Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-03-05

be, e.e in mete, &c in feet, eli in deceit, eip in
receipt, ca in teach, ed-e in b%erenve, eg in i'm
pregn ei-e in deceive, co in people, ey in key,
eye in keyed, i in marino, ee in ravine ia in
parliament, lie in thief, ice in grievs, os in
f%ostus, uay in quay, ui in musquito, y in
very. The sound Of a in the word pay is
represented in nineteen different ways, and
the forty-two sounds Of our language have no
less tran three hundred and serenty-nine diff
ferent representatives. From such a chang
ing of sounds and so many different modes Of
representing the same sound, arises the pre-
sent difficulty of learning to spell and pro-
nounce correctly. As soon as the child has
learned its alphabet, we teaching
it TO spell, first in words Of two letters, such
as pa ba G1 ma &c., giving each of the let
tiers their full sound but when it is after
wards showed these same letters in the words
pal bal mat fat &c., it must change the
sound Of a although it still retains the same
form, and in the words pail ball fall mall
&c., it has another sound, and in p1r bar
mar far another still (; and the same is true
of all the other letters of the alphabet; the
confusion being greater in the vowel than in
the consonant sounds. Out of the fifty thou
sand words Of our language, only about fGy
or one in a thOusGnd are spelled as they should
be; that is, all the letters having their alpha
betical sound. This jargon of sounds and a
standing army Of silent letters-some of
which are stationed in almost every word
are well calculated TO confuse and bewilder
the minds of learners, and to mar the pro-
gress of knowledge and improvement. Such
indeed is the irregularity which prevails, that
no rules can be given that are Of any benefit
whatever; and the child has to commit the
spelling and pronunciation Of the whOie GGy
thousand words Of the language TO memory
No wonder, then, that we have so few good
spoilers, and fewer still who pronounce cor
rectly, Notwithstanding there is more time
spent in our primary schools in learning SPELL
ing than any other branch.
But let US inquire for a remedy for all this
difficulty. The only true and practicable
"ONS - 'SP'SSShhhS dh1 IdHpuhSO Is W nave
an alphabet containing a letter for each ele-
mentary sound of The language, and let tina,
letter represent no other sound. Then when
ever we hear a word pronounced, we can at
once determine the sounds of which it is
composed, and knowing the letters that rep
resent these sounds, we can spell the word
and whenever we see a word printed or writ
ten, we know the sounds Of the letters, and
can therefore pronounce it. Such an alpha
bet has been presented to the world by Isaac
PITMAN. The forms of the printed letters
are based upon our present, and the two
styles OF printing are so near alike that many
persons read it quite readily a first sight;
and any person that CAN now read may learn
it in half an hours time. His writing al
phabet is acknowledged on all hands to be
the shortest, easiest learned, and most legi-
BILE of any that has ever been used-besides
giving a most beautiful and philosophical
representation of the sounds of the language.
shall conclude Jy giving you some en-
tracts from a Report recently published by
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
After setting forth their views and argu-
ments upon the subject, they come to The fol-
lowing conclusions
l.. 1t (Phonotypy) may be acquired in
one fifteenth part OF the time necessary for
the present.
2. When acquired it leads the learner TO
the correct pronunciation of every word he
meets with.
8. 1t dispenses entirely with the difficult,
and to most persons impossible, acquisition
of learning to spell. A knowledge of the
just sound suggests infallibly the true SPELL
ing, and the spelling with equal certainty the
correct pronunciation.
4. By the omission of silent letters, it
renders reading one-ffth more rapid than at
present.
S. II will render the acquisition of read
ing and spelling attainable to millions to
whom 1t is now unattainable.
6. 1t will enable a writer to represent any
proper name or word of any unknown lam
guage in such a manner as to be read by a
stranger with precisely the same pronuncia-
ton which the writer gives il, inasmuch as
the variations of sound are made visible to
the eye.
7. 1t will Tend to Danish provincialisms,
as each written word suggests its correct pro.
nunciation.
8. By representing the long and short
vowelS by different letters, it renders posi-
BILE the adoption of a few perfectly simple
and comprehensive rules of accent, a thing
which up to this time has been nearly want
ing in the language.
Yours for improvement and progression,
w. G. ALEXANDER,