We should not have adverted to the errors in this generally excellent system, or noticed it in any terms except of commendation, but for the influence which we conceive it may exert, not only on writing, but on speech; the good, if correct; the injuryso far as speech is concerned,-if incorrect in its articulative bases. We should be glad to see a system of writing sounds popularly studied, and brought into general use, were it only for the benefit that must result to popular articulation. We look upon Phonography as a most valuable auxiliary in teaching the Art of Speech; and our object in treating of it in this work is, that we may, by its aid, advance popular knowledge on the subject of speech. We should anticipate great good,-not to articulation alone, but to the general interests of language and education,if every boy in our schools were a phonographer. He would then be capable of correctly analyzing speech; a process which, in the present state of knowledge that prevails on this subject, we have often seen baffle the efforts of older and wiser linguists, even in the most simple of our verbal combinations. The following are the Principles on which we have constructed our Phonographic Scheme. The attentive perusal of them will enable any person, almost at once, to use our ALPHABET OF ARTICULATIONS. ORGANS EMPLOYED. I. All articulations of the lips are written in a slanting direction from right to left. II. All articulations of the back or root of the tongue are written slantingly from left to right. III. All articulations of the point of the tongue acting upwards, are written perpendicularly. IV. The sibilant and lisping sounds, in forming which the tongue lies nearly horizontal, are written horizontally. MODES OF ACTION. V. All Obstructive articulations,-i.e. those formed by perfect contact of the organs-(the First Mode of Action)-are represented by straight lines. VI. Nasal quality is denoted by a ring; and, as the Nasals are orally obstructive by the same articulative mechanisms as the preceding elements, the nostril-ring is written with a short straight mark, which, by its line of direction, shows the obstructive formation, of which the ring denotes the nasal correspondent. Ee "nasals" belong. He should of course discover this from the character by which he is to represent these sounds. But this will mislead him; for the excellent principle of distinction between breath and voice letters, which is the best and newest point in this phonographic system, is not consistently applied to the elements of the last two classes. The "liquids" and "nasals" are all voice letter ("flats"); yet only one of them,—namely, NG, is written in the voice character. N and ng are represented by the same mark,—the former thin (the sharp notation), the latter thick (the flat notation), so that the scheme of articulate symbols misinforms the eye that as B is to P, V to F, Z to S, &c., so is ng to N! This is one of the errors resulting from an arbitrary arrangement of marks, and the neglect of a natural principle of association. One of the most serious errors in Pitman's Phonography, both as regards its fundamental principiation of speech, and its stenographic simplicity, remains to be noticed. These The articulative function of the letters Y and W is not recognised. elements are considered to be always vowels-vowels only. The result is, that this lack of characters to represent two articulations has to be supplied, and is supplied, by no less than 40 symbols, to denote their combinations with different vowels. The cumbersome result of such a theory, one would have expected to operate to its rejection, even were it more correct; but it is clearly erroneous. Let its author, and all who think with him in this matter, test it in the words ye and woo, which, according to this theory, are nothing else than the repeated vowel ee ee and oo oo. Experiment will prove, that the most rapid utterance of two ee's, without any intermediate action of the tongue, will never produce the word ye; and that without a similar action of the lips between the two oo's, the word woo cannot possibly be sounded. If, then, ye and woo cannot be pronounced with the mouth steadily maintained in the vowel positions ee and oo, the initial elements of the words are not vowels but articulations. The absence of an articulative Y leads to the writing of vulgarisms, and the corruption of utterance, in such words as future, nature, education, &c., which are written with tsh and dzh, instead of ty and dy; thus, “fūchr,” “ějūkāshn," &c. Colloquial carelessness does certainly convert the nice articulations ty and dy into the more slovenly tsh and dzh; but the former are undoubtedly the elements heard in the correct utterance of this class of words; and surely the best pronunciation should always-unless for imitative purposes -be reflected in writing. As there is no articulation w in this system, there is of course no wh; and this breath articulation is considered to be identical in sound with the word who hw-hoo. Thus, the sentence, "I saw the man WHET the knife" is phonographically (?) perverted into the rather startling assertion, "I saw the man WHO ATE the knife." Let the most glib upholder of this theory-for it is not confined to the system under review-pronounce the latter sentence as rapidly as he can, and see if he will ever make it express the former. Yet it should do so by the mere accident of abruptness, if the theory were correct. We should not have adverted to the errors in this generally excellent system, or noticed it in any terms except of commendation, but for the influence which we conceive it may exert, not only on writing, but on speech; the good, if correct; the injuryso far as speech is concerned,-if incorrect in its articulative bases. We should be glad to see a system of writing sounds popularly studied, and brought into general use, were it only for the benefit that must result to popular articulation. We look upon Phonography as a most valuable auxiliary in teaching the Art of Speech; and our object in treating of it in this work is, that we may, by its aid, advance popular knowledge on the subject of speech. We should anticipate great good,-not to articulation. alone, but to the general interests of language and education,if every boy in our schools were a phonographer. He would then be capable of correctly analyzing speech; a process which, in the present state of knowledge that prevails on this subject, we have often seen baffle the efforts of older and wiser linguists, even in the most simple of our verbal combinations. The following are the Principles on which we have constructed our Phonographic Scheme. The attentive perusal of them will enable any person, almost at once, to use our ALPHABET OF ARTICULATIONS. ORGANS EMPLOYED. I. All articulations of the lips are written in a slanting direction from right to left. II. All articulations of the back or root of the tongue are written slantingly from left to right. III. All articulations of the point of the tongue acting upwards, are written perpendicularly. IV. The sibilant and lisping sounds, in forming which the tongue lies nearly horizontal, are written horizontally. MODES OF ACTION. V. All Obstructive articulations,-i.e. those formed by perfect contact of the organs-(the First Mode of Action)—are represented by straight lines. VI. Nasal quality is denoted by a ring; and, as the Nasals are orally obstructive by the same articulative mechanisms as the preceding elements, the nostril-ring is written with a short straight mark, which, by its line of direction, shows the obstructive formation, of which the ring denotes the nasal correspondent. E e E is silent in hidden, fasten, soften, &c., and generally when final. 1 is represented by e, i, æ, ac, ee, e'e, ea, ei, eo, ey, eye, ie, uoi; as in eve, fatigue, minutiæ, aerie, bee, e'en, eat, conceive, people, key, keyed, field, turquoise. 7 a, e, i, o, u, y, ai, ay, ea, ee, ei, ey, ia, ie, ui, uy; as in a, ai, ao, au, ay, aye, ea, ei, ey, eye, oi; as in age, aim, gaol, gauge, pay, aye, steak, vein, obey, preyed, connoisseur. a, e, u, aa, ae, ai, ay, ea, e'e, ei, eo, ey, ie, ue; as in fere, bury, Aaron, Jāer, Sprayer, {Michaelmas, {said, {PLAY Swear, ne'er, heir, leopard, eyre, friend, guess. heifer, a, aa, ai; as in amber, Canaan, raillery. a; as in ask. a, e, au, ea, ua; as in ardour, clerk, haunt, hearty, guardian. 8 "e(r), i(r), y(r), ea(r), ue(r), we(r); as in her, firmness, hyrst, earnest, guerdon, answer. o, u, eo, io, oa, oi, oo, ou, ow, wo, iou, olo; as in wōrld furnace, dungeon, motion, cupboard, avoirdupoise, blood, done, ugly, journey, bellows, twopence, cautious, cōlonel. young. groat hough, knowledge. o, ew, oa, oo, ou, wo, owa, orps, as in ore, sewer, oar, door, four, sword, towards, corps. o, ao, au, ew, eau, ewe, oa, oe, oo, ou, ow, owe, as in old, Pharaoh, hauteur, shew, beau, sewed, oak, foe, brooch, soul, crow, crowed. o, u, eu, ew, ewe, oe, œu, oo, ooe, ou, ue, ui, wo, as in ule, rheumatism, grew, brewed, shō, manœuvre, wolfull {bloom, wōved {through, rue, früit twō. 7-1 is represented by i, y, ai, ay, ei, ey, eye, ie, ui, uy, ye; as in isle, by, naivete, ay, height, eying, eye, lie, guide, buy, dye. 10-1 oe, oi, oy, eoi; as in oboe, coin, boy, burgeois. |