, G; loi, F. 
 
 72. 'L L= [1] Polish 1 with a bar. [abl 5 , some say ab, and in poetry ablu. 
 
 73. L' l'=[tl, or 1 in French] Llnngollen, W. ab/e, F.=abl'. Instead of 
 
 74. B, r= . . rare ; When r is not followed by a vowel, it is very indis- 
 
 75. E' r'=[r] rb, W. [tinct in English; reissen, G; rare, F. 
 
 76. Mm=. . sum; wiann, G; woi, F. 
 
 77. M'm'=[m] mh, W. 
 
 78. Nn= . . suw; nun, G; wonne, F. 
 
 79. N'n'=[n] nh, W. 
 
 80. liJrj= . . simg; singen, G. 
 
 81. Wg'=[g] ngh, W. 
 
 82. *NN=[n] Sanscrit cerebral u.
 
 36 
 
 It would of course be a work of very considerable time to acquire a 
 correct .pronunciation of all these 82 elements, nor can we suppose that 
 any one person will accomplish the task perfectly; yet, when once able to 
 pronounce them, there is scarcely a language to be named (except perhaps 
 Chinese, with its many nasals) which he could not immediately write in 
 this alphabet. 
 
 For English, as we have seen, 43 elements only are necessary; for 
 German, we should want seven in addition, namely a, 6 d, ii u, k q, 
 making a total of 50 for English and German. French adds six more, 
 on account of its great richness in vowels. These six additional letters 
 are, i, a, a, 6, u, and o, making 56 letters for English, German, and 
 French. Italian only requires the addition of e, o, 6, so that 59 letters 
 would be enough for the 4 principal European languages. If these lan- 
 guages then were printed in accordance with this alphabet, the pupil 
 by only learning the values of 59 letters would be able to read them off with 
 facility. If we had extended our second Table to embrace all the anomalies 
 of these 4 languages, instead of confining it to the English alone, we should 
 of course have very much increased it ; and the difference would have 
 been still more strikingly exhibited between a correct phonetic represent- 
 ation founded upon analysis, and a haphazard application of the Latin 
 alphabet, with the powers of which the writers seem to have been unac- 
 quainted, and which, consisting only of 23 letters, (as j, v, w, do not form 
 a part of it) was of course totally inadequate to perform the office of an 
 alphabet of 59 elements. 
 
 The following examples are the same as those given in the "Appendix 
 to the First Style of Phonography," in the 7th Edition of Mr. Pitman's 
 "Manual of Phonography,' where the heterotypic representation and 
 translation of the same passages will be found. The accent is upon the 
 last syllable but one when not otherwise marked, except in English where 
 it is not marked at all ; in Sanscrit, where we are not acquainted with 
 its correct place ; and, in French, in which there is no accent. 
 
 The Author craves indulgence if he have in any case misrepresented the 
 pronunciation ; such errors are due, not to the alphabet itself, but to his own 
 ignorance, arising from want of memory, and want of due power to ap- 
 preciate the multifarious sounds of so many languages. 
 
 1. SANSCRIT. Sir W. Jones, Works, vol. 3 p. 295. 
 
 Muidhu juhihi dhunagumutrifnam 
 kuirui tmuibuddhimuuuh suivitri/nam 
 yullnbhuse nijukurmopattum 
 vittum tma vinoduyu cjittum. 
 
 2. ANCIENT GREEK. Etonian Pronunciation. Horn. II., 1, 43 49. 
 
 Hoz efut wcom-inos ; tyd ec'luii F6bos Upolon : 
 Bi di cot 31ramp6o curinon cooni'inos 1 cir, 
 Toes omosin econ, amfirefkti furetrin, 
 Eclansan dar oisto ep onion coominoo, 
 ts cinitentos ; ho diii nwcti iocos : 
 Hezet epit' apinwti nion, metu dion hiici ; 
 Djni di clangi genet argwrido bioo.
 
 37 
 
 3. MODERN GREEK PRONUNCIATION of the same Passage, 
 accented as if it were prose. 
 
 Os efat evkonvenos ; tuxd: ec'lie Fivos v Apollon ; 
 Vi cfe cat UJlimbio carinon koonvenos cir, 
 Toes Q'misin ekon, amfirefea if, faretrin, 
 Ec'lagsan dar oistl ep omon koomrnio 
 v Aftui cinitendos : o dtie nicti eicos 1 : 
 Ezet epit apa'nefte neon- meta dion e'ice ; 
 cEini cte claggi yenet aryire'io viio. 
 
