Therefore the Simple and Uniform _Vowels_ are, _a._ _e._ _i._ _j._
_y._ _o._ _u._ _w._ and are formed after the following manner.
_a._ is a _Gutteral Vowel_, and the most Simple of all; the Key of the
_Alphabet_, and therefore is by all Nations set first of all,
excepting only (as far as I know) the _Abyssines_, by whom, as Ludolf
testifieth, it is placed as the Thirteenth _Letter_. True indeed it
may be pronounced by various Placings of the _Tongue_, yet the common,
and most convenient is, that the _Tongue_ should be in its posture of
rest; and then being gently stretched forth in the _Mouth_, it may
only lightly, or not at all touch upon the utmost Border of the lower
_Teeth_; if therefore the lower _Jaw_ be drawn downwards, and thereby
the _Mouth_ be opened, that the _Voice_ formed in the _Throat_,
strikes not neither against the _Teeth_, nor against the _Lips_, than
a plain open [_a_] is heard, _e. i. j. y._ are _Dental Vowels_, or the
_Voice_, which in coming forth, smites more or less against the
_Teeth_; Hence it is that Infants, although they can say _Pappa, bo,
&c.
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