1861.] 331 [Consonants. 



following consonants (as exhibited in the 



accompanying diagram) : 1, the hard con- ^^^^^^ station. 



sonant p ; 2, the German and English 

 soft consonants b and b ; 3, the fluid con- 

 sonants/ and V, and the German fluid 

 consonant V3', in addition to this, we ^^ 

 have the English vowel-consonant lu, 

 which I propose to place on the outside 

 of the diagram, because it is a sort of 

 intermediate sound between the labial 

 consonants and the vowels. 



§ 13. In the dental station three series of consonants may be pro- 

 duced, by either pressing the tip of the tongue against the upper 

 teeth, or the upper gums, or finally against the roof of the mouth, 

 as may be seen from figures 5, 6, 7, in Dr. Briicke's plate, appended 

 to his work. By closing the station firmly, in any of these three 

 places, and exploding it with a blow, we obtain the hard dental con- 

 sonant t ; by relaxing the pressure and exploding the aperture by 

 breathing against it, the German soft consonant b, and by rendering 

 the breathing sonorous before exploding the station with it, the En- 

 glish soft consonant d. The hard and soft dental consonants which 

 are in use in the English language, are those of the second series, 

 i. e. those which are formed by pressing the tip of the tongue against 

 the gums; they are called alveola)- by Dr. Briicke. The cerebral t 

 and fZ, or those of the third series, are found in the Sanscrit, and the 

 dented ^ and d, or those of the first series, according to Dr. Brucke, 

 are used by some people in place of the alveolar. The diff"erence 

 between these three series, which is not distinctly marked in the 

 hard and soft consonants, is more clearly exhibited in the fluid con- 

 sonants ; there the difi"erent shades are also expressed to some extent 

 by separate characters in writing. The fluid consonants of the first 

 dental series are obtained by holding the tip of the tongue against 

 the upper teeth. By blowing through the interstices of the teeth, 

 with the tongue in this position, we get the sound of th in thunder, 

 and by breathing through them, with the air rendered sonorous, the 

 sound of th in the, this, leather^ &c. The fluid consonants of the 

 second dental series are generated by holding the tip of the tongue 

 against the upper gum in such a manner as to allow an egress to the 

 air through the teeth. By blowing through this passage we get the 

 sound of ss in blessing or s in say ; by breathing through it the sound 

 of s in was ; and by rendering the air sonorous before breathing 