 4. LATIN. German Pronunciation. Mart., 1, 40. 
 
 Si cwis erit raros intaer mumerandus arnicas, 
 
 Cwalez prisca fidez, famacwe novit anus ; 
 Si cwis Tsecro'pise madidus Latsiaacwe Minaervse 
 
 Artibus, et vaera simplitsitate bonus ; 
 Si cwis erit recti custos, mirater onesti, 
 
 Et mil arcano cwi roget ore Deos : 
 Si cwis erit magnse subnicsus robore mentis, 
 
 Dispeream, si non hie Detsianus erit. 
 
 5. ITALIAN. Fitangieri, Introduzione alia Scienza della Legislazione. 
 
 Cwali sono t soli odjetti CE anno fino a cwesti uMimi tempi occuipati i 
 so^Tani di Smropa ? TOn arsenale f drmida'btls, uin artilyeria nuimerdza 1 , 
 uina truppa bene aggwemta. Tutti i cal-coli cs si sono ezaminati alia 
 prezentsa das prin'cjipi, non sono stati diretti ce alia soluitsione dum solo 
 probltiema: Trovar 1 la manisera di utqidere pw wdmini 
 nel minor- tempo possibile. La pserfetsione del arte la pw fui- 
 nesta al mmauita qi fa vedsers sentsa dubbyo uin vitsyo nel sistasma 
 mnivsersak d3 govaemi. 
 
 6. SPANISH. Ortographia de la lengua Castellana; Prologo. 
 
 Si las lerjgwas ss fermasen de uina vet i tuiviesen en sra printipio toda 
 la abundantya i perfection 1 de ce son capates, cada nation 1 pudiaera con 
 fatilidad 1 aver areglado sm ertografia particmlar 1 per medyo de ran sistema 
 umivasrsal 1 , fixo i paerfecto ; pero casi todas las lerjgwas con el tyempo se 
 an auimentado de mmqas votes tomadas de distiijtas idiomas. De estas 
 votes, umas se an mantenido con los carac'teres pro'prios de sras orixenes, 
 i oti'as dexaron estos i tomaron los de la leggwa ce las adopto'. Las 
 votes antigwas ecsperimentaron tambyoi sui mmdanta, per avaerse alterado 
 siu pronxantiation' i escritiura. 
 
 7. PORTUGESE. Pr. Francisco Dias. Analyse e Combinapoes 
 
 filosoficas sobre a Elocugao. 
 
 & o talato da palavra a mais nobre faculdade do ate rasional' como 
 istruimato, co ce no so espoe as suias ideas, mas ate 1 pita os mais occultos 
 satimatos do espirito co rasgos to vivos, e sublimes, ce os fas passar aos 
 corasoes mais izatos de Itaeresse. Acella filosofia inata as coraso 1 do oma 1 , 
 ce preside a todas as acsoes, ce mais o elevo, foi ca fermui os sinaes repre- 
 satativos das sraas ideas svplises e copostas.
 
 38 
 
 8. FRENCH. Volney. L'Alfabet Europeen applique aux langues 
 Asiatique. Ch. 4. 
 
 U se clser cu set divaersite (dez alfabs oriatal) set u obstacl' materiel a la 
 comunicasio dez espri, par coseca a la difiizio de conaesas, o progi-e du la 
 sivilizazio : dailyor el subsist sas ocu motif rsezonabl', car si, com il ae du 
 fse, lu mecanism' du la parol ae lu maem puir tuit SE nasio 1 eel iitilite, 
 eel rsezo i a t il du lu figiir par de sistaem si difera ? Cel imas avata3 puir 
 lespses iunaen, si du popl a popl', tw kz idividii puvae su comiinict par u 
 maem lagas ! r, lu premye pa vser su but elve, aet u sol e msem aUfabe. 
 
 9. GERMAN. Klopstock. Von tier Schreibung des Ungehorten. 
 
 In blumuinjtucun, vaerdun bluimun, und vitur nikts gumalt'. Dem cunst- 
 lur fil es zelbur nikt in tram in, di guriiku mitmalun tsui vohui. Und glikvol 
 zind es gumaltu guriiku vas d se r fon daar ertografi furlagt dfer isk das un'gu- 
 hortu gujribun zeun vil. Daar Jribundur zol alzo d6t'likur alz dser redun- 
 dur zin. Den nuir hinrf can zik di zondurbaru foduruij griindun. s . Abur 
 varuim 1 den d6t'likur ? ? Etva desvaequn, vil, vaer list, zo oft ser vil, tsui- 
 riicleezun can; daar horundur hingEqun nuir zer zeltun fraqun darf? 
 
