Septemdeb 14, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



351 



diffusion in suiriciently general use : but, in 

 tiie mean time, the confusion of tongues is 

 being gruduall_v reduced by the struggle for 

 supremacy among establislied languages ; and 

 this process will go on until one tongue shall 

 be intelligible, if not predominant, every- 

 where. 



All languages have their physical material 

 in common : the}' use the same vocal organs, 

 and essentially the same elementary sounds. 

 The voice is susceptible only of a limited num- 

 ber of modifications, and the lips and the 

 tongue only of a limited number of articula- 

 tive actions ; and, from the combinations of 

 these, all the varieties of human utterance re- 

 sult. This elementarv simplicity and uniformi- 

 ty are not, however, reflected in the writing of 

 languages. Alpliabets are wholly arbitrary ; 

 and, although the same letters are used in 

 man}- alphabets, a difiFcrent value is, in nearly 

 every case, associated with the individual let- 

 ters. A universally intelligible method of rep- 

 resenting the sounds of speech is a necessary 

 IJrerequisite for a universal language. Ordi- 

 nary alphabetic writing is, indeed, as much a 

 hindrance to combined effort for the unification 

 of language as was the confusion of tongues to 

 the building of the tower of Babel. Some 

 metiiod of classifying and representing all 

 known modifications of voice and articulation, 

 if not of discovering all possible modifications, 

 had long been the great desideratum of philolo- 

 gists. Attempts were made to frame a uni- 

 versal alphabet by collating the elements from 

 local alphabets, ancient and modern ; but tlie 

 luimber of shades of difference discovered 

 among the elementarv sounds, and the diffi- 

 culty of recognizing sounds under varied as- 

 sociations, rendered any complete classification 

 impracticable. So far as the discovery of the 

 entire category of possible sounds was con- 

 cerned, the object of endeavor was considered 

 to be hopeless ; and the attempt to realize it 

 was finally and forfnally abandoned at a con- 

 vention of philologists of different countries, 

 held at London in 185i. The declaration of 

 tliis convention stands on record, that — 



" It would be useless and impossible to at- 

 tempt to find for each possible variety of sound 

 a ditferent graphic sign." 



This ' impossibility ' has, however, been 

 since accomplished with completeness and 

 simplicity, in the system entitled ' Visible 

 speech,' the principles of which will now be 

 explained. In this system no sound is arbi- 

 trarily represented, but each letter is built up 

 of symbols whii-h denote the organic positions 

 and actions that produce the sound. The let- 



ters are thus physiological pictures, which in- 

 terpret themselves to those who have learned 

 tlie meaning of the elementary s^'mbols of 

 which they are composed. 



The first letter of our ordinar}' alphabet, 

 which we call a, is known in other countries as 

 ah; but we discover, in using the letter, that 

 it represents both a and o/t, and a variety of 

 other sounds in our own language, the letter 

 a being emploj-ed for the si.x diverse vowels in 

 tlie words ale, air, an, agree, ah, and all. In 

 Visible speech each of these sounds has a sepa- 

 rate letter, and each letter explains to the eye 

 the organic means by which its sound differs 

 from other sounds. For example: 



The letter for the vowel in the word ale tells 

 the reader to — 



Advance the front of the tongue totoards the 

 front of the palate, so as to leave a channel of 

 medium breadth for the passage of the cuice. 



The letter for the vowel in air tells him to — 



Place the tongue in the same position as 

 before, but to expand the back cavity of the 

 mouth. 



The letter for the vowel in an tells him to — 



Broaden to the utmost degree the channel 

 between the front of the tongue and the palate, 

 and (It the same time e-vpand the back cavity of 

 the mouth. 



The letter for the sound of a in agree tells 

 the reader to — 



Place the tongue in a neutral position, — 

 neither advanced nor retracted, raised nor de- 

 pressed, — and expand the back cavity of the 

 mouth. 



The letter for the sound ah tells him to — 



Depress the tongue backward as far as pos- 

 sible, and expand the back cavity as before. 



The letter for the vowel in all tells him to — 



Place the tongue in the same position as for 

 AH, but compress the back cavity, and round 

 the corners of the lips. 



All these directions are perfect!}- conveyed 

 at a glance in the different letters ; and j-et the 

 letters, so far from being complex, consist of 

 forms more simple than the letters of the 

 Uoman alphabet. Here, for example, are the 

 symbols, — four in number, — from the combi- 

 nations of which, not merely the sounds above 

 illustrated, but every vowel in every language, 

 can be expressed to the eye, so as to be at once 

 pronounced with exactitude by the reader. 



Ei.EMENTAUV SYMBOLS OF VOWELS. 

 I + • " 



'I'heso synlboLs have the Ibllowing invariable 

 meaiiin<;s : — 



