184? On some Facts relating to the Science of Phonetics. 



undoubtedly, they may with great propriety and convenience 

 be retained. 



Now the divisions into lene and aspirate and the divisions 

 into explosive and continuous more or less coincide. Besides 

 the vowels, semivowels, and liquids, all the aspirates are con- 

 tinuous; and nearly all the lenes (p, b, t, d, k,g) are explosive. 

 But s and z are at once both lene and continuous ; and this 

 constitutes their peculiarity, a peculiarity which I am satisfied 

 with indicating, being, at present, unable to explain. 



In asking how far the different classes of articulate sounds 

 have the characters of explosiveness or continuity, the answers 

 are as follows : — 



1. That all the vowels are continuous. 



2. That both the semivowels are continuous. 



3. That h is continuous. 



4. That all the liquids are continuous. 



5. That all the aspirate mutes are continuous. 



6. That two of the lene mutes are continuous. 



7. That the remaining lene mutes are explosive; and that 

 nothing else is so. 



#'•'.'.'#, '.*•,' '•# 



The same question that has just been put respecting the 

 distribution of the explosive and continuous sounds may now be 

 put respecting the sounds called, after the fashion of the San- 

 skrit grammarians, surd and sonant; the former term denoting 

 sounds like p, t, k, s, sh, &c, where the utterance is in a 

 whisper; the latter denoting sounds like b, d, z, I, a, &c, 

 where the utterance is vocal, loud, or at the natural pitch of 

 the human voice. Now, — 



1. All the vowels are sonant. 



2. Both the semivowels are sonant. 



3. All the liquids are sonant. 



4. Half the mutes are sonant, viz. b.v.d.ft.g.y.z.^. 



5. Half the mutes are surd, viz. p,f, t, \, h, x, s, <r. 



6. The aspirate h is surd. 



Surd sounds are formed by breath unmodified by any ac- 

 tion of the larynx whatever. 



Sonant sounds are formed by breath thrown into vocalism 

 by some action of the larynx, the precise nature of which has 

 yet to be determined. 



The power of h is the type of surd sounds. The superad- 

 dition of certain motions of the lips, tongue, and velum palati 

 convert this simple breathing in p,f, t, &c. 



No form of vocal sound is so simple as that of a mere 

 breathing. Herein the air passes from the lungs through the 

 throat and mouth without any action of the chorda vocales. 



