§ 150. Some writers would add to these the additional sound of the _é fermé_ of the French; believing that the vowel in words like _their_ and _vein_ has a different sound from the vowel in words like _there_ and _vain_. For my own part I cannot detect such a difference either in my own speech or that of my neighbours; although I am far from denying that in certain _dialects_ of our language such may have been the case. The following is an extract from the "Danish Grammar for Englishmen," by Professor Rask, whose eye, in the matter in question, seems to have misled his ear; "The _é fermé_, or _close é_, is very frequent in Danish, but scarcely perceptible in English; unless in such words as _their_, _vein_, _veil_, which appear to sound a little different from _there_, _vain_, _vale_." § 151. The vowels being twelve, the diphthongs four, and the consonantal sounds twenty-four, we have altogether as many as forty sounds, some being so closely allied to each other as to be mere modifications, and others being combinations rather than simple sounds; all, however, agreeing in requiring to be expressed by letters or by combinations of letters, and to be distinguished from each other. This enables us to appreciate-- § 152. _The insufficiency of the English alphabet._-- a. _In respect to the vowels._--Notwithstanding the fact that the sounds of the a in _father_, _fate_, and _fat_, and of the o and the aw in _note_, _not_, and _bawl_, are modifications of a and o respectively, we have still _six_ vowel sounds specifically distinct, for which (y being a consonant rather than a vowel) we have but _five_ signs. The u in _duck_, specifically distinct from the u in _bull_, has no specifically distinct sign to represent it. b. _In respect to the consonants_.--The th in _thin_, the th in _thine_, the sh in _shine_, the z in _azure_, and the ng in _king_, five sounds specifically distinct, and five sounds perfectly simple require corresponding signs, which they have not. § 153. _Its inconsistency._--The f in _fan_, and the v in _van_, sounds in a certain degree of relationship to p and b, are expressed by sounds as unlike as f is unlike p, and as v is unlike b. The sound of the th in _thin_, the th in _thine_, the sh in _shine_, similarly related to t, d, and s, are expressed by signs as like t, d, and s, respectively, as th and sh. The compound sibilant sound of j in _jest_ is spelt with the single sign j, whilst the compound sibilant sound in _chest_ is spelt with the combination ch. § 154. _Erroneousness._--The sound of the ee in _feet_ is considered the long (independent) sound of the e in _bed_; whereas it is the long (independent) sound of the i in _pit_. The i in _bite_ is considered as the long (independent) sound of the i in _pit_; whereas it is a diphthongal sound. The u in _duck_ is looked upon as a modification of the u in _bull_; whereas it is a specifically distinct sound.