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Book I:
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Preface
Intro

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29 30 31 32
33 34 35 36
37 38 39 40
41 42    

 

 

THE VOWEL SOUNDS

The vowel sounds of the English language are tabulated as follows by Mr. Pitman, the great authority on phonetics :--

I - THE SIX LONG VOWEL-SOUNDS
1 The vowel-sound in the word half
2 The vowel-sound in the word pay
3 The vowel-sound in the word he
4 The vowel-sound in the word thought
5 The vowel-sound in the word so
6 The vowel-sound in the word poor

II - THE SIX SHORT VOWEL-SOUNDS
1 The vowel-sound in the word that
2 The vowel-sound in the word bell
3 The vowel-sound in the word is
4 The vowel-sound in the word not
5 The vowel-sound in the word much
6 The vowel-sound in the word good

The six long vowel-sounds then, are brought to mind when we repeat the words:

'Half-pay he thought so poor'

Similarly, the six short vowel-sounds are brought to mind when we repeat these words:

'That bell is not much good'

In our key-words, the following symbols shall be used to represent those sounds:

PHONETIC KEY.

§ 13. The Vowel Sounds
In key words Are to be sounded like: In the English words:
1 aa a half, calf
2 ae ae Gaelic
3 ee ee feel, see
4 au au naught, taught
5

ō

o note, coke
6 oo oo (long) tool, room
7 a a bat, that
8 e e let, bell
9 i i hit, fill
10 o o knot, clock
11

ŭ

u up, us
12 u oo (short) good, rook (same sound as u in full)

It is useful to note that the sound (No. 6) of oo in poor is the same as the sound of u in rule; while the sound (No. 11) of u in up, us, is the same as that of o in son, done. It will be noticed that the same numbers are attached to the same sounds in both tables.

 

note that
phonetic
symbols
are not
necessarily pronounced
as in English

See § 13-16

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