191 5.] LYMAN— A PRACTICAL RATIONAL ALPHABET. 361 



be absurd to acknowledge that principle, and then as in Volapuek 

 and Esperanto, at the very outset give to z the sound of tv^^o letters, 

 ts, merely because it happens to have those sounds in German. 

 Another important principle is to give to letters or devices the force 

 that they already have, and long have had, in the languages virhere 

 they have been in use. In general, the customary practice of the 

 majority should have sway, requiring the minimum of new learning. 

 As English is far and away the most numerously spoken language 

 throughout the world, the sounds to be attributed to the consonant 

 letters should be as in English ; though, owing to the extreme irregu- 

 larity and variety of the English vowel letters, they must give place 

 to letters that are more prevalent in the other European languages. 

 The English consonant y, for example, should be used ; not, as in 

 Esperanto, the letter ;', which has that sound among the compara- 

 tively small number who use German and Italian. In Volapuek, ; 

 is made to serve for the English sh, a most unheard-of use. 



In English, the combinations ch, sh, th and wh each is used for 

 a single sound, and it is desirable to substitute for it a single letter. 

 Would it not be highly practical to write those sounds by means, in 

 each case, of merely the first of the two letters with a subscript 

 small appendage somewhat similar to the old device of the French 

 cedilla, though a little different in form, to represent the letter h, 

 and having a more or less distant resemblance to it in shape? In 

 cursive writing, the resemblance to an h need not by any means be 

 close, and may be really abbreviated, as there would be no danger 

 of misunderstanding. We have, thereby, four new characters with 

 but a single device to remember, and that not a new one, and the 

 new forms are entirely in keeping with our old alphabet and with 

 already customary methods. As to the sound of ch in church, it is 

 sometimes maintained that it is in reality a sound compounded of t 

 followed by sh. But that is clearly an error ; for even the ear can 

 distinguish a difference in the sounds, and the sound of ch is as dis- 

 tinctly different as is the sound of the opening or closing of a some- 

 what tightly swollen door, compared to the mild clapping to of a 

 well-fitting closure. The peculiarity of the contact of the tongue 

 and roof of the mouth, with the consequent vibrations of the roof 

 of the mouth, occasions a peculiar sound different from t and from 



