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and the deficiency of vowel sounds, especially in the termination of words. Thus Lord Byron compliments the Italian in comparison with our own,—

"I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,

Which melts like kisses from a female mouth,
And sounds as if it should be writ on satin
With syllables that breathe of the sweet South,
And gentle liquids gliding all so pat in

That not a single accent seems uncouth,

Like our harsh Northern, whistling, grunting, guttural,
Which we're obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all."

Beppo, stanza xliv.

In contrast to this, it has been said that "Servian song resembles the tone of the violin; Old Slavonian, that of the organ; Polish, that of the guitar. The Old Slavonian, in its psalms, sounds like the loud rush of the mountain stream; the Polish, like the bubbling and sparkling of a fountain; and the Servian, like the quiet murmuring of a streamlet in a valley."

The ancient accent, consisting as it did of musical tones, must have contributed to the euphony of the classical languages in comparison with the English accent, which consists of stress. In singing, the vowel sounds are made prominent; in speaking, the consonantal sounds. In singing, the sound rises and falls to other grades in the scale without a continuous slide of the voice, and is called the discrete sound. In speaking, the sound ascends and descends in the scale, from one pitch to another, by a continuous slide, and is called concrete sound. The classic nations' seem, in their accent, to have united the two modes of pronouncing words.

SECTION CLXV.-PLAN FOR REMEDYING THE DEFECT.

To remedy the alleged defect, PINKERTON, under the assumed name of ROBERT HERON, declares that our language wants 8,000 vowel terminations in comparison with the Greek. Here is a specimen of the manner in which he would supply them: "When I waz ato Grand Cairo, I picked up several Orientala manuscripta, whica I have' still by me. Among othera, I met with one' intitulen Thea Viziona of Mirza, whica I have read ove' with great pleasure'. I intend to give' ito to the publico, when I have' no other entertainmenta fo them, ando shall begin with the first, whica I have' translaten wordo fo wordo az followeth." The final s in all plurals is turned into a. E is to be given to all substantives in y, as beaute', bounte'; and to be pronounced in finals, as fame', grace'. I is to be given to all adjectives in y, as healthi, weari. O is given to all substantives ending in harsh consonants, as eggo, capo, facto.

For a more full account of this absurd and impracticable scheme, see Cambridge Philological Museum, page 649, vol. i.

While changes like these are impossible, and are to be deprecated if they were possible, still, changes are to be expected in the ortho

graphical forms of the language of a nation, just as there are in the ideas which are expressed by that language. These changes should not be left to be settled by chance or by caprice, but by the judicious application of the principles of orthography.

It ought, however, in justice to be added, that while the English is inferior to some languages in its euphony, it is superior to many. Indeed, many languages, in the accumulation of consonantal ele ments, and in their harsh guttural tones, resemble some of the languages in the north of Europe, characterised by Julian as being like the scream of birds and the cries of wild beasts.

SECTION CLXVI.-CAUSES OF DIVERSITY IN EUPHONY.

"Professor WILLIS, of Cambridge, in the course of some most ingenious experiments upon the organisation and condition of the human larynx, came upon the law which regulated the pronunciation of the vowels. He found this to be partly in proportion to the size of the opening of the pipe, partly to the force with which air is propelled through it; and by the adaptation of a tremulous artificial larynx to the pipe of an organ, he produced the several vowels at will. Now, bearing in mind the difference between the living organ and the dead one, the susceptibility of the former to dilatation and compression, from the effects not only of the human will, but also of cold, of denser or thinner currents of air, but, above all, of the influence which the general state of the body must have upon every part of it, we are furnished at once with the necessary hypothesis, viz., that climate, and the local position, on which climate much depends, are the main agencies in producing the original variations of dialect. Once produced, tradition perpetuates them, with subsequent modifications proportionate to the change in the original condition, the migration to localities of a different character, the congregation into towns, the cutting down of forests, the cultivation of the soil, by which the prevalent degrees of cold, and the very direction of the currents of air, are in no small degree altered. It is clear that the same influence will apply to all such consonants as can be in any way affected by the greater or less tension of the organs-consequently, above all, to the gutturals; next, to the palatals, which may be defined by the position of the tongue; least of all to the labials, and generally to the liquids also, though these may be more or less strongly pronounced by different peoples.

"In reviewing the principal languages of the ancient and the modern world, where the migrations of those that spoke them can be traced with certainty, we are struck with the fact that the dwellers in chains of mountains, or in the elevated plains of hilly districts, strongly affect broad vowels and guttural consonants."-J. M. KEMBLE, vol. ii., Phil. Soc., p. 122.

"The mountaineer and the inhabitant of the sea-coast must often have had to struggle with the contending winds and waves to make

themselves heard, and would naturally acquire a louder and more vehement tone than those whose happier lot it was to enjoy the calm of the still, sequestered vale.

