150 REPORT 1851. 



the other hand we examine the Sclavonian alphabets, we shall be struck by 

 the superabundance of sibilant articulations for which they furnish the ex- 

 pression. They are rich not only in palatals, but in varieties of pure dental 

 assibilation. We notice precisely the same phonology in the Semitic dia- 

 lects, but here the guttural and nasal breathings also play an important part. 

 The Sclavonian alphabet, as is well known, is an adaptation of the Greek, 

 increased by characters borrowed from the Armenian and Coptic. The 

 author was Cyril, otherwise called Constantine the philosopher, who was 

 brother to Methodius, bishop of Pannouia and Moravia. The Greek order 

 is preserved with the following exceptions. Before Vjedi and Zjelo, which 

 corresponded to the Greek /3>jra and /3av, Cyril inserted Buki and Zivjete, 

 and remanded to the end those letters peculiar to the Greeks, namely \, \(/, 

 6, and v. The alphabet thus enlarged contains the following sibilants : 

 (a) pure dentals, zj'elo, zemlja, slovo, tzi ; (6) palatals, cero, sha, shcha, besides 

 the compounds ksi and psi. If we take the Arabic as the most extensive 

 form of the Semitic alphabet, we shall find that it contains the following 

 sibilants : (a) pure dentals, thse, dsal, ze, sin, ssad, zza ; (Z») palatals, ^Vm, skin. 

 The Hebrew, which has its full complement of pure dental sibilants in zain, 

 tsade, and ^amech, has no palatal except shin. Now as the palatals are 

 softened or degenerated forms of the gutturals, it is a natural consequence 

 that the guttural aspirate should abound in proportion as the palatal is 

 wanting. This is strikingly the case in Hebrew, which has no less than four 

 distinct aspirates, 'haleph, he, 'heth, "hayin, besides its guttural mutes gimel, 

 kaph, and hoph. The only approximation in Hebrew to that softening of the 

 gutturals, to which the formation of zetacised articulations may be ascribed, 

 is to be found in the semivowel use of yod, which is undoubtedly the off- 

 spring of the gutturals. But it is never so combined with gutturals or 

 dentals as to form a pure palatal sound, unless we recognise it in shin as a 

 substitute for sk. Reverting then to the principle which enables us to di- 

 stinguish between the pure sibilant and the subsequently formed palatals, we 

 shall come at once to the conclusion that the Semitic and Sclavonian lan- 

 guages exhibit a complete coincidence in regard to their unimpaired deve- 

 lopment of the original sibilant, for they alone possess the three sounds of 

 zain and zemlja, of tsade and tsi, of famech and slovo ; and while the for- 

 mation of palatals has proceeded to its full extent in Sclavonian and Arabic, 

 the permanence of the pure sibilant in Hebrew is shown by the fact, that 

 with a full array of breathings there is no diminution in the use of the 

 sibilants in anlaut or as initials. The force of this observation will be felt 

 by those who know that even in the Zend, as compared with the Sanscrit, 

 the transition from the initial s to an initial h has established itself in uniform 

 observance. Important conclusions to the same effect may be derived from 

 the palaeography of the cuneiform characters, which have preserved to us a 

 record of the Median or Sclavonian idiom at the earliest known period of its 

 subjection to Persian or Germanic influences. If we examine this alphabet, 

 we shall see that the arrangements of the arrow-heads or wedges,of which each 

 character is composed, are not casual, but technical and systematic, having 

 reference to a perception, more or less scientific, of the true affinities of arti- 

 culation. Thus we shall see that all the characters, which are connected with 

 the lateral angle / turned to the left, are more or less affected by aspiration. 

 The distinct aspirate h \X^\ has two of these marks, and the inclusion in this 

 character of n ^/ only shows that, like the Hebrew "hayin y, it was re- 

 garded as a nasal breathing. As d and r, the affinity of which is well known, 

 are but slightly different forms of the same character in the Semitic lan« 



