1861.] 305 [^'o^^i^^- 



Lepsius says, that the indistinct vowel-sound is inherent in the 

 liquids and other sonant letters, and that hence they are occasionally 

 found to compose syllables. In reply to this, Dr. Briicke says that 

 what Prof. Lepsius here calls the indistinct vowel-sound is nothing 

 else but the sound of the liquid itself. However, all that Dr. Briicke 

 proves by this is (as we shall see presently), that the indistinct vowel- 

 sound and the sound of the liquid have the same sound ; and thus 

 he admits the existence of this very sound. — I grant that in mut- 

 fon, beckon, reckon, &c., the letter o is dropped entirely, and that 

 the loud sound which is heard after i and ck is the sound of the 

 liquid or semi-vowel n; but in abandon, on the other hand, the 

 vowel o is not rejected, but simply reduced into the indistinct vowel- 

 sound; for, in pronouncing this word, the breath is sensibly ejected 

 through the lips after d, while after t in mutton, it is ejected through 

 the nose. Now, in abandon, the indistinct vowel-sound is heard in 

 the place of o, while in beckon, reckon, &c., the letter o is entirely 

 dropped, and the semi-vowel n is pronounced immediately after ck 

 without any intervening vowel ; and yet an unpractised ear does not 

 detect the least difference between the pronunciation of these two 

 words. The identity of the proper sound of the liquids or semi-vowels 

 and the indistinct vowel-sound is so striking that we frequently sup- 

 pose ourselves pronouncing the latter while we pronounce the former ; 

 so in the pronunciation of centre, mitre, theatre, able, trifle, &c., the 

 general opinion is, that the final e is pronounced before ;• and I, and in 

 order to do away with this anomaly. Dr. Webster proposed in all 

 these cases to place the final e before r, and to write center, miter, 

 &c. ; while xn reality the final e in all these words is mute, and the 

 letter e, which people imagine that they hear, is nothing else but the 

 proper sound of the liquids themselves. In French, the semi-vowels 

 r and I in this connection are pronounced with inute breath, as in 

 possible, centre, &c. 



As regards the position of the indistinct or primitive vowel-sound 

 in the vowel-system. Dr. Briicke objects to Dr. Bapp's placing it 

 in his triangular system between a in father and o (see Dr. Bapp's 

 diagram, Bem. 1, § 4) ; thus placing it much nearer to a than to the 

 vowels i and u ; for he says justly, that the primitive vowel-sound is 

 equally removed from all the other vowels. In my diagram it is 

 placed almost in the middle of the vowel-system, but nearest to a in 

 father ; because, in its pronunciation, it seems to be conveyed into 

 the middle of the mouth, and the tongue is but slightly raised from 

 the position it holds in the pronunciation of a in father. Thus it 