"The organs of speech are differently framed by nature in different climates and countries; and even in the same countries some men pronounce their words broader, softer, harder, quicker, or slower than others, and some are unable to pronounce this or that letter. These accidents, by example and imitation, bring on a change of vowels and consonants, whence a language becomes unlike what it was at first."

1. What is euphony?

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QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER VI.

2. Upon what does euphony depend?

3. Upon what does ease of utterance depend?

4. Mention two faults in this connection.

5. What are euphonic figures?

6. Mention the two kinds of euphonic figures?

7. Give the definition and an example of each figure.

8. Are the principles of euphony the same in all languages?

9. How can you show that they are not the same by a reference to the Romanic languages?

10. What can you say of GRIMM's law?

11. How does the English language compare with the Classical and Romanic languages in the number of its vowel sounds?

12. What effect had the ancient accent upon the euphony of the Classical languages? 13. What general causes operate to produce a diversity in the euphony of different languages?

14. Describe Professor WILLIS's experiment.

CHAPTER VII.

SECTION CLXVII. .—THE NATURAL SIGNIFICANCY OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS.

The natural significance of sounds, although it has hitherto been exhibited imperfectly, and only in distant surmises, is now beginning to be regarded as one of the deepest and most important doctrines in philology. It is considered as an established fact that every articulate sound has naturally a specific import. For, in order to the existence of language, it is not enough that man has the organs of speech, that he has sensations and ideas, and that he has a desire to communicate them to others, but it is also necessary that sounds should have a natural adaptedness to express the particular sensations and ideas.

Although existing languages exhibit, as it were, only partial fragments and mutilated ruins of the ancient tongues once spoken on our earth, yet the principle for which we contend is still sufficiently evident in them, more especially in the popular dialects, and in the terms employed for describing sensible objects, operations, and relations. In innumerable cases, where the relation is the same,

the

same sound has been chosen, to speak algebraically, as the exponent of that relation.

It must, however, be remarked, that the natural significancy of sounds is, for the most part, a matter of feeling, and cannot be exhibited in nice logical distinctions. Instruction on this subject can only furnish hints, which may awaken attention to the life and energy which pervade language, and give a general idea of the import of sounds.

Some of our best poets have been highly commended for adapting the sound to the sense. Surely this would not be possible unless there were some correlation between sound and sense.

The vowel constitutes the life and soul of a word, the consonant its body or form. The vowel is more fleeting and changeable, yet. not entirely arbitrary.

In examining the import of the different vowel and consonant sounds, we shall endeavour to follow the order of their development. Hence we begin with the vowels.

I. The Mean Vowel a.

The sound of a in father is to be regarded as the leading vowel-sound in the IndoEuropean languages: (1) Because it is the simplest and most easily enounced; (2) because it is the first enounced by children; (3) because it is the most common vowelsound; (4) because it is a part of most roots; and (5) because it stands at the head of most alphabets.

Among the uses of this vowel are the following

1. As the enunciation of this vowel requires nothing but the ordinary position of the organs of speech, with a simple opening of the mouth and breathing, it is the natural expression of passion, pain, or grief; as, Sanscrit ha, Persian ah, Hebrew ahh, Arabic ah, Greek ä, Latin ah, German ach, ah, English ah, Welsh a, Irish a.

2. It enters into some verbs signifying to breathe; as, Greek aw, Latin halo, halare. 3. As the first and leading vowel, it is used where no reason exists for any special Vowel. Hence it is found, as stated above, in a large proportion of Indo-European roots, in the technical names of the letters in Sanscrit, &c.

II. The Extreme Vowels u and i.

U, the lowest sound in the scale of vowels, is produced deep in the breast. Hence, 1. It expresses low and obscure sounds; as, Greek popμúpw, Latin murmuro, Russian murtshu, German murren, English murmur; Greek μúlw, Latin mutio, musso, English mutter; Dutch grommelen, English grumble, Danish grum, English grum, Welsh grwm; Greek ypów, Old Latin grundio, German grunzen, English grunt.

.2. It expresses the red in colour (for what reason does not appear); as, Greek pv0pós, Tνppós, Toрpúpa; Latin ruber, rufus, purpura; German roth, Anglo-Saxon rude, English ruddy, Welsh rhuz, Armorican ruz, Latin russus, rutilus, French roux.

I, the highest sound in the scale of vowels, is produced high in the throat. Hence, 1. It expresses whatever is clear, shrill, bright, or small; as, Sanscrit didhi, to shine; Latin viridis; Greek μikpós.

2. It expresses the white in colour (for what reason does not appear); as, Prussian sipid, white; Latin lilium.

III. The Mixed Vowels o and e.

The 0, "which is formed from a and u, and the e, which is formed from a and i, partake of the import of the vowels whence they originate.

