ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY. 335 
NOTATION OF QUANTITY. 
359. The Romans considered the vowels as naturally short. They are naturally long, the 
consonants being naturally short. Long vowels were the first discriminated and supplied 
with characters, and in alphabets which do not discriminate between the two, it is safe to 
infer that the character was made for the long sound.* Theoretically, therefore, there 
should be no necessity to mark the long vowels or the short consonants. 
360. The marks of quantity should be placed above or after the characters, the former 
being preferable. In the latter case the mark of accent should surmount that of quantity. 
The number of diacritics would not disfigure the page, provided each were significant. It 
is only when they are meaningless that marks offend the eye, as in placing five dots over 
rijiditi, and yet these dots would not offend in a line of staccatoed music. Bohtlingk has 
many Jakutish words in a modified Russian orthography, as kypy0jax (a deserter,) where 
pa i‘ P, gud ‘x’ y > featenetnmnas Lies gore) are surmounted ay marks of length. Cotten has 
of Maine, and a in Africa. Compare Tiss 3 6p p0¢ ica) and Turkish qyjyq (oblique,) 
a form which shows that strangeness of appearance is as much due to new combinations 
of familiar letters, as to new characters. 
361. If the longs and shorts were marked (~~) the medials might be left unmarked, in- 
cluding such about which the writer hesitates—or, these might be marked with a superior 
dot (a") immediately after the letter. In Hebrew, three degrees of quantity are recog- 
nised, long, short, and very short; and in Sanscrit a figure 3 is used to denote a very long 
vowel. Let us use figures to denote length in approximate or nominal eighths of a second, 
as in fa’n a’ti’c, fa’n, a'r m (including the quantity of 7,) O°! is a full second, or a beat of 
the metronome at 60. 
362. In the foilowing Cherokee read c as & flat (§ 181,) e strictly as in they, weight 
(avoiding ebb,) a in art; vas in it; o strictly as a true short O in note, obey; and V as 
English w. Then we have— 
ce’hu” (céhv’) far, cehu” (eehu’) very far, 
na’Cyo” (naeyvo) near, na‘evo’ (naevo) very near. 
363. The Cherokee word for wind (used figuratively for smoke) has the three vowels of 
foot, war, ebb, (a, o, &,) that of war being the open vowel of awe, with a medial quantity. 
the word is tna’l¢, and it occurs disguised in the following word, where medial vowels 
* “Tn most languages the short vowels are not so accurately differenced as the long ones; this is the reason why 
the former were not indicated at all in the most ancient languages.’’—Lepsius, Alphabet, p. 51. 
