Ow generally sounds like the proper diphthong ou,—­or like a union of short o with oo; as in brown, dowry, now, shower:  but it is often an improper diphthong, having only the sound of open or long o; as in know, show, stow.

Oy is a proper diphthong, equivalent in sound to oi; as in joy, toy, oyster.

TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH O.

OEu is a French triphthong, pronounced in English as oo, and occurring in the word manoeuvre, with its several derivatives. Owe is an improper triphthong, and an English word, in which the o only is heard, and heard always with its long or open sound.

XVI.  OF THE LETTER P.

The consonant P, when not written before h, has commonly one peculiar sound; which is heard in pen, pine, sup, supper.  The word cupboard is usually pronounced kubburd. P, written with an audible consonant, is sometimes itself silent; as in psalm, psalter, pseudography, psychology, ptarmigan, ptyalism, receipt, corps.

Ph generally sounds like f; as in philosophy.  In Stephen and nephew, ph has the sound of v.  The h after p, is silent in diphthong, triphthong, naphtha, ophthalmic; and both the p and the h are silent in apophthegm, phthisis, phthisical.  From the last three words, ph is sometimes dropped.

XVII.  OF THE LETTER Q.

The consonant Q, being never silent, never final, never doubled, and not having a sound peculiar to itself, is invariably heard, in English, with the power of k; and is always followed by the vowel u, which, in words purely English, is sounded like the narrow o, or oo,—­or, perhaps, is squeezed into the consonantal sound of w;—­as in queen, quaver, quiver, quarter, request.  In some words of French origin, the u after q is silent; as in coquet, liquor, burlesque, etiquette.

XVIII.  OF THE LETTER R.

The consonant R, called also a semivowel and a liquid, has usually, at the beginning of a word, or before a vowel, a rough or pretty strong sound; as in roll, rose, roam, proudly, prorogue.  “In other positions,” it is said by many to be “smooth” or “soft;” “as in hard, ford, word.”—­W.  Allen.

OBSERVATIONS.