278 PHOJVOGRAPHY. 



wiap, wap, v'mg, o-aj, ?ay, he, ive, ye. 



eel, ail, are, awed, ope, fool. 



*11, ell, at, odd, ■wp, foot. 



The received alphabet has but twenty effective letters, (since x, q, 

 j, c, i, and u are duplicates, or compounds of simpler elements,) so 

 that fourteen additional letters are required to fit it for the phonetic 

 representation of our language. It is from this deficiency that a con- 

 sistent system of spelling is rendered impracticable, and that a resort 

 must be had to arbitrary and confusing expedients. 



Were the settling of our alphabet and orthography now for the first 

 time proposed as an original question, a phonetic system would of course 

 be adopted ; and there are not wanting those who believe that the advan- 

 tages it would secure in averting the difficulties attendant on acquiring 

 the art of reading, would justify, even now, a reform in that direction. 

 But the inconvenience of a transition from an established to a new 

 system will probably be held to countervail such advantages. 



These inconveniences, however, are not encountered in the adoption 

 of a phonetic alphabet for short hand purposes. 



In such a case, no acquired knowledge is to be unlearned ; no printed 

 books are to be discarded ; and the inventor may apply himself to the 

 development of a perfect system, untrammelled by antecedent re- 

 straints. Such being the case, it is somewhat surprising, considering 

 the unquestionable advantages of phonetic representation, that Isaac 

 Pitman's system of short hand is the first which has been erected on 

 that basis ; and its success affords another illustration of the import- 

 ance of founding an art on scientific principles, in place of arbitrary 

 rules. For it is in consequence of certain analogies, only clearly 

 brought to notice in his investigation of the phonetic elements of our 

 language, that Isaac Pitman was enabled to secure, what is essential 

 to the success of phonography as a system of short hand — a selection 

 of a simple sign for each simple sound. 



It is, of course, impracticable, with the ordinary resources of the 

 printing office, to give here the forms of the letters employed in pho- 

 nography. It may suffice, in general terms, to explain, that the 

 simplest mathematical signs — the right line, the curve or the segment 

 of a circle, the dot and the dash — furnish the material of the phono- 

 graphic alphabet. Each sound is expressed by a simple and easy 

 motion of the hand. It follows that the system thus developed 

 meets every requirement for the most rapid writing. It is, in fact, 

 the most perfect metliod of reporting which has ever been invented, 

 and its phonetic basis renders it also as easy to be read as to be written ; 

 so that, in fact, it lacks no requisite for a thoroughly philosophical sys- 

 tem of writing ; easy to learn, easy to read, capable of reporting the 

 most rapid speech, and indicating the nicest shades of pronunciation. 



It may be observed, further, that our language, being derived from ' 

 a variety of sources, embraces an unusual variety of elementary sounds ; 

 comprising nearly all those requisite for the representation of the 

 languages of Europe. By the enlargement of the phonographic alpha- 

 bet with the few additions requisite for foreign languages, we are able 

 to employ it not merely for English, but for other tongues as well ; 

 recording by it with unerring certainty the infinite diversities of 

 peech and pronunciation in use among civilized nations. 



