?, with an acute accent, is the same sound prolonged, as in machine, police, or as ee in feel.

o, is pronounced as in lord, or as a in ball, or aw in awful; o, short, as in lock, lot, does not occur in any dialect of the Chinese with which we are at present acquainted.

6, with an acute accent, is pronounced as in note, sometimes a little more protracted as in roll, cold, or even as if followed by the vo in foot.

u is pronounced as in pull, push, never as in pure, nor as in flush. ú, with an acute accent, is pronounced as in rude, rule, or as co in rood, fool.

ù, with a grave accent, is pronounced as in illumine, allure, a sound intermediate between u in rule, and the French u.

ü, is pronounced as in French, in the words l'une, user, &c.

The following diphthongs, formed by the combination of the above vowels, are found in Chinese.

ai, is pronounced as in aisle, or as the English i in white, line. ái, is pronounced exactly as the word aye.

au, is pronounced nearly as ow, in how, or ou in our, but is somewhat more slender.

áu, is a similar sound, but broader, being compounded of the á in calm and u in put, or ú in rule: it is broader than any similar sound in English, but comes nearest to the ow in howl.

ei, is pronounced nearly as ey in bey, dey, and is produced by a combination of the short vowel e and the short i, nearly the same as it would be in the word weight, were that word to be pronounced with a greater degree of stress on the ei than is usual. It is often confound

ed with the long í of machine.

éu represents a peculiar Chinese sound, produced by a distinct enunciation of the sounds of é long or ay, and of u short as in put, or sometimes perhaps of a short, in quota, the stress being laid on the long é. This is a sound which it is difficult to acquire correctly.

íu is a sound not differing much from the English ew in the words few, pew; but in Chinese more stress is usually laid on the i than on the u, and the latter vowel is nearly the same as in allure.

oi is pronounced nearly the same as in the French word gôitre, the o as in note or as in lord, and i as in pin, being both preserved distinct. bu is a very lengthened sound of the o in roll, which seems to be followed by the sound of short u in put; the distinction between this and the sound of a protracted o is considered doubtful.

ui is a combination of the sound of the short u in put, or of the French ù, with short i, nearly as in fluid, or as in the French word pluie.

úi, is a similar sound, the short u being changed for the long ú, or po in fool.

ue, is composed of the short u in put, before the short e in men, making a sound which seems to resemble a protracted sound of the short a in quota.

ua, is composed of the short u in put, before the short a in quota, making a broader sound than the preceding; the two, however, are in some syllables very much confounded.

There are some other. combinations of vowels which it will be sufficient, to enumerate, the sounds of them being apparent from the letters of which they are composed; viz. a short i as in pin, before another vowel or diphthong. These are ia, iái, iáu, ie, iè, io, iu, and iue.

Being thus able to represent with clearness and precision the sounds of all the vowels and diphthongs in the Chinese language, we proceed now to the consonants, taking first those which can be represented by single letters of the Roman alphabet.

b, as in bunn, bard, is a sound unknown in most parts of China, but is frequent as an initial in the dialect of Fuhkeën, the nasal m being interchangeable with it. In the north of that province, however, the sound is changed either into p or m.

f, as in far, fast, is a frequent sound in Chinese: in the dialects it is often changed into an aspirate or vice versâ.

g, hard, as in give, get, never occurs except in some of the dialects. Whenever this letter is found in European dictionaries of the general language as an initial, the nasal ng should supply its place, or an apostrophe marking the omission of that nasal. The same remark applies for the most part to the dialect of Canton.

:

h, as an aspirate, is very frequent in Chinese; it is generally a stronger aspirate than in English in the dialects of the south it is often changed into ƒ, in the north into s, or sh. To mark an aspirate after a consonant, we use the Greek spiritus asper in preference to h. j, as in jest, or as g in gentle, is a sound which does not occur, unless perhaps in some of the dialects. Correctly speaking, it is not a simple consonant, but is composed of d and the French j, or zh.

j', as in the French jamais, or as s in pleasure, occurs in Chinese, but with a tendency to change, as in German and Dutch, into the liquid sound of y, and into ny. We affix a mark to this letter to distinguish it from the j in jest; the mark should rather have been attached to the latter j, which represents a compound sound, had this not been already so generally adopted without a mark, in the Indian and Indo-Chinese languages. The use of the two letters zh to express this simple sound, when so easily to be avoided, appears particularly objectionable.

k, as in kite, or as c in card, is a very frequent sound in Chinese, not only as an initial, but also in the dialects, as a final: as an initial, it is often confounded with the strong aspirate h. It sometimes receives an aspiration after it, being then pronounced as k'h in the compound word, pack-house. When thus strongly aspirated, it is then, often changed, in the northern pronunciation, into ch.

