1861.] 329 [Consonants. 



breathed fluid consonants are especially related to the breathed soft 

 consonants, and the blown fluid consonants to the blown hard con- 

 sonants. The fact that the blown and breathed fluid consonants are 

 found in the same degree is proved also by this con.sideration, that 

 in the English and French languages these two consonants frequently 

 interchange in the same words, e. g. 7io7/*and halves, life and lives, 

 lieu/ and neuve, &c. That this arrangement of the consonants 

 into three degrees is also based on physiological grounds, I have 

 proved above, where I have shown that in the pronunciation of the 

 consonants the articulating; stations are modified in a threefold manner. 

 This division has also been observed by the old grammarians, who 

 have divided the mutes into tenues, medice, and aspiratae. The 

 translation of these terms, in some of our modern grammars, is 

 smooth, middle, and aspirate. The term '^ smootK^ I regard as an 

 unfortunate translation, inasmuch as the hard consonants might with 

 more propriety be called rough instead of smooth ; the term '' middle^ ^ 

 is better, but the term ^Uispirate,^^ in Greek grammar, is limited to 

 a few fluid consonants only, viz., <p, y, {)■, and ? or o- is excluded from 

 it, and classed either with the semi-vowels, or else is made into a 

 separate class and called a sibilant. I adopt the terms ^' hard, soft, 

 ^nd Jluid/' because in common language they describe three degrees 

 of solidity; "hard and soft," moreover, are the general terms by 

 which the smooth and middle consonants are indicated in German, 

 and "fluid" recommends itself on the score of being a degree softer 

 than "soft," and because, being a new term, we can easily include 

 in it the aspirates as well as the sibilants. The schemes proposed by 

 other phonologists and grammarians are generally based on mere 

 physiological grounds, as may be seen from what follows. 



Latham (English Language, 2d edit, page 127), divides the mutes 

 into lene and aspirate, and each of them afterwards into sharp and 

 flat. The sonant consonants he calls ^a^, and the non-sonant sharp), 

 but he is at a loss himself (page 122) how to explain the diff"erence 

 between lene and aspirate. 



Wallis (Grammatica Anglicana) divides the consonants into muta 

 and semi-muta (non-sonant and sonant explosive sounds) and asjji- 

 rata (fluid consonant), suhtilior, and pinguior, each of which he 

 subdivides into sonant and non-sonant. 



Kempelen^s division is like that of Dr. Brijcke. 



Dr. Joh. Midler speaks a, of consonants produced by strepitus 

 ccqualis seu continuus ; b, by strepitus explosivus ; these he subdivides 



