ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY. 321 
break the law of assimilation and transmute (§ 275) m to n, turning NYMPHA, SYMPHONIA, 
into ninfa, sinfonia. 
291. In ltalian (as in Latin) min are compatibles, as in commissione, commissario; whilst 
in Spanish, one m is dropped from comisi-on, comisario, as in the English equivalents com- 
mission, commissary. When one m is not absorbed in Spanish, the m is unassimilated, as 
in conmoci-on conmiseracion, conmemorar. Dissimilation occurred in Latin, for although 
mf occurs in the original of circumflex, we find an- for am- (ambi) in ANFRACTUS (a turn;) 
and the inscriptive forms CIRCVNFLEXVS, CIRCVNVENIO, CIRCVNDATA. 
292. The Greeks spontaneously rejected two aspirates in certain cases; hence 6 in Opis 
(hair) became 7 in the genitive case Teydc in consequence of the presence of y. So Tpéxw 
(I run) is @p¢w in the future tense; and Tpégw (I nurse) is Opégw. The -ish in the 
words Engl-ish, Span-ish, seems proper in Belg-ish, with gay; but if corrupt dzh is used, 
this Belgish will give way to Belgian or Belgic; whilst Russish is rejected for Russian. 
293. The English ordinal suffix -th in four-th, nin-th, is -d in thir-d, and -t in fif-t, six-t, 
in the speech of those in whom the language instinct has not been effaced. In old Eng- 
lish we find first, second, third, fourth, fift, sixt, seventh, eight, ninthe, tenth,—eight being 
due to the aspirate once present in this word, which with its loss, could take th in eighth. 
GLOTTOSIS. 
294. Glottdsis* is an organic change to facilitate ease in utterance, and it depends greatly 
upon the number, order, and frequency of occurrence, of the consonants concerned in it; 
practice making that easy in one language, which is difficult for those who speak another. 
295. As the base of the tongue has less room and is less flexible than the end, it is more 
difficult to adapt it to the production of its peculiar consonants, so that children replace 
them with dentals and palatals, saying do for go, and til for kill. 
296. The cavity of the mouth being set for the following vowel whilst the consonant is 
about to be formed (§ 203,) the closer aperture required by the vowels of key, get, gay, af- 
ford so little room for the action required to produce their consonants, that there is a ten- 
dency to use the outer portion of the tongue, which is thinner and more flexible, and has 
more room in the outer mouth. This action, which is often united with cyclesis (§ 207,) 
converts gutturals to dentals and palatals, particularly before I and E. In some cases, 
where orthography is not properly understood, this has perverted characters made for gut- 
tural sounds, to enervated powers (usually called soff,) in various modern languages. 
* Glottdsis, as a word, is formed from yA@rra, the tongue, by analogy with certain names of diseases, (amau- 
rdsis, pyrosis, phlegésis,)—this being frequently as great a defect in speech as stuttering, which is classed with 
diseases. As the word danguage is applied to speech in general, because the tongue (lingv) is its chief implement, 
so glottosis is proposed for organic transmutation between all the contacts. 
