have given years of study to the question.' But the facts are that this alphabet was devised by the foremost phonetists of America after careful investigations extending over thirty-five years, and not the least experienced among them was Dr. William T. Harris, late United States Commissioner of Education and editor-in-chief of Webster's New International Dictionary, so that the National Education Association alphabet is approved by leading phoneticians and is not the result of the hasty judgment which some persons have claimed.

(2) Why was the alphabet devised?

To assign fixed symbols to each of the various sounds in English so that every sound may have its own sign, and every sign its own sound throughout the alphabet, and so as to remedy the chaotic condition existing through the giving of unusual values to many symbols "by the publishers of dictionaries, gazetteers, encyclopedias, and textbooks," bring about uniformity, and establish an unchangeable standard-one that, having been based on the recommendations of the experts of past generations, has not been overturned or discredited by the experts of the present generation, for the Joint Committees in their work preserved that done by the experts of the American Philological Association in 1877.

(3) What are the phonetic qualities of the alphabet?

The phonetic qualities of this alphabet are (a) that it uses the fundamental vowel letters with the original Latin values, and thus (b) brings the notation into accord with international phonetic science.

(4) Why is it easy to learn?

Because (a) it is based on a system and is not the result of haphazard work in which more than one symbol is used to represent the same sound. Because (b), consisting of 48 symbols it contains the smallest number of symbols needed to adequately represent the sounds which are now being rendered variously by 85, 64, and 63 symbols. "The number of distinct sounds in any one language seldom exceeds fifty," said the late A. J. Ellis, "and practically fewer still are needed, for a native needs only a broad hint of the sound to reproduce it."

Because (c) it is easy to write, and, as the late A. J. Ellis said, "any signs easy to write and distinct to read without wearying the eye will suffice."

(5) Why should this alphabet be applied to the English language?

Because (a) it was devised for that purpose by experts. Because (b) it is sufficiently delicate and precise for all practical purposes.

Because (c) this eclectic key is the most happy combination of the scholarly and the practical which it is possible to evolve.

On page 1 of the circular already referred to one is told, "that among phoneticians and the societies interested in phonetics, as well as in text-books and reference books, there is not one alphabet in general use for indicating pronunciation"-all of which is gratuitous information to which attention is drawn in the National Education Association Committee's various reports, but the National Education Association Committee includes dictionaries, and

it is to remedy this very condition of chaos that the alphabet recommended by the National Education Association Committee was devised. It is to be remembered, also, that this alphabet, like the mill that does not grind with the water that is past, does not apply to any books that have already been published, so that in no way can it affect publications that have preceded its recommendation. On page 2 of the circular one is told "that the English sounds of the vowels have shifted far away from the Continental vowel sounds," and "the fact remains that they have done so, and that there now seems to be no practical chance that they will ever be moved back." The care exercised in not underlining one word-fact-in the foregoing may, in the eyes of the critic, save the situation. But what are the FACTS? In English as spoken to-day there are vowelsounds that are identical with the so-called "Continental vowel-sounds," as, for example, in the following words: arm, crepe, marine, hotel, rule. Therefore, English vowelsounds and Continental vowel-sounds have not shifted far away, as is claimed. Further, let it not be forgotten that, even if they had, it is not the purpose of the National Education Association Committee to move them back-that Committee was empowered to report on and recommend an alphabet for use in the respelling of words in dictionaries, gazetteers, encyclopedias, and text-books-to devise an alphabet that shall bring sounds into harmony with usage as recognized by the leading American experts in phonetics.

It is pointed out in the same circular that the late A. J. Ellis, who is styled "the Father of English Phonetics," and who is characterized as "one of the most eminent of phoneticians," based his system of phonetic symbols on "the common English sounds of the letters." This is

exactly what the various committees in joint labor have done. But the results are different. Ellis's universal alphabet contained no less than 94 symbols, and his ideal international alphabet contained 243 symbols made up of 192 elements, 14 vowel-diphthongs, 4 consonant-diphthongs, 19 modifiers, and 11 other signs. Ellis's alphabet, as the editors of Webster's New International Dictionary describe it (p. xxxix), is "essentially a makeshift scheme, adapted solely to scientific, not popular, use," and others who are competent judges have declared it "an ingenious system of compound letters, but the complexity of the writing forbids its universal adoption."

The statement made on page 1 "that the vowel letters do not have in English the sounds they have in Continental language" is reiterated, and it is said also "that many proposed phonetic alphabets are based on a Continental vowel scheme," and "this is the chief reason why all such alphabets have failed." That the reiteration belies the facts has already been shown, and any one interested enough to investigate the subject can find this out for himself. That such alphabets have failed is untrue, for the values of the Continental vowel-sounds are the basis of all. These values are recognized by (1) the American Philological Association; (2) the Modern Language Association; (3) the United States Board on Geographic Names; (4) the National Education Association; (5) the Philological Society of England, and (6) the Royal Geographical Society of England, and also (7) by the Oxford English Dictionary, and (8) form the basis of the "Guide to Pronunciation of Webster's New International Dictionary."

See Webster's New International Dictionary, page

xlvii-A. 112. In the Greek language the letter alpha (the Greek letter with which our "a" corresponds) represented a single sound, that of English a in art. . . . This was the value of the letter a in Latin also, and in the various alphabets founded upon Latin . . . and the same value is mainly retained to the present day in the languages of Continental Europe.

See page xlix-E. 148. In the classical pronunciation of Latin, the letter e, when long, represented practically the same sound as English a (ale) [or as "e" as in they], and when short the same sound pronounced more quickly, or a wider sound, that of e (end), the wide correlative of a. In most of the languages of Europe which have adopted the Roman alphabet these two sounds have been retained for the letter, as they were in Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, and in Middle English.

See page li-I. 178. In the classical pronunciation of Latin, the letter i, when long, had practically the same value as modern English e (eve), and this is the value which it still has in the chief languages of Europe.

For the discussions of the values of o and u, see page liii, §199, and page lv, §240, of Webster's New International Dictionary.

On page 2 of another anonymous circular, quoting "The Teacher's Journal," the work of Professor E. W. Scripture, done in 1901, is cited as applying to the National Education Association alphabet-an alphabet which was not devised nor recommended until 1910, or nine years later. Comment on such tactics is needless.

The number of symbols recommended for use by the National Education Association Committee is 48.

The number of symbols used by the Oxford English