4 INTRODUCTIO>'. 



simple sounds, or combinations of souiuls, whieli iiro unknown in English, and of whic-li tlu' poculiaiitlfs may he hard to ajipreciate and describe. 

 Long-continued acquaintance with a lanKUasc alwa.vs shows an observer to liave been more or less in the wrong in his first ideas of its plionology or 

 sound-system. Then, the English alphabet is rather scanty, and very much confused in its usages, so that one is puzzled as to how he shall best adapt 

 it to represent any strange tongue to which he wishes to apply it. 



There is no absolute way out of these diftlculties. They can only be lightened, not got rid of altogether. The fundamental rule for dealing with 

 them is that every observer be as careful as possible, and always consistent with himself in the use of whatever system he may adopt; taking pains 

 also to explain as well as he can what he intends by the signs lie uses. 



But some ways of using the English letters are much preferable to others, both in themselves and because of their accordance with ways already 

 adopted by collectors and scholars; and it is very desirable to suggest a general alphabet for collectors, which they shall be coun.seled to learn to 

 under.stand and use. And since any one is greatly heljied in analyzing and noting the sounds of a stiange language by having paid a little attention 

 to the general system of the alphabet, and the relation of the ordinary sounds to one another, it is proposed, instead of merely setting up an alphabet, 

 to give along with it some very .simple and elementary explanations of the sounds noted, or notions of phonology; having in view especially the 

 sounds of the English language. 



Vowels. 

 The vowel sounds which are found most widely aniom- human languages are the (ive occurring in these English words: 



/c/r, they, pique, note, 7'ulc, 



Each of these sounds is represented in English by a nunilier of letters or combinations of letters, from two up to a dozon or so. It is proposed to take 

 for their signs the vowel-letters by wliich they are written in the words above given; namely, 



act u 



far they pique note rule. 



The reason is that these are the signs which originally had the fi-ve values In question, and which have them still in most languages outside of 

 English— for example, in Italian and German, and, le.ss uniformly, in Frencli. They are generally called the "continental" signs, as being so used in 

 all Europe except the British i.sles. 



Any given vowel-.sound is apt to be found in the .same language having two different quantities, one long and one short. Often there is also a 

 slight dltrerence of quality or tone added to that of quantity. This difference of tone between the long and short values of what is nearly the same 

 sound is greater in English than in almost any other language. The corresponding shorter sound to the long e of they is the sound in then or head; 

 the short sound topique is that in pick: the short sound to mle is that Inpull. But the English has no real short o, except in the "Yankee" pronun- 

 ciation of a few words like home, whole, none. Nor has it a real short sound corresponding to the a of far and father; the so-called "short o" oinot and 

 what and their like is our nearest approach to it, and near enough to bear being called a short n. 



The itsual way, all over the world, to distinguish the long and short values of vowels is to write a horizontal mark (the "macron ") over the long 

 vowel, and a crescent (the "breve") over the short. Thus we might signify the five short vowels, treated of above, in this manner: 



del (J i! 



what tlien piek [whole] pull. 



The relations of quantity are so different in different languages that it may be best left, probably, to the judgment of the collector whether he 

 will mark the long values of the vow'els with the inaeron, or the short with the breve: to do both would generally be needless. Unless, indeed (as is 

 the case in some Indian languages), there be three grades of quantity to distinguish, a drawn out or a iirotracted long, a medium or ordinary long, and 

 a short; in that case both signs would have to he used, the medium quantity n,il\ lj''iiiu' !i!l mnniu-kcd. 



Then there are three other simple vowel-sounds in English, for whiili it i^ ik ii ^i. . iivx i,, j.k-s iii,. the most appropriate and acceptable signs. 



One lit these is tlie sound in awe, aught, all, lord, and so on. It is a tour iiitcniic.lKili- l»t\vi-( ii the a of /m' and the o of no<e, and the <^sound of not 

 or who/ 11 III- - in • ;, ill Mil 11^ near to being its corresponding short as to being that of a [.far). It way be as well written by d as by any other sign, and 

 this is it- [:n ]. .■ 1 1 r.Mii'-iiitative. 



Thr -I c•llll.li^ til. vuiiiiil in cat,vian, and so on, the one which we usually call "short ft, "or "flat o"; it is an intermediate between a (o!/ar) ande 

 (ofthey). This it is proposed to write a (nearly following the (Jerman fashion). 



The third is the sound which we have in words like but, son, blood. It is often called the "neutral vowel," because in its utterance the organs of 

 the mouth are nearly in the indefinite position of simple breathing. It is nearly like the German o and the French eu, but not the same with either. 

 As It is called by us " short u," and, to one accustomed to English, seems most naturally represented by a u, the sign H has been here adopted for it. 



The peculiar sound of the French « in tu,pure, rm'cr, etc., or of the German ii in kiihl, kilssen, etc., will, whenever found, be best written with the 

 German sign U. It is made by a combination of the tongue-position by which 5 (pique) is uttered with the lip-position by which u 'rule) is uttered. 



We have, then, the four additional vowels— 



» ,, a. i, 



all eat but [kiihl m^re]. 



Their long and short values may be distinguished by the same added marks as those of the other vowels, if It should be necessary to do so. 



AV'hat we call tlie "long t" of aisle, isle, etc., is really a compound sound, a diphthong, beginning with a (fan and running down and ending 

 ■with i (pique or iriek). It is, therefore, to be written with ai. 



The sound in how, out, etc., is in a precisely similar numner a compound, beginning with a (.far) and running down to it (rule or full). It is 

 accordingly to be represented by ati. 



If such a diphthong as ours in boil or boy is met with it must of course be represented by di, the signs for its two parts. 



What we call " long u," as in use, pure, mew, feud, etc., is clearly a double sound, precisely that of you, and can never be written with one char- 

 acter in any phonetic alphabet ; its proper representative is ytt. 



We liave, then, finally, the diphthongs — 



mine down boil. 



The nasal vowels will be spoken of further on. 



The scheme of representation of vowel sounds thus drawn out is believed to be as good as any that is attainable without departing too far from 

 English usages, or bringing in strange and complicated signs, for which types are not to be found in ordinary printing offices. It will, of course, seem 

 a little strange at first to one accustomed to English ways ; but there must be a consistent system followed, and that excludes the acceptance of 

 English ways. A little careful practice will give ready command of the scheme of 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 within practice. Its use will not take away the necessity 

 of careful description, nor will it answer all purposes. A language may, for example (like French and German), distinguish two e-sounds, a closer 

 (French () and an opener (French S or e i, akin respectively with our e (they) and i (then ), but not, like these, differing in quantity, as long and short. 

 In such a case it will be best to use ^ for the opener sound; and we may also need an 6 for an opener o, and even an i for an opener i (akin with our 

 short i of jiick). And tliere may be varieties of tlie " neutral vowel " for which the German S will be a convenient sign. 



