671 / 868
,588
S H O R T-H A N D
W R 1 T 1 N G.
In all o,her ear"" Ihere IWO mark. are ured promifcuouOy
(or
l
or
q.
whenever a more cafy, beautiful junétion may
by
that means be obtaioed ; the one joioiog evidently much
better witb the charaéters which
aTe
Wrltteo upwards,
lhe
otherwith thore downwards.
Bu, lO give • delail of all ,he reafons ror ,he appropri–
alion of cach.
particular mark
to ,
eaeh
canraoant,
wo~ld
prove ,edious. Moíl sf ,hem caonol
ere.pe,be obferv."oo
of an attentive praétifer as he goes along.
It
WllI,
there–
fore, be
fuffi cient'
to affure
lhe
read~r,
that
DO
pains
~J.S
fp.red 'O Rdjuíl ,he alphabet ro Ihe urmoíl Diee,y, by fueh
an exaét aueotion
tO
continua! trials and amendments as
\VJS
necefTary la
arceela¡o the preference
of
lhe
dirpoGtion
oF
,he eb.raélero in ir lo any o,her ,har eould pollioly
llave beeo pitched upon amongll:
thu
almol\: iofinite varie
ty
ioto which
chey
migbt have been thrown; and {hat,
ir......
Re ha. rbe curiofiry ro
m.kelhe experimenr, be will find,
that no change can be made in the
allot~eDt
of the marks,
bur wha, will be aHended wi,h confiderable pifadvanlage.
Two marks are allo,ed 'o
b;
(fee Table of ,he
Alph.be' ,
PJare
eL.)
The 6ríl of ,hefe marks i. ,he beíl wheo fepa
rarely formed, bu, do" oor join well wi,h rbe
I
~r
r .
. For
{imilar rearons, fome other of tbe confoBants have roore than
ooe mark allored ' o ,hem.
Ooe or o,her of ,be rwo marks appoio!ed for
w
i. alway.
to be ufed whcn it is
3D
initial-letter; io
.olher
fituations
we fcruple
001
to exprefs
it by
a
dOI
in the o or
gu'
place,
wri,ing
ptnlr
fo'
,ower;
efpecialJy if
it
join. oor well wi,h
the preceding confonant, or no
greal
ambiguity arifes thereby.
The
m..
ks being ,hus adjuíled lO ,be particular conro·
nants which lhey are to reprefent, let us (ee bow any pre–
cedeot. fubfequent, or intermediate vowel may be aflixed to
Iny of ,hefe confonants,
as
occaflOo /hall require.
lo feparare lerrer. p,ere is no difficulty, ,here beiog five
diílioguilhable place, for any given vOlVel or poinr, ei!her
precediog or follotving the
con{oDant:
reckoning, thereforc,
the vowels a,
el
i,
(J.
u,
according to
lhe
efiabhlhed
Dum–
ber and fequence,
a
i.· ,o be placed at ,be beginning of rbe
(cnfonant, (al the
cad ofthe
firn
quartcr,
i
at lbe
cad
of
the fecoDd quarter, rbar is rhe middle,
o
ar rhe eod or Ihe
third quarter, aDd
u
al
rhe eod of ,he coofooaDr i,felf.
lo ,be perpeodicular .nd iDcliDed letrers, rhe vowel.
whieb precede are pliced upon ,he lefr haod ; ,hoCe whieh
fallow, upon tbe ri,ht; becaufe we writc from lefe
lO
right;
as
for exampJe,
.1, d,
it, ot, uf;
la, le, li,
to, tu.
N° 6.
In the horizontal lettcn, the vowels which preceoe are
placed above; ,bofe which folJow, below; becaufe we wri,.
from tOP lto bottom; as,
al,
eJ,
ÍI,
01, UI.; fa,fe,ji,fo,fu .
N° 7.
ID the femicircular lenerl, the vowels
a,
t,
1),
u,
are
placed upon ,he lefr baDd, .he
i
above when rhey precede,
aDd ,he cODtrary wben ,hey folJow, agreeably 'o rbe rwo·
foregoiog remarks ; as,
am, em, jm, om, um ; ma,
"/t,
mi,
1JJ~,
mu.
N° 8.
A
vo..el he,weeo rwo cooron'ylls may be referred ". ei·
lher, and therefore feems lO hale two places : but in let.
ter¡ which form an angle when joined, chis is the
cafe
of;
oDly; for
a
and
r
eao ooly b. placed immedia!elY afrer
,he 6ríl cODfonao,,· • aod
u
only before ,he laíl; leíl
a
aDd
" if placed before rhe laíl, tbould, io !he .arrow part of
IAe aogle, be coofounded witb
u
and • afrer ,he 6rlt; as,
ral,
rel, ril. rfJf, rul.
N° 9.
