The following underedited Reader's Digest version is intended to make Longley's Transition Reader more accessible by giving a transliteration from the Pitman and Ellis phonetic alphabet in which (much of) it was first published (here). Occasional comments are inserted, italics added for emphasis, and description substituted for examples and exemplifying texts.

--Tom Veatch

The Transition Reader

A COURSE OF
Inductive Romanic Reading Lessons
for the use of Phonetic Readers in Learning to Read Romanically

By Elias Longley

Published by the American Phonetic Publishing Association
Longley Brothers, 168-1/2 Vine Street,
Benn Pitman, Cor. Fifth & John,
CINNCINNATI
1855

Preface.

The alphabet used in the Phonetic Readers, issued by the American Phonetic Publishing Association, originated with Isaac Pitman and A.J. Ellis, B.A. of England.

In the formation of this alphabet, its inventors had the sagacity to perceive that the only plan that could be adopted, with any reasonable hope of the general introduction of phonetic reading into common use, was to assign such values to the old letters which were retained, and to select such forms for the additional letters which it was necessary to have, as would make phonetic reading differ as little as possible from the common or romanic reading already in use. Much credit is due to them and the many friends of phonetic spelling in America who contributed their suggestions and influence to bring the alphabet to its present practicable shape, and for their steadiness in adhering to this principle in spite of the many inducements to pursue a different course. The ease with which the transition is made from the one kind of reading to the other is a gratifying evidence of the success of their efforts.

Many who have been taught to read phonetically, have become romanic readers without any assistance whatever.

The design of this book is to afford such assistance as will facilitate this transition from phonetic to romanic reading, by giving an explanation of the romanic alphabet, and the various combinations of letters and other methods by which the elementary sounds are most usually represented in romanic spelling, accompanied with appropriate exercises in reading, to render the values of these combinations familiar to the learner.

The transition should not be attempted until the pupil is so familiar with phonetic spelling as to be able to read with ease and certainty any pronounceable combination of letters.(Italics added)

The general explanation of the romanic alphabet may be omitted when the pupils are very young children. If the pupil should hesitate at the pronunciation of any word, the teacher should refer him to the place where the sound of the letter or combination of letters, concerning which he is at fault, is explained. By thus making the pupil thoroughly familiar with the different values of the letters and combinations, as he proceeds, he will make more real progress than by proceeding more rapidly. All the different values of the letters and their combinations, (except a few that rarely occur), are explained in the different lessons.

Transition Reader

General Explanation of the Romanic Alphabet

There are two ways of writing and spelling English. To distinguish them, one is called romanic, or belonging to the Romans, because the letters used in romanic spelling are -- with a few alterations, -- the same that were used by the Latins or ancient inhabitants of Rome; and the other is called phonetic, from the Greek word phone, which means voice or sound, because it shows the reader how to give the words their proper sounds.

All the readers of this book are supposed to understand phonetic reading, and to be able to read it with ease. But it is of great importance that they should understand romanic reading also, for the reason that nearly alll the books in teh English language are printed romanically. while there are only a few books in phonetic spelling, because it is only a few years since books were first printed phonetically in English .

The easiest and quickest way to learn romanic reading is to learn phonetic reading first. Those who have not been taught to read phonetically, find it very difficult to learn romanic reading. (Italics added.)

When words in romanic spelling are introduced among words spelt phonetically, it is usual to enclose them between two marks of this kind ( ), thus (have). These marks are called obsolescents.

The romanic alphabet consists of twenty-six letters. They are:
a
A b
B c
C d
D e
E f
F g
G h
H i
I j
J k
K l
L m
M n
N o
O p
P

q
Q r
R s
S t
T u
U v
V w
W x
X y
Y z
Z

All of these are used in phonetic spelling except c, q, and x. c is generally, and q always, pronounced like k; x has sometimes the sound of ks and sometimes gz.

In romanic spelling "a" and "&cursivea;" are two forms of the same letter, "a" being only used as an upright or roman letter, and &cursivea being only used as a sloping or italic letter.

The same letter often has a different sound in different words, or parts of the same word.

The same sound is frequently represented by different letters or combinations of letters in different words or parts of words. In many wods, one or more of the letters oare mute, that is, they are not sounded at all. The letters (a e i o u) are called vowels, and are used with the the sounds which thye have in phonetic spelling more frequently than in any other way.

The letters (b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x z) are consonants. The letter y whenn it follows a consonant, is a vowel, in other cases it is a consonant. The consonants (b f h j k l m p r v w y) always have the same sound as in phonetic spelling. The consonants (d g n s t z) are nearly always pronounced as in phonetic spelling.

READING LESSONS

The letters have the same sound as in phonetic spelling except the word "a", which shoul be sounded like &rounda

fit	pen	bat	top	rug
kid	ten	kat	not	plum
twig	den	man	hod	drum
strip	yes	flat	prop	himself
swift	vest	land	stop	disturb

...exemplifying text skipped...

(The following, similar to the above, offer a lesson or rule, given ~20 exemplifying words, then 4-5 lines of exemplifying text. For brevity they are reduced to the rules alone.)

