English, and when pronounced, has generally the sound of z, rather than that of sh, the sound here affixed to it by the Catholic Missionaries. Tsh and sh are therefore substituted for x; the tsh, merely to add another distinctive symbol, where it could be done. Should it seem strange that the Chinese have two sibilants both in this and the last series, this may possibly be accounted for thus. In the three first series, raising the tongue toward the roof of the mouth, would naturally produce the nasals: if the tongue were thus raised in these two last series, the sibilants would be produced; and perhaps in both series, the latter of the two sibilants might be formed by pressing the tongue more strongly against the palate than in forming the first of them. This might cause a distinction of sound perceptible to a Chinese ear, though not

to ours.

The Eighth Series, directed to be pronounced from the throat, are evidently gutturals. The first of the four seems to be the softest sound which can be emitted from the throat. The Catholic Missionaries, in some cases, give it no sound, but merely write the vowel or auxiliary sound: thus in the table in which the vowelo unites with the initial powers to form ko, to, ho, mo, &c. the character which stands underneath this initial, they write merely o; and indeed all the characters which begin with a vowel belong to this initial. Yet in the final which adds the auxiliary sound ay to the various initials, as kay, tay, yay, may, they begin some of the characters standing here with ng; and others with y. Among twenty characters placed under this initial in the Imperial Dictionary, the Catholic Missionaries have begun four with the nasal ng, and sixteen with either y, or the mere sound of the vowel or auxiliary. There seems to have been some intermixture in the characters placed here and those placed underneath the nasal of the first series. In

examining twenty-two of the latter, I found twelve written with y, two with v, and eight with the nasal. It seems therefore, that to some of the characters placed under the nasal, they have given the sound of y; and that on the other hand, to a few placed under this initial, they have given the nasal sound. Whether this arises from a mistake of the compilers of the Imperial Dictionary in placing the wrong characters underneath this initial, or from a subsequent change in the pronunciation of certain characters, is a matter of small importance. The transition from nga to ya is not great; if in

stead of raising the tip of the tongue, it be bent downwards, ya will be produced instead of nga.- The second sound in this series is an aspiration, written h, by the Catholic Missionaries. The third sound, they write y: the fourth is a very strong aspirate, which they sometimes write kh, and in some other instances merely h. Neither of these, however, is the true sound: it would be much more exactly expressed by the Arabic or the Hebrew the sound of which is nearly equivalent to hh: It seems best therefore to express it by hh, particularly as the kh belongs to the first series, and the h is already appropriated to the second sound of this series.

The Ninth or last series, which is said to be pronounced partly with the tongue and partly with the teeth, contains only two powers. The first of these the Catholic Missionaries properly write : and the second even of this series seems formed on the characteristic principle of the Chinese system, that of aspirating the former sound: if an attempt be made to aspirate 1, this sound will be nearly produced, which the Catholic Missionaries write j; but as the English j is a sound I have never heard given to that or any other Chinese character, and the plan of giving the j in italics as a French j, cannot be realized when the whole word is printed in italics, it seems

as well to use the English y, from which this sound differs but little. The Chinese Initial system exhibited in one view, stands thus:

The number of initial powers which this system would contain were they all distinct from each other, is Thirty-six. From these, however, we must deduct the third power in the first eight series, which will reduce them to twenty-eight. From these too may be further deducted the nasal of the third series, which differs but little from the nasal of the second series; one of the sibilants in the sixth series, perhaps one of those in the seventh, (as they are both pronounced nearly alike); and the last power in the ninth series, which we cannot express differently from the y of the eighth, although there is certainly a small difference between the two. These four being further deducted leave Twenty-Four distinct powers, if we consider the seventh series as different from the third, which the difference between n and sh, the terminating powers of the two series, seems fully to warrant: respecting this

If we deem these two series however, the reader must judge for himself. the same, the distinct initial and consonantal powers found in the language, instead of twenty-four, will be Twenty-One.

Should any one ask, "Why alter the system introduced by the Catholic Missionaries? If theirs be a good system, does it not savour of pride to attempt altering it?" I would reply, that while I readily acknowledge their system on the whole to possess much merit, it by no means follows that no further improvement can be made. This attempt may indeed have failed; but if we confine ourselves precise'y to their footsteps, it is certain that all further improvement is quite out of the question. Besides, they adapted their pronunciation to that of their own country; but why a French, an Italian, or a Portuguese mode of pronouncing names should be retained in a book intended for English readers, I have hitherto heard no satisfactory reason urged. The most plausible perhaps, is, that some foreigner may possibly read the book, to whom the pronunciation of the names would be familiar, though difficult to English readers. But to this it may be replied, that were it worth the labour to render the pronunciation of names, on this account, unintelligible to the bulk of our own countrymen, the step taken would go near to defeat itself. This foreigner, who is to read this book, is of course acquainted with English, and in an English book he might possibly expect the pronunciation of the names to be English as well as the rest; thus the course taken to accommodate him, might be the means of misleading him. That in an English work the spelling of names should assume an English form, and be accommodated to the pronunciation of that language, seems, therefore, to be what foreigners themselves would naturally expect. We proceed to the Fipowers of the Chinese system.

nal

M

The FINAL SOUNDS of the Chinese Language.

These, which they term Nyeh, Auxiliary or helping sounds, are originally twelve, of which eight are Vowel, and four are Nasal sounds. The Chinese however, by a method at once ingenious, and founded in nature, have extended these vowels and nasals to perhaps a greater number than any other language brings into use. The eight original vowels, and the four nasals, which for the sake of distinction we may term Primary, are described as pronounced with the mouth open. They are afterward said to form what are termed Secondary sounds; which is done by interjecting, where admissable, a sound resembling that of i ory, between the initial and the final. This changes ka to kya, kang to kyang, &c.; and thus produces almost an equal number of secondary vowel and nasal sounds. This however is but half the system: as the Primary vowels and nasals are pronounced with the mouth open, they admit of another modification by being pronounced with the mouth first closed. This gives rise to almost an equal number of new sounds;-by this method, from the open vowel ka, is formed kwa; from kee, koo, &c. the nasal kang becomes kwang; the nasal kung forms koong; kun, koon; and kan, kw in. Further, this class of Close primary finals also undergoes the Secondary modification, i or y being interjected where admissible. Thus, from the eight original vowel sounds, would be formed twenty-four more; and from the four nas il sounds would be formed twelve new ones, were the interjected y admissible in all these finals. The actual number of both the primary and secondary sounds appears in the following Synopsis of them; copied from the Imperial Dictionary.