s. 207. _Ng._--The sound of the _ng_ in _sing_, _king_, _throng_, when at the end of a word, or of _singer_, _ringing_, &c. in the middle of a word, is not the natural sound of the combination _n_ and _g_, each letter retaining its natural power and sound; but a simple single sound, of which the combination _ng_ is a conventional mode of expressing. s. 208. Other terms, chiefly relating to the vowels, have still to be explained. The _['e]_ of the French has been called _ferm['e]_, or _close_ (Italian, _chiuso_). Its opposite, the _a_ in _fate_, is _open_. Compared with _a_ in _fate_, and the _o_ in _note_, _a_ in _father_, {149} and the _aw_ in _bawl_, are _broad_, the vowels of _note_ and _fate_ being _slender_. s. 209. In _fat_, the vowel is, according to common parlance, _short_; in _fate_, it is _long_. Here we have the introduction of two fresh terms. For the words _long_ and _short_, I would fain substitute _independent_ and _dependent_. If from the word _fate_ I separate the final consonantal sound, the syllable, _fa_ remains. In this syllable the _a_ has precisely the sound that it had before. It remains unaltered. The removal of the consonant has in nowise modified its sound or power. It is not so with the vowel in the word _fat_. If from this I remove the consonant following, and so leave the _a_ at the end of the syllable, instead of in the middle, I must do one of two things: I must sound it either as the _a_ in _fate_, or else as the _a_ in _father_. Its (so-called) short sound it cannot retain, unless it be supported by a consonant following. For this reason it is _dependent_. The same is the case with all the so-called short sounds, _viz._, the _e_ in _bed_, _i_ in _fit_, _u_ in _bull_, _o_ in _not_, _u_ in _but_. To the preceding remarks the following statements may be added. 1. That the words _independent_ and _dependent_ correspond with the terms _perfect_ and _imperfect_ of the Hebrew grammarians. 2. That the Hebrew grammars give us the truest notions respecting these particular properties of vowels. The following sentences are copied from Lee's Hebrew Grammar, Art. 33, 34:--"By _perfect vowels_ is meant, vowels which, being preceded by a consonant" (_or without being so preceded_), "will constitute a complete syllable, as [Hebrew: BA] _b[=a]_. By _imperfect vowels_ is meant those vowels which are not generally" (_never_) "found to constitute syllables without either the addition of a consonant or of an accent. Such syllables, therefore, must be either like [Hebrew: BDA] _bad_, or [Hebrew: BA] _b[=a]_, _i.e._, followed by a consonant, or accompanied by an accent." For further remarks on this subject, see the chapter on accent.