relating to the Science of Phonetics. 129 



was not Gx, I was left to consider what really was Gx, and 

 whether such a sound either actually existed or was capable 

 of existing. 



I drew the distinction between the actual and the possible 

 existence of a sound for the following reason. It is very evident 

 that although an articulation may be capable of being both 

 formed by the larynx and distinguished by the ear, it may 

 not exist in any spoken language ; in other words, it does not 

 follow that because a sound exists in j^osse it exists /?i esse 

 also. If the French were the universal language, the sound of 

 the English th would exist only in the capabilities of the ear 

 and larynx ; it would be a sound 171 posse, or a latent sound. 



Now against Gx being a possible sound, I knew of no rea- 

 son except the accident of its not being found in any of the 

 well-known languages; whilst in favour of its being one were 

 the analogies of the other mutes. This latter fact having 

 convinced me that the sound in point was within the compass 

 of the vocal organs, I conceived it possible that (two facts being 

 ascertained) it might be formed a priori, that is, independent 

 of imitation. These two facts were, first, the determination 

 of the difference between an aspirate and its lene in respect 

 to their sounds ; secondly, the determination of the same in 

 respect to the disposition of the parts of the mouth and larynx. 

 In the midst of my investigations an accident intervened, that 

 solved all the difficulties. I found, in Rask's Laplandic 

 Grammar, the description of. a rare and peculiar sound. It 

 was not Gh ; nor yet was it either G or Y. It was something 

 between the two. This threw a light upon the question; so 

 that all that now remained for me to do, was to hear the 

 sound. In the town where I was residing there was a 

 Laplander from Norwegian Finmark, whom the Norse go- 

 vernment were instructing in reading and writing. Having 

 sent for this person, and having set before him the words that 

 Rask had given as examples, I found that his pronuncia- 

 tion of the sound in point coincided with the description of 

 Rask, with my own previous notions as to its nature, and, 

 consequently, with the conditions of Gx; in other words, the 

 Lappish 5 (so expressed in Rask's Grammar) was Gx- 



Now, in the foregoing notices, nothing has been said con- 

 cerning K and ^x- Nothing has been said concerning them, 

 because it is so evident that they follow the analogies of G 

 and Gx, that any mention of them would have been super- 

 fluous. The existence in j^osse of Kx I consider to be all but 

 demonstrated; of its existence in esse I am less certain. It is 

 probable that in some of the Greek dialects /c is pronounced 

 as Kx. 



Phil. Mag. S.3. Vol. 18. No. 115. Feb. 18*1, K 



