On the other hand, _sh_ was usually written by the Saxons _sc_, as _sceaft_, shaft; _sceam_, shame; _sceal_, shall. What was the pronunciation of _sc_ cannot be determined; but it is evident that each letter had a distinct sound. It is most probable that before _a_, _o_, and _u_, _sc_ were pronounced _sk_, or _c_ might have had the force of _ch_ in _choose_. It is very clear that _c_ had this sound before _e_ and _i_; for the Saxon words in which _ch_ now precede _e_ or _i_, were formerly spelt with _c_ only; as _child_ from the Saxon _cild_; _chill_ from _cele_; _chink_ from _cinnon_, to gape; _chick_ from _cicen_. If therefore _c_ before _e_ and _i_ had the force of _ch_, _sceaft_ must have been pronounced _scheaft_, which would easily be softened down and contracted into _shaft_. But whatever was the sound of _sc_ in the Saxon, the sound derived from it is now simple, and has no single character to represent it in our language; for the proper sounds of _s_ and _h_ combined, do not form the sound which we invariably annex to _sh_. By not retaining the primitive Saxon _c_ after _s_, we have probably lost the pronunciation and introduced an irregularity. It is not certain however that a change of the alphabet was prior to the change of pronunciation; for the latter might have produced the former. But the effect is certain; we have a simple sound without a proper character, which is always an imperfection.[33] We have therefore in English the two sounds of _th_, the aspirate in _think_, and the vocal in _this_, both of which are simple consonant sounds, peculiar to the language, and derived from two _single_ characters. Each ought still to be represented by a distinct single letter. _Sh_, on the other hand, express a simple sound, derived from _two_ separate Saxon consonants, which must have been originally pronounced as two letters. These irregularities must have been partly owing to a change of alphabet.[34] Other irregularities have been occasioned by an injudicious application of the letters of one alphabet to the sounds of another language.