FullReads

Ch has a sound which is analyzed into tsh, as church, chin, crutch. It is the same sound which the Italians give to the c simple before i and e, as citta, cerro.

Ch is sounded like k in words derived from the Greek, as chymist, scheme, choler. Arch is commonly sounded ark before a vowel, as archangel, and with the English sound of ch before a consonant, as archbishop.

Ch, in some French words not yet assimilated, sounds like sh, as machine, chaise.

C, according to English orthography, never ends a word; therefore we write stick, block, which were originally, sticke, blocke. In such words c is now mute.

It is used before l and r, as clock, cross.

D.

Is uniform in its sound, as death, diligent.

It is used before r, as draw, dross; and w as dwell.

F.

F, though having a name beginning with a vowel, is numbered by the grammarians among the semivowels, yet has this quality of a mute, that it is commodiously sounded before a liquid, as flask, fry, freckle. It has an unvariable sound, except that of is sometimes spoken nearly as ov.

G.

G has two sounds; one hard, as in gay, go, gun; the other soft, as in gem, giant.

At the end of a word it is always hard, as ring, snug, song, frog.

Before e and i the sound is uncertain.

G before e is soft, as gem, generation, except in gear, geld, geese, get, gewgaw, and derivatives from words ending in g, as singing, stronger, and generally before er at the ends of words, as finger.

G is mute before n, as gnash, sign, foreign.

G before i is hard, as give, except in giant, gigantick, gibbet, gibe, giblets, Giles, gill, gilliflower, gin, ginger, gingle, to which may be added Egypt and gypsy.

Gh in the beginning of a word has the sound of the hard g, as ghostly; in the middle, and sometimes at the end, it is quite silent, as though, right, sought, spoken tho’, rite, soute.

It has often at the end the sound of f, as laugh; whence laughter retains the same sound in the middle; cough, trough, sough, tough, enough, slough.

It is not to be doubted, but that in the original pronunciation gh has the force of a consonant deeply guttural, which is still continued among the Scotch.

G is used before h, l, and r.

H.

H is a note of aspiration, and shows that the following vowel must be pronounced with a strong emission of breath, as hat, horse.

It seldom begins any but the first syllable, in which it is always sounded with a full breath, except in heir, herb, hostler, honour, humble, honest, humour and their derivatives.

It sometimes begins middle or final syllables in words compounded, as blockhead; or derived from the Latin, as comprehend.

J.

J consonant sounds uniformly like the soft g, and is therefore a letter useless, except in etymology, as ejaculation, jester, jocund, juice.

K.

K has the sound of hard c, and is used before e and i, where, according to English analogy, c would be soft, as kept, king, skirt, skeptick, for so it should be written, not sceptick, because sc is sounded like s, as in scene.

It is used before n, as knell, knot, but totally loses its sound in modern pronunciation.

K is never doubled; but c is used before it to shorten the vowel by a double consonant, as cockle, pickle.

L.

L has in English the same liquid sound as in other languages.

The custom is to double the l at the end of monosyllables, as kill, will, full. These words were originally written kille, wille, fulle; and when the e first grew silent, and was afterward omitted, the ll was retained, to give force, according to the analogy of our language, to the foregoing vowel.