Indian Languages in Mrth America, 34g 



X. 



Xis altogether unnecessary 



as us two common powers may 

 be expressed by ks aod ^5 ; and if the ,v itself should be adopted, 

 it would be quite uncertain, both to ourselves and to readers of 

 some other nations, which of the two sounds here mentioned was 

 intended by it ; besides which, a Spaniard would be in doubt 



S3 



of the two sounds here menfioned 



guttural one which 



wbile a 



Portugueze would pronounce it like our s7i, which 

 power in his alphabet. 



Y. 



For the use of this letter, see the remarks upon the vowels 



f 



at page 329. 



ZH. 



The letter Z, when single, will have the power it has m 

 Frenchf English and some other languages. In this case, htjw- 

 ever, it will be necessary for the Germans and Italians to relin- 

 quish their peculiar pronunciation of it, and to adopt the sub- 

 stitutes proposed in tbe preceding remarks ; that is, fs, tZf ds or 

 dZf as the case may be found to require in the diHerent dialects. 



Zh will serve to designate the corresponding ^at sound to 

 sh ; that is, the sound of the French Jj which is equivalent to 

 our s in the word pleasure, 



we cannot, unless practice has made it familiar to us; as it has to me. Take 

 the word ?ref, you pronounce it easily; transpose the vowel am! write it wte, 

 a Delaware wiH pronounce it with the same case ; when we cannot. Try a 

 Frenchman at pronouncing this hemistich out of Paradise Lost— ffeai^'n's last 

 best ^ift; he will be as much embarrassed with the tvisf, the sffc, and the sf», 

 (which habit makes us pronounce with great rapidity and ease) as we are with the 



wt of the Delawares." 



V 



# ■• 



