10 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
In the way in which the w and y are made by the mouth-organs, the 
sound of w differs but slightly from that of w (rue), and the sound of y 
but slightly from that of 7 (pique). 
The r is a difficult sound for an English speaker to deal with, because 
the English r is spoken so slightly, or even, in a host of cases (when not 
immediately followed by a vowel), by some people silenced altogether. 
Other languages are apt to give it a decidedly stronger, even a trilling or 
vibrated utterance. How, in any given language, the r (if present) is pro- 
nounced will be a proper subject for special description. 
In some languages a sort of imitation of r is made by vibrating the 
uvula instead of the tip of the tongue. If met with, this may be repre- 
sented by an inverted r (marked in manuscript thus, 7), as described below. 
An r that has an h-sound pronounced before it should, of course, be writ- 
ten hr. 
The y-sound is uttered between the tip of the tongue and the roof of 
the mouth. In an /-sound the tongue touches the roof of the mouth some- 
where in the middle, and the breath comes out at the sides of the tongue. 
The ordinary / has the tongue in the ¢-position. The peculiar / expressed 
in Italian by gi (as in moglie) is made with the flat of the tongue, instead of 
its tip, against the roof the mouth, and will be conveniently represented by 
ly; it is also nearly the French / (mowillé). The n similarly made (rather 
palatal than lingual), which is the # of the Spanish and gn of the French (as 
in canon, regner), may be written in like manner with ny. 
The h-sound, though by no means found in all languages, is a common 
one. It is an expulsion of air through the position of the adjoining sonant 
sound. Thus, for example, the h of ha is a momentary rush of surd breath 
through the organs put in position for a, before the tone begins which makes 
the a itself; and it is just so with the h of he and with that of who; they 
are made respectively with the mouth-organs in the position of 7 (pique) 
and of wu (rule). To be areal h, a pure aspiration, the sound must have 
this character. If there is a narrowing of the throat anywhere, so as to 
give a rasping noise, the sound is of another character, a guttural spirant, 
and must be specially described and differently represented. 
In English we use the aspiration only before a vowel and before the 
