338 ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY. 
371. By corrupting ‘A’ to an E power, and refusing to show that I and U have 
acquired it in becoming A‘’J and A‘V; or, by exhibiting ‘A’ as the representative of a 
closer sound than it was made to represent, and by keeping back the coalescent conso- 
nants to their vowel basis, instead of representing diphthongs by their true elementary 
characters—the English vowel scale is attempted to be kept within the range of nos. 2, 3, 
of the scale in § 246-7. 
372. The followin. g are inscriptive forms of A, the first being the Phenician and Hebrew 
original, after the hieroglyphic form was left. The others are Greek. 
XAKRAARNAAAA 
1 2 3 4 5 6 is, 9 10 
Of these, nos. 2, 9, justify a, ~; and a form based on ‘&’ with the upper loop removed; 
nos. 4, 5, would justify capitals on these bases, and the Phonetic Journal character, an a 
reversed (the loop on the right) for the small letter; and nos. 4, 5, 6, would round into 
an italic ». 
378. The Sanscrit analogue of Latin A is assigned the power of wp by Sir Wm. Jones, 
and by Wilkins (Sanscrit Grammar, London, 1808.) When it is long, the latter says 
that—“in kald time the first syllable is pronounced nearly like the English word call—” 
a sound which Vans Kennedy says “does not exist in India.” He says too, that “ North 
of the Krishna the short a is like w in sun, south of it, long @ is pure, and the short 
sound as in hand.’ The vowels of up and at are extremely doubtful as Sanscrit 
elements. The proper character for A (a, a,) is used by Pickering,* 1831; Eichhoff, 1836; 
Comstock, 1846; J. P. Hart’s World’s English, (Newhaven, U. S., 1851;) Miller, 1855; 
Lepsius, 1855; Hillis, 1856. In the local English alphabets, Pitman (Phon. J., 1857,) and 
Graham (Phon. Quarterly,) use a reversed a; Masquerier, (New York, 1847,) italic a. 
VY, % in urn. 
374. Many languages want this vowel, which is so common in English as to be regarded 
as the characteristic of the vowels. It has not been assigned to Greek, Italian, Spanish, 
nor German, but it occurs in dialectic German. It has nothing to do with the labial 
vowels O, U, and to represent it by an o or w character would falsify its affinities. It is 
close (e) in up, worth, and open (e) in worm, word, urn. The effect of worth is that of a 
short syllable, each element being short, (the 7 close;) whilst worm is long on account of 
the open and longer vr. The vowel wp is nasal in the French un; but M. Pantoléon 
(in Comstock’s Phon. Mag.) makes this a nasal ew in yew, and Lepsius refers it to German 6. 
375. In the writer's French pronunciation, up is placed in mé, qué, quérelle, &., accord- 
ing to the view of most French grammarians, but Lepsius and Ellis consider it a variety 
*On the adoption of a uniform orthography for the Indian Languages of North America. Memoirs of the 
American Academy, 1831, iv., 319. 
