6 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
double scund, precisely that of you, and can never be written with one 
character in any phonetic alphabet; its proper representative is yu. 
We have then, finally, the diphthongs— 
ai au di 
mine, down, boil. 
A little careful practice will give ready command of this scheme of 
vowel signs. It is proposed as a basis, a model which is to be adhered to 
as closely as circumstances shall allow, in representing the strange sounds 
that may be met with in practice. Its use will not take away the necessity 
for careful description, nor will it answer all purposes. A language may, 
for example (like French and German), distinguish two e-sounds, a closer 
(French é) and an opener (French é or é), akin respectively with our e (they) 
and é (then), but, unlike the latter, not differing in quantity, as long and 
short. In such a case it will be best to use é for the opener sound, and we 
may also need an 6 for an opener 0, and even an é for an opener i (akin to 
our short z of pick). And there may be varieties of the “neutral vowel” 
for which the German 6 will be a convenient sign. 
CONSONANTS. 
There can be no question as to the proper method of representing 
some of the consonant sounds, because widespread usage has fixed certain 
sounds to certain characters; but in others there has been great variety of 
usage, and still other of the sounds with which the student will have to 
deal in Indian languages are unknown to the languages of civilization. 
MUTES. 
The three letters p, t, and krepresent the sounds heard in the following 
words: prop, trot, creak. 
The last example shows that we use ¢ as well as & with this value; 
that must be avoided in a systematic alphabet; & only should be used. 
The ¢ and & of other languages often do not precisely agree in charac- 
ter with ours; one should be on the lookout here (as, indeed, everywhere 
else) for differences, and should note and describe them, if possible. 
Of these three, the p is called a ‘‘labial” mute, because made with the 
lips; the ¢ a “lingual” (or “dental”), because made with the tongue-tip 
