OF THE VOICE AND SPEECH. 103 



so intricate and so little understood, that even the 

 division of letters and their distribution into classes * 

 is attended with much difficulty. 



The division, however, of Ammann,f into vowels, 

 semi-vowels, and consonants, is very natural : 



I. He divides the vowels % into simple — a, e, ?, y, o, u, 

 and mixed — a, 6, it. 



These are formed by merely the voice. 

 The semi-vowels and consonants are articulated by 

 the mechanism of speech. 



II. The semi-vowels are nasal — m, n, ng (n before g, 

 which is nearly related to it), that is, the labio-nasal m, 

 the dente-nasal n, and the gutture-nasal ng; or oral 

 (lingual) — r, I, that is, r with a vibration of the tongue, 

 or I with the tongue less moved. 



III. The consonants are distinguished into hissing 

 (pronounced in succession) — h, g, ch, s, sch, f, v, ph, 

 that is h, — formed in the throat, as it were a mere aspi- 

 ration ; g and ch — true consonants ; s, sch, — produced 

 between the teeth ; /, v, ph, — formed by the applica- 

 tion of the lower lip to the upper front teeth: and 

 explosive (which are, in a manner, at once exploded, 

 by an expiration, for some time suppressed or inter- 



sonorum omnium loquelarium formatione tract, grammatico-physicus. Ed. 6. 

 Lond. 1765. 8vo. 



Gottl. Conr. Chr. Storr, De Formatione Loquelee. Tubing. 1781. 4to. 



* K. G. Anton, XJber Sprache in Riicksicht auf Geschichte tier Menschheit. 

 Giirlitz. 1799. 8vo. 



Er. Darwin, Temple of Nature. Addit. Notes, p. 1 12. 



t His Surdus Lonuens. Amst. 1692. 8vo. With the Dissert.de Loquela. 

 lb. 1700. 



X Respecting their formation, consult Chr. Thcoph. Kratzcnstcin, Tentamcn, 

 iccoouncndcd above. 



