A Scheme for a New Alphabet and reformed Mode of Spelling; with Remarks and Examples concerning the same; and an Enquiry into its Uses, in a Correspondence between Miss S—— [67] and Dr. Franklin, written in the Characters of the Alphabet [68].

TABLE OF THE REFORMED ALPHABET

To face page 357,
Vol. II.

Characters	Sounded respectively, as in the Words in the Column below.	Names of Letters as expressed in the reformed Sounds and Characters.	Manner of pronouncing the Sounds.
o	Old.	o	The first Vowel naturally, and deepest sound; requires only the mouth, and breathe through it.
*	John, folly; awl, ball.		The next requiring the mouth opened a little more, or hollower.
a	Man, can.	a	The next, a little more.
e	Men, lend, name, lane.	e	The next requires the tongue to be a little more elevated.
i	Did, sin, deed, seen.	i	The next still more.
u	Tool, fool, rule.	u	The next requires the lips to be gathered up, leaving a small opening.
*	Um, un; as in umbrage, unto, &c. and as in er.		The next a very short vowel, the sound of which we should express in our present letters thus, uh; a short, and not very strong aspiration.
h	Hunter, happy, high.	huh	A stronger or more forcible aspiration.
g	Give, gather,	gi	The first Consonant; being formed by the root of the tongue; this is the present hard g.
k	Keep, kick.	ki	A kindred sound; a little more acute; to be used instead of the hard c.
*	(sh) Ship, wish.	ish	A new letter wanted in our language; our sh, separately taken, not being proper elements of the sound.
*	(ng) ing, repeating, among,	ing	A new letter wanted for the same reason:—These are formed back in the mouth.
n	End.	en	Formed more forward in the mouth; the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth.
r	Art.	r	The same; the tip of the tongue a little loose or separate from the roof of the mouth, and vibrating.
t	Teeth.	ti	The tip of the tongue more forward; touching, and then leaving, the roof.
d	Deed.	di	The same; touching a little fuller.
l	ell, tell.	el	The same; touching just about the gums of the upper teeth.
s	Essence.	es	This sound is formed by the breath passing between the moist end of the tongue and the upper teeth.
z	(ez) Wages.	ez	The same; a little denser and duller.
*	(th) Think	e	The tongue under, and a little behind, the upper teeth; touching them, but so as to let the breath pass between.
*	(dh) Thy.	e	The same; a little fuller.
f	Effect.	ef	Formed by the lower lip against the upper teeth.
v	Ever.	ev	The same; fuller and duller.
b	Bees.	b	The lips full together, and opened as the air passes out.
p	Peep.	pi	The same; but a thinner sound.
m	Ember.	em	The closing of the lips, while the e [here annexed] is sounding.

* N. B. The six new letters are marked with an asterisk (*) to distinguish them, and show how few new characters are proposed. B. V.

Remarks [on the Alphabetical Table.]

o

It is endeavoured to give the alphabet a more natural order; beginning first with the simple sounds formed by the breath, with none or very little help of tongue, teeth, and lips, and produced chiefly in the windpipe.

to

huh

g k	Then coming forward to those, formed by the roof of the tongue next to the windpipe.

r n

Then to those, formed more forward, the forepart of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.

t d

l

Then those, formed still more forward in the mouth, by the tip of the tongue applied first to the roots of the upper teeth.

s z

Then to those, formed by the tip of the tongue applied to the ends or edges of the upper teeth.

f

Then to those, formed still more forward, by the under lip applied to the upper teeth.

v

b

Then to those, formed yet more forward by the upper and under lip opening to let out the sounding breath.

p

m	And lastly, ending with the shutting up of the mouth, or closing the lips while any vowel is sounding.

In this alphabet c is omitted as unnecessary; k supplying its hard sound, and s the soft; k also supplies well the place of q, and with an s added the place of x: q and x are therefore omitted. The vowel u being sounded as oo makes the w unnecessary. The y, where used simply, is supplied by i, and where as a dipthong, by two vowels: that letter is therefore omitted as useless. The jod j is also omitted, its sound being supplied by the new letter , ish, which serves other purposes, assisting in the formation of other sounds;—thus the with a d before it gives the sound of the jod j and soft g, as in "James, January, giant, gentle," "d eems, d hanueri, d iant, d entel;" with a t before it, it gives the sound of ch, as in "cherry, chip," "t eri, t ip;" and with a z before it, the French sound of the jod j, as in "jamais," "z ame."

Thus the g has no longer two different sounds, which occasioned confusion, but is, as every letter ought to be, confined to one. The same is to be observed in all the letters, vowels, and consonants, that wherever they are met with, or in whatever company, their sound is always the same. It is also intended, that there be no superfluous letters used in spelling; i. e. no letter that is not sounded; and this alphabet, by six new letters, provides, that, there be no distinct sounds in the language, without letters to express them. As to the difference between short and long vowels, it is naturally expressed by a single vowel where short, a double one where long; as for "mend," write "mend," but for "remain'd," write "remeen'd;" for "did" write "did," but for "deed" write "diid," &c.

What in our common alphabet is supposed the third vowel, i, as we sound it, is as a dipthong, consisting of two of our vowels joined; [viz.] as sounded in "unto," and i in its true sound. Any one will be sensible of this who sounds those two vowels i quick after each other; the sounds begins and ends ii. The true sound of the i is that we now give to e in the words "deed, keep—[69]."