NOTE. The force of the vowels may be best exhibited in words which differ only in their vowels ; as, Greek κρώζω, κράζω, κρίζω ; μακρός and μικρός ; ἀλαλάζω and ἐλελίζω ; Latin cachinnor, to laugh aloud, and German kichern, to titter; English ball and pill, both from Latin pila; English gloom and gleam; flame and flimmer; shake and shiver; quake and quiver; juggle, gaggle, giggle; cluck, clack, click; croak, crack, creak; French gronder and grincer.

In passing to the consonants, we observe that the strong or weak consonants naturally denote strength or weakness respectively, and that the consonant of a particular organ of speech usually enters into the name of that organ.

IV. The Breathing or Aspiration h.

The letter h, or the breathing, is naturally adapted to express a breathing, or whatever occasions it, an aspiration for something, or whatever occasions it; as, Latin halo, to breathe; Sanscrit iha, desire; Zendish honover, desire; also many Hebrew roots, formed with hhav, hav, and av, Latin aveo, which primarily denote breathing.

V. The Semi-Vowels w and y.

These letters, from their extreme weakness, are naturally adapted to express weakness, gentle motion, and kindred ideas; as, Latin vado (compare German waten, English wade): veho (compare German wegen in bewegen, English wag, weigh, wagon, wain, way, wave); vacillo (compare German wackeln, English waggle); verto (compare Latin versus, German -wärts, English -wards); volvo (compare German wälzen, English wallow, welter); German wallen, to spring up (whence English well); wandern (English wander); wehen, to blow (compare Latin ventus, English wind); wenden, to turn (English wend, past went); winden (English wind); weichen, to yield; wühlen, to stir. So w, when preceded by s or sh. See below.

The Hebrew employs y initial where the Arabic has w, and the Teutonic uses w initial in the interrogative where the Sanscrit has y. Hence these semi-vowels cannot greatly differ in their import. VI. The Liquids 1 and г.

These liquids are naturally opposed to each other, as smooth and rough. In some languages, as the Sanscrit, they constitute vowels.

1. The smooth liquid l occurs in the name of the organ which is employed in its enunciation; as, Latin lingua.

2. It occurs in the name of actions in which the tongue is principally concerned; as, Greek Malé (compare Latin lallo, German lallen, English loll, Welsh llolian); λántw (Latin lambo, Danish labe, English lap, Welsh Wepiaw, lleibiaw); apúoow, deixw (Sanserit lih, Latin lingo, ligurio, Lithuanian lezu, Russian lizhu, German lecken, English lick, Irish lighim) ; ληρέω; λοιδορέω; λύζω; λωβάζω.

3. It expresses whatever is soft or soothing; as, Greek λauw, λeios (Latin levis), λευρύς, λιαρός, λιπάζω, λούω (Latin luo, lavo).

4. Z final, in nouns, forms diminutives; as, Greek épwrúλos, a little lover, from epws; Latin scutulum, a little shield, from scutum; German bündel, from bund, English bundle, from bond; Latin sacculus, from saccus, German säckel, from sack, English satchel or sachel, from sack. In verbs it expresses a repetition of little actions; as, Latin cantillo, from canto; German betteln, from beten; English prattle, from prate; tingle, from ting; tinkle, from tink; crackle, from crack; twinkle from twink.

The rough liquid r has the following functions, either alone or preceded by k or g: 1. It denotes rattling or broken sounds; as, Greek κpico, Kpoτéw, Kρouw; English croak, crack, creak, crash, rattle.

2. It denotes interrupted or distorted motion; as, German rad, krumm; English ring, rind, round, cramp, crook, crown, gripe, grasp, grapple. So wr. See below.

VII. The Nasals m, n, and ng.

The nasals m and n are employed to express negation, being the natural sounds to express refusal; as, Sanscrit má, Greek un, lest; Sanscrit na, Persian neh, Greek ve (in vos), Latin ne (in non, nemo), German ne (in nicht, nein), English ne (in not, none), Lithuanian ne, Russian ne, Irish na, ni, Welsh na, ni, not.

The labial nasal m is one of the earliest sounds of infants, being easily formed by their unpractised lips, and is used,

1. To express the mother or nurse, on account of their objective importance to the child; as Hebrew em, English ma, &c., mother; German amme, nurse.

2. To express the pronoun of the first person, on account of its subjective importance to every one; as Sanscrit mam, Greek ué, Latin me, English me, &c.

3. To express one of the most important mental operations; as Sanscrit man, Greek unów, Latin moneo, memini, German mahnen, meinen, English mean (compare Latin mens, English mind).

The lingual nasal n occurs in the name of the organ concerned; as, Latin nasus, English nose.

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