s. 19. VOWELS. (aa), as _a_ in f_a_ther; (a) short, as in _a_ha! (ae), open long _e_, as _a_ in M_a_ry; (e), open short _e_, as _e_ in b_e_d; (ee), close long _e_, as _e_ in v_e_il[19]; (i) short, as French _i_ in f_i_n_i_, or nearly, as Eng. _i_ in f_i_n; (ii), as (_ee_) in d_ee_p: (ao), open long _o_, as _aw_ in s_aw_, or _o_ in gl_o_ry; (o), open short _o_, as _o_ in n_o_t; (oo), close long _o_, as _o_ in n_o_te, or _o_ in German s_o_; (u), as _u_ in f_u_ll; (uu), as _oo_ in f_oo_l; (y), as F. _u_ in F. ['e]c_u_; (yy), as long G. _[:u]_ in gr_[:u]_n. Also ([*e]), as the final _a_ in China. DIPHTHONGS. (ai), as _y_ in fl_y_; (au), as _ow_ in n_ow_; (ei), as _ei_ in v_ei_l, or _ey_ in pr_ey_; (oi), as _oi_ in b_oi_l. s. 20. CONSONANTS (SPECIAL). (k), as _c_ in _c_at; (s), as _c_ in _c_ity; (ch), as _ch_ in _ch_urch; (tch), as in ca_tch_; (th), as voiceless _th_ in _th_in; (dh), as voiced _th_ in _th_ine. I also use (h), when _not initial_, to denote a guttural sound, like G. _ch_ in Na_ch_t, Li_ch_t, but weaker, and slightly varying with the preceding vowel. This sound was usually denoted by (gh) in Chaucer MSS., but was then rapidly becoming extinct, with a lengthening of the preceding vowel. Thus the word _light_, originally (liht), with short _i_ and a strong guttural, was about to become (liit), in which the guttural has disappeared. At the end of the fourteenth century, the vowel was already half-long, and the guttural sound was slight; yet Chaucer never rimes such words as _bright_, _light_, _right_, with words such as _despyt_, _spite_[20]; cf. p. xxviii. l. 5. s. 21. An accent is denoted by (.), as in M.E. _name_ (naa.m[*e]), where the _a_ is long and accented, and the final _e_ is like _a_ in China. By help of these symbols, it is possible to explain the meaning of the M.E. symbols employed by the scribe of the Ellesmere MS. of the Canterbury Tales; which furnishes a sufficient approximate guide for the spelling here adopted throughout. The scribe of the Fairfax MS., whence many of the Minor Poems are taken, agrees with the 'Ellesmere' scribe in essentials, though he makes a large number of grammatical mistakes, owing to the loss (in pronunciation) of the final _e_ in the fifteenth century. s. 22. SYMBOLS. The following is a list of the sounds which the symbols denote. The forms in thick type are the forms actually written and printed; the forms within parenthesis denote the spoken sounds. A short; (a). Ex. _al_ (al); _as_ (az). We have no clear evidence to shew that the modern _a_ (ae) in _cat_ (kaet) occurs anywhere in Chaucer; though it is possible that the sound occurred in Southern English, without any special symbol to represent it[21]. A long, or AA; (aa): (1) at the end of an open syllable, as _age_ (aa.j[*e]); (2) before _s_ or _ce_, as _caas_ or _cas_ (kaas); _face_ (faa.s[*e]).