 10. DUTCH. Lennop. Opkomst, bloei en verval der Letteren. 
 
 Rampzaliq het folc, dat, dor en tuifal'iqun zamunlop fan omstandiqhgdun, 
 ardur met de veldu, dan met de let'urun, becend 1 vird ; ant velc bruizundu 
 hart'soqtun qrstiq net fserqift dsdun inzvelqun, zondur dat het tequnqift 
 noq dar vas. Fluic ovur daer Oropsurz, di an zui Mu fol-curun dser 
 ondurski'dundu faenilddelun de nod'lotiqu fortbreij'zulun luinur veldu tui 1 - 
 dindun, er zi hen dor beskafii) tot cenis, tot het rektu gubruic himur 
 qest'furmoqunz hadun opqulid. 
 
 11. ENGLISH.^) Craik. Literature and Learning in England, 1, 198. 
 
 Per di last fifti yirz ov di fortint senqyii, di FrenJ laijgwij had bin 
 rapidli luizig di usendunsi it had held umvirj u,s from di midul ov di tent, 
 and bicumig umui) el clasiz in Irjglund forin tiuj- In di Prolog tui 
 Gesurz "Testumunt ov Luv," proz wui'c, hwic; simz tui hav bin far 
 advanst, if not fini/t, in 1392, di grd; fadur ov MU- Irjglif poitri, spicii) ov 
 doz ov hiz cuntrimen, hut stil pui'sisted in ritig Frenf viirs, ecspresiz liim- 
 self dus ; " Siirtiz, daer bi svim dat spic deer poizi matur in FrenJ, ov 
 hwiq spiq di FrenJ men hav az gud E fansi az wi hav in hiriij ov FrenJ 
 menz Irjgh'J." find afturvvurdz hi adz ; " Let den clarcs indit in Latin, 
 fer ds hav di propurti in siuns, and di noig in dat faculti, and let FrenJ- 
 men in daer FrenJ elso indit deer cwent tiirmz, fer it iz cindli tui dasr mxdz ; 
 and let us Jo sur fansiz in siiq wurdz az wi liirnt ov sur damz tui). "( 2 ) 
 
 (1.) Instead of giving the examples of English, which will be found in the Manual 
 of Phonography, we have preferred taking an entirely new passage. 
 
 (2.) We give these two passages in the spelling of Chaucer, that it may he com- 
 pared with the Phonetic representation, and with modern heterotypy. 
 
 " Certes there ben some that speke thyr poysy mater in Frcuche, of whyche specho 
 the Frenche men have as good a fantasye as we have in hearing of French mennes 
 Englyshe." " Let then clerkes endyten in Latyn, for they have the propertye in science 
 and the knowinge in that facultye, and lette Frenchmen in theyr Frenche also endyte 
 theyr quejTit termes, for it is kyndly to theyr mouthes ; and let us shewe our fantasyes 
 in suche wordes as we learneden of our dames tonso."
 
 39 
 
 FrenJ, it iz evidunt from dis, eldo it mit stil bi e comun ucwiuramnt 
 umuij di hiur clasiz, had sist tui bi di mudur tug ov eni clas ov Ljgli/men, 
 and woz onli non tui doz tui huim it woz tet bi E mastiir. So, it wil bi 
 rimemburcl, dot di Priures in di Canturberi TE!Z, eldo Ji ciad spic FrenJ 
 " ful fser and fitisli," or fluiuntli, spoc it onli 
 
 " Aftur di scud ov Stratford atu Bo, 
 Fer FrenJ ov Paris woz tui hur unno." 
 
 Prom dis, az from meni udur pasijiz in old riturz wi lurn, dat di FrenJ 
 tet and spocun in England had, az woz indid inevitubul, bicum cunipt 
 diulect ov di langwij, er at list veri difurunt from di FrenJ ov Paris. 
 But az di Perm turj lest its hold and diclind in pwriti, di old Twtonic 
 spu; ov di netiv popwkjun, fevurd bi di ssm siircumstunsiz and cars ov 
 ivents, hwiq qect and diprest its rivul, and havirj at last, aftur goirj trui 
 proses elmost ov disoluijun and pwtrifacjun, bigun tui uswm nw 
 erganizEjun, grajwidi ricuvurd its usendunsi. So log az di IggliJ woz di 
 langwij ov onli e part ov di ne/un, and di FrenJ, az it wser, struguld wid 
 it fer di masturi, it rimgnd unudiUtureted ; hwen it bicem di spic; ov di 
 hoi pipul, ov di him- clasiz az wel az ov di lour, den it lost its old Twtonic 
 pwriti, and risivd e larj dyun admicsqur from di dyun lips trui hwicj it 
 past. Hwedur dis woz e ferqwnet sui-cumstuns, er di riviirs, iz unudur 
 cwesqun. 3i Sacsun, hsevur, in pasig intui IggliJ, had elredi lest sum 
 ov its orijinul caructuristics ; and, if left tui its on spontsnyus and unu- 
 sisted divelupmunt, it wud probubli hav uswmd e caructur rizemblig 
 radui 1 dot ov di Due, er FlemiJ, dan dat ov di Junnun ov di prezunt At. 
 
 12. POLISH. 
 
 Tovarjistvo Pomotsi Nauico'vei quivayonts ile mui syrodki yego poz- 
 valayo nad vikovanyem dzitsi Emigi-antuiv Polscik, i mayonts p/edevjist- 
 kyem na tsdui sq5enyE ik od zuipeLnego stsuidzozyemqenya sys, ne tso 
 spoL03nya svoyego sa narasone, zva3ifji pO3itec yacibi mogLa ftei 
 myasrzE pjinyestsy' stosovna i dobra csia^ca ekmentarna, ogLa/a con- 
 cutrs 1 do napisanya taco'VEi csiiigci, pod ti'tudem : ScoLa Domova. 
 
 13. RUSSIAN. Evangelia ot Luki. Glava Shest'. 
 
 Tac biad'ytye miloseerdi cac i atyets vaj milosserd yesty*. Nye suvditye, 
 i ny biad'yEtys suidimi 1 ; nye osui3daity i nys bud'ystye osui3deni' ; proj- 
 (jaityE i projqeni' biad-ystyE. DavaityE, i dastsya vam ; myE'row, do'brow, 
 uitryasen'now nagnyetennow i psrEpolnen'now otsytlwt vam fpazuikui; 
 ibo cacow myse'row myaB'rite vi, tacow $z otmyse'ritsya i vam. 
 
 14. PERSIAN. Ode of Xafiz. 
 
 Ugui' an tuirci Jirazi budust arud dili mara 
 Bukali hin'duvij bukjum SumurKtindo Bukarara 
 Bidih saKi mae bald kih dur junmit nukvahi. yaft 
 Cunari abi inacnabado gulgujti muiqalara.
 
 40 
 
 15. ARABIC. Koran; Opening Lesson. Learned pronunciation . 
 
 v AlKunuiui ; sraratui-lfatlxati ( 3 ) ; macclyatun, saboui ayatin. Bisrail- 
 lalii -rraxmani -rraximi. v Alxamdw lillahi rabbi -loalamina -rraxmani' 
 -rraximi, malici ysmi -ddini; iyaca nao-buidui waiyaca nastaoinra, 
 ilidina -cciraTa -ImvustaKima, ciraTa -lladina anoamta oalaihim cairi 
 -ImaGDUibi oalaihim wala -DDallina. 
 
 16. HEBREW. Zeph., 3, 8. Conjectural pronunciation on the model 
 of the learned Arabic, with the Masoretic punctuation.^) 
 
 'Sufanya. Lacsn xaccui-li nuwm'-yuhova luyom- Kuimi luoacb, ci mif- 
 pail kssofi goyim, luKovqi mamlakot', lijpok* oaleihem raomi, kol xaron* 
 appl, ci buej' Kinati kakd' col haareq. 
 
 Imperfect as may be the execution of these specimens, they are yet 
 enough to show that it is not impossible to invent a universal alphabet, 
 which shall present no great mechanical difficulty to the printer. If, as 
 the Author is inspirited by the great success of Phonography to hope, the 
 introduction of so much of this alphabet as suffices to represent the English 
 language, can be effected, the day on which the rest of the scheme will 
 be adopted is not far distant. There is no country in which the necessity 
 of a Phonetic alphabet is more felt than in England, and we may therefore 
 hope that the speakers of the English language, in whatever part of the 
 world they may be found ; whether in England, America, Asia, or Aus- 
 tralia, will be the first to raise this railway for the advance of knowledge. 
 
 (3.) Words connected by a hyphen are really distinct, but are pronounced almost 
 as one ; hence if a word begins with two consonants, the first ends the last syllable of 
 the preceding word. It was thought that it would be best to separate the words, 
 instead of running them all into one. In making this use of the hyphen, the Arabic 
 heterotypy has been followed. 
 
 (4.) It is usual to substitute ' k, ts, c, t' for ' x, 9, k, t' respectively, and omit o. 
 
 Bath : Printed by John nntl James Keeno, 7, Kingsmead-sfrret. 
 
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 University of California Library 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.