2 s has the sound of z
3 th has the sound of theta or eth
4 c has the sound of k
5 when two letters of the same kind come together only one is pronounced
6 e has the sound of [i:]
7 a is sounded like [e:]
8 e at the end of words is silent.
9 e has thesound of [\schwar]
10 sh has the sound of \esh
11 ch and tch have the sound of c-hatchek
12 ee has the sound of [i:]
13 ea has the sound of [i:]
14 ea has the sound of [\epsilon]
15 ai has the sound of [e:]
16 i has the sound of [ay]
17 y when it follows a consonant has the sound of [ay] or [I]
18 irregular words of, to buy eye any many been busy
19 o has the sound of [u:]
20 o has the sound of [o:]
21 or has the sound of [or]
22 o has the sound of [\wedge]
23 oo has the sound of [u:]
24 oo has the sound of [U]
25 e and o before n and e after l, in the last syllableof words, are often silent.
26 a has the sound of [cursivea] (arch, palm, part)
27 a has the sound of [\openo] (all, warm water, bald)
28 irregular words (there was said two does could would should)
29 u has the sound of [u:] and [U]
30 u at the beginning of syllables has the sound of [yu:], after a consonant in the same syllable it is [u:] (tune, use)
31 oy and oi have the sound of [oy]
32 ow and ou have the sound of [aw] (cow, house)
33 ow and ou have the sound of [o:] (soul, blow)
34 ou has the sound of [u:] (soup, group, youth)
35 k is silence before n and after c (knife, know, pick)

p25-p56: ~8 examples, followed by the rest of an entire page of reading practice incorporating previous items. p57-86, back to 5-6 lines of example text.

68 n is sometimes silent (condemn, solemn, hymn)
69 -p is sometimes silent (psalm, receipt, tempt)
70 s is sometimes silent (island, corps)
71 c and ch are sometimes silent (indict, czar)
72 ch has the sound of [\esh] (chagrin, chivalry)
73 i has the sound of [y] (onion, companion)
74 s has the sound of [\esh] (sure, sugar, issue)
... to 84 (p66)

[Exercises p10-66]

p67.

Romanic Reading

The pupil has now been introduced to all the leading peculiarities of romanic reading. They have been found to be numerous, contradictory, and embarrassing; but in this, as in every thing else, practice will make perfect, and having given good attention to the various exercises in the preceding portion of this book, by bearing in mind the following general rules, to which there are, however, many exceptions, you will be able to read almost any thing in romanic spelling.

1. Pronounce the words generally as though they were spelled phonetically, observing the points of variation as given below, and correct yourself by your own knowledge of the language.(Italics added)
2. ch is to be sounded as [c-hatchek]; thus chair, each.
3. th as [theta] or [eth]; think, lath; them, with.
4. sh as [sh]; shall, wish.
5. ph as [f]; physic, Joseph.
6. ng as [engma]; song, swinging.
7. c, before \aitalic, o and u as [k]; cap, cot, cup.
8. c before e and i as [s]; cent, cinder.
9. g before e and i as [j]; general, ginger.
10. ee, ea, ei as [i:]; feet, meat, seize.
11. ai, ay, and ey as [e:]; hail, play, grey.
12. au and aw as [openo]; gaul, law
13. oa and oe as [o:]; coal, hoe.
14. oo as [u:]; moon, room.
15. ie and ye as [ay]; tried, bye.
16. oi and oy as [oy]; boil, employ
17. ow and ou as [aw]; plow, flour
18. ew, eu, ui, and ue as [yu:]; flew, feud, suit, subdue
19. When two consonants are found at the beginning of a word, and it is difficult to pronounce both, take the second; as, knife, gnarl, psalm, write; at the end of a word, take the first, as, solemn, kiln.
20. When a,e,i,o,u are found before a consonant at the end of a word, they have their phonetic value; as, woman, gospel, civil, common, concur. {??}
21. When a,e,i,o,u are followed by a consonant and an (e), at the end of words, the last (e} is not pronounced, but serves to show that the preceding vowels are long; that is, a has the sound of [e:], as mate, pale, wade; (e) has the sound of [i:] as mete, precede; i has the sound of [ay], as unite, revile; o has the sound of [o:], as, mode, stone, u has the sound of [u:], as rule, pure.
22. When you see (was, his) you may at first say [was, his] but in a sentence you will immediately correct yourself in these and similar errors, and say [w^z, hIz], because you can already talk English {or similarly with other languages, you can correct according to your previous knowledge of it}. If you were a foreigner, you might find considerable difficult in guessing right, because a foreigner has nothing to assist him beyond the letters he sees before him; but you have the advantage of a previous knowledge of English. This is the key to your rapid learning after you have once learned the phonetic meaning of the letters.(Italics added)

On the following page (p70) is the romanic alphabet in the form of a table, showing the forms, names, and order of the letters. It consists of only twenty six letters, arranged in a very peculiar order, which it is necessary you should know, in order to make use of dictionaries and catalogues, as they are all arranged in this manner. Each letter has a romanic name, which is very frequently different from the phonetic name. You should learn these names by heart, and repeat them frequently, till you know them well, as you will find a knowledge of the order in which the letters are placed of great use in your future studies.

(... TABLE elided, p70, with letters and names including names of phonetic letters...)

Incidentally, I noticed that the ABC song is nearly a phonetic chart.

Vowels Labials+ Velars+ Dentals+(#1) Etc Dentals(#2)

A B C D

E F G H

I J K L M N

O P Q R S T

U V W X Y Z

Can it be a coincidence that all the vowels, most labials and near-labials, and nearly all the velars are in columns 1, 2, and 3 respectively? This is impossible to attribute to chance. It means the table was written vertically, but read off horizontally, with a few reorderings, to generate our famous alphabetical order, the ABC song.

Reading Exercises continue from p71 to p96.

The End.