362 LYMAN— A PRACTICAL RATIONAL ALPHABET. [Oct. i, 



sh. A corresponding difference occurs between the sound of a 

 smack with the hps and p or h. The sound of zh, as in pleasure, 

 would, of course, be indicated by z with a subscript h. If it be de- 

 sired (unlike ordinary English) to distinguish the sound of th in 

 this from that in thin, the logically analogous and simple mode of 

 writing it would be with a d with a subscript h. The whispered, or 

 surd, y, heard in the word hue, might also be indicated by a y with 

 a subscript h. The guttural sounds indicated in oriental trans- 

 literation by kh and gh, would likewise be represented by k or g 

 with a subscript h. Until types of these new forms are to be had, 

 we may provisionally, instead of the subscript h, use a small h at 

 the side : cn, Si,, tj,, dj,, kj,, gj,, zvj,, yi,. The simple sound written in 

 English with ng should be indicated (as proposed so long ago as 

 Benjamin Franklin) by a character similar to a ^ but with the upper 

 part in the form of an n, for which there is already type. 



Other consonant sounds, the so-called cerebral sounds, occurring, 

 for example, in the Sanscrit and in the dialect of Peking, could be 

 simply indicated in a similar manner, by giving to the upper part of 

 the corresponding letter the shape of an r ; since those sounds are 

 made with the tongue rolled up, as for an r. In Sanscrit, such a 

 modification of sh occurs and in the Peking dialect y is so pro- 

 nounced, with the tongue rolled up, and may be indicated by a 3; 

 with the upper right hand fork in the shape of an r (provisionally s;,, 

 and 3;''). 



With these four or five simple characters, we have then a full 

 supply of consonants without going outside of the ordinary English 

 usage; b, c, ch, d, dh, f, g (always as in give, get), j, k, I, m, n, p, r, 

 s, sh, t, th, V, w, y, z, zh; omitting q, and x, as superfluous ; and using 

 c, only with the subscript h. Indeed as the c is only so used, even 

 if the subscript h should be omitted there would be no danger of con- 

 fusion, and c would have before all vowels the same sound that it 

 has in Italian before e, and i. H is sometimes reckoned as a con- 

 sonant, but, of course, erroneously, as it is the whispered form of 

 the vowel that follows it. 



As already intimated, order out of the chaos of Enghsh vowels 

 is only to be attained by adopting the more uniform practice of the 

 European continental countries, with a, as in arm, as in note, u as 



