626 
marks for sounds, called nofcs in music, so 
there'are buta small number of distinct arti- 
culate sounds in every language. In different 
Janguages their number diflers ; and there are 
but few sounds in any two languages that are 
exactly the same; although by the great in- 
tercourse between the European nations, the 
i of different languages daily assimi- 
ate. . 
«Mr. Sheridan says, that the number of 
simple sounds in our tongue are twenty- 
eight. Doctor Kendrick says, we have only 
eleven distinct species of articulate sounds, 
which even by. contraction, prolongation, 
and composition, sare increased only to the 
number of siatcen; every syllable or articu- 
Jate sound in our language being one of this 
number. Bishop Wilkins and Doctor Wil- 
liam Holder, speak of about thirty-two or 
thirty three distinct sounds. 
«© Jt has been said that among the Greeks 
arid Romans, their written alphabet exactly 
accorded ‘to the several distinct sounds and 
modes of articulation in their languages: so 
that each sound had its distinct mark, by 
which. it was uniformly and invariably re- 
 diee paar Ten, simple marks or characters 
lave been found sufficient forall the purposes 
of numerical calculations, which extend to 
infinity: * - 
‘.«« Seyen notes comprise the whole of mu- 
siet: «these,’‘by their different arrangements, 
produce that variety of harmony which we 
90 justly adnrire.” If we would ascend higher 
than eight, potes, we only begin another se- 
ries of thesame distances. Again, the scale 
doth not aduait of a division into equal parts: 
this must correspond with the laws of sound: 
us every piece of music is but these notes va- 
ried, it must come to a close in the lowest 
nvte or its octave. * 
** It is evident, that from the confined na- 
toreof the organs, the simple natural sounds 
to be distinctanust be few ; and though arti- 
fice or affectation may invent a greater va- 
riety, they must be deficient in precision as 
they increase. in number. Indeed there are 
several sounds proceeding from inanimate ob- 
jects; as, the murmuring of a stream, &c. 
that are not adapted to the human organs of 
utterance. 
«© Tt would be digressing too far from our 
subject, to enter into adiscussion concerning 
the number-of sounds that are known to 
exist, nor is this necessary: for as sounds 
ate few, it ai foe ne need not be 
many, but the marks for things are very nu- 
Steg Cie vee ainias 4 
‘© %e Tt ishowever requisite for our readers to 
‘distinguish between visible and audille lan- 
‘ gue e. This distinction. is justly made by 
st: Augustine, in the following words, ¢ Sig- 
na sunt verba visibilia, vera signa audililia,’ 
«« The articulate sounds of vocal or audible 
anguage are resolvable into sentences, words, 
_ an ithe and the analysis ‘of language 
into elementary sounds, seems first to have 
Jed to'the invention of symbols, or matks, for 
Talis S82 Ge (or SemaeNe 9Tr 6 6t3l, 
” : 
Se eh in Be 
#2 
_ PHILOLOGY AND CRITICISM. 
mental coneeptions. This invention ,minst 
have taken place much about the tide that 
nien began to reform the barbarous jargon 
they first spoke, and form a langaage} for 
which purpose, the knowledge of elententary 
sounds se, their powers, was absolutely ne- 
cessary. The progress in this science, as has 
been already observed, must have been by de- 
grees: men would begin no doubt, by distin- 
guishing the sound of one word from that of 
another ; this would not be difficult; then 
they would resolve words jinto syllables, 
which would not be so easy ; but it is likely 
that they stopt there for a long time, perhaps 
for ages, before they came to the last resolu- 
tion of syllables into the. distinct sounds. of 
which they are composed. ‘This was a very 
extraordinary work of art, which could only 
be performed by those who had considered 
the Jaws of sounds ; and could not be the re- 
sult of chance, as some speculatists. have ima~- 
gined ; for this was in fact the decomposition 
of a language into the sounds of which it was 
composed. 
«« The next step towards the notation of 
language, would be the delineation of a se- 
parate mark or letter to denote or stand for 
each sound; which marks though few in 
nuinber, would admit of so great a variety of 
‘arrangements and combinations, as would be 
capable of producing an infinity of articulate 
sounds, suflicient for the composition of syl- 
lables, words, and sentences; and conse- 
quently for the notation of language.” - 
There is in the outline of this system 
great probability; yet the individual 
steps of the progress might perhaps by 
more investigation have beenentirely told. 
A story occurs in the book De vet. lit. 
Hun. of an innkeeper in Hungary, who 
could neither read nor write. He kept 
however strict accounts with his several 
customers. ‘The sawyer he described b’ 
a saw, the smith by a hammer, the A 
dier by a musket, and the carter by a 
whip. Opposite to these’emblems were 
chalked marks, which tallied with the 
ale consumed. By degrees the saw had 
been simplified into a zigzag, the ham- 
mer into a cross, the musket into a line, 
and the whip into aloop. And thus to 
picture-writing had succeeded symbolic 
writing; to representative marks, arbi- 
trary characters. This fact is an abridg- 
ed history of the progress of writing. 
It seems equally natural and. probable 
that the original picture-writing should 
slide into the flourishes of the Chinese, 
as that it should separate into peta 7 
writing of the Shanskreet priesthood (for 
their numerous alphabet is surely a list 
of the elementary syllables of the-fan- 
guagé)} or that it should pass‘oh ta our 
sil simpler subdivision inco levters. 
Pt 