Tbis rwofoJd place
DE
i
may be
oE
ufe iD diílinguilhing,
when tbought
neceff.uy, the {hart
j"
(ronl {he long ene,
by
rnaking
i.t
iliort when pJaced imm::dlatcly after lhe fir{l
eonfonaDl,
long
when befare the fecond ¡
as
q!liJ, "uile,
N°
10.
T ile greal difficulty of learning the true pronunciation of
our language, occa6ooed dllefty by
Our
perplc:xed, various,
aod <onfufed way of (pelling, has b..o always marter of
much complaint with
'Ollt
foreigoers who llave attl!mpled la
learo
ir.
But [his abCurd irregularity is
by
fu the moU re·
markable,
in
the'culto'mary managemeot, or rather miCA1;,\·
nagenleor of rhe .owel. .
Ir
i. hardly po{]ible lO give " rule
for them, againfl: which the exc'!plioDS
will
nOl be almolt
as
numf!rous
as
the agreeing ¡nClances. How freq\lcntly do
\l/e
pU l two, oay fometimt's three vowels, to expre[s
lhe
round of one only 1 Wh.i, for example, has ,he ••nd
a
to do
in
tbe word
btau!j?
The
fhort.hand wriu:r, however,
i, nor embarrll{f<d wi,h any of ,hefe difli "ulries.
He,
ro·
rally difregarding ,he common way of fpell ing, i. 'o inre"
only
fueh
leuers as are pronounced; aod
muft
confequent.
Jy
write the word
btauJy
thus .
bUI).
But the inrertion of
more vowels
than
are necdrary
tO
tbe found is not the
ooly
¡n nance
of
irregularity to be met with ¡-there being
more than f'ive vowel.founds in our language
j
and cuClom,
having allotred ooly five letrers ro Ggnify ,hem
.11
by, ofreo
inakes one 'fowe!
expr~rs
tWO
ot
three'difF~rent
ones, oay.
even diph thoogs or combinalions of vowels. We therefore,
taking tbe advantage which cunom in this cafe affords us,
/hall exrend !he power of our do" or poio"
ro
,he fame de–
gree. The fairnef. aod pro¡xiery of doing !his will more
fully .ppear upon a particular examioa,ioo of
.11 ,he
vowel,
in thei r arder.
And 6rtl,
in
comman writing,
tbe
letter
a
has
three
powers,
vjz.
th;!.t of
a, oC aj
or
ay,
and
of
au
or
Q'W;
a.
in ,he word.
jalher, jable, jall"
or
amen, ablt, aliar;
which are pronounced
all
one as
if
they had becn written
fa/hu,
faibJt,
faut,
or
amen,
aiblt,
alJlJar:
fo tbat we
are fairly authorifed
to
extend the power of our vowd oc:–
point
[O
the
Carne
degree
in
aH other ¡aClances.
Tbe vowel • fometimes .xpretr<s fingly ,be found
Iha~
two of
[hem
are often made for, as in,
he, me,
'Ult;
whcre–
iu found is the fame as that oftwo
e'"
as iofu,
Ir!t, 4·
gru,
&c. We are therefore free
to
ufe ene
t
io.
this cale,
wheneyer
it
fu iu
our purpofe, as welJ
as
for
ell,
tJ,
di, lO ;
for of wh., ure js ,he I",er of ,bere
~owel,
iD
p.a, pn),
h.ifrr, peopl•.
bu! 'o puzzle ehildreo and foreigoers
1
The
rame irregulartty and coofuíion
is
obfervable
in the
cufiomary maoagemeot of the otber VOWtla,
i,
o,
and
IJ ;
rbey eaeh of rhem fingly expre{]ing (.veral difl"ereo, founds,
which alfo are denOled at other times by fc:veral diJerent
cORlbinatioos of them.
Tbe
vowel;, for innance, whc::n
it–
is
{hort,
is
found:d
in
Englilh as
a,
agreeaol~
tO
fhe pro–
nunciation of
il
io
man. foreign h nguages; wben
long,
it
has .Iw.y. ,he found of a·diph,hoDg, or combina,ion of rhe
'wo vowel-fouDds, (wbieh we migill exprd i by ,he open
a·
or
f/U,
aad Ihe fhorl
i
or
ee;)
'which
found
or diphthang is
alfo fom.rimes expre(f<d by
oí,
a.
ji", jil.,
j~i1,
fin, fine,
j.in.
In like maODer, tbe vowel
o
has renral"difFerenl Coands;
as in !he words
poi, poi•. do:
rbe found of ,he
o
io
polt,
is
fome times
exprelfed
by
vw,
as to
jQWj
fome,times.
by
'UlO,
as
[rulerd;
fOluelimes by
~aJ
as
flal;
itS
fouod
in
do,
by
01,.
If1JO,
aod
ollgh,
as
I~o,
J'Wo, through.
And laílly,
tbe
roud of
u
(wbich is always r.aJly a dipb–
tbQo~,