£.79 ON THE tA!?GUAGES AND IITEHATURE 



that they were extremely distressed about the pro- 

 priety of the temis to be used, whenever God the 

 Father, Jesus Christ, The Holy Ghost, or the 

 Virgin Mary, were to be introduced as interlo- 

 cutors, and dismally puzzled whether the Virgin 

 ought to denominate herself, toi, handmaid^ or w^, 

 mother, in addressing her son Jesus Christ; as a 

 very trivial change of phraseology, in a language so 

 delicate in its shades and distinctions, might have 

 given origin to the most dangerous heresy. 



The accents in the Anam tongue, are of such in- 

 dispensable utility, that they have been very properly 

 termed the soul of the languajvc, while the primary 

 monosyllables, varied by accent, have been made to 

 represent its body. Conversation is a species of 

 chaunr, or recitative, as in the Chinese dialects, and 

 the other monosvllabic languages, which has, at 

 first, a very ludicrous effect to an ear unaccustomed 

 to it. The intonation or accent of the Anam, struck 

 me as entirely similar to Chinese, though Bouri, the 

 catholic missionary, to whom it was familial, pro- 

 nounces it softer and sweeter, more harmonious and 

 copious in both its tones and accents. He adds, 

 that every word expresses a variety of significations, 

 according to the diversity of accents with which it 

 is pronounced ; so that, to converse in it correctly, a 

 person ou^^^ht to understand the grounds of mi^sic. 

 That he ought to have an ear of the most delicate 

 sensibility is indisputable ; and as this can never 

 prevail very equally in a numerous nation, this variety 

 of accent gives rise to such diversity of dialect, that 

 through the Whole Anam region, every considerable 

 village or district has, as it were, a different language, 

 and are often obliged to have recourse to the written 

 character, for communication with the districts im 

 their vicinity. 



