120 DIACRITICAL MARKS. 



The most familiar instance of a Diacritical 

 Mark is the Accent (not the so-called French Accent 

 Marks but) as meant and used in English, as the sign of 

 a predominant or increased stress of the voice upon a 

 particular syllable of a word ; as present (the Verb), 

 and present (the Noun or Adjective). The same 

 Accent Mark is retained, in the same sense, in Al- 



wato. 



i 



153. The Nasalization-sign ( n ) has been already no- 

 ticed and described as merely a Diacritical Mark (93, 

 97.) This sound (the Nasalization) which abounds in 

 French, Polish, Sanscrit, and many other languages, 

 offers, ordinarily, a great stumbling-block to English- 

 speaking people, but one which even a slight explana- 

 tion will tend greatly to remove. It is confounded 

 with the English Throat-Nose^Consonant- Sound ng, 

 to which it is related, but from which it very de- 

 cidedly differs. The English ng-sound is a true 

 Consonant-sound, that is to say, the parts of the 

 mouth where it is made completely close upon each 

 other, hindering entirely the passage of the sound- 

 ing-breath through the channel of the mouth, and giv- 

 ing it no other exit than through the nose. Of this 

 any one will convince himself by putting the finger 

 deep into the mouth, and then saying ki?^ / he will 

 feel the back part of the tongue rising at the end of 

 the word and pressing the finger very closely, striving 

 to close that passage-way. But the French Nasal 

 sounds are mere Yowels with a tinge of Nasalization 

 or of Nose-sound upon them ; that is to say, they 

 are produced with the piiwtjc-w~n/ of the month 



