The Grammar of English Grammars, page 330 by Gould Brown
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formed, at its opening, of the obscure sound of oo as heard in _oo_-ze, which sound rapidly slides into that of i, and then advances to that of ee as heard in _e_-ve, and on which it gradually passes off into silence."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 75. Thus the "unpractised student" is taught that _b-y_ spells _bwy_; or, if pronounced "very deliberately, _boo-i-ee_!" Nay, this grammatist makes b, not a labial mute, as Walker, Webster, Cobb, and others, have called it, but a nasal subtonic, or semivowel. He delights in protracting its "guttural murmur;" perhaps, in assuming its name for its sound; and, having proved, that "consonants are capable of forming syllables," finds no difficulty in mouthing this little monosyllable by into _b-oo-i-ee!_ In this way, it is the easiest thing in the world, for such a man to outface Aristotle, or any other divider of the letters; for he makes the sounds by which he judges. "Boy," says the teacher of Kirkham's Elocution, "describe the protracted sound of y."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 110. The pupil may answer, "That letter, sir, has no longer or more complex sound, than what is heard in the word eye, or in the vowel _i_; but the book which I study, describes it otherwise. I know not whether I can make you understand it, but I will _tr-oo-i-ee_." If the word try, which the author uses as an example, does not exhibit his "protracted sound of y," there is no word that does: the sound is a mere fiction, originating in strange ignorance.
OBS. 6.--In the large print above, I have explained the principal classes of the letters, but not all that are spoken of in books. It is proper to inform the learner that the sharp consonants are t, and all others after which our contracted preterits and participles require that d should be sounded like _t_; as in the words faced, reached, stuffed, laughed, triumphed, croaked, cracked, houghed, reaped, nipped, piqued, mi