GENERAL GRAMMAR. 43 



published in 1660, by Arnauld andLauncelot, of the Port Royal School 

 near Paris, (under the title of Grammaire generale et raisonnee], 

 commonly known as the Port Royal Grammar. It was followed, in 

 England, by Harris' Hermes, or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning 

 Universal Grammar; published about 1760; and by John Home 

 Tooke's Epea Pteroenta,* or Diversions of Purley, published in 

 1786 ; in which he endeavours to show that all other parts of speech 

 are derived by abbreviation, or contraction, from the noun and the 

 verb. In our own country, much has been done for General Gram- 

 mar, by Mr. Duponceau ; particularly in the investigation of the In- 

 dian and Chinese Tongues. He arranges all languages in five classes ; 

 1. The asyntactic, like the Chinese, in which the words have no 

 inflexions ; 2. The synthetic, as the Latin, in which several ideas are 

 expressed by one word, as amatur, he is loved ; 3. The analytic, as 

 the English, having a separate word for almost every modification of 

 thought; 4. The mixed, intermediate between the two preceding, as the 

 Italian ; and, 5. The poly synthetic, in which a whole phrase, or sen- 

 tence, is expressed in one long, compound word, as in most of the 

 aboriginal languages of America. 



Grammar may be subdivided into Orthology, Lexicology, and Ac- 

 cidence, which relate to words individually ; and Syntax, and Pro- 

 sody, which relate to them as connected in sentences. 



1. Orthology, so named from the Greek opOos, correct, and Aoj/rK, 

 a word, is that part of Grammar which treats of letters and sounds, 

 as composing words. Jlrticulate sounds, are those formed by the 

 organs of speech, or human voice, in pronouncing words ; and these 

 sounds are represented graphically by letters ; or by other more com- 

 prehensive characters, as the Arabic numerals, and algebraic symbols. 

 Since different languages have different letters, and sounds, and often 

 express the same sound by different letters ; the subject of articulate 

 sounds in general, has been treated of as a separate study, under the 

 name of Phonology : and that of graphic characters, may be treated 

 in the same manner, under the name of Graphology. In regard to 

 any one language, the study of the letters, and right mode of spelling 

 words, is called Orthography : and the study of its sounds, and the 

 right pronunciation of words, is called Orthoepy. These, however, 

 are so connected and dependent on each other, that we include them 

 both under the more general term, Orthology, 



All the letters used in any one language, arranged in a certain order, 

 constitute its alphabet: but the same letter sometimes represents two 

 or more sounds ; and the same sound may be represented by two or 

 more letters, singly, or united. Letters, and articulate sounds, are 

 generally classed as either vowels or consonants : vowels being sim- 

 ple, independent sounds, as a, o: while consonants, as b, d, cannot 

 be fully sounded without the help of a vowel. Consonants are also 

 subdivided, according to the organs chiefly used in pronouncing them, 

 into labials, formed by the lips, as b, p, f, m, v; lingua-dentals, 

 formed by the tongue and teeth, as d, t, I, n; palatals, formed by the 

 palate, as ga, and k; gutturals, formed in the throat, as our ha, or h, 



* ETTSU Urepoevra, or winged words, 



