I 



J ¥ 



t* 



Indian Lan 



Mrth 



357 



wish to adopt the proposed Indian alphabet, should still feel a reluctance in employing* 

 the letter )(esr3a vvit!i a distinctive m.irk as njentioned in pp.330— 333) for the purposl 

 ot denoting this sliort sound of «, 1 know of no method of obviating the diliicultj (con- 

 sistently with the plan of the alphabet) except by having reci)urse to a new character; 

 and in that case I have thought that it might be formed from the same letter o, by 

 making a smJl opening in the upper part of it in this manner, O. This character 

 would sulhciently resemble both o and u to be easily retained in the memory, and 

 would, moreover, occasion no embarrassment in printing the Indian languages ; for 

 those printers, who may not be provided with types expressly made for tlie purpose, 

 might easily form this character out of a common type, by merely cutting out a small 



) which vvould answer the purpose. The only objection to this 

 the inconvenience of multiplying new characters ; upon 



31 of this Essay. Fur further remaks 

 iunary^ Principles^ No. 67 and 1 65. 

 The description of the JVasalSf in the preceding Table^ by the syU 

 lables angyeeng^ &c. is to be considered merely as a rude approximation to their true 

 sounds. Those persons who are acquainted with the Fiench language will need no 

 description of them ; those who are not, may pussibly have a more Just conception of 

 them by carefully attending to a class of English words, in which the na^ial is followed 



would be the general one, 



which point I have made some remarks in page 35 



on tlie suiyject of the letter O see iValker^s Diclium 



The J^Tasals, 



hj the consonants g, or ky or c hard ; as iti lingerj thinking, uncle, &c. If we divide 

 one of these words a little differently from our usual method of spelling them, the true 

 nasal sound will become <Iistinctly perceptible. The word linger^ for example, is usu- 

 ally divided into two syllables, the sounds of which we should express separately, thus 

 ling-ger ; now in pronouncing the word in that manner, as soon as we arrive at the 

 end of the first syllable, the tongue is perceived to touch the roof of the mouth, and 

 we then distinctly hear the sound of our English ng : But if, instead of thus fully pro- 

 nouncing ihe whole of the syllable, we prolong the indistinct sound which is formed 

 the moment before the g is uttered, and do not allow the tongue to touch the roof of 

 the mouth, we shall have the short nasal sound i in the Table : and if we go throudi 



the same process again, only giving the vowel i its long foreign 



(I 



we shall have the lon^ nasal sound of tne same character i. And in a similar manner 



we may form the nther nasal sounds in the Table. For further observations on the 

 nasal sounds, see fValker^s Dictionary, under the word £ncore, and also his Princi* 

 2)les, No. 381 and 408. 



In connexion with the subject of the nasals it will not be uninteresting to refer 

 to a curious remark of an ancient writer upon the subject of the letter wV be- 

 fore G or C, in the Latin language. The remark is to be found in Julus Gellius 

 (lib. xix. c- 14.) who cites it from JS/Hgidiusj and itshows very clearly the Roman.pro- 

 nunciation of the letters ng together, while at the same time it indicates, that the letter 

 c (being pt'onounced like A) when preceded by 7i coalesces with the n just as g does j as 

 is the case with c hard in manv En^ilish words :^'* Inter literam JVet G? est alia vis ; 

 ut in nomine anguis et angaria et ancoro& et increpat, et ii^urj^U et ingenuus. 

 omnibus enim his, non verum JV*, sed adulterinum poniturj nam JV non esse li 

 indicio est ^ nam, si ea literu csset, lingua palatum tangeretJ^ 



CORRECTION. 



After the 345th and 346th pages were printed, Mr 

 doubts respecting tlie Russian orthography of the word JCamtshutkay which he gave 

 me from recollection only ; and I now find, upon inquiry of a Ruasian gentleman in 



Boston, that the name is written in that langu< 



In 



some 



glish Kamchatka or Kamt^iatka 



uaiiika 



