1861.] 323 [Consonants. 



contracted, that is, the vocal ligaments meet almost, and are only 

 separated a little by the current of air which causes them to vibrate. 

 In case the station is closed, with the glottis contracted in this man- 

 ner, it need not be shut so firmly, inasmuch as the air is pressed 

 more slowly into the cavity of the mouth while the glottis is vibrating, 

 and therefore the pressure there is increased only very slowly. As 

 the station, moreover, is shut but for a very short time in speaking, 

 there is no need of closing it as firmly in the pronunciation of the 

 soft consonants as in that of the hard consonants. However, no 

 matter how firmly the station is closed, whenever it is opened while 

 the glottis is sounding, the soft and not the hard consonant is pro- 

 duced ; and no matter how tightly it is closed, whenever the glottis 

 is wide open the hard and not the soft consonant is obtained." 



With regard to the sonant and non-sonant nature of the soft and 

 hard consonants, R. von Raumer makes the following remarks (Zeits- 

 chrift f. d. (Esterreich. Gymnas. 1858, Hefb 5, page 355): ''The 

 distinction between sonant and non-sonant consonants, which was 

 already known to the ancient Sanscrit grammarians, is an excellent 

 criterion, .... but, inasmuch as the sound of the voice in the 

 pronunciation of the soft consonants is merely an incidental and not 

 an essential element, it may be well to investigate the cause why the 

 voice combines with some sounds but refuses to do so with others. 

 This cause is no other than that certain sounds are produced by 

 blowing and others by breathing. Blowing excludes all sound, but 

 breathing invites it." After thus stating the opinions of two of the 

 highest authorities in matters connected with phonology, I shall in- 

 vestigate the subject myself, and see how my own results agree with 

 those of these two gentlemen. First of all I propose to explain the 

 distinction between the German and English soft consonants. 



The iiict that the Germans pronounce their soft consonants differ- 

 ently from the Americans may be noticed daily in this country, 

 where we frequently hear ^^ goot morning,'^ ^^Got'' instead of God, 

 and ^^liocJc' instead of hog, from the lips of the former. The reason 

 of this is that the Germans pronounce their soft consonants with 

 mute breath, and these sounds, unless followed by vowels, are per- 

 fectly inaudible ] wherefore, in order to insure their being heard at 

 the end of words, they must needs be changed into their correspond- 

 ing hard sounds. The German b, thus, at the end of words, is 

 changed into p, the German d into t, and by the southern Germans, 

 this analogy is also carried out with respect to the consonant g^ which, 

 at the end of words, they change into A*, while the northern Germans 