1, as in lame, is a frequent sound; it is often confounded with`n. m, as in maim, is also of frequent occurrence as an initial, but as a final, in the dialects only: in these it often takes the place of the final

n, as also of the initial w. In the dialects of Fuhkeen and Canton, this sound sometimes occurs as a word by itself, unaccompanied by any distinct vowel sound.

n, exactly as in nun, occurs frequently in Chinese both as initial and final.

p, as in pippin, is also a sound of frequent occurrence in Chinese. In some syllables it is often confounded with f. It sometimes receives an aspiration after it, when it is pronounced as p'h in the compound word, hap-hazard. It is then represented by a Greek aspirate after it, as in p'an; for want of which we are obliged to use the inverted comma.

r, as a vibratory sound, is foreign to Chinese: it occurs, however, without any vibratory motion accompanying it, being then preceded by an indistinct vowel, or by the a in quota. This sound has been written urh and eulh; the latter is plainly incorrect, the sound which it is intended to represent being enunciated, as we have said, by framing the mouth to express the sound of r, but without a vibratory motion of the tongue. We have never heard this sound changed at all into ; but in the dialects it is altogether transmuted, being pronounced the same as long in machine.

s, as in sit, occurs as an initial only: it is often confounded with sh, a sound which the people in some districts cannot pronounce at all. This sound never changes, as in English, into that of x, but it is combined sometimes with z, unaccompanied with any distinct vowel, forming a peculiar sound which can be caught only from the living voice.

t, as in title, occurs often as an initial, and in the dialects is frequently a final also. It sometimes receives an aspiration after it, when it is pronounced as the t'h in ant-hill, and written with a Greek aspirate following it, as in t'an.

v, as in revive, is a sound which does not exist in the general language of China, but it supplies the place of w in some of the dialects. w, as in want, is a frequent sound: it is pronounced precisely as in the English word wen, and if preceded by an h, precisely as in when. y, as in yet, is also a frequent sound: it is pronounced precisely as in yet, yard, and similar English words.

z, as in zone, is a sound never used but in connection with s. See under s, and below under sz.

The only combinations of consonants occurring in Chinese are, ch, hw, ng, ny, sh, sz, ts, and tsz: of these, ng and sh, although represented by two letters of the Roman alphabet, are indivisible sounds.

ch is an initial, pronounced precisely as in the word church, or as ich in French. This sound sometimes receives an aspiration after it, and is then pronounced as ch'h in the combined words church-hill : to avoid the repetition of the h, we write this with a Greek aspirate following the ch, as in ch'an. The aspirated k, is often turned into ch, particularly in the northern pronunciation.

hw, is precisely the same as wh in English, in the word, when.

ng, as in singing, occurs in Chinese both as an initial and final; as an initial it is often difficult for a European to pronounce it correctly; but it may readily be acquired by raising the root of the tongue towards the palate, and at the same time causing the voice to pass into the nose. This initial is often altogether dropped, and an apostrophe or mark of anhelation is then used by us to supply its place.

ny, or the Spanish liquid n, occurs in Chinese, but is the correct pronunciation only of two or three words. It is often used in place of the French j, but incorrectly.

sh, is precisely as in the English word ship, and occurs only as an initial; it is often used interchangeably with s, and sometimes with h, when that letter is followed by i or í.

sz, is a peculiar sound, consisting in a sudden change from the enunciation of the hissing sound of s, to the more vocal sound of z; it occurs only in one syllable, which, being usually pronounced without any distinct vowel sound, we write sz'.

ts, is pronounced as in the words wit's end, supposing the ts removed from the end of the first, to the beginning of the second word. It sometimes receives an aspiration after it, and is then pronounced as in the words Scott's house, removing the ts of the first word to the beginning of the word house.

tsz, is the preceding sound placed before z, in the same manner as has been explained with regard to sz above.

The use which we have made in this system of diacritical marks renders some change necessary in the mode of designating the tones, or inflections of voice, of the different syllables. We have formerly explained the nature of these tones, as applied by the Chinese to distinguish words which are otherwise pronounced alike; and on that occasion conformed to the mode of noting them previously adopted by the catholic missionaries, and after them by Dr. Morrison. Perhaps the same marks may be used as formerly, with the difference only of placing them after the words, rather then over the vowels. is our purpose to revert to this subject at another time.

It

We have been particular in defining the sounds which it has been our object to represent, în order that we might prevent the possibility of being mistaken. And our purpose in publishing the above scheme at the present time, is to invite all our friends and correspondents to favor us with their opinions thereon, that with the different views of many to assist us, we may be enabled before the close of the year to consider the subject more maturely, preparatory to introducing an accurate system of orthography in our next volume.

The following statement will show at one view the letters and marks which we have adopted, and the sounds they are intended to represent.

b, as in bard; ba, bé.t
f, as in fan; fán, fung.
g, as in give; gái, gak.f
h, as in have; hang, hung.

a, as in quota; examples, tang, ta. j, as in jest; uncertain if the

á, as in calm; yáng.

e, as in men; chek.*

è, as e'e in ne'er; shèn, shè.

é, as ei in neigh; ché, shé. i, as in pin; ping, pi.

{, as in machine; pé.

o, as in lord; po, pong.*

6, as in note; po.

u, as in put; pu.

*

ú, as in rude; pú, pung. ù, as in allure; lún.

ü, as in l'une in French; lü.

sound exist in Chinese. j, as in jamais in French; jáng. k, as in kite; kung, kú. 7, as in lame; lang, ling. m, as in maim; man, mung. n, as in nun; nun, nung. p, as in pippin; pan, pung. r, as in after; ar.

s, as in sit; sin, sing.

t, as in title; ting, ti.

v, as in revive; provincial for w.
w, as in want; wan, wán.

y, as in yet; ying, yèn.
z, as in zone; does not occur.

Combined consonants.

ch, as in church; ching.
hw, as wh in when; hwang.
ng, as in singing; ngáng.
ny, as ni in onion; nyáng.
sh, as in ship; shin, shing.
sz, a peculiar sound; sz'.
ts, as in wits' end; tsin, tsing.
tsz, a peculiar sound; tsz'.

* Sounds occurring in the Canton dialect, not in the general language.

+ Sounds occurring in the dialect of Fuhkeën.