dn sounded as in Wednesday, madness. pph sounded as in sapphire. p k g t quake, quay; pt f r rh rh rhetoric, perhaps. rr gm rrh rs error, poor-rates. r catarrh. rs person, Persian, bars. rt mortgage, heart. k viscount, science, discern, sh sk conscience, sceptic. would, guildford, builder. f " halfpenny. 30 mb mm mn mp nd 24 k lk walk, elk. falling, soulless. ng nd handkerchief, hand. 33 8 st castle, history. 8 str mistress, (colloq.missis) stress. V Grosvenor. sword, sward, Boswell, Chiswick. t t hatter, boot-tree. th Matthew. t tw two, twain. 8 britzska. h what, whɔ. phthisical, apophthegm, triphthong. pneumatics, cheapness. supple, soap-pan. SILENT ARTICULATION MARKS. Or various ways of representing nothing. B is silent in bdellium, dumb, debt. science, Czar, muscle, black, acquiesce, indict, schedule. halfpenny. bagnio, seraglio, phlegm. heir, thyme, rheum, khan, John, ghastly, diphthong, character. know, wreck. alms, salmon, would, half. mnemonics. hymn, kiln. cupboard, ptarmigan, pneumatics, psalm, bumpkin, assumption, pshaw. demesne, isle, viscount, chamois. fasten, soften, trait, mortgage, hautboy, Matthew. whole, who, sword, two, write, knowledge; and when final. when final after a vowel. rendezvous. DOUBLE LETTERS are generally sounded as one ; as in cannon, better, missile, pepper, hammer, beckon, acquire, &c. One, therefore, is silent. Ch is silent in drachm, yacht, bacchanal, schism. The figures refer to the Scheme of English Articulations (page 51.) Articulation 1 is represented by c, k, q, cc, ch, ck, gh, ke, kh, equ, que, cch, qu, cq, lk ; as in can, kill, quit, account, character, neck, hough, lake, khan, lacquer, pique, Bacchic, quay, acquire, walk. g, gg, gh, gue, ckg; as in leg, egg, ghost, plague, blackguard. n, nd, ng, ngue; as in ink, handkerchief, song, tongue. 2 3 Articulation 6 is represented by c, s, t, ch, chs, sc, sh, ss, sch, psh; as in ocean, tension, nation, chaise, fuchsia, conscience, shape, omission, schedule, pshaw. g, ge, s, ss, t, z, j; as in giraffe, rouge, leisure, abscission, transition, azure, jambeaux. 7 8 9 10 11 121 13 14 15 rr; as in "horrible, most horrible !" r, rh, rr, rh; as in race, rhubarb, mirror, myrrhine. 1, le, 11, ln, sl, sle, tle, gl; as in late, tale, all, kiln, island, isle, thistle, seraglio. t, te, th, tt, bt, ct, cht, pt, ght, phth, ed; as in at, late, thyme, cottage, debtor, indictment, yacht, ptarmigan, sight, phthisis, stopped. d, de, dd, bd, ddh, ld; as in bad, bade, add, bdellium, buddhism, would. n, ne, nn, dn, gn, hn, kn, mn, sn, sne, mp; as in dun, done, inn, Wednesday, sign, John, know, mnemonics, puisne, demesne, compter. c, ce, f, sc, se, ss, ps, tzs; as in cell, ace, gas, scent, base, loss, psalm, britzska. ce, cz, s, se, sc, sh, ss, z, ze, zz, ds, x; as in sacrifice, (v.) Czarina, as, ease, discern, dishonour, scissors, zeal, baize, buzz, Windsor, xystus. 16 h, th, tth, phth; as in eighth, thing, Matthew, apophthegm. 17 th, the; as in this, breathe. 18 f, fe, ff, gh, ph, pph, phe, ft, lf; as in leaf, safe, stiff, laugh, physic, sapphire, ouphe, soften, half. 220 21 22 v, ve, f, ph, zv; as in vain, save, of, nephew, rendezvous. wh; as in what. w, o, u; as in way, one, quick-persuade. P, pe, pp, ph, gh, lfp; as in pay, tape, tippet, ophthalmia, hiccough, halfpenny. b, be, bb, pb; as in crab, glebe, ebb, cupboard. m, mb, me, mm, mn, chm, gm, lm, sme; as in aim, lamb, same, common, condemn, drachm, paradigm, palm, disme. To these we may add the common combinations ks-gz, alphabetically represented by x; and tsh-dzh, the latter alphabetically represented by j; the former being commonly denoted by ch. 1-14 are represented by x, xc, xe, cc, chs, ks, cks, ques; as in ox, except, c, ch, tch; as in vermicelli, chair, watch. d, dg, dge, g, ge, gg, j, ch; as in soldier, judgment, judge, gem, range, exaggerate, jay, sandwich. NOTATION OF THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH. It would really be a matter of but little difficulty to reconstruct our alphabet, and furnish it with invariable marks for every appreciable variety of vocal and articulate sound. So few as 12 radical letters might be made to represent all the English articulations. Thus we have 12 forms of articulative action, most of which do, and all of which may, modify both voice and breath; so producing 24 elements of speech. Let some uniform change to represent breath and voice be made on each of the 12 characters, and these 24 varieties of articulate sound may be not only fully represented, but with a natural analogy and consistency, which would explain to the eye their organic relations. A further uniform change made on those letters which have a nasal correspondent would complete the scheme, and, with perfect analogy between marks and sounds, exhibit, by 12 radical letters, every articulation in our language. Some equally simple and analogical notation might be arranged for the vowels, on the principle of their sequence, so that a really Scientific Alphabet could be easily constructed. A system of Phonotypes, or letters representing sounds, has recently been constructed by the Author of the Phonographic method of short-hand writing. In this generally excellent typography, several works have been published; and from the great similarity of the characters to those in ordinary use, the "phonotypic" page is quite readable after a mere glance at the alphabet, by those who can read the common printing. But this system of letters, though a great improvement on our ordinary alphabet, does not carry improvement beyond supplying deficient letters, and discarding redundant ones. If ever a change in our orthography should be generally and authoritatively made, we should like to see it based on an alphabet as perfect a picture of our sounds as science and ingenuity could produce. We have shown a principle by means of which the formation of such an alphabet would be an easy matter. Mr Pitman's phonographic scheme of marks is much more scientific than the alphabet of phonotypes; but even the former is, for the purposes of accurate notation,―far short of what a more intimate knowledge of the vocal mechanisms should have made it. In a system of writing by sound, there must be a very accurate appreciation of sound, and a faultless principiation of language. In both these respects, this phonographic system is somewhat defective. We propose to present the reader with the elements of a new system of phonography, based on the analysis of speech detailed in the preceding pages. Our object, in the construction of this scheme of writing, has not been to produce a rival system for the sake of rivalry, but to furnish a means of fixing in the memory of our students the fundamental principles of speech. We use it innemonically; and we commend its study, on the same principle, to the reader. But we must, in justice, point out what we conceive to be the defects of Mr Pitman's Phonography, in order to show that, for our purpose, a new system was really necessary. This we do the rather that it gives opportunity for noticing some general errors of elementary classification, more fully than could have been appropriately done in any other section. The vowels are classed on a most erroneous theory,―i(11) being reckoned the short sound of ee(1); e(11) the short sound of a(le), a(m) the short sound of a (lms); and u(p) the short sound of o(pe). True phonography cannot recognise such longs and shorts. Quantity must have reference only to identical qualities of sound. But it is maintained by the author of this system that these pairs of vowels, are "of the same quality, differing only in length." This of course is a question to be decided by the ear; and any competent ear will at once decide it by the experiment recommended by Mr Pitman,*—but with a very different result. When we read, however, that the vowels e, a, ah, au, 0, 00, with "the sound uh heard in the French le ne, &c.," are, "all the single vowels that are to be found in any language," we may justly suspect a want of auricular aptitude on the part of the writer, as well as ignorance of the principles of vowel mechanism.† Either such must be the case, or else we have been elaborating a theory of shadows,-"airy nothings," and have been grossly abused by our ears into the belief that our own experiments had produced upwards * «There is a difficulty in convincing some persons that the vowel in seek is of the same quality as that in sick, differing only in length; and so with all the long and short vowels as here placed; but particularly is this difficulty felt with No. 5, (as in "cōte, cut.") They may, however, have audible proof that it is by pronouncing the words in the first column, (seek, pate, psalm, stalk, cote, fool,) quickly, and they will hear the words of the second column, (sick, pet, sam, stock, cut, full;) also if the words in the second column are spoken in a slow drawling tone, the words in the first column will be heard: thus, seek, quickly spoken, will become sick, and if pet be uttered slowly, pate will be produced; and so with all the others.”—PITMAN'S PHONOGRAPHY, 8vo. 1840, p. 23. Reader, if you feel that you have an ear, try this experiment! † In a recent, and certainly amended Edition of the work from which we have quoted in the note, we find that the theory so pertinaciously laid down, has been given up as erroneous. The experiment seems to have been tried by acuter ears than those of its suggester. We read now : Sall, wooed, the position for the "In all cases except the 4th and 6th, short vowel is slightly different from the position required for the corresponding long vowel."-MANUAL OF PHONOGRAPHY, 1